THE TRENTINO .JULIAN VENETIA AND DALMATÏA

(Military political and economic considerations regarding the boundaries of Italy)

(WITH 7 DIAGRAMS)

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:: NOVEMBER 1918 ::

THE TRENTINO JULIAN VENETIA AND DALMATIA

(Military and political-economic considerations regarding the boundaries of Italy)

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NOVEMBER 1918 ::

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The line fixed in the armistice of Villa Giusti was established, precisely because it is a line of armistice, for reasons of a military character. In general it responds to the right boundaries of Italy. However some regions have been exluded which, for their nature and economic necessities, are to be included in Italian territory. A rapid examination of the new confines leads us to make certain remarks, which should appeal to those who eventually shall he commissed to settle our difinite confines.

" I THE TREHTinO

The Trentino is the way of the German invasions into Italy, invasions which invaria­ bly ^ere carried oot across the Brenner, through the only vast passage open in the high alpine wall which separates the German valley of the Inn -from the Italian valley of the Adige. This passage was never closed, because Italy was never in the past, ever able to ac­ complish her unity, and never succeeded in reaching it to close it up with her arms. Across the Brenner the armies of the German emperors passed and they, in the Mid­ dle Ages, infested Italy, invading this country. But these invasions, though continued, ne­ ver succeeded in modifying the ethnographic conditions of the Trentino as the German hordes had as their goal the rich Lombard and Venetia plains and they pushed forward in search of booty in all Italy, without taking the trouble to colonize the valleys of the Adige and Isargo. During the Eenaissance and the Modern Age, and up to the Bestoraton which fol­ lowed the Napoleonic wars, all Trentino, even in its most northern valleys, was Italian and nothing but Italian. We have of this a luminous proof in German literature itself. Goethe was not the only' German who travelled-in Italy : every literary man of any value who has written in the German language has made at least one journey into Italy and has left a book on his Italian travels. It is enough to have read, one, to read all, because they are,all unani­ mous in considering themselves arrived in Italian territory when the Brenner has been passed : here and here only begins for them « das Land wo das Zitronen bliihen ». All of them wrote this truth until the middle of the last century; since then they seemed to have changed opinion, or rather they avoided the subject. But the truth is that until 1848 Italy was a land open to* conquest, in the power of peo­ ples of the German race, and after 1848 the Italians seriously desired to become a freft nation. In the face of this new fact the German writers and statesmen changed their tone. The pacific invasion of the Trentino then began on the part of the Tyrolese — the Germans .of the Inn Valley — at first slow and imperceptible, then growing stronger and more presumptious as Italy, in the course of history, gained greater probability of iecon- quering her boundaries. In 1848 the Italian Confederated States were beaten by Austria, the revolutions in the Italian cities were suffocated in blood and the war was lost for Italy ; but the seed had been sown and all felt that it Avould bear fruit. It was only a1 question of time, but meanwhile the Tyrolese freely and with all their ease were able to intensify the work of denaturalizing the Upper Adige. In 1859, The French and Piedmontese defeated the Austrians, but political motives ar­ rested the war before the right time, and peace was concluded leaving the question unresol- 4 ved. The Trentino, as all the rest of Venetia, remained in the hands of Austria. And the Tyrolese, with greater alacrity went on germanizing the Upper Adige. All the local names were changed : Bressonane became Brixen ; Bolzano, Bozen ; and so on., And thus we come to 1866 : Italy was again in war with Austria for her boundaries, but this time also the war was unprop itiously brought to an end, and Italy, under the im­ pression of a defeat, was obliged to accept as conditions, those which Prussia contracted with Austria. The question was again deferred because Trentino also «on this occasion re­ mained Austrian, and . . . the invasion of the Tyrolese continued. Thus in the thorny and glorious Calvary of the Italian wars of independence, in a pe­ riod when Italy was alone, or nearly so, in proclaiming to the world and sustaining with arms the defence of oppressed nationalities, did the germanisation of the Upper Trentino spread. This must not be forgotten when the rights of nations are proclaimed. If the Upper Adige is inhabited mostly by Germans instead of, as once, by Italians, it is precisely because Austria and Germany wanted to punish Italy for having been among the first and most stubbern supporters of the rights of nations. It would not, therefore, be just to give to day a solemn sanction to the punishment which Austria and Germany wished to inflict on the Italians, and close this immense Avar, as were the Italian wars of 1848, 1859, and 1866, without all the Trentino as far as the Brenner being restored to the Italians. A decision contrary to this thesis would not be practical, also because, with such a de­ cision the scope aimed at would not be reached, that is, the scope of not leaving seed Avhich might lead to future conflicts. As has been seen, the tendency on the part of the Italian people to liberate the Trentino (as all the other « irredente » lands) is of long standing ; one Avar f olloAved another, always Avith the same clear, precise and determined scope; Italy Avishes to reach the Alps; Italy Avishes to bolt her doors, and each time she has not been able to accomplish this desire of hers, it has not been to give it up, but to prepare better fer the enterprise : what to-day has not succeded, Avili succeed to-morroAV. But Avhy this long-lasting, stubborn tendency, noAv consacrated by the blood of thou­ sands of heroes? We have already seen Avhich causes determined a change in the ethnography of the Trentino, Avhich Avas once Italian, purely Italian : then certainly the thought of reaction against the cloaking of Italians Avith Germanism had its influence; besides, everybody knows that the mountain chain of the Brenner represents the best possible obstacle to be exploited for military defence. But this line does not only respond to military requirements, it is not on]y the best line possible to stem any desire of invasion, but it is also a real barrier between neighbouring peoples, in that it is a gigantic impervious Avail and above all, a watershed line. It is a line of mountains* which for about 200 kilometres rises above an altitude "of 3500 metres, and Avhich presents a large gap only at the Brenner (Avhich hoAvever is 1370 m. high) ; a second opening, the Rezia Pass (1480 m\), is so eccentric Avith regard to the direction of the line ihat is can be left out of consideration, having but secondary functions.- To the north of this line, all the Avater-courses floAVint o the Inn, then from the Inn to the Danube, and from the Danube into the Black Sea; to the south of it, all the waters floAV into the Isargo and the Adige and finish in the Adriatic Sea. Now, as water-courses always n%arlc out the way follotced by the activity of peoples (roads, commerce, industries, cities, etc), thus all the territory northwards of the said line directs its life toAvards the Hungarian plains and the Balkan Peninsula,Avhile the territory to the south directs its activity, through the Adige Valley hollow, toAvards the Venetia plains. Thus on the northern slopes of the boundary line communications towards the north are easy, AA'hereas from the southern slopes of the same line, communications toAvards the south are easy. To the north, the roads developing along the Inn and its branches lead to Ba varia, Austria and Hungary Avhile on the south the roads developing along the Isargo and Adige all go into Venetia. BetAveen the tAvo netAvorks .of roads there is only one real con­ junction, the Brenner Pass, AArhich is however insufficient for active relations of commerce and culture. 5

