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History of Trieste

The history of Trieste began with the formation of a town of modest size in pre-Roman times, which became an actual city only after Roman conquest in the second century BC and subsequent colonisation. After the imperial era, the city declined following barbarian invasions, becoming only marginally important for the next millennium. It changed lordships several times and then became a free city, which joined the House of Habsburg in 1382. Between the 18th and 19th centuries Trieste experienced a new period of prosperity thanks to its free port status and the development of a thriving shipping industry that made it one of the most important cities of the Austrian Empire.

Prehistory to Middle Ages
Pre-history The earliest evidence for human presence was found in the archaeological site where remains of Homo heidelbergensis individuals that lived between and years ago were found. The territory currently occupied by Trieste and its hinterland first became a stable home to humans during the Neolithic. Starting from the late Bronze Age the Castellieri culture began to be developed by pre-indo-European peoples. Pre-Roman and Roman According to historical record, the first groups of Indo-Europeans appeared in the 10th century BC, the Histri people. The foundation of the first nucleus of what would become the Roman town of has been attributed to the Adriatic Veneti, as evidenced by the Venetic language roots of the name ("Terg" and "Este") and other important findings. Greek historian Strabo, however, attributed the foundation of Tergeste to the Gaulish tribe of Carni, who settled the Eastern Alps in classical antiquity. a number the city reached again only in the 1760s. In the lower part of the hill in the city's historic centre it is still possible to see the remains of the ancient Roman settlement, despite the many modern buildings that partially cover the view today. Two buildings stand as a clear testimony of the importance of Tergeste in Roman times: the theatre, dating from the end of the 1st century BC (and later expanded under Trajan), with a capacity for about 6,000 spectators; and the early Christian basilica, built between the 4th and 5th centuries, which contains some superb mosaics, a clear sign of the prosperity enjoyed by the local church and the city of Tergeste well into the late imperial period of Roman history. The remains of Roman temples dedicated Jupiter and Athena, also built on the San Giusto hill, are also still visible. The latter has been preserved in the form of architecture structures built into the foundations of the Trieste Cathedral, identified from the outside through openings in the walls of the cathedral's bell tower, and also under ground (accessible through the building of the Municipal Museum of History and Art). Another ancient Roman monument which has survived in fairly good condition to this day is the Roman Arch (), an ancient city gate built in the second half of the 1st century BC. Remains of Roman villas owned by local nobility have also been found in Barcola, , and other settlements along the coast, mostly built in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. , which showed the Roman Empire during the time of Augustus Of crucial importance for the development of Tergeste in Roman times was Via Flavia, the road connecting it with Pola (present-day Pula, Croatia) along the coast of Istria, which was built during the reign of emperor Vespasian, in 78–79 AD. Tergeste also had a seaport and a series of small-scale harbours along the coast: at the San Vito promontory; at Grignano, near several patrician villas; at Santa Croce, etc.). The water needs of the city at the time were met by two aqueducts, one to nearby Bagnoli and the other to San Giovanni di Guardiella. From barbarian invasions to free municipality After the anarchy which paralysed the entire region after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Trieste was first part of the Kingdom of Italy ruled by Odoacer, and then by his successor Theodoric the Great. During the Gothic War (535–554) it was occupied by Justinian I, who turned the town into a military colony of the Byzantine Empire. A few years later the city was destroyed by the Lombards (in 568, at the time of their invasion, or, more likely, in 585). Rebuilt in the following decades, but now greatly reduced in size, the town then passed on to the Franks in 788, whose sovereignty was recognized by Byzantine emperors in 812. During the 8th century, the missionary work of priests of the Bishopric of Salzburg and the Patriarchate of Aquileia led to the Christianisation of the local Slavic communities, who were allowed by the Franks since the early 9th century to settle into the depopulated areas of the Istrian peninsula, up to the northern areas in the vicinity of Trieste, as documented in the Placitum of Riziano. In 948 Lothair II of Italy gave the government of the city to Bishop Joannes III and his successors, which from that moment on began to enjoy considerable autonomy, while still preserving feudal ties with the Kingdom of Italy. Throughout the bishops' rule the city was forced to defend itself against expansionist ambitions of the powerful patriarchs of Aquileia, Venice and later the Counts of Gorizia. The bishops' rule was in crisis around the middle of the 13th century: the incessant wars and quarrels, especially with Venice, had emptied the city coffers, forcing the bishops to get rid of some important prerogatives related to rights which were sold to citizenship. Among the latter, judicial rights, the collecting of tithe and the right to mint coins. The city therefore developed a civil administration, dominated by the elders of the city, which gradually took the place of the church. This process culminated in 1295, when bishop Brisa de Topo formally renounced his last prerogatives and fully relinquished the government of Trieste to the local community, officially establishing Trieste as a free municipality. ==Trieste and the Habsburgs: from the free city to international port==
Trieste and the Habsburgs: from the free city to international port
