Editing Unification of Italy (section)

===Origins of Italian irredentism===
[[File:SetteGiugno2009.jpg|thumb|The [[Sette Giugno]] monument, symbol of the pro-[[Italian Maltese]]]]
It can be argued that Italian unification was never truly completed in the 19th century. Even after the [[Capture of Rome]] (1871), the final event of the unification of Italy, many ethnic [[Italian language|Italian speakers]] ([[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|Trentino-Alto Adigan]] Italians, [[Savoyard Italians]], [[Corfiot Italians]], [[Niçard Italians]], [[Swiss Italians]], [[Corsican Italians]], [[Maltese Italians]], [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]]) remained outside the borders of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] and this situation created the [[Italian irredentism]].

The Corsican revolutionary [[Pasquale Paoli]] was called "the precursor of Italian irredentism" by [[Niccolò Tommaseo]] because he was the first to promote the Italian language and socio-culture (the main characteristics of Italian irredentism) in his island; Paoli wanted the [[Italian language]] to be the official language of the newly founded [[Corsican Republic]].<ref>N. Tommaseo. "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli" (in Archivio storico italiano, 1st series, vol. XI).</ref>

The term ''Risorgimento'' refers to the domestic reorganization of the stratified Italian identity into a unified, national front. The word literally means 'rising again' and was an ideological movement which strove to spark national pride, leading to political oppositionalism to foreign rule and influence. There is contention on its actual impact in Italy, some Scholars arguing it was a liberalizing time for 19th century Italian culture, while others speculate that although it was a patriotic revolution, it only tangibly aided the upper-class and [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] publics without actively benefitting the lower classes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Risorgimento {{!}} Italian history|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Risorgimento|access-date=7 July 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

''[[Italia irredenta]]'' was an Italian [[Nationalism|nationalist]] opinion movement that emerged after Italian unification. It advocated irredentism among the Italian people as well as other nationalities who were willing to become Italian and as a movement; it is also known as "Italian irredentism". Not a formal organization, it was just an opinion movement that claimed that Italy had to reach its "natural borders", meaning that the country would need to incorporate all areas predominantly consisting of ethnic Italians within the near vicinity outside its borders. Similar patriotic and nationalistic ideas were common in Europe in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=alison-chapman-on-il-risorgimento|title=Alison Chapman, "On Il Risorgimento"|author=Felluga|publisher=Branchcollective.org|access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Fiume cheering D'Annunzio.jpg|thumb|Residents of [[Fiume]] cheering [[Impresa di Fiume|Gabriele D'Annunzio and his ''Legionari'']] in September 1919, when Fiume had 22,488 (62% of the population) Italians in a total population of 35,839 inhabitants.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Fiume-question|title=Fiume question|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref>]]

At the beginning, Italian irredentism promoted the annexation to Italy of territories where Italians formed the absolute majority of the population, but retained by the [[Austrian Empire]] after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] in 1866. During [[World War One]] the main "irredent lands" (''terre irredente'') were considered to be the provinces of [[Trento]] and [[Trieste]] and, in a narrow sense, irredentists referred to the Italian patriots living in these two areas.

The term was later expanded to also include multilingual and multiethnic areas, where Italians were a relative majority or a substantial minority, within the northern Italian region encompassed by the Alps, with [[Germans|German]], [[Italians|Italian]], [[Slovenes|Slovene]], [[Croats|Croatian]], [[Ladin people|Ladin]] and [[Istro-Romanians|Istro-Romanian]] population, such as [[South Tyrol]], [[Istria]], [[Gorizia and Gradisca]] and part of [[Dalmatia]]. The claims were further extended also to the city of [[Rijeka|Fiume]] (see ''[[Impresa di Fiume]]''), [[Corsica]], the island of [[Malta]], the [[County of Nice]] and [[Italian Switzerland]].

