Fiume question

In the aftermath of the <a href="/facts/First_World_War/vITTUanQ">First World War</a>, the Fiume question was the dispute regarding the postwar fate of the city of <a href="/facts/Rijeka/6WS5rse2">Rijeka</a> (Italian: Fiume) and its surroundings. As an element of the <a href="/facts/Adriatic_question/Dmo4kBPz">Adriatic question</a>, the dispute arose from competing claims by the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Italy/X5hxYBvF">Kingdom of Italy</a> and the short-lived <a href="/facts/State_of_Slovenes,_Croats_and_Serbs/PFJzTAc7">State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs</a> carved out in the process of <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_Austria-Hungary/H7prMkwU">dissolution of Austria-Hungary</a>. The latter claim was taken over by the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Serbs,_Croats_and_Slovenes/IRNUtvxW">Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes</a> (later renamed Yugoslavia), itself formed through unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Serbia/2HSIwdv9">Kingdom of Serbia</a> in late 1918. In its claim, Italy relied on provisions of the <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_London_(1915)/m7ThPFSS">Treaty of London</a>, concluded in 1915, as well as on provisions of <a href="/facts/Armistice_of_Villa_Giusti/c7QJCzHb">Armistice of Villa Giusti</a>, which allowed victorious <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_I/HBo9sw1M">Allies of World War I</a> to occupy unspecified Austro-Hungarian territories if necessary.
In determining ownership of Rijeka, both sides in the dispute claimed their reliance on the right of <a href="/facts/Self-determination/bk7dhtju">self-determination</a> championed by US President <a href="/facts/Woodrow_Wilson/zE4yxK2X">Woodrow Wilson</a> in his <a href="/facts/Fourteen_Points/HSsnCNU2">Fourteen Points</a>, but the two sides defined the extent of the city of Rijeka differently, resulting in majority of the affected population being either <a href="/facts/Italians/dsdUeJ1n">Italians</a> or <a href="/facts/South_Slavs/lvXFR0wc">South Slavs</a> (largely <a href="/facts/Croats/pxr26XCP">Croats</a> and <a href="/facts/Slovenes/nQphKLCK">Slovenes</a>). The difference in interpretation of the city boundaries was that Italians claimed the city was limited to the territory of the <a href="/facts/Corpus_separatum_(Fiume)/f3E0x3yG">Corpus Separatum</a>, established as a special administrative unit attached to the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Hungary/91tLqn81">Hungarian</a> crown within <a href="/facts/Austria-Hungary/9WPUPj0W">Austria-Hungary</a>, while the Yugoslav side claimed that the suburb of <a href="/facts/Su%C5%A1ak,_Rijeka/BkGwT6uG">Sušak</a>, located outside the Corpus Separatum boundaries, represented an inseparable part of the city. Two competing administrations were established in the city following departure of Hungarian authorities in late October 1918. In November, the city was placed under <a href="/facts/Allied_occupation_of_the_eastern_Adriatic/0Nfx91N9">Allied occupation</a> in which the <a href="/facts/Italian_Army/alAVho1b">Italian Army</a> provided the bulk of the occupying force. The occupying force left after <a href="/facts/Gabriele_D%27Annunzio/RqegHDxb">Gabriele D'Annunzio</a> seized the city in September 1919 proclaiming its annexation for Italy.
The matter was not resolved by the <a href="/facts/Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919/Quq4gdtj">1919 Paris Peace Conference</a> 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 Italo-Yugoslav border was first resolved by the 1920 <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Rapallo_(1920)/Rg3bN6lt">Treaty of Rapallo</a>. The agreement provided for establishment of the <a href="/facts/City-state/aj1EjbYy">city-state</a> of the <a href="/facts/Free_State_of_Fiume/1lPG9ykd">Free State of Fiume</a>—against D'Annunzio's objections. In response, he proclaimed an independent <a href="/facts/Italian_Regency_of_Carnaro/FM3Svj8Q">Italian Regency of Carnaro</a> in Rijeka and declared war on Italy, only to be driven from the city in an <a href="/facts/Bloody_Christmas_(1920)/g0t42u80">armed intervention</a> by the <a href="/facts/Regia_Marina/qqqEznH8">Regia Marina</a>. Italian troops remained in Rijeka (and Sušak until 1923). The Free State of Fiume was abolished by the 1924 <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Rome_(1924)/hrNBKL3j">Treaty of Rome</a>, and the city annexed to Italy. In <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, the <a href="/facts/Yugoslav_Partisans/jsvsMrsj">Yugoslav Partisans</a> took control of Rijeka in 1945. In an agreement with the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allies of World War II</a>, authorities of the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Federal_Yugoslavia/rvD2tGbx">Democratic Federal Yugoslavia</a> provisionally administered Rijeka and its surrounding areas until 1947. Then the city was formally ceded to Yugoslavia under the <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Paris_between_Italy_and_the_Allied_Powers/VhPSvUNc">Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied Powers</a>.

Fiume question open-in-new

Fiume question