Austrian orbit of influence After becoming a free city, Trieste had to face new and increasingly powerful pressures, of both military and economic nature, from the Republic of Venice, which sought to impose its hegemony in the Adriatic Sea. The disproportion in terms of demographics, financial and military means between the two cities portended Trieste's rapid fall under Venetian influence and the loss of its independence as had already happened previously in many Istrian and Dalmatian urban centres. In 1368, yet another dispute with Venice resulted in a Venetian which lasted 11 months, and the occupation of Trieste by the Venetians from November 1369 to June 1380. The constant struggle to resist Venetian influence eventually led the city to place itself under the protection of the Duchy of Austria who was committed to respecting and protecting the integrity and civic freedom of Trieste (the latter were largely downsized from the second half of the 18th century). Creation of the free port and city development In 1719 Charles VI of Habsburg created in Trieste a free port whose privileges were extended during the reign of his successor, before the District Chamber (1747), then to the entire city (1769). After the emperor's death (in 1740) the young Maria Theresa of Austria acceded the throne, and thanks to a careful economic policy enabled the city to become one of the main European ports and the biggest in the Empire. The Theresian government invested considerable capital in expanding and upgrading the city port. Between 1758 and 1769 preparation for defense buildings were made, and a fort was created. In the immediate vicinity of the port rose the Stock Exchange (inside the Municipal Palace, around 1755), the Palace of the Lieutenancy (1764), as well as a department store and the first shipyard in Trieste, known as the shipyard of Saint Nicholas. In those years began to be built new , which still bears the name of the Empress, to accommodate the increasing population of the city that would reach about 30,000 inhabitants by the end of the century, six times greater than that in the hundred years before. The significant population growth of the city was due, for the most part, the arrival of numerous immigrants coming mainly from the Adriatic Basin (Venetian Istria, Dalmatia, Friuli, Slovenia) and, to a lesser extent, from continental Europe (Austria, Hungary) and the Balkans (Serbia, Greece, etc.). Serbs settled in Trieste largely during the 18th and 19th centuries, mostly from Herzegovina and Bay of Kotor. Though initially small in number, they soon formed an influential and rich community within the city. A number of Serb traders owned important business and had built palaces across Trieste, many of which still stand. Trieste was occupied three times by the troops of Napoleon, in 1797, in 1805 and 1809, in these short periods the city lost the ancient autonomy with the consequent suspension of the free port status. The first French occupation was very brief, beginning in March 1797 and lasting only two months. A large part of the population had abandoned in the city owing to the imminent arrival of Napoleon's troops, however the Napoleonic government proved to be less revolutionary than the citizens expected, with many returning to the city over the following days. Napoleon himself visited Trieste on April 29 and his troops left the city in may following the Peace of Leoben. The second French occupation lasted from December 1805 until March 1806. Despite the short duration of the first two occupations the democratic ideas brought by the French troops began spreading in Trieste which began developing an Italian identity. The third occupation began on the 17th of May 1809 and starting from the 15th of October Trieste was annexed to the Illyrian Provinces. This occupation ended on the 8th of November 1813 when Trieste was captured by the Habsburgs at the end of the Siege of Trieste. Under the Habsburgs Trieste continued to grow, thanks to the opening of the Austrian Southern Railway in 1857. In the 1860s it was elevated to the rank of the state capital of the Austrian Littoral region (Oesterreichisches Küstenland). In the last decades of the 19th century the city became the fourth biggest urban area in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (after Vienna, Budapest and Prague). Commercial and industrial development of the city in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first 15 years of the next century (30,000 employees in the secondary sector in 1910) led to the birth and development of some pockets of social exclusion. Trieste at the time had a high infant mortality, higher than that of the Italian cities and one of the highest tuberculosis rates in Europe. Those factors further deepened the already increasing gap between the countryside, populated mostly by ethnic Slovenes, and the city proper, with its Italian language and traditions. Ethnic and linguistic groups in the Habsburg age In the Middle Ages and up to the early 19th century inhabitants of Trieste spoke the , a Rhaeto-Romance dialect, although the primary language used for all official purposes and in culture was Latin throughout the Middle Ages. At end of the medieval period (14th and 15th centuries) usage of Italian language started to spread (although spoken as mother tongue, by a small minority of people in Trieste), and later still, in the latter part of the 18th century, German became more widely used, although it was confined to the purely administrative sphere. After the establishment of the free port and the beginning of the great migration that began in the 18th century, demographic changes intensified further in the next century (with a clear predominance of the Venetians, Dalmatians, Istrians, Friuli and Slovenes), and Tergestina gradually lost ground to Venetian language. If the first is imposed primarily as a written language and culture, the second spread, between the last decades of the 18th and early 19th century as a real lingua franca in Trieste. Among linguistic minorities acquired considerable weight in the city in the second half of the 19th century, the Slovenian (present in Carso since medieval times), that on the eve of First World War represented about a fourth of the total population of the municipality. Thanks to its privileged status as the only important commercial port in Austria, Trieste continued always to maintain its close cultural and linguistic ties with Italy and despite German being the official language, by the late Habsburg period Italian became the dominant language in all formal contexts, including business (both on the stock market and in private transactions), education (in 1861 an Italian school was opened by the city, joined to the existing Austro-German school), written notice (the vast majority of publications and papers were written in Italian), finding its own space even in the municipal council (the political class in Trieste was mostly Italian-speaking). According to the contested Austrian census of 1910, out of a total of 229,510 inhabitants of the city of Trieste (also including a number of locations in the centre and surrounding plateau) occurred as a result of the revision, the following distribution on the base of the tongue of use: • 118,959 (51.8%) spoke Italian • 56,916 (24.8%) spoke Slovenian • 11,856 (5.2%) spoke German • 2,403 (1.0%) spoke Serbo-Croatian • 779 (0.3%) spoke other languages • 38,597 (16.8%) were foreign nationals who had not been asked for the language of use, including: • 29,639 (12.9%) were Italian citizens • 3,773 (1.6%) were Hungarian citizens. Of the total population surveyed, well 98,872 inhabitants (43%) were not born in the municipality of Trieste but in other territories placed under Austrian sovereignty (71,940 registered inhabitants, i.e. 31.3%) or abroad (26,842 registered inhabitants, 11.7%). Among the latter the most part was born in the Kingdom of Italy (the "subjects of the Kingdom") and, among the