Whatever boundary line is chosen to the south of the one (the Brenner line) fixed by the Italo-Austrian armistice must perforce enclose, against the high mountains which would remain on the north, a region more or less vast, who^e inhabitants, not being able to com­ municate with Italy along the Adige Valley, and communicating badly with the Tyrol across the Brenner Pass, would soon fall to absolute economic and social deficiency. The best proof of this truth is to be seen in the conditions in which until a few days ago the Trentino region under the dominion of the Austrians found itself. The very rich hy­ draulic forces of the Isargo and Adige were certainly utilized, but only in small part with regard to the enormous reserve of energy which they represent, and, while' numerous and well systemized plants are to be noted, it is at once noticed how they served almost exclusi­ vely for local needs (tram-ways, illumination etc.). And this because they could not have been greatly exploited without creating an inti­ mate tie of interests with Italy, which was not desired by Austria. On the other hand, even if Austria had conceded this, the Italians would not certainly have been encouraged to spend in the Trentino, capital and work, because they were certain to be afterwards sent away, as has happened each time an Italian industry became established in « irredente » ter- titory. As for the hydraulic energies, so also for all the other recources which the Trentino would offer; none of them has been exploited by the Germans of Austria. Only one in- dxistry, only one economic activity flourished in the Trentino : the hotel industry and with it and it only the Austro-Hungarian government was able to attract in the upper and mid­ dle Adige valley an emigration, partly temporary and partly permanent, of Germans who lived in the hotels or created those parasetic industries which are typical of places of re- sour t. This absolute industrial and commercial inactivity, the unaccomplished exploitation of the economic energies of the Trentino, are the best proofs that the gigantic and unpaya­ ble barrier of the Eaetic Alps is a formidable obstacle against every form of German eco­ nomic expansion to the south of the line itself. Therefore nobody can deny that the politi­ cal boundary of Italy towards* the Trentino, which has up to the present shut out all Ita­ lian activity towards the Upper Adige Valley, was an economic and social crime, because it barred the Trentino population from the world and civilization. And this leads us to con­ clude that any political frontier in the Trentino which does not correspond to the natural geographic frontier and which passes tô the south of the line fixed by the armistice would continue to be an economic and social crime, because it would condemn to economic and social death a greater or lesser part of the inhabitants of the Adige Basin. Such a boundary, which would cut off the Upper Adige from the rest of the Trentino could have but offensive military reasons against Italy. But, it may be objected, for the inhabitants of Upper Adige ai'e now mostly Germans. No body wishes to deny and destroy this fact, though nobody can deny Italy : — the right of having the effective protection of lier formidable natural frontiers considering that the Germans have for centuries invaded the territory to the south of

