Governorate of Dalmatia

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Governorate of Dalmatia
Governatorato di Dalmazia
Province of Italy
19411943
Flag
Flag
Coat of arms
Coat of arms
Motto
Foedere et Religione Tenemur
"We are held together by Pact and Religion"
Anthem
Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza
"Royal March of Ordinance"[a]

The Governorate of Dalmatia in 1941

Capital Zara
Languages Italian, Croatian
Religion Roman Catholic
Political structure Governorate
Governor
1941 Athos Bartolucci
19411943 Giuseppe Bastianini
1943 Francesco Giunta
Historical era World War II
Invasion of Yugoslavia 17 April 1941
Armistice of Cassibile 10 September 1943
Area
1941 5,001 km2 (1,931 sq mi)
Population
1941 est. 380,100
Density 76/km2 (197/sq mi)
Currency Italian lira
Preceded by Succeeded by
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Province of Zara
Independent State of Croatia
Italian Social Republic
Jump up ^ Unofficial anthem was Giovinezza ("Youth").[1]
The Governorate of Dalmatia (Italian: Governatorato di Dalmazia), was a territory
divided in three Provinces of Italy during Italian Kingdom and Italian Empire
epoch, created in April 1941 at the start of World War II in Yugoslavia from the
existing Province of Zara together with occupied Yugoslav territory annexed by
Italy after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers and the signing of the
Rome Treaties.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Characteristics
3 Territory
4 Governors of Dalmatia
5 See also
6 References
Background[edit]
Dalmatia was a strategic region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia
intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy joined the Triple Entente Allies in
1915 upon agreeing to the London Pact that guaranteed Italy the right to annex a
large portion of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side.
From 56 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached Lissa,
Lagosta, Sebenico, and other localities on the Dalmatian coast.[3] By the end of
hostilities in November 1918, the Italian military had seized control of the entire
portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the London Pact and by 17
November had seized Fiume as well.[4] In 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared
himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia.[4] Famous Italian nationalist Gabriele
d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia, and proceeded to Zadar in an Italian
warship in December 1918.[5]
However, in spite of the guarantees of the London Pact to Italy of a large portion
of Dalmatia and Italian military occupation of claimed territories of Dalmatia,
during the peace settlement negotiations of 1919 to 1920 the Fourteen Points of
Woodrow Wilson that advocated self-determination of nations took precedence, with
Italy only being permitted to annex Zadar from Dalmatia, while the rest of Dalmatia
was to be part of Yugoslavia. This enraged Italian nationalists who considered this
as a betrayal of the promises of the London Pact.
Characteristics[edit]
The Governorate of Dalmatia was made up of parts of coastal Yugoslavia that were
occupied and annexed by Italy from April 1941 to September 1943, together with the
pre-war Italian Province of Zara on the Dalmatian coast, including the island of
Lagosta (Lastovo) and the island of Saseno, now Albania, and totalling about 200
square kilometers, which Italy had possessed since 1919. The town of Zara (Zadar),
which had included most of the Italian population of Dalmatia since the beginning
of the 20th century and was largely Italian-speaking,[6] was designated as its
capital.
The creation of the Governorate of Dalmatia fulfilled the demands of Italian
irredentism, but not all of Dalmatia was annexed by Italy, as the German puppet
state known as the Independent State of Croatia took some parts of it.
Nevertheless, the Italian army maintained de facto control over the whole of
Dalmatia.
The Kingdom of Italy divided the Governorate in three Italian provinces: Zara
(Zadar), Spalato (Split) and Cattaro (Kotor), but never created officially an
Italian region with the name "Dalmatia". While the Governorate was not called a
region of Italy, the northern Dalmatian islands of Veglia (Krk) and Arbe (Rab) were
administratively united to the Italian province of Fiume (now Rijeka) and became
areas of Italy.
In September 1941, Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, ordered the military
occupation of the entire Dalmatian coast, including the city of Dubrovnik
("Ragusa"), and islands such as Vis (Lissa) and Pag (Pago) which had been given to
the puppet Independent State of Croatia of Ante Pavelic: Mussolini tried to annex
those areas to the Governorship of Dalmatia, but was temporarily stopped by the
strong opposition of Pavelic, who retained nominal control of them.[7]
Fascist Italy even occupied Marindol and other villages that had previously
belonged to the Banovina of Croatia, Milic-Selo, Paunovic-Selo, unic-Selo,
Vukobrati, Vidnjevici and Vrhovci. In 1942 these villages were annexed to
Cernomegli (now Crnomelj, in Slovenia), which was then part of the Italian Province
of Lubiana, even though their population was not Slovene but Croatian.
The governorship was held until January 1943 by Giuseppe Bastianini, when he was
recalled to Italy to join the cabinet, his place as governor being taken by
Francesco Giunta.[8]
The Governorate of Dalmatia was cancelled administratively by Badoglio on August
19, 1943: it was substituted by direct rule of the 3 "Prefetti" governing the
provinces of Zara, Spalato and Cattaro.
Territory[edit]

Detailed map of the three provinces of the Governorate of Dalmatia.