first, the most numerous colonies came from Gorizia and Gradisca (22,192 registered inhabitants), from Istria (20,285 inhabitants surveyed), Carniola (11,423 registered inhabitants) and Dalmatia (5,110 registered inhabitants). Trieste from 1861 to World War I The national contrasts The political and national struggles of Trieste in the period between 1861 and 1918 were the subject of a large series of studies by historians of different nationalities. The interpretations and historiographical visions of this period are not always consistent with each other and the debate remains open, at least in a number of aspects and problems. It appears undeniable that was sixty years marked by strong tensions. highlights, in this period the dual action of defence put forward by the Italian-speaking population, and in relation to the Viennese bureaucratic centralism, both against the spread of the Slav population. The two phenomena, in fact, especially during the second Taaffe ministry (1879–1893) were sometimes concurrent, since the central government considered the most reliable Slavs. At the time it was a widespread fact that the so-called Austro-Slavism, a political trend by which the Slavic-speaking populations aimed to achieve its national objectives within the Habsburg regime and with his own cooperation. Government policies towards Trieste The dynamic city of Trieste in this period was found to be conditioned by the different policies adopted by the central Viennese power towards the local institutions and the national question. As early as February 1861 the imperial government had issued a license that reduced the autonomy of individual diets, with the aim to proceed to a centralization and Germanization of the administration of the empire. The decision provoked reactions in Trieste, from which came the request to ensure the autonomy of the city, which observed its Italian ethnic character. This centralist policy was accompanied, especially after the Third Italian War of Independence of 1866 and, in general, the process of creation of the Italian state, by a general distrust or hostility toward Italian ethnic populations present in the empire, and their faithfulness to the Austrian State and the Habsburg dynasty: "the events of 1866 strengthened in many Austrian politicians (among military leaders, conservative aristocracy and the imperial family) old suspicion of unfealty and the dangerousness of the Italian element for the Empire. [...] After 1866 the distrust of the conservative sectors of the ruling class towards Italians began to result in deliberate hostility. " Emperor Franz Joseph, in his Privy Council of 12 November 1866, a few months after the end of the Third War of Italian Independence and its annexation of the Veneto and Friuli to the highest part of the Kingdom of Italy, imposed a policy to "... Germanise and Slavonians in the strongest terms and without scruple ...» all Italian regions still part of his empire: Trentino, Dalmatia, Venezia Giulia. The minutes of the Habsburg Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, with the directives of "Germanization and Slavonians", is well known by historians, who have frequently cited it in their works. It is reported by a number of independent essays among them, made by scholars from different countries and in different years, which have provided different interpretations on the possible outcomes and applications. Writes historian Luciano Monzali: "The minutes of the Council of Ministers of the Habsburg end of 1866 show the intensity of the hostility anti-Italian emperor and the nature of its political guidelines in this regard. Franz Joseph was converted fully to the idea of the general element infidelity Italian and Italian-speaking towards the Habsburg dynasty in the Council of Ministers, November 2, 1866, he gave strict orders to oppose the influence of decisive way ' Italian element still present in some Kronländer, and aim for Germanization or slavicized, depending on the circumstances, of the areas in question with all the energy and without any regard [...] all central authorities were ordered to do so systematically . These anti-Italian sentiments expressed by the emperor, who would have had serious political consequences [...] in the following years, they were also particularly prominent in the army, which had fought many wars in Italy and was eager for revenge: considered the preponderant role of the military [... ], it was extremely dangerous. " so it was designed and developed the "... floor of the Austrian conservative ruling class to pursue a policy of concessions to the slavic nationalities, considered most loyal to the Empire and prepared to accept the power dominant Habsburg emperor and aristocracy. " that would also have included Trieste and the Austrian Littoral. Indeed, it was the will of the Austrian Government '... to weaken the powers and the political and economic strength of the city of Trieste controlled by the national-liberal Italian, rightly considering the heart of the national liberalism in Austria and irredentist tendencies". This also included the severing of "... close political, cultural and social among liberals Trieste and Italy.." The school problem An issue that aroused strong interest and sometimes great passions was schooling, because teaching was seen as an essential form of transmission and preservation of national culture. The imperial educational system was quite complex and differentiated, as it was intended for a multiplicity of ethnic groups enclosed in the same state. Simplifying for brevity, you can present the following distinction for the city of Trieste in the period: there were primary schools where teaching was held in familiar language (paternal or maternal language) or better in the so-called endeavoured use of language routinely by students, but who foresaw the obligation of German as a second language; then there were secondary schools, which had as a teaching language either the language used by the majority of the population and by the educated class and business (Italian) or the official and administrative language of the empire (German). The complexity was increased by the existence of state and municipal schools, institutions with parallel sections with a different language of instruction and again by the substantial number of hours spent in some institutions in certain languages (Italian, German, Slovenian), but as a matter of ' learning rather than as the language of instruction. The imperial authorities tried to spread as much as possible to teaching in German and, in part, also Slovenian. The same textbooks were subjected to strict censorship, with some paradoxical results, such as the study of Italian literature using texts translated from German or the prohibition on the study of the history of Trieste, because it was deemed "too Italian". For these reasons, the Italian National League had, among its main objectives, the promotion of scholarly and educational institutions for the cultural defence of the Italian ethnic group. In Trieste, between 10 and 12 July 