"The Flame of Fiume Spreads Its Sparks Everywhere": Italian Irredentism and the Fiume Problem
It seems to me that it will eat us up like a flame,
scorching light. How long the day dragged on,
how long! I involuntarily shuddered:
he will return again. Light is like a flame.
Gabriele D'Annunzio, "Evening".
scorching light. How long the day dragged on,
how long! I involuntarily shuddered:
he will return again. Light is like a flame.
Gabriele D'Annunzio, "Evening".
Since the unification of Italy in the 3th century, Italian nationalists have called for the liberation of Italians who were stranded outside the country. Italy's failed attempt to gain Dalmatia after World War I played an important role in the formation of the Italian nationalist myth. It is therefore not surprising that the eyes of many Italians were drawn to the adventures of the patriotic poet Gabriele D'Annunzio in Fiume and to Italy's struggle to gain control of the eastern borderlands [XNUMX].
The case of Fiume is unique in stories irredentism, as it is one of the most striking and long-lasting examples of this phenomenon. In the 1910s, the international community could not agree on which state this border town should belong to. The Italian nationalist struggle for Fiume reflected the complex contradictions between different strands of nationalist thought and was based both on historical arguments and on a modernist revolutionary program [1].
As mentioned above, the rise of nationalism in Italy was facilitated by the unsuccessful negotiations in Versailles, where US President Woodrow Wilson opposed Italy’s claims to Dalmatia and the eastern part of Istria, which it was to receive under the London Treaty. Wilson wanted the eastern coast of Istria, the entire Dalmatian coast and the archipelago claimed by Italy to go to Yugoslavia. The situation was complicated by the fact that the city authorities of Fiume appealed to Rome with a request to annex the city to Italy. This choice was due not only to irredentist sentiments, but also to Fiume’s fear of falling into the hands of its historical enemy, Croatia. [2]
Italian nationalists and irredentists, for their part, upped the ante even further. They launched a countrywide campaign under the slogan “All Dalmatia + Fiume.” Despite the excesses of the nationalist milieu, Italy’s demand that the Allies honor the terms of the London Treaty was not in itself far-fetched, as some historiography believes. Italy had entered World War I on certain terms, had suffered significant human and material losses, and so was quite right in demanding what it had been promised.
In fact, the Entente made similar promises to Romania regarding Banat, Transylvania and Bessarabia – territories inhabited by many Hungarians, Serbs and Germans. The right of peoples to self-determination, which the politicians used as a cover, did not bother the Entente at all when territories inhabited by millions of Germans and Hungarians were transferred to other states (the classic example is Danzig) against the wishes of these peoples.
It can be argued that Italy's demands in Paris were not met not because they contradicted the principle of national self-determination, but because they contradicted the interests of one of the victorious states – France. Italy's strong position in Central Europe, the Balkans and, in the long term, the Middle East contradicted French plans. The French writer Henri Michel later wrote that the tendencies that were forming in French policy at that time were clearly anti-Italian and were a consequence of France's active Balkan policy [2].
It was precisely these decisions taken by the Allies (Entente) that became the breeding ground for irredentism and revisionism, which contributed significantly to the destabilization of the European balance of power after the war.
The Birth of Italian Irredentism
Irredentism is a major but understudied aspect of nationalism. It is the belief that a part of the nation lies outside the borders of the state and should be not only “liberated” but also “rid” of foreign influence. Irredentism is based on myths about the historical, geographical, and linguistic unity of the nation. The desire for national liberation of territories occupied by foreign powers, such as Macedonia and South Tyrol, first emerged in the 1th century, parallel to the rise of national consciousness in Europe. However, these aspirations continue to be an important feature of nationalist movements, serving as a powerful tool for political mobilization. An examination of the Italian irredentist struggle for the city of Fiume (the Italian name for today’s Croatian Rijeka) shows that irredentism is not only a political act but also a deeply cultural phenomenon [XNUMX].