1ULIRN UËNETÎR RHD I5TRIR

Here also we have a territory which is historically Italian, which the Julian»Alps mark ont dearly and undeniably : to the east of their crest, the tributaries of the Danube have their mouths, to the west are the Carso lands whos waters are tributaries of the Adriatic. Also for this reason, as in the case of the Trentino, an emigration (of Slavs and Ger­ mans) was greatly encouraged by the Austro-Hungarian government to drive away the Ita- • lian elements from these territories and possibly cancel every trace of the Italian nation. But it is enough to look at any map of Istria to see the confines marked out by nature. The principal chain of the Julian alps begins by constituting the first barrier, which, in a north - west south - east direction, separates the Basin of the Danube from the , Istrian peninsula and hinders the communications between the two territories. They run for about a hundred kilometres, from Mount Nero to the slopes of the Tuhovic, which end at the Morlacca Canal. This chain's highest point is 1796 metres (Mount Nevos*o) and for all its length it maintains the medium height of more than. 1000 metres, leaving somg gaps open, among which the principal one is Postumia (Adelsberg), 600 metres high, for road and raihvay communications between the Slav-Germans and the Italians. As if this ponderous barrier was insufficient, other summits arise, other mountain chains are extended always Avith a direction parallel to the Julian Alps. Thus the mountains of the Idria, the Ternova Woods, the Pinca Plateau, the Oarsia Plateau,, the Gorizia-Triest Carso, the Mounts of the Vena, form other barriers, with a north-west south-east direction, which hinde'r the communications between the Aûstro-Hungarian inland and Istria n"id in stead facilitate the communications between Italy and Istria, by land, these being" greatly, facilitated ly sea. It is necessary here to note that, A\)iile to the east of the Julian Alps, the water-cour­ ses which descend into the Black Sea are easily recognizable, as also the roads which run - parallel to them for the exchange of commence along the Danube, to the west of the Julian, chain the Carso phenomenon seems to hide the watercourses and therefore also the roads of commerce. I say, it seems, because in reality, though all the waters of the Carso rapidly disappear in the porous ground, characteristic of that territory, they first mark on the ground the in­ delible signs of their courses. And the roads, Avhich are the faithful companions of the rivers, and the towns and villages, which appear along the roads, adapt themselves to these river courses Thus, Avhile these communications between chain and chain of mountains • with a north-west ^outh-east direction are numerous, the roa'ds which faee the chains towards the east to join Istria with the Austro-Hungarian inland, are relatively few. So here also as in the Trentino, nature has clearly marked the limits of the respective zones of influence. And what nature has arranged would have been enough to preserve integrally the Itolianism of Istria, if hce also, as in the Adige Valley, Austria, afraid of the stubborn will of the Italians to extend their frontiers where they ought to be, had not done all in her power to render impossible the life of the Italians of Istria and at the same time encouraged a strong Slav emigration. In this -way peoples not sailors, who ought to have lived on the mainland were, thrust towards the sea. This is Avhy, in spite of all. the coastal centres remained clearly Italian. * It used to be said that Trient Avas the natural port of Austria; Mump, the natural port of Hungary. These are the two facts AArhich the Germans exploited to -sustain their rights to these ports, a thesis Avhich in reality has nothing to do Avith facts themselves. And in­ deed, no one can deny that Genoa is the principle port of SAviss commerce and a large part of southern Germany (1) and yet nobody could base himself on this undeniable truth to affirm that Genoa.is to be a SAVISS or Bavarian port. The same reasoning could in that case also be applied to many other ports, for example Marseilles.