1868, there were demonstrations for academic freedom following a petition signed by 5,858 citizens and presented to the city council, which demanded the right to use the Italian language in state schools. These demonstrations degenerated into clashes and violence in the main city streets, with local Slovenes enlisted among the Habsburg soldiers, which caused the death of student Rodolfo Parisi, killed after being stabbed 26 times by bayonets and of two workers Sussa Francis and Nicholas Zecchia. It should be remembered that there were even more violent clashes. In 1914 there was a slight scuffle at the High School of Commerce Pasquale Revoltella between Italian and Slavic students, tied to a language issue. The Slovenian Balcan university society intervened, in theory in protest, so a few days later (13 March 1914) there were other far more severe clashes, which caused the death of an Italian student hit by a bullet during a shooting. Another point of school problem which caused bitter divisions was the request to allow the establishment of an Italian university in Trieste. The question had been put forward since 1848 and had become more pressing after 1866, since students from Trieste (and in general Italians who were subjects of the empire) saw a border placed between them and the Italian universities of Padua, where they previously went to study. The Austrian state in principle recognized the legitimacy of the request to establish an Italian university in Trieste, but denied the concession for fear of displeasing the Slovenian group or to see it put forward a similar request and because it foresaw that such a centre of culture and studies would eventually strengthen the Italian irredentism. The labour issue The large urban, industrial and commercial centre of Trieste attracted an intense migratory movement from neighboring regions, both from the empire, and the Italian state. Thus arrived in the city of Trieste immigrants of many nationalities, but principally Italians and Southern Slavs. Fears arose in the Italian community that the empire favoured the immigration of Slavs over Italians. However, the Slav migratory movement towards Trieste was principally driven by socio-economic reasons. Slovenes more easily found work in public service in a mixed-language zone for linguistic reasons and they were often well received by the Italian employers in sectors ranging from industrial to domestic work. points out that the distrust of the imperial authorities towards immigrant Italians was due to the fact that they were citizens of a foreign state. One must add, however, as recognized by Angelo Ara, that "undoubtedly there existed an imperial interest in strengthening the South-Slavic component, considered most loyal and" centripetal "of the Italian": this attitude was, for example, recognized by the Governor Hohenlohe in an official document. Sestan notes for his part as the Austrian authorities would promote the Slavic migration from rural regions of Slovenia and Croatia and at the same time impeding the migratory movement of Italians from the kingdom. The imperial authorities showed themselves wary of the subjects of the Kingdom were easily driven to implement expulsion measures against them, "citizenship of the Kingdom of Italy [...] was sufficient motive for the Austrian authorities to make use of force when they believe appropriate, intervening with measures of forced eviction, with the most trivial pretexts; about 35,000 subjects of the Kingdom of Italy would be expelled in the decade from 1903 to 1913, up to the decrees of the lieutenant of Trieste Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. The rapid grow of the Slavic population in Trieste at the beginning of the twentieth century was then due to both social and economic reasons owing to the politics of the empire and Hohenlohe (a sympathizer of Trialism). The consequence, however, was that the Trieste city saw its Italianness eroded Slavic immigration, without the Italian population being able to see similar demographic growth. Despite the protests widening to involve other categories of workers, eventually involving all of the city, the company did not move on its position. On 15 February, after the news that Lloyd would put it itself to an arbitration panel. 3000 protesters went from a socialist meeting at Politeama Rossetti towards the centre to celebrate. Once they reached the demonstrators were stopped by the men of the 55th infantry brigade under the command of Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, which started shooting and charging at the crowd with their bayonets. Over 200 demonstrators were injured with 14 killed. In the following days the arbitration panel granted two of the three demands. National Contrasts The politics of Trieste in the period between 1861 and 1918 have been the subject of a large number of studies by historians of different nationalities. The interpretations and historiographic visions of this period are not always in agreement with one another, and the debate remains open. It is however undeniable that the period was marked by strong tensions. both against the bureaucratic Viennese centralism and the diffusion of Austro-Slavism. The two phenomena were combined during the Taaffe Ministry (1879–1893) as the central government saw the Slavic population as more reliable. Irredentism and the Great War (1897 map) The directives of the Habsburg imperial government promoted a series repressive and discriminatory measures to the detriment of the Italian population of Trieste. However, they contributed in important ways to the spread of Irredentist ideas within the Italian community who felt its very existence under threat by the joint action of the Austrian Government and the local Slavic nationalists. border. Trieste was, with Trento, both a subject and center of irredentism, a movement that, in the last decades of the nineteenth century and early twentieth aspired to the annexation of the cities to Italy. The drivers of irredentism in Trieste were mostly bourgeois rising classes (including the wealthy Jewish colony), whose potential and political aspirations could not be satisfied in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Slovene ethnic group was in the city of Trieste in the early twentieth century in demographic, social and economic growth, and, according to the controversial census of 1910, was about a quarter of the entire population. Irredentism therefore assumed, in the Julian city, the characters often markedly anti-Slavs that were embodied by the figure of . The first martyr for this movement is Trieste's, Guglielmo Oberdan, who was triad and hanged in Trieste on 20 December 1882 for plotting to kill Emperor Franz Joseph. Close to the Italian irredentist movement and perceived as such by the Austrian authorities, was the aforementioned National League, the largest private organization in Trieste at the time, which grew to 11,569 members in 1912. On 23 May 1915, after the news of the Italian declaration of war on Austro-Hungary, pro-Austrian demonstrators, set