Fiume question
In the aftermath of the First World War, the Fiume question was the dispute regarding the postwar fate of the city of Rijeka and its surroundings. As an element of the Adriatic question, the dispute arose from competing claims by the Kingdom of Italy and the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs carved out in the process of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. The latter claim was taken over by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, itself formed through unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia in late 1918. In its claim, Italy relied on provisions of the Treaty of London, concluded in 1915, as well as on provisions of the Armistice of Villa Giusti, which allowed the victorious Allies of World War I to occupy unspecified Austro-Hungarian territories if necessary.
In determining ownership of Rijeka, both sides in the dispute claimed the right of self-determination championed by US President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points, but the two sides defined the extent of the city of Rijeka differently, resulting in majority of the affected population being either Italians or South Slavs. The difference in interpretation of the city boundaries was that Italians claimed the city was limited to the territory of the Corpus Separatum, established as a special administrative unit attached to the Hungarian crown within Austria-Hungary, while the Yugoslav side claimed that the suburb of Sušak, located outside the Corpus Separatum, represented an inseparable part of the city. Two competing administrations were established in the city following the departure of Hungarian authorities in late October 1918. In November, the city was placed under Allied occupation in which the Italian Army provided the bulk of the occupying force. The occupying force left after Italian irredentist and nationalist writer Gabriele D'Annunzio seized the city in September 1919 proclaiming its annexation for Italy.
The matter was not resolved by the 1919 Paris Peace Conference because Wilson opposed Italian claims based on the Treaty of London, but the Italian government would not accept a compromise due to its political instability. The Italian-Yugoslav border was first resolved by the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. The agreement provided for establishment of the city-state of the Free State of Fiume—against D'Annunzio's objections. In response, he proclaimed an independent Italian Regency of Carnaro in Rijeka and declared war on Italy, only to be driven from the city in an armed intervention by the Regia Marina. Italian troops remained in Rijeka. The Free State of Fiume was abolished by the 1924 Treaty of Rome, and the city annexed to Italy. In World War II, the Yugoslav Partisans took control of Rijeka in 1945. In an agreement with the Allies of World War II, authorities of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia provisionally administered Rijeka and its surrounding areas until 1947. Then the city was formally ceded to Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied Powers.
Background
Upon the outbreak of World War I, the Kingdom of Italy, nominally part of the Triple Alliance but with historical territorial disputes with Austria-Hungary, especially over Italian-speaking populations in Austrian Trentino and Trieste, remained neutral. As the war progressed, domestic support for Italian intervention on the side of the Entente grew, and in April 1915 Italy signed the secret Treaty of London with the Entente, which promised the country substantial territorial gains — including much of Dalmatia, but not Rijeka — in exchange for its entry into the war, which took place on 23 May 1915. The treaty was opposed by representatives of the South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary, who were organised as the Yugoslav Committee. Following the 3 November 1918 Armistice of Villa Giusti, the Austro-Hungarian surrender, Italian troops moved to occupy parts of the eastern Adriatic shore promised to Italy under the Treaty of London, ahead of the Paris Peace Conference. The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, carved out from areas of Austria-Hungary populated by South Slavs, authorised the Yugoslav Committee to represent it abroad. The short-lived state, shortly before it sought a union with the Kingdom of Serbia to establish the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, laid a competing claim to the eastern Adriatic to counter Italy's demands. This claim was supported by deployment of the Royal Serbian Army to the area. The newly established state was initially denied diplomatic recognition. France and the United Kingdom did not recognise the new state before June 1919. The recognition took place in the run-up to conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles—with Yugoslavia as one of its signatories.Hungarian rule
Since at least the 18th century, Croatia and Hungary, both realms of the Habsburg monarchy, laid competing claims on the city of Rijeka as a part of their national territory and an important Adriatic port. In 1776, the city was attached to Hungarian crown by Empress Maria Theresa as a separatum coronae adnexum corpus. The Latin title was commonly shortened to Corpus Separatum. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the city was annexed to Croatia by Ban Josip Jelačić. The move was reversed following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868. The latter indicated that the city would be a separate body within Austria-Hungary, belonging to the Hungarian crown. The Croatian Sabor and the Parliament of Hungary were to determine the specific conditions of the city's status, but, for two years, they failed to reach an agreement. In 1870, the Hungarian Parliament enacted a regulation on temporary Hungarian control of Rijeka. The regulation remained in effect until 1918. The city outgrew the territory of the Corpus Separatum through industrialisation, and its suburb of Sušak, largely inhabited by workers employed by factories in the city centre, was situated in Croatian territory.In the final phase of World War I, in an effort to prevent the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Emperor Charles I of Austria declared an intention to transform the monarchy into a federal state, indicating that Rijeka would be a part of the Croatia-Slavonia or a newly established South Slavic kingdom. The Emperor's declaration echoed the 1917 May Declaration of the Yugoslav Club, demanding unification of Habsburg lands inhabited by Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs into a democratic, free, and independent state organised as a Habsburg realm. Just as the May Declaration was ignored by relevant political parties, the imperial declaration was rejected by the Zagreb-based National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the self-proclaimed central organ of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. In mid-October, Andrea Ossoinack, speaking in the Hungarian Parliament as the representative of the Corpus Separatum, objected to the Emperor's idea and stated that the city should be handed over to Italy. Clashes erupted in the city between Italian and South Slavic communities, each side claiming the city on the basis of the right to self-determination. While the former pointed to an Italian majority in the city within the boundaries of the Corpus Separatum, the latter pointed out that the city, including the suburb of Sušak located outside the Corpus Separatum, had a South Slavic majority. According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, 23,283 citizens or nearly 47% of Rijeka's population within the Corpus Separatum were Italian, while Croats and Slovenes accounted for 19,668, or almost 40%. According to Italian historian Attilio Tamaro, the suburb of Sušak, lying outside the boundaries of the former Corpus Separatum, had a population of 13,214 in 1918. According to Tamaro, the numbers were not contested, but it was disputed if Sušak was an integral part of Rijeka or not.
