Editing Italian irredentism (section)

== Characteristics ==
[[File:Italian-unification.gif|thumb|upright=1.5|Animated map of the [[Italian unification]] from 1829 to 1871]]

Italian irredentism was not a formal organization but rather an opinion movement, advocated by several different groups, claiming that Italy had to reach its "[[Italy (geographical region)|natural borders]]" or unify territories inhabited by Italians.<ref name="treccani2"/> Similar nationalistic ideas were common in [[Europe]] in the late 19th century. The term ''irredentism'', coined from the Italian word, came into use in many countries (see [[List of irredentist claims or disputes]]). This idea of ''Italia irredenta'' is not to be confused with the ''[[Risorgimento]]'', the historical events that led to irredentism, nor with nationalism or [[Italian imperialism under Fascism|Imperial Italy]], the political philosophy that took the idea further under [[Italian Fascism|fascism]].

During the 19th century, Italian irredentism fully developed the characteristic of defending the Italian language from other people's languages such as, for example, [[German language|German]] in Switzerland and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire or French in [[Nice]] and [[Corsica]].

The liberation of ''Italia irredenta'' was perhaps the strongest motive for Italy's entry into [[World War I]] and the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919 satisfied many irredentist claims.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/ir/irredent.html irredentism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510032637/http://www.bartleby.com/65/ir/irredent.html |date=2008-05-10 }} – The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–07</ref>

Italian irredentism has the characteristic of being originally moderate, requesting only the return to Italy of the areas with Italian majority of population,<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/12/23/96282678.pdf NYTimes on Italian irredentism in Istria]</ref> but after World War I it became aggressive – under fascist influence – and claimed to the [[Kingdom of Italy]] even areas where Italians were a minority or had been present only in the past. In the first case there were the ''Risorgimento'' claims on [[Trento]], while in the second there were the fascist claims on the [[Ionian Islands]], [[Savoy]] and [[Malta]].