fire to the headquarters of the National League, Palazzo Tonello, which house the editorial office of the irredentist newspaper "Il Piccolo" and the building of the irredentist sports association Società Ginnastica Triestina. of Italian troops in Trieste on 3 November 1918 At the outbreak of World War I, 128 men of Trieste refused to fight under the Austro-Hungarian flags, and immediately following the Italian entry into the war against the Central Powers, they enlisted in the royal army. Among the volunteers who lost their lives during the conflict, are the writers and intellectuals Scipio Slataper, and Carlo Stuparich, brother of the more famous Giani. Particularly active in terms of ideas and propaganda were the escapees from Trieste in Italy and France, where he played a major role in the foundation, in Rome, of the Central Committee of the Upper Adriatic propaganda (1916) and, in Paris, of the association Italia irredenta. All members of the governing bodies of the committee were from Trieste, with the exception of the Dalmatian Alessandro Dudan. Between 1915 and 1917, Italian aviation bombed the city on numerous occasions, causing many victims among the civilian population. Estimates indicate that around 50000 Italian speaking citizens of the Austrian Littoral fought for Austria-Hungary between 1914 and 1918. On November 3, 1918, Italian troops entered finally in Trieste, met with overwhelming enthusiasm. "Almost the entire Italian population was in the street waiting liberators. Italian Army witnesses recall with emotion the enveloping embrace of Trieste, noting even the appearance gaunt and subdued crowd, submitted for the whole duration of the war to the same deprivations of Austria's population. " Annexation to Italy in the period 1922–1947; the borders do not correspond to the those of the time as they are drawn based on current administrative divisions. In that same month of November (1918), at the end of the First World War, Trieste was occupied by the Royal Italian Army under the command of general Carlo Petitti di Roreto. The formal annexation of the city and Venezia Giulia, however, came only two years later, between November 1920 and January 1921, when it became effective with the Treaty of Rapallo. With the annexation, the importance of the Julian metropolis was somewhat diminished: Trieste became a border city with a much more limited hinterland than in the past. Its port had also lost the potential user base that had led to its development consisting of the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had dissolved following the war. To at least partially mitigate these difficulties, the Italian state put in place a policy of economic assistance towards the city and its province, initiated by the government of Giovanni Giolitti (1920–1921), it lasted throughout the fascist period (1922–1943). The main effort was made to support the industrial sector, which legislators intended to replace the port and commercial activities related to it as the main drivers of the economy of Trieste. In 1923, Trieste was chosen as the capital of the Province of Trieste. ==Fascism==
Fascism
The development of fascism in Trieste happened early and rapidly. In May 1920 the first Squadre volontarie di difesa cittadina, groups of fascist squadristi under the command of Ettore Benvenuti. On 11 June, the arditi of an assault regiment awaiting transport to Albania, travelled through the streets of the city centre chanting for revolution and using their weapons against officials. The unrest ceased only late a night, resulting in 2 dead with several others injured. June also saw the opening of the Avanguardia studentesca triestina (Triestine student vanguard), which also had clear fascist inspiration. These organisations recruited the squadristi that, led by Francesco Giunta, burnt down the Hotel Balkan on 13 July 1920 during an anti-Slav demonstration organised by Triestine fascists under the pretext of the unrest in Split. During the unrest, the squadristi set fire to the building, showing that « [...] with the flames...that can be well seen from different points in the city, the force of fascism awaits». on 13 July 1920 In December 1920, the fascist newspaper '' was first published and began to push the idea that the collapse of the anachronistic Austria-Hungarian empire would allow the people of Trieste, and the region more generally, to play a more imperialist role in the Adriatic and the Balkans. Different groups were receptive to this message, including industrialists, bourgeois, demobilized officers, students and ambitious citizens. The elections of 1921 gave the fascist Blocco italiano coalition 45% of the total votes. Following the march on Rome on 28 October 1922, the local squadristi,'' lead by Francesco Giunta, occupied a number of public buildings with approval from the authorities, a few days later, fascists paraded through the streets of Trieste. With the advent of fascism began a policy in Trieste and Venezia Giulia of Italianization of minorities. Starting from the mid-1920s, surnames and toponyms began to be Italianized, in 1929, the teaching of Slovene and other slavic languages was banned from all of the cities public schools of all types and grades, and shortly afterwards all Slovene organizations were dissolved. The objective was the forceful assimilation of minority ethnic groups with contempt for their culture and traditions. This policy, combined with the anti-slav actions of the squadristi often resulted in deaths and injuries and had severe repercussions on the delicate inter-ethnic relations. Militant pro independence Slovene organizations, including TIGR and Borba reacted to the murders perpetrated by fascists with a similar brutality: acts of armed resistance multiplied with violent actions against members of the fascist regime, of law enforcement and in some cases ordinary citizens. giving a speech in Piazza Unità d'Italia in Trieste in September 1938 In 1930s two attacks were carried out by TIGR: one at Faro della Vittoria and another more serious attack at the headquarters of Il Popolo di Trieste which caused one death and three injuries. Law enforcement undertook a vast investigation, resulting in the resistance cells being dismantled. A number of Slovenes were tried by a special session of the Tribunale speciale per la difesa dello Stato, held in Trieste for the occasion, for crimes including murder, attempted murder and arson. The trial concluded with exemplary sentences; four of the accused being sentenced to death and shot at on 6 September 1930 (, , and ), another twelve received sentences varying from two years and six months to thirty years, while two were released. In December 1941, Trieste held another session of the Tribunale speciale per la difesa dello Stato against nine members of TIGR (both Slovenes and Croats) who were accused of terrorism and espionage. Five of them (, , , and ) were executed at Opicina with the others imprisoned, bringing an end to the organization. The entry of Italy into World War II, alongside Nazi Germany in June 