On 23 October, pro-Croatian troops entered Rijeka, and Lieutenant Colonel Petar Teslić assumed military authority in Rijeka and Sušak. He had under his command eight battalions of the 79th Infantry Regiment of the former Austro-Hungarian Common Army, normally based in Otočac, and National Guard volunteers, largely consisting of high-school students. On 29 October, the last Hungarian governor of the Corpus Separatum,, left the city for Hungary on a special train, on the orders of Hungarian prime minister Sándor Wekerle. He was followed by the bulk of the city's police force. A large number of skilled workers, especially ethnic Hungarians, also left. Before departing, Jékelfalussy transferred authority to a commission appointed by the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The commission was led by Rikard Lenac. On the other hand, leading ethnic Italians living in the city established the Italian National Council of Fiume. The Italian National Council, led by Antonio Grossich, proclaimed that it would annex the city to Italy on 30 October. On 3 November, Grossich dispatched a delegation to Venice to request aid from Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel. At the time, di Revel chaired the Naval Commission for the Adriatic, established by the Allied Naval Council of the Supreme War Council tasked with coordinating the Allied occupation forces in the eastern Adriatic. Lenac asked Zagreb to send troops as well.
Allied occupation
On 2 November 1918, a group of United States Navy ships sailed into the Port of Rijeka. The next day, a French and a British force followed with Colonel Sydney Capel Peck leading the British mission to Rijeka. On the same day, the Inter-Allied Command was established in Rijeka, ostensibly to prevent further ethnic violence. On 3 November, the day the armistice was signed, Italian armed forces gained control of much of the nearby Istria peninsula to the west. The Italian navy first sailed into the Port of Rijeka on 4 November. The initial group consisted of the battleship Emanuele Filiberto, and the destroyers Francesco Stocco, Vincenzo Giordano Orsini, and Giuseppe Sirtori. On 5 November, the French destroyers Touareg and Sakalave brought further reinforcements.A 700-strong battalion of the First Yugoslav Volunteer Division led by Lieutenant Colonel arrived from Zagreb on 15 November. Two days later, 16,000 Italian troops led by General arrived as well. The battalion of the First Yugoslav Volunteer Division withdrew from the city and Teslić's troops were quickly disarmed. Some sources indicate that Maksimović's withdrawal from the city was negotiated and made in exchange for the promise that San Marzano's troops would not enter Rijeka, but remain in nearby Opatija instead. Even though neither Rijeka nor Sušak were awarded to Italy under the Treaty of London, Italian authorities justified the deployment by referring to provisions of the armistice allowing occupation of additional territories required for strategic purposes. On such grounds, the Allied troops occupied Rijeka, Sušak, as well as the area of Kostrena and to the Bakar railway station, and a part of the Grobnik area. On 12 December 1918, Italian cavalry attempted to advance into Kraljevica, but it was repelled by the Royal Yugoslav Army. By spring 1919, there were approximately 20,000 Italian troops in Rijeka. In December 1918, the Italian National Council conducted a census in Rijeka where 62% were registered as Italians, and 23% as Croats or Slovenes. According to Croatian sources, the 1918 census data were collected under duress and falsely recorded. Sušak's population was estimated at 12,000 in 1919.
The Adriatic Commission discussed the Italian military dominance in the British zone and recommended the Paris Peace Conference to ensure military parity with other allied forces. Since Italy objected to the recommendation, the Paris Peace Conference ultimately did not act upon it. Between January and August 1919, the Italian National Council took steps to ensure the independence of the city from the systems previously put in place by Austria-Hungary. Postage stamps and Austro-Hungarian krone banknotes were stamped over, and the Fiume krone introduced into circulation. In August 1919, the council investigated civil servants, dismissing and expelling those considered undesirable.
On 6 July, the paramilitary loyal to Italy clashed with troops from French Annam in the city, killing 13. This prompted the establishment of an international commission to determine the legionnaires' responsibility. The commission recommended disbanding the Legione "Fiumana" and reducing Italian troops in the area to a single battalion as quickly as possible, leaving law enforcement to the British and the US forces. Those recommendations were not implemented. However, the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" was withdrawn from the city and moved to Ronchi dei Monfalcone near Trieste on 27 August 1919.