In Italy, the irredentist movement arose at the end of the 5th century and took its name from the Italian patriotic movement – “Italia Irredenta”. The specific goal of the irredentist movement (represented by a wide network of organizations) was to establish the “natural borders” of Italy, to annex the once Italian (but at that time part of other states) territories of Trentino, Trieste, Dalmatia, Istria, Ticino, Nice, Corsica and Malta [XNUMX].
The Italian state, from its inception, was based primarily on the principle of nationality. This meant that the political class simply could not abandon irredentism [2]. Irredentists cited historical arguments in favor of the Adriatic lands being part of Italy, since the territory of Dalmatia and Istria played a key role in the birth of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance culture that preceded Italian culture. Thus, until the XNUMXth century, irredentist claims to Italy’s eastern borders were not simply a question of political territorial ambitions, but one rooted in historical and linguistic discourse.
The Italian nationalist claims to the Adriatic were also a response to the emerging Slavic national consciousness, based on the cultural nationalism of the Illyrian movement. Along with the Croatian national revival, this pan-Slavic movement of the 19th century sought to unite the southern Slavs. Subsequently, as a city on the border of two established cultural spheres, Fiume became a place of clash between Italian and pan-Slavic cultural nationalisms.
The years preceding the First World War in Italy saw a rise in irredentist sentiment. This sentiment increasingly focused on Fiume and found resonance among avant-garde artists. The report of the tenth conference of the National Italian League in Trento and Trieste noted that Fiume had always sought autonomy under Hungarian rule while maintaining its Italian cultural identity [1].
The goal of the Italian irredentists was national rebirth, and national unification was both the goal and the instrument. They saw the war against Austria not only as a way to complete the Risorgimento, but also as an opportunity to give tangible form to the spiritual process of nation-building, which they believed was far from complete. Ultimately, their goal was to instill in civil society a sense of national purpose.
Irredentism, Nationalism and Fiume
Irredentist sentiment towards Fiume reached its peak in 1919–1920, when the city was captured by Gabriele D’Annunzio and his army of volunteers, many of whom were poets, writers, and artists. For D’Annunzio, this was an act of redemption that his 1th-century predecessors could not have dreamed of. D’Annunzio’s rhetoric, combined with the political realities of the First World War, transformed Fiume into a geographical symbol of the myth of Greater Italy [XNUMX].
The irredentism of the early twentieth century, fueled by imperial nationalist arguments, must be seen in the context of the spiritual modernist nationalism expressed in the work of the pre-war avant-garde generation. Building on the ideas of the Risorgimento, these Italian avant-garde nationalists (many of whom later became Futurists and Fascists) were inspired by religious and symbolist ideas about aesthetic patriotism that they encountered in the cultural milieu of nineteenth-century Paris, the center of artistic modernism at the time.
In the 1910s, irredentist nationalism increasingly leaned toward a radical imperialist vision of territorial expansion for Greater Italy, thus conflating irredentist claims with a new imperial nationalism. The question of whether Italy should participate in the war was therefore directly linked to Italy’s potential territorial gains – arguments that appealed to irredentist sentiments. However, from the point of view of both spiritual rebirth and territorial gains, the outcome of the war was disappointing [1].
Gabriele D'Annunzio did not hide his disappointment at the deadlock in negotiations over the future of Fiume after the First World War. Fiume was "the last bearer of the sign of Dante" and was to become a stronghold of Italian Roman culture. As the poet stated in his essay "Pentecoste d'Italia" ("Italian Pentecost"), dated 8 June 1919, Fiume had a symbolic meaning for Italy:
"He breathed into their faces and said: Receive the Holy Spirit." These are the words of the Apostle John. Today Fiume breathes into the faces of all of us Italians, it burns our faces with its breath and says to us: Receive this flame... Today we celebrate in honor of Fiume" [4].