1940 brought problems and loss for Trieste. The Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in spring 1941 re-ignited Slovene and Croat resistance in Venezia Giulio, especially from 1942. The reality of the war, in particular the deliberate policies of the occupying German and Italian troops towards the Slovene and Croat populations under their control (burnt villages, decimations, indiscriminate killing of civilians), along with the opening of concentration camps strengthened the inter-ethnic hatred that would impact the city and the region well beyond the Second World War. From the summer of 1942, until the Fall of the regime on 25 July 1943, there was recurring violence in the city from squadristi. The secretary of the local Fascio, the relatively moderate Gustavo Piva was replaced by the more extreme Giovanni Spangaro, who received unconditional support from the general secretary of the PNF, Aldo Vidussoni. Violence against slavs and Italian antifascists intensified. On 30 June 1942 the Centro per lo studio del problema ebraico (Centre for the study of the Jewish problem) opened in Trieste, based on the one in Rome, and the following 18 July Trieste'ssynagogue was attacked and damaged, after it had already been targeted the year before. In the months that followed, the fascists attacked many Jewish and Slavic shops, however without major involvement from the local citizens. In 1942 the Ispettorato speciale di pubblica sicurezza per la Venezia Giulia (Special inspectorate for public safety for Venezia Giulia) was established, headquartered in a building in via Bellosguardo that soon became a place where suspected anti-fascists would be interrogated, tortured and murdered. It became known as , the first site to be known as such in Italy. ==German Occupation==
German Occupation
A few days after the Armistice of Cassibile, whose contents were broadcast by radio on 8 September 1943, Trieste was occupied by German troops. Though it wasn't formally annexed by the Third Reich, it became part of the Zona d'operazioni del Litorale adriatico (OZAK), which included the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume, Udine, and Ljubljana and was led by Gauleiter Friedrich Rainer, who nominated as podesta of the city, and Bruno Coceani as prefect of the Province of Trieste. Both met the approval of the authorities of the RSI and Benito Mussolini, who had personally known Coceani since the 1920s. There were tensions with the local fascists however, who themselves removed from the administration of the town and the province. To avoid a division with the Italian authorities, the Germans authorizes the local PFR to assemble its own paramilitary formations and secret police to use in anti-partisan action. Estimates from the 1976 trial put the death toll of the camp between 2 and 4 thousand people, with other estimates putting the death toll as high as 5 thousand. on 3 April 1944 in a reprisal. During the trial for the crimes in the Risiera di San Sabba it was discovered that the Nazis had used the bodies of the victims to test the crematorium. At the same time the activities of the Yugoslav partisan movement intensified in the Carso near Trieste to destabilize the occupying regime. The reaction by the occupiers and Italian collaborators was immediate, searches and decimations devastate the city and nearby towns. The largest round-up operation was on 27 February 1944; during this operation the occupiers took 670 men aged between 15 and 65 from nearby Slovene villages and deported them to Bavaria for forced labour in factories and farms. In April 1944, in response to a partisan attack that caused the death of 7 German soldiers in Opicina 71 civilians of both Italian and Slovene ethnicity were shot in an act of reprisal. A few days later on 23 April 1944, another attack lead to another reprisal . Between April 1944 and February 1945, Trieste was also subject to bombing raids by British and American forces. The damage included port structures, the oil refinery and shipyards as well as city itself. Numerous residential buildings were destroyed with many others damaged. The number of victims of the bombing is estimated at 1000 for the comune, with the raid of 10 June 1944 being particularly devastating, causing the deaths of approximately 400 people. ==Liberation and Yugoslav occupation==
Liberation and Yugoslav occupation
Liberation of Trieste On 30 April 1945, Trieste's National Liberation Committee (CLN), under the command of Antonio Fonda Savio began to liberate the city. Joining the CLN in its attacks against German forces were the Guardia di Finanza and numerous elements of the Guardia Civica which had been secretly organized by the committee, while the suburbs and districts saw action from communist groups. Slovene partisan groups did not take part in violent actions in the city centre and were instead active in the Karst Plateau and the outer districts. The 4th army of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, allied with the Anglo-American forces, the Slovene IX Korpus, also containing people from Trieste, as well as the partisan forces already present in the city liberated Trieste from Nazi occupation on the night between 30 April and 1 May 1945. Yugoslav occupation entering Trieste (1 May 1945) tanks of the 4th Army of the National Liberation Army entering Trieste. On the morning of 1 May, the vanguard of the Yugoslav partisan forces reached Trieste, followed by the IX Korpus of the Yugoslav army, both under the command of Josip Broz Tito who was not however present in the theatre of operation. The meeting between the Yugoslav 4th Army and the Italian insurgents happened in the city centre at about 9:30 in the morning between a forward group under the command of Božo Mandac and , commander of the local partisans alongside other representatives of the committee. The Yugoslav forces intended to attack the last remaining positions held by the Germans, but a few hours later, rather than using the support that had been promised them by the Italian partisans of the CLN, they demanded the surrender of the axis forces. Some Italian units refused, resulting in fights with Yugoslav forces in and Rozzol. The afternoon of 2 May saw the arrival of the 2nd New Zealand Division under the command of General Bernard Freyberg, prompting the last remaining German forces to surrender. The Yugoslav troops began a 43-day occupation of the city. In the first days of May, Tito nominate as political commissar for Trieste Franc Štoka, a member of the Communist Party. Štoka declared the city as part of the future Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The flag of Yugoslavia was to be flown next to the Italian flag on public buildings and the time-zone was changed to that of Slovenia. Many members of the CLN were forced to go into hiding, fearing reprisal, while others secretly left the city. The curfew lasted until the end of May, even though the war had been over for several weeks. On the 5th day of Yugoslav occupation, a crowd of people descended into the squares to demonstrate