The Governorate of Dalmatia consisted of three provinces: Zara (Zadar), Spalato
(Split) and Cattaro (Kotor). The administrative capital was Zara.
After the autumn of 1941 the Dalmatian islands of Pag (Pago), Brac (Brazza) and
Hvar (Lesina), part of the Independent State of Croatia, were occupied by the
Italian army, along with an area of Croatia which was away from the coast of Sinj
towards the center of Bosnia, near Sarajevo and Banja Luka. However these were not
formally annexed to the Governorate.[9]
Province Area (km) Population[10]
Zara 3,179 211,900
Spalato 1,075 128,400
Cattaro 547 39,800
Total 4,801 380,100
After the Kingdom of Italy changed sides to the Allies in 1943, German forces took
over the area. This territory was not given to the fascist Italian Social Republic
(which was a puppet state of Germany), but instead completely dissolved and added
to the puppet Independent State of Croatia.
But Zara (and the surrounding territory that was the original Provincia italiana di
Zara until 1941) remained Italian (even if under nominal control and protection of
the German Army) until 1945. The city suffered a terrible bombing in 1944: the
Allies documented 30 bombing raids, while contemporary Italian accounts claim 54;
fatalities recorded range from nearly 1,000, up to as many as 4,000 of the city's
20,000 inhabitants and 60% of the city's buildings were fully destroyed.
On October 30, 1944 the last Italian authority in Dalmatia the Zara prefect
Vincenzo Serrentino left the destroyed city with the remaining Dalmatian Italians
(who started the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus).[11]
Part of a series on the
History of Dalmatia
Coat of Arms of Dalmatia
Antiquity[show]
Middle Ages[show]
Early modern period[show]
19th century[show]
20th century[show]
Croatian War of Independence[show]
v t e
Governors of Dalmatia[edit]
Giuseppe Bastianini (7 June 1941 14 February 1943)
Francesco Giunta (14 February 1943 19 August 1943)
See also[edit]
Bombing of Zadar
Dalmatian Italians
Italian occupation of France
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Italy (1922-1943)". nationalanthems.info. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
Jump up ^ "Governatorato di Dalmazia" (in Italian). Archived from the original on
2012-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
Jump up ^ Giuseppe Praga, Franco Luxardo. History of Dalmatia. Giardini, 1993. p.
281.
^ Jump up to: a b Paul O'Brien. Mussolini in the First World War: the Journalist,
the Soldier, the Fascist. Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Berg, 2005.
p. 17.
Jump up ^ A. Rossi. The Rise of Italian Fascism: 1918-1922. New York, New York,
USA: Routledge, 2010. p. 47.
Jump up ^ Vrandecic, Josip (2001-10-07). "Razvoj talijanskog nacionalizma u
Dalmaciji" (PDF). Dijalog povjesnicara - istoricara 6 (in Croatian). Zagreb:
Political Science Research Centre Ltd. (PSRC) for Scientific Research Work. pp.
204205. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
Jump up ^ Giorgio Bocca, Storia d'Italia nella guerra fascista 1940-1943. Mondadori
editore. Milano, 2006
Jump up ^ Jozo Tomasevich, War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: occupation
and collaboration, Stanford University Press, 2001, pp. 136137
Jump up ^ Davide Rodogno. Fascism's European empire. Cambridge University Press,
2006 pp. 41920.
Jump up ^ cfr.: Davide Rodogno Il nuovo ordine mediterraneo, ed. Bollati
Boringhieri, Turin, 2003.
Jump up ^ "History of Zara bombing" (in Italian). Archived from the original on
2015-01-16. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
[hide] v t e
Italian irredentism by region
Corsica Dalmatia Istria Malta Nice Savoy Switzerland
Categories: Former countries in the BalkansStates and territories established in
1941States and territories disestablished in 194320th century in ItalyHistory of
DalmatiaItalian irredentismItalians of CroatiaItalyYugoslavia relationsYugoslavia
in World War IIFormer governorates of Italy1941 establishments in the Italian
Empire1943 disestablishments in the Italian Empire
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This page was last edited on 14 February 2017, at 23:39.
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