(l)It is sufficient to observe what influence the limitations and closure of the port of Genoa had, with regard (o their traffic, on the life of Switzerlanl and Baveria, dining the present war. 7

Now Triest and Fiume are Adriatic ports, which serve for the western Austro-Hun­ garian inland, just as Genoa and Marseilles are Mediterranean ports which serve for the Swiss-German (southern) inland. If then someone were to argue that Genoa and Marseilles have also an Italian and French inland of great industrial, agricultural and commercial activity, whejeas Triest and Fiume have not such an Italian inland, it would only be necessary to remark that not nature, but only the systems of Austria hindered the formation of this inland econo­ mically Italian, crushing and casting out all Italian activity in Istria. We.have seen that, thanks to the configuration of the territory, Istria can be a terri­ tory of expansion both by land and sea only for Italy. The pass of the Adelsberg to the north and the' one under the Tuhovic to the south, along which railway lines run, may be the outlets for Austi'o-Hungarian traffic through Triest and Fiume. As 'Italy keeps the port of Genoa at the disposal of Central Europe, she can also keep, and it is in her interests to do so, the ports of Triest and Fiume at the disposal of the Austro-Hungarian " « hinterland ». A last glance at the map of Italy to control its toponomy : the towns, the ancient towns which still represent the vital Istrian centres of the mainland and sea, still retain their Italian names, and the Italian race remains, after many struggles and persecutions, always alive and alert in proclaiming its natural rights. The Slav names of Istria desi­ gnate agricultural and pastoral districts of Slavs imported by the Austro-Hungarian Em­ pire to suffocate Italian nationality. In summing up, everything makes us conclude that it is not just that the two large Adriatic ports, Triest and Fiume, Italian in origin, Italian in population, Italian in life, industry and commerce, Italian for their own desire, should be .detached from Italy.

Ill QRLrrmTm As the Eaetic Alps mark out the natural limits of the Trentino and the Juliac Alps those of Istria, so do the Dinaric Alps mark out the right boundary of Dalmatia. These high mountains in successive chains, forming barriers almost inaccessible, rising about 1000 metres and sometimes more, extend for a 300 kilometre front from north-*.vest to south-east. The highest of these chains is Mount Dinara (1851 metres) and clearly sepa­ rates the Dalmatian territory from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Between these parallel chains the rivers run with general courses, from north-west to south-east, as also the roads which join up the sea and with these numerous roads descend leading to the Italian towns of Zara-, Sebenico, Traù, Spalato, Almissa Ka- gusa, Oattaro, Few, three or four at the most, are the roads which, leaving the prin­ cipal network of communications of Dalmatia, cross the principal mountain chain to go to the interior, to Bosnia, Herzogovina ana the Danube Basin. Here, more than in the Trentino' and Istria, Austria-Hungary was not able to overcome the unsurmountable natural difficulties which unite' Dalmatia to Italy and seperate it from its domihators. Austria was able to send to the Dalmatian mountains Croatian, Slav, Bosnian and Her- zogovinian peasants, that is, the representatives of-those families of the Slav race which An- stria has always thrust against the Italians, but which instead will finish up by being uni­ ted in brotherhood with .the Italians. All these peoples have systemized themselves on the mountains and also reached the sea, l)iib here they found an obstacle and JK- resources. They contemplated the sea without car­ rying out nagivation, which remained completely Italian. The Austro-Hungarian fishing and trading craft was sailed by people Avho spoke Ita­ lian, by people whose dialect was still the Venetian dialect. The Austrian war fleet got its recruits from these crews and, though there were German, Hungarian and Yugo-Slav offi­ cers, the language for giving orders and for use in service was Italian, otherwise the crews would not have understood what they had to do. 8