in favour of the return of Trieste to Italy. The demonstration had been organized by the CLN which aimed to create a united democratic front to request the petition the allies to make Tito's forces leave the city. Yugoslav forces opened fire on the demonstrators, killing 5 of them. Freyberg's New Zealand troops moved from the neighbourhoods and port that they had occupied, avoiding confrontation with Yugoslav forces. The occupation ended on 12 June 1945 following the agreement of the Morgan line separating the region into areas that would be administered by Yugoslav forces and those that would be administered by British and United States troops. The occupation period was seen as a moment of liberation by the Slovene community of Trieste while the Italian population saw it as another period of loss and oppression. Foibe massacres and exiles in Trieste Starting in September 1943, as a result of the rapid collapse of the Italian army following the Armistice of Cassibile, Slav partisan groups were able to take control of vast amounts of territory in the region, and began in Istria and in the Carso near Trieste a campaign of killings of suspectec fascists as well as those who would oppose the communist politics and territorial desires of Josip Broz Tito in Venezia Giulia. Those killed were mainly Italians but also Slovenes and Croats. The killings increased in the following years and reached a peak with the entrance of the Yugoslav army into the city, with the control it was able to exercise over the territory going unchallenged by Freyberg's New Zealand troops. During the period of Yugoslav occupation, the Yugoslav authorities conducted a number of searches and arrests of numerous citizens suspected of opposing communist ideology or deemed to be untrustworthy due to their social position, or family or national origins. Among these were mainly fascists and collaborationists, but also fighters in the , simple workers and victims of personal feuds. The majority of those arrested did not return home. The people of Trieste called for the intervention of the allies who made formal complaints, without achieving noticeable results. General Gentry, who shared command of the allied troops with Freyberg, held a meeting with his Yugoslav counterpart and state that the allies could not allow summary arrests and the removal of citizens without due process, however this achieved nothing. The discovery of the first foibe in autumn 1943 and the testimony of refugees from Dalmatia on the fate of the Italians in Zara in November 1944 left little doubt in the minds of citizens as what was happening to those who were arrested. Shortly after the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Trieste began a series of excavations in the Carso. Eventually a number foibe were found in the vicinity of the city, with the primary foibe in Basovizza, and Sežana (currently in the territory of Slovenia), and secondary sites in Opicina, Campagna and Corgnale with an undetermined number of bodies. Not all the disappeared with thrown in the foibe, and unknown number were also deported to other parts of Venezia Giulia or Yugoslavia and likely killed and buried there. In April 1947 the Allied military government collected the names of 1492 people disappeared from Trieste based on reports from family members, but these numbers were not definitive, and definitive numbers were never provided even decades later. When Vittorio Vidali, one of the leaders of communism in the region returned to Trieste in March 1947, noting the facture between Stalin, supported by the PCI, and Tito referred to Tito's supporters as "a gang of assassins and spies". Starting from summer 1945, the main Istrian–Dalmatian exodus was underway, with people leaving the areas that had been occupied by Yugoslav forces and which would later be annexed to the Yugoslave state. The exodus began in 1943 and lasted for about 15 years with estimates of 250000 or more exiles, with Trieste being one of the main destinations. The city welcomed some 65000 exiles that chose to re-build a life in the area that would eventually become the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. This influx of people was a great asset for the economic and demographic development of the city, reversing a long period of demographic stagnation beginning in the 1920s. ==Allied occupation and the Free Territory of Trieste==
Allied occupation and the Free Territory of Trieste
With the Belgrade accords of 9 June 1945 and the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Trieste on 12 June, the entire Venezia Giulia was divided into two zone along the Morgan Line. Zone A, containing Trieste, would be administered by the English and Americans, while Zone B would be administered by the Yugoslavs. Following the Paris Peace Treaties in 1947 Gorizia, Monfalcone and other small areas of Venezia Giulia were assigned to Italy, while Istria and the rest of Venezia Giulia were assigned to Yugoslavia. Parts of Zone A, including Trieste, and Zone B, north of the Quieto river, remained unassigned. Trieste was provisionally designated as the British United States Zone - Free Territory of Triest (BUSZ-FTT) - Territorio Libero di Trieste, Zona Anglo - Americana. From September 1947 the territory was administered by the UN and the Allied Military Government - Free Territory of Triest (AMG-FTT), Territorio Libero di Trieste. Zone B was the administered by Yugoslavia. The UN planned for the Free Territory of Trieste, including both zones to have a seat at the UN. On 8 October 1953, the ambassadors of the United States and United Kingdom in Rome made an official declaration informing the Italian and Yugoslav governments that it was the intention of their countries to end their military occupation of Zone A, which would then have passed to Italian administration. In a secret statement communicated only to Italy it was also declared that this was a definitive settlement and they would have opposed any military attempt from Yugoslavia to take Zone A, but not to its anexation of Zone B. Yugoslavia condemned this partition and both countries sent troops to their borders, resulting in some 50000 facing each other on both sides of the Italian-Yugoslav border. However, due to opposition from the Soviet Union, the US and UK were not able to intervene. Shortly after the declaration of 8 October, several demonstrations took place both for and against the return of Trieste to Italy. The first demonstration was by about 2000 Slovene students who protested in the city centre, young Italians responded by breaking into the offices of the Yugoslav economic delegation breaking the windows and throwing the furniture into the street. Tensions peaked with the Trieste riots during the first days of November. On 4 November there was the celebration of Italy's victory in the First World War and many people went to pay their respects to the fallen at the Sacrario militare di Redipuglia, passing the checkpoint at Duino and entering Italian territory. On their return in the evening the first demonstrations started, and on the morning of 5 November the mayor of Trieste flew from city hall the Italian flag in place of the flag of Trieste. The tricolour was lowered some hours later by the British, resulting in protesters gathering around the police headquarters where shots were fired resulting in the deaths of two demonstrators. These events were followed the next day by a general strike, with the population of Trieste gathering in Piazza Unità to demonstrate against the allied military government. Police agents in the Government building fired into the crowd, killing another 4 demonstrators, the situation became uncontrollable and riots broke out. American troops intervened and were able to calm the crowd. The authorities of the city protested against these actions and demanded that the allied military government hand over the British troops and police officers responsible. == Return to Italy ==
