The Governorate of Dalmatia (; ) was an administrative division of the Kingdom of Italy that existed during two periods, first from 1918 to 1920 and then from 1941 to 1943. The first Governorate of Dalmatia was established following the end of World War I, given the London Pact (1915), and was disestablished following the Treaty of Rapallo. The London Pact also promised Italy part of Dalmatia (for the presence of Dalmatian Italians). However, both the peace settlement negotiations of 1919 to 1920 and the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, who advocated self-determination, took precedence, with Italy being permitted to annex only Zadar from Dalmatia, with the rest of Dalmatia being part of Yugoslavia. Enraged Italian nationalists considered the decision to be a betrayal of the promises of the London Pact, so this outcome was denounced as a "mutilated victory".
The second Governorate of Dalmatia was established following the military conquest of Yugoslavian Dalmatia by General Vittorio Ambrosio, during World War II. It had the provisional purpose of progressively importing Italian national legislation in Dalmatia in place of the previous one, thus fully integrating it into the Kingdom of Italy. It was a territory divided into three provinces of Italy during the Fascist Italy and Italian Empire epoch. It was created as an entity in April 1941 at the start of World War II in Yugoslavia, by uniting the existing province of Zara with occupied Yugoslav territory annexed by Italy after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers and the signing of the Rome Treaties.
Background
The Republic of Venice, between the 9th century and 1797, extended its dominion to Istria, the islands of Kvarner and Dalmatia, when it was conquered by Napoleon. Istria and Dalmatia were then aggregated to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1805, and annexed to the Illyrian Provinces in 1809 (for some years also the Republic of Ragusa was included, since 1808).
After the fall of Napoleon (1814) Istria, the islands of Kvarner and Dalmatia were annexed to the Austrian Empire. From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, Italian and Slavic communities in Dalmatia had lived peacefully side by side because they did not know the national identification, given that they generically defined themselves as "Dalmatians", of "Romance" or "Slavic" culture.
Later, many Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. The first events that involved the Dalmatian Italians in the unification of Italy were the revolutions of 1848, during which they took part in the constitution of the Republic of San Marco in Venice. The most notable Dalmatian Italians exponents who intervened were Niccolò Tommaseo and Federico Seismit-Doda.Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano (Vol. III, pag. 729-730), Roma, Ed. Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, founded by Giovanni Treccani, 1970 (In Italian) However, after 1866, when the Veneto and Friuli regions were ceded by the Austrians to the newly formed Kingdom Italy, 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 Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the Austrian Littoral, Fiume and Dalmatia with Italy.
Before 1859, Italian was the language of administration, education, the press, and the Austrian navy; people who wished to acquire higher social standing and separate from the Slav peasantry became Italians. In the years after 1866, Italians lost their privileges in Austria-Hungary, their assimilation of the Slavs came to an end, and they found themselves under growing pressure by other rising nations; with the rising Slav tide after 1890, italianized Slavs reverted to being Croats.
Austrian rulers found use of the racial antagonism and financed Slav schools and promoted Croatian as the official language, and many Italians chose voluntary exile. 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: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. Complete citation of the source and translation in Luciano Monzali, Italiani di Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla Grande Guerra, Le Lettere, Firenze 2004, p. 69.
Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial Italian-speaking population (Dalmatian Italians). According to Austrian censuses, the Italian speakers in Dalmatia formed 12.5% of the population in 1865, but this was reduced to 2.8% in 1910. The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of Split in 1890 there were 1,971 Dalmatian Italians (9% of the population), in Zadar 7,672 (27%), in Šibenik 1,090 (5%), in Kotor 646 (12%) and in Dubrovnik 356 (3%). In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in Rab they went from 225 to 151, in Vis from 352 to 92, in Pag from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all inland locations.
