Page 62 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - nr 15

the Feat oF d’annUnzio
in FiUme a hUndred
years aGo: a nationaL
Patriotic action, then
revoLUtionary

n 12 September 1919 Gabrie-
Ole D’Annunzio departed from
Ronchi and arrived in Fiume with
about two hundred legionaries,
who would become more than three
thousand the following month.
It was an armed action shared by
important sectors of the Italian
Army, as well as by different poli-
tical and Masonic environments.
The action in Fiume was born from
the dissatisfaction with the unre-
solved territorial issues after the quindi a guerra non ancora finita, per i fiumani, questa legittima
first world war between Italians del Consiglio Nazionale Italiano aspirazione trovò impreparato il
and Yugoslavs, the latter sup-
ported by the French and the US. di Fiume presieduto dal medico governo italiano. In realtà l’Italia
“Our victory, you will not be mu- e scienziato Antonio Grossich. Il era entrata in guerra nel maggio
tilated”: with this sentence publi- Consiglio emanò quel giorno un 1915 stipulando un mese prima il
shed in the columns of the Corriere proclama, nel quale si leggeva Patto segreto di Londra, nel qua-
della Sera (October 24th 1918) che in base al principio di autode- le non aveva chiesto, in caso di
Gabriele D’Annunzio denounced
the serious situation that arose du- terminazione dei popoli, soste- vittoria sull’ Austria-Ungheria,
ring the peace negotiations. A pu- nuto soprattutto dal presidente il porto di Fiume. Riguardo alle
blic opinion was forming around statunitense Thomas W. Wilson, i ragioni di tale rinuncia italiana su
him in favor of defending Italy’s fiumani chiedevano di essere an- una città, la cui popolazione era
rights. A fact that is often ignored
nessi al Regno d’Italia. Purtroppo al 65% formata da italiani e dove

Trattato di Versailles Patto di Londra D’Annunzio a Fiume

by historiography regarding Fiume
is the position taken on 30 October
1918, and therefore not yet over, of
the Italian National Council in Fiu-
me, chaired by the doctor and scien-
tist Antonio Grossich. On that day
the Council issued a proclamation
in which it was read that according
to the principle of self-determination
of peoples, supported above all by US
President Thomas W. Wilson, the
inhabitants asked to be annexed to
the Kingdom of Italy. Unfortunately
for the inhabitants of Fiume this le-
gitimate aspiration found the Italian
government unprepared. The Briti-
sh, French and US allies, not wishing

Mediterraneo e dintorni - 60