Adriatic question

Problem of the control of the Adriatic, which involved the four coastal states: Italy, Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece. The question of control of the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic, apart from the necessity for securing its northern frontier, was what primarily determined Italy's policy towards the belligerents in World War I.

World War I In 1915 Italy signed with Great Britain and France the secret Pact of London, by which it was agreed to give to Italy Trieste, Pula, and part of Dalmatia. The price demanded by Italy for its active intervention on the side of the Entente met with formal protest from the Serbs against such a concession being made. The Adriatic coast was almost exclusively populated by the Croats and Serbs, with the result that many of the clauses of the Treaty of London conflicted with the principles of national self-determination laid down in US president Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points.

Italy between the wars At the peace conference after World War I, Italy was ceded Trieste but denied Fiume and other claims in Istria and Dalmatia. Italy's own eastern shore possesses no harbours suitable as naval bases for a modern squadron (except Taranto, which is outside the Adriatic). The opposite coast contains many of the finest natural harbours in the world, like Pula, Sibenik, Kotor, Durres, and Trieste. It was therefore from motives based on security as well as imperialism that, between 1915 and 1945, Italy sought a greater measure of control over the Adriatic. Italian politicians consistently held that until the equilibrium of the Adriatic could be restored, Italy would never be in a position of adequate security. This doctrine influenced Italian politicians at the time of Italy's intervention in World War I, and throughout it lent to Italian action much of its initiative, enthusiasm, and driving force. Finally in 1939 Mussolini, by seizing Albania, secured virtually absolute control of the Adriatic.

World War II In World War II, Italian control was first weakened by the torpedoing of half the Italian battle fleet at Taranto (11 November 1940) by the British air force, and by the British naval victory off Cape Matapan (28 March 1941). Later the successful operations of General Tito in Yugoslavia further jeopardized Italian control, which was lost entirely when the Anglo-American armies invaded Italy. In any case the rapid development of aircraft rendered the strategical control of the Adriatic impossible without control of the air.

Post-war settlements Under the terms of the Italian peace treaty of 1947 Italy ceded to Yugoslavia nearly all Venezia Giulia province, Zara, and the island of Pelagosa; and to Albania (already freed by Allied and Albanian guerrilla forces) Saseno Island. It also gave up the Free Territory of Trieste. Italy thus lost its Adriatic foothold completely. In 1954, however, an Italo-Yugoslav pact, also joined by the USA and Britain (and tacitly approved by the Soviet Union), ceded the city of Trieste to Italy and the surrounding territory (the Istrian peninsula) to Yugoslavia, since it was by this time clear that the terms of the peace treaty concerning the Free Territory could never be made workable. Trieste remains a free port, however.