Agreement solves dispute over former Austrian territory
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| Members of the German and Russian delegations meet at the Rapallo negotiations |
It was drawn up to solve the dispute over territories
formerly controlled by Austria in the upper Adriatic and Dalmatia, which were
known as the Austrian Littoral.
There had been tension between Italy and the Serbs, Croats
and Slovenes since the end of the First World War when the Austro-Hungarian empire was
dissolved.
Italy had claimed the territories assigned to it by the
secret London Pact of 1915 between Italy and the Triple Entente.
The Pact, signed on 26 April 2015, stipulated that in the
event of victory in the First World War, Italy was to gain territory formerly
controlled by Austria in northern Dalmatia.
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| A dinner menu from the Grand Hotel in Genoa signed by members of the Russian and German delegations |
The London Pact was nullified by the Treaty of Versailles at
the end of the war after pressure from American President Woodrow Wilson.
Therefore the objective of the Treaty of Rapallo two years later was to find a
compromise.
At the end of discussions, Italy was granted parts of
Carniola, the whole of the former Austrian Littoral, which included the important
city of Trieste, the former Dalmatian capital of Zadar, known as Zara in
Italian, and two small Dalmatian islands.
The city of Rijeka, known as Fiume in Italian, was to become
an independent free state, ending the military occupation of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s
troops. He was forced to evacuate Fiume after Italian forces bombed the city on December 27, 1920.
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| The Castle at Rapallo |
Rapallo, which gives its name to the important 1920 treaty,
is a seaside resort on the Riviera di Levante near Portofino and Genoa in Liguria.
It has a castle overlooking the sea built in 1551 to repel pirate attacks, a 12th
century church, the Basilica of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, two historic
towers and a ruined monastery. Max Beerbohm, Ezra Pound and Jean Sibelius all
chose to live in Rapallo for part of their lives.
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| The Piazza dell'Unita in Trieste looking out towards the sea |
The beautiful seaport of Trieste officially became part of
the Italian Republic in 1954 and is now the capital of the Friuli-Venezia
Giulia region, one of the most prosperous areas of Italy. The city lies towards
the end of a narrow strip of land situated between the Adriatic Sea and
Slovenia and is also just 30 kilometres north of Croatia. Trieste had been
disputed territory for thousands of years and after it was granted to Italy in
1920, thousands of the resident Slovenians left. The final border with
Yugoslavia was settled in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo. This is now the
present day border between Italy and Slovenia. Today Trieste is a lively,
cosmopolitan city and a major centre for trade and ship building.