But there is more to be said ; those who came down to the sea and felt the fascination of Italian culture became Italians. To see this it is sufficient to read the glorious list of Istrian patriots and martyrs : one finds among them many German, Hungarian, and Croat names. They are the names of the Danubians and mountaineers who, having come down to the sea, in.contact with the Italians, became sons of the same great mother-country, Italy. Ail this is easily explained in that though the Dalmatian - coast is 200 kilometres di­ stant from the Italian coast, it is 200 km. of sea which intervenes and. the sea unites and 'does not separate. On the other hand, it is true that the Dalmatian territory is connected to Bosnia-Herzogovina, but it is joined, to that country by the Dinaric Alps which act an a sopdrating element, owing to the obstacle they'offer to life and movement. Therefore Dalmatia is in direct communication with Italy and has almost no relations with Bosnia. Austria-Hungary in fact turned the traffic of Bosnia-Herzogovina towards the Danube and attempted — with the war provoked by her — to obtain an opening towards the sea over the Balkans ; that is, Austria did. not direct her efforts toAvards the Adriatic, whose coasts she already possessed, but towards the Egean Sea and the Black Sea. It must be said that the real conditions of the territory of the Dalmatian hinterland must have been very difficult if they were balanced and found heavier than the weight of a great war! And Austria, not being able to direct her activities towards this territory, despised the economic energies of Dalmatia as she had already neglected those of the Trentino and Istria. Among these energies it is sufficient to remember the hydraulic power. The Kerka, the Cetina and the Narenta can all give hundreds of thousands of H. P. The Austrians ne­ ver took any interest in these energies. It was the Italians, across the sea, who discovered, some twenty years ago, the hydraulic riches of Dalmatia. Silently, almost hjding from the Austrian Government, a group of Eoman and Venetian capitalists acquired the property of the waterfalls and constituted.the « Limited Company for the Hydraulic Forces in Dal­ matia » with the head office at Triest ; the capitalists were Italian and so were the engineers and workmen. The energy of the Avaters was converted into electric energy and thus along those rivers and at Sebenica and Almissa important factories sprung up. This industrial activity was created out of nothing by the work of Italians only and had relatipns with Italy and the world at large across the sea ; it never had, and could never "have, any com­ mercial connection Avith the then Austrian inland. About six years ago the Austro-Hungarian government noticed that the Italian activity in Dalmatia was giving a bad example, and then ordered that the administrators of the Company should be Austrian subjects, chosen by this government, and that no Italian engi­ neer or Avovkman should remain in the Dalmatian establishments of the Company. The Com­ pany Avas forced to accept the conditions imposed by the Austro-Hungarian Government, ad­ mitted the administrators nominated' by it (among Avhom, there were two officers of the Ge­ neral Staff of the Austrian Army) and declared that the Italian engineers and workmen would be replaced by Slav and German ones as soon as the latter could be found to substi­ tute the former. However, Avhen.in 1915, Italy declared war on Austria, the Austro-Hun­ garian Government had not yet been able to find engineers and Avorkmen capable of sub­ stituting the Italian ones. When the Avar broke out, the establishments Avere militarized and Avorked Avith military personnel. This episode, which constitutes the recent economic history of Dalmatia, would de­ monstrate, in itself, how reasonable it is to ask that the boundary of Italian activity in Dalmatia be fixed where the roads lead to the sea and the mountains arise as a barrier. OtherAvise Dalmatia Avili be closed to progress and civilization, without on the other hand giving the inland States an opening to the Adriatic sea. But if the inland States cannot support the thesis of the economic opening toAvards the sea, what is the meaning of their insistance in desiring to have possession of the Dalmatian coast ? The reply would be no more the voice of peace, but the call to Avar, for Avar could only shoAV the need for the inland States to have, on those coasts, bases for a Avar fleet. It is therefore the thought of naval offensive Avhich could push fonvard this need — an offen­ sive Avhich could have only one objective: Italy. But Avas the scope of the present war that of soAving seed for new struggles ?