This is D'Annunzio's oratory at its finest: a striking blend of sacred and profane elements that highlights the emotional power of sacred symbols while unexpectedly linking them to earthly concerns. D'Annunzio's use of religious symbols in a traditionally secular context allowed him to convince his followers that they were participants in a sacred enterprise [4].
Fiume, D'Annunzio convinced his audience, not only embodied the Italian spirit, but also spread it throughout Italy. Fiume thus represented the treasury of the Italian national spirit, the repository of Italian national identity. D'Annunzio gave Fiume a sacred status, viewing it as the bearer of the spiritual flame that would renew the spirit of the nation.
The march from Ronchi to Fiume in September 1919 was a revolutionary event and was seen as a spiritual act. On 11 September 1919, the day before the march, D'Annunzio wrote to the future Duce Benito Mussolini that "the God of Italy helps us". The march of the arditi, artists and writers took on a transcendental, spiritual and even religious significance. Before, during and after the march, the event became a symbol of Italy's struggle for national rebirth [1].
Fiume as the island of hope of the Italian nation
After the armistice, Fiume became the symbol of Italy's claims to the Adriatic in Italian public opinion. The name "Fiume", previously unknown to most people, became a rallying cry for the entire interventionist camp, from left to right. It seemed that this name alone contained all the motives for Italy's entry into the war [2].
Fiume also became a kind of laboratory for a new political culture based on myths, mass mobilization, and a mixture of the sacred and the profane. D'Annunzio participated in the creation of a new form of liturgy in Fiume, which played a significant role in the development of civic festivals and mass politics (speeches from the balcony, dialogues with the crowd, the development of new "civic" holidays, etc.).
The "Fiumani experiment" seemed to embody the slogan "neither left nor right". D'Annunzio was joined by syndicalists such as Giuseppe Giulietti and Alceste de Ambris, nationalists such as Fedeconi, military men, futurists and fascists. In the last stage of his adventure, D'Annunzio moved even further to the left, seeking support even from Bolshevik Russia [2].
The 15-month adventure in Fiume was a revolutionary event, in which all sorts of avant-garde ideas about spiritual renewal were developed. According to D'Annunzio, Fiume was a "Città di Vita" - "City of Life", a paradise for free spirits. Futurists, Dadaists, yogis and nudists all found their place in this city.
"The importance of my enterprise and my stubborn resistance becomes clearer every day... Rebels, eager for rebellion, from all over the world rush towards the flame of Fiume, which spreads its sparks everywhere"
– wrote D'Annunzio. In the revolutionary energy concentrated in Fiume, D'Annunzio saw the ideal type of "Italian": "If only half of Italy were like Fiume, we would dominate the world. But Fiume is only a lonely peak of heroism, and it will be sweet to die having drunk the last sip of its water." For D'Annunzio, Fiume was an island of hope for the Italian nation, albeit small and remote.
Although the annexation of Fiume was driven by many factors, they all shared a common goal: the desire to create, or rather to recreate, a Greater Italy. The desire for geopolitical expansion and the rise of imperialist nationalism underpinned the new irredentist narratives. The cultural revolutionaries believed that the struggle for a Greater Italy and the recapture of Fiume would lead to a spiritual rebirth of the Italian nation as a whole [1].
References
[1]. Milou van Hout. In search of the nation in Fiume: Irredentism, Cultural Nationalism, Borderland. Nations and Nationalism, Vol 26, Issue 3. 2020.
[2]. Marina Cattaruzza. Italy and Its Eastern Border, 1866–2016. Routledge, New York, 2017.
[3]. Maura E. Hametz. In the Name of Italy nation, family, and patriotism in a fascist court. Fordham University Press, New York, 2012.
[4]. Ledin, M. The First Duce: D'Annunzio in Fiume. - M.: Totenburg, 2024.
[5]. See Semchenkov A.S. The Problem of Divided Peoples in the Context of the Transformation of the World Political Space. Political Science, 1, 2009. 137-167.
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