Return to Italy
The London Memorandum In December 1953, high level meeting began to resolve the . Tito had made it clear that any solution that would have altered the status quo while disadvantaging Yugoslavia would not have been accepted, while Italians did not want to move from the conditions contained in the declaration of 8 October. The Yugoslav position softened after the British and Americans promised to contribute twenty million dollars and two million pounds to the financing of a port in Zone B. The Italian position also softened thanks to a more realistic approach by Prime Minister Scelba and his foreign minister Piccioni. Einaudi following the return of Trieste to Italy (4 November 1954) On 5 October 1954 an agreement was finally signed in London by the representatives of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Yugoslavia which became known as the . This agreement split the Free Territory of Trieste along the two previously assigned zones, with some slight tweaks in favour of Yugoslavia at the border in the Comune of Muggia. On the afternoon of the same day, general Winterton announced the agreement by radio and a celebrating crowd gathered in Piazza Unità d'Italia. Three weeks later on 26 October 1954 Italian troops entered the city. Trieste lost a large part of its province as was left on a narrow limb of land that reduced its economic potential. It was decided to maintain its status as a Free-trade zone, and protections for ethnic minorities was imposed in both zones. Capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia On returning to Italian administration, the Christian Democrat governments of the time worked to give the city tools to help its economic development. In 1955 a Fondo di rotazione was created to provide subsidized loans to entrepreneurs in the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, and three years later a law was passed to build new infrastructure and enlarge the port. In 1963 Friuli-Venezia Giulia received the status of autonomous region and Trieste was chosen as its capital, creating a number of jobs tied to public administration. The founding of Italcantieri, headquartered in Trieste from 1966, also helped to keep a high level employment. in Trieste These legislative actions were not able to stop the decline of Trieste's shipbuilding industry, its port and the territory's industry even during the economic miracle, some factors that contributed to its decline include its remote location, competition from Yugoslav ports (particularly Fiume), its limited hinterland, and the nature of the state contributions. At the end of the 1960s the port in Trieste was second only to that of Genoa in terms of volume of goods, but 80% of what passed through Trieste's port was oil, whose transportation produced only modest profits compared to other goods. Between the 1960s and 1970s cross-border trade began to develop, however this was generally done by small businesses that were unable to absorb the large number of people that were unable to find work in the struggling industries. Treaty of Osimo From the beginning of the 1970s meetings began between the Italian and Yugoslav governments to attempt to amicably resolve the problems still present between the two countries, including the reciprocal recognition of the de facto border between the two countries. Beginning in February 1971 the Italia foreign minister Aldo Moro met with his counterpart Mirko Tepavac, this was followed by an official visit by Tito, a meeting between Tito and foreign minister Giuseppe Medici, another meeting between Tito and the director general of the industry ministry Eugenio Carbone, and finally a meeting between Enrico Berlinguer and Tito. The signing of the Treaty of Osimo happened on 10 November 1975 with support from the United States who were trying to form closer relations with non-aligned Yugoslavia to strengthen the anti-soviet block. The agreement reached included • Officialization of the de facto border between the two countries since 1954 • It re-affirmed the protections for ethnic minorities previously stated in the London Memorandum • The construction of an industrial zone on the border between Slovenia and Italy, that would have extended into the comune of Trieste • The construction of infrastructure (roads, motorways etc.) between Gorizia and the neighbouring Slovene territory. The agreement of the treaty prompted protests from the people of Trieste who had not been consulted at any point of the process. Of particular concern was the definitive renunciation of the historical Venetian lands, even though by this time most of the Italian population that had lived there had left. Moderates and conservatives rejected the creation of the industrial zone that they felt would have contributed to the de-Italianization of the city, left wing voices also raised similar concerns, as well as the effect such a zone would have on the local ecosystem. This prompted the formation of the Lista per Trieste political party, led by with an electoral program to create an enlarged free zone that included the entire province of Trieste. The party obtained some electoral success between 1978 and 1983, even surpassing the national parties and gaining between 20% and 33% of the votes. In 1987, with the support of the PSI, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. In the following decade the party was a diminishing force and repeatedly supported Forza Italia. The party never obtained the desired enlarged free zone, but was able to definitively block the construction of the industrial zone. Yugoslavia did not try to impose the terms of the agreement after its ratification in 1977. Only some of infrastructure projects in the province of Gorizia were completed. == Trieste in the European Union ==
Trieste in the European Union
The entrance of Slovenia into the European Union in 2004, and Schengen in December 2007 finally allowed Trieste to exit from its isolation. From that date the border between Italy and Slovenia has ceased to be a barrier to the free passage of people and good. ==See also==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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