Thread by @DaveKeating

On the Whit Monday holiday I made a trip to #Rijeka Croatia (formerly Italian #Fiume).

This fascinating city is often called “the birthplace of Italian Fascism”. I wrote a screenplay about it at university so I wanted to visit.

The interwar period here has a complex legacy.

Fiume was part of 🇦🇹🇭🇺Empire and served as the only Hungarian port. After WW1 it was given to Yugoslavia despite having a majority Italian population.

Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio invaded the city and made himself dictator. They were filming a movie about him during my visit

D’Annunzio’s “Italian Regency of Carnaro” lasted 1919 to 1920. The Kingdom of Italy opposed it and said it should be given back to Yugoslavia.

A constitution was adopted that later served as a basis for Mussolini’s fascists. D’Annunzio’s ideals and techniques were later emulated

The constitution established a corporatist state, with nine corporations representing different sectors of the economy. Membership was mandatory.

There was a symbolic 10th corporation to represent “superior individuals”. Legislative power was held by a bicameral legislature.

D’Annunzio has been called “the John the Baptist of Italian Fascism” because he invented much of the ritual during his Fiume dictatorship.

He gave theatrical balcony addresses from here at the governor’s palace and used Roman iconography. He also had blackshirted followers.

D’Annunzio’s ultimate goal was not to have his own independent dictatorship but for the territory’s annexation to Italy.

But the Italian government of the time remained loyal to the peace treaty and did not want to upset the balance.

At Christmas 1920 the Italian army invaded. D’Annunzio and his irregulars surrendered.

Italy then relinquished control of the city and the independent Free State of Fiume was established. The politics of the city-state changed dramatically, from nationalist to internationalist.

The Free State of Fiume lasted 1920 to 1924. The official languages were Italian, German & Hungarian - but conspicuously not Croatian (the language spoken by 30% of the territory’s inhabitants, mostly in the countryside).

The main language spoken at home in the city was Venetian

US President Woodrow Wilson was a firm supporter of keeping Fiume as an international city (one of several at the time such as Danzig) and suggested that the newly-invented League of Nations should be based there.

The free state was a hive of intellectual activity.

However this came to an end upon Mussolini’s seizure of power. The new fascist government in Italy forced Yugoslavia to accept the Treaty of Rome and forcibly annexed the Free State of Fiume in 1924.

Many of Fiume’s intellectuals, Communists and autonomists fled.

Fiume saw fierce fighting in WW2 & was taken by Yugoslav Communist partisans. Despite citizens’ desire to restore the free state, Fiume was forcibly annexed to Yugoslavia and renamed Rijeka.

The autonomist leaders were murdered. 2/3 of Fiume’s inhabitants were forced to emigrate

Fiume was a victim of many ideologies: Empire, Fascism, Communism and the nationalism of the nation-state.

It is interesting to think about the success a multiethnic free state could have enjoyed had Fiumians been allowed to choose their own destiny.