Many [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]] looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy.<ref name="corsadelricordo">{{cite web|url=http://www.corsadelricordo.it/la-storia|title=Trieste, Istria, Fiume e Dalmazia: una terra contesa|access-date=2 June 2021|language=it|archive-date=5 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605202838/http://corsadelricordo.it/la-storia|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] (1866), when the [[Veneto]] and [[Friuli]] regions were ceded by the [[Austrian Empire|Austrians]] to the newly formed [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom Italy]], Istria and Dalmatia remained part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of [[Italian irredentism]] among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the [[Julian March]], [[Kvarner Gulf|Kvarner]] and [[Dalmatia]] with Italy. The Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia supported the Italian Risorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref> During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the [[Germanization]] or [[Slavization]] of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:<ref>''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971, vol. 2, p. 297. Citazione completa della fonte e traduzione in Luciano Monzali, ''Italiani di Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla Grande Guerra'', Le Lettere, Firenze 2004, p. 69.)</ref>
[[File:VenetianDalmatia1797.jpg|thumb|400px|Austrian linguistic map from 1896. In green the areas where [[Slavs]] were the majority of the population, in orange the areas where [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]] were the majority of the population. The boundaries of [[Venetian Dalmatia]] in 1797 are delimited with blue dots.]]

{{blockquote|text=His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|South Tyrol]], [[Dalmatia]] and [[Austrian Littoral|Littoral]] for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established.|author=|source=Franz Joseph I of Austria, Council of the Crown of 12 November 1866<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jürgen Baurmann, Hartmut Gunther and Ulrich Knoop| title=Homo scribens : Perspektiven der Schriftlichkeitsforschung | year= 1993 |isbn= 3484311347|page=279| publisher=Walter de Gruyter |language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3tCTXoeAysC&pg=279}}</ref>}}

[[Istrian Italians]] made up about a third of the population in 1900.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Istria | volume= 14 | pages = 886&ndash;887 |short= 1}}</ref> Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local ethnic Italian population ([[Dalmatian Italians]]). According to Austrian census, the Dalmatian Italians formed 12.5% of the population in 1865.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peričić |first1=Šime |title=O broju Talijana/talijanaša u Dalmaciji XIX. stoljeća |trans-title=On the number of Italians in Dalmatia in the 19th century |journal=Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru |date=19 September 2003 |issue=45 |pages=327–355 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/12136 |language=hr }}</ref> In the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, Istria had a population of 57.8% Slavic-speakers (Croat and Slovene), and 38.1% Italian speakers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank |title=Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder I-XII, Wien, 1915–1919 |access-date=10 May 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529164005/http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank |url-status=dead }}</ref> For the Austrian [[Kingdom of Dalmatia]], (i.e. [[Dalmatia]]), the 1910 numbers were 96.2% Slavic speakers and 2.8% Italian speakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omm1910.hu/?/de/datenbank|title=Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder I-XII, Wien, 1915–1919|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529164005/http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank|archive-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>

The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] in 1890 there were {{formatnum:1969}} Dalmatian Italians (12.5% of the population), in [[Zadar]] {{formatnum:7423}} (64.6%), in [[Šibenik]] {{formatnum:1018}} (14.5%), in [[Kotor]] {{formatnum:623}} (18.7%) and in [[Dubrovnik]] {{formatnum:331}} (4.6%).<ref>Guerrino Perselli, ''I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 e il 1936'', Centro di Ricerche Storiche - Rovigno, Unione Italiana - Fiume, Università Popolare di Trieste, Trieste-Rovigno, 1993</ref> In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Dalmatian Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in [[Rab (island)|Rab]] they went from 225 to 151, in [[Vis (island)|Vis]] from 352 to 92, in [[Pag (island)|Pag]] from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations. In 1909 the [[Italian language]] lost its [[Status (law)|status]] as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.<ref>{{Citation|year=1970|title=Dalmazia|encyclopedia=Dizionario enciclopedico italiano|volume=III|page=730|publisher=[[Treccani]]|language=it}}</ref>