While Slavic-speakers made up 80-95% of the Dalmatia populace, only Italian language schools existed until 1848, and due to restrictive voting laws, the Italian-speaking aristocratic minority retained political control of Dalmatia. Only after Austria liberalised elections in 1870, allowing more majority Slavs to vote, did Croatian parties gain control. Croatian finally became an official language in Dalmatia in 1883, along with Italian. Yet minority Italian-speakers continued to wield strong influence, since Austria favoured Italians for government work, thus in the Austrian capital of Dalmatia, Zara, the proportion of Italians continued to grow, making it the only Dalmatian city with an Italian majority.
In 1909, the Italian language lost its status as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian, and could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.
The first Governorate of Dalmatia 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 the northern of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side. From 5 to 6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached Vis, Lastovo, Šibenik, and other localities on the Dalmatian coast. At 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, it had seized Fiume as well. In 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself the Italian governor of Dalmatia. The Italian nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia and proceeded to Zadar in an Italian warship in December 1918.
The ships of the Italian Royal Navy occupied the main Dalmatian ports, where they made contact with the headquarters of the , i.e. the local sections of the Italian political party expression of the dissident Italian fascist movement. Following the withdrawal of the Austrian army from Dalmatia, the Yugoslav National Council, which was formed in Zagreb awaiting the union of Croatia with Serbia, established a provisional government of Dalmatia which extended from Split to Zadar. In Zadar, the former mayor Luigi Ziliotto, who belonged to the Italian-Dalmatianist Autonomist Party, organized a local government that opposed the Slavic governorship, proclaiming the authority of the Fascio nazionale over the municipality of Zadar, investing it with the powers previously held by the Zadar municipal council dissolved in 1916.
On 31 October 1918, the Kingdom of Italy, with the consent of the Allies, militarily occupied Dalmatia, including many areas not promised by the London Pact but provided by the Armistice of Villa Giusti between the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary, which foresaw the end of the war and the surrender of the latter. On 4 November 1918, the Italian Royal Navy occupied the islands of Vis, Lastovo, Molat, and Korčula, where the Yugoslav national committees offered no armed resistance. Also on 4 November 1918, the ship that docked in Zadar was welcomed by Luigi Ziliotto, amidst the exultation of the Dalmatian Italians of the city. On the Yugoslav side, there were only diplomatic protests. In the following days the situation around Zadar changed, with the Yugoslavs starting to organize themselves militarily in the areas surrounding the city. The Italian military occupation of Šibenik, city not included in the London pact, was slightly more difficult, given the hostility of the Croatian population. The Italian Royal Navy then continued to occupy the Dalmatian coast, continuing southwards, arriving, on 9 November 1918, at Cape Planka on behalf of the Allies.
All the other Dalmatian islands were occupied during November. For example, among the largest, Hvar on 13 November, and Pag on 21 November. In Cres and Lošinj there was an enthusiastic welcome from the Italian Dalmatians who lived on the two islands. On 26 November, the Italian Royal Navy also occupied Krk and Rab, islands not included in the London Pact. The main pro-Yugoslav element that opposed the Italian occupation was the local clergy, so much so that the Italian authorities decided to expel the bishop of Krk, Anton Mahnič, who established and led the Croatian Catholic Movement.
Once all of Dalmatia had been occupied, the Italian government appointed Vice Admiral of the Italian Royal Navy Enrico Millo as its governor, who had already held political roles, given that he was also Minister of the Navy and had always supported the annexation of Dalmatia to Italy. Initially the capital of the Governorate of Dalmatia was established in Šibenik, a political decision which signified the intention of the Kingdom of Italy to retain control of the whole of Dalmatia. In the spring of 1919, the capital was moved to Zadar. As his first action, Millo officially removed civil and political authority from the local Yugoslavian national committees. At the same time he allowed pro-Yugoslav representatives to remain in the Dalmatian Provincial Diet and in the Dalmatian Court of Appeal. The former members of the pro-Italian Autonomist Party merged massively into the Fasci nazionali, and began to cover political roles and some of them were hired by public institutions. The former officials of Austria-Hungary, although they were contacted by the Italian administration, did not want to hold political and civil roles for fear of reprisal in the event that Dalmatia was annexed to Yugoslavia.