The march of Gabriele d'Annunzio from Ronchi to Fiume on 12 September 1919 had to resolve the situation with a bold coupimpasse regarding the definition of the border between Italy and the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The annexation of the port of Carnaro to Italy was not contemplated by the London Pact, but it was proclaimed by the National Council of Fiume on 30 October 1918, appealing to the principle of self-determination of peoples which was part of that 14-point program intended to guarantee world peace and on the basis of which President Woodrow Wilson had dragged the United States into the First World War. The redefinition of the border in Dalmatia compared to what was promised in the British capital on 26 April 1915 and the obstacles placed by the other victorious powers regarding the annexation of River (without dwelling on the failure to participate in the partition of the Ottoman Empire and the German colonies) fueled the rhetoric of the “mutilated victory”, which shook Gabriele d'Annunzio from the torpor of his golden Venetian retreat.

Born in a military and nationalist context, the Fiume expedition would later transform Fiume into a "city of life", the setting for a "fifth season" that would have had to realise the palingenetic ideals that the war had raised and the peace conference had largely frustrated, with particular reference to the new European border arrangements and the autonomy promised to the colonies when France and England had to swell the ranks of their bloodless armies with robust injections of colonial units. The League of Oppressed Peoples , Carnaro Charter were the projects that best embodied the libertarian and revolutionary spirit that some of the Poet's collaborators (Alceste De Ambris, Leon Kochnitzky, Eugenio Coselschi, Ludovico Toeplitz, Giovanni Bonmartini and Henry Furst) tried to impress on an expedition that was continually at risk of being reduced to a lever with which the Kingdom of Italy was trying to destabilize the neighboring Yugoslav state by establishing contacts with Croatian, Slovenian, Montenegrin and Kosovar separatists, starting from agents present in Fiume (Giovanni Giuriati, Corrado Zoli and Giovanni Host Venturi). Relations with Irish, Indian and Egyptian representatives came to nothing due to the lack of adequate funding with which to fuel revolutionary ferments, where the work on the fragile foundations of the Karađeorđević kingdom was beginning to become threatening, so that the November 12, 1920 in Rapallo Rome and Belgrade defined their border. Fiume would become a free state (as had happened to Danzig and Memel); of Dalmatia, only Zara together with some islands would become part of the Kingdom of Italy; the land border was set along the Julian Alps watershed, thus meeting the requests of the Royal Army and disappointing the expectations of the Italian Navy, which wanted the whole of Dalmatia to ensure full control of the Adriatic. Disappointed by this arrangement, d'Annunzio found himself isolated in protest, since Admiral Millo, military governor of Dalmatia who in the previous months had shown him friendship and made him believe he was equally ready for military insubordination if the whole Dalmatia had not been annexed, it fell back into line and withdrew its troops from the territories that had come under Yugoslav sovereignty.

To avoid foreign interference, the Prime Minister John Giolitti he committed himself to putting an end to the D'Annunzio sedition which in the meantime, in order to demonstrate its vitality, had occupied the islands of Arbe and Veglia. Some soldiers still deserted to reach Fiume and give support to the Commander, who could count on about 2.500 legionaries, but the troops under the command of General Enrico Caviglia were by now besieging the capital of Kvarner from the sea and from land. Benito Mussolini he urged the Julian squadristi not to intervene, since he understood that the Fiume cause was destined to succumb; however, the government feared repercussions on internal public order if it were necessary to resort to force, therefore it took advantage of the Christmas holidays in the publication of newspapers to proceed with the attack on the defensive positions prepared by the D'Annunzio deserters and the Fiume volunteers.

From 24th to 29th December, what the Abruzzese poet himself defined as the Bloody Christmas, which caused 25 deaths and 139 wounded among the regular troops and 31 deaths and 61 wounded among the insurgents, including many civilians: disheartened by this episode of civil war between Italians, d'Annunzio decided to surrender, in order to avoid further deaths and damage to the city, which was subjected to shelling. The Commander would hold as his last public speech in Fiume a vibrant funeral oration to the Cosala Cemetery, where the fallen of those days were buried.

Lorenzo Salimbeni 

Source: The Giornale d'Italia

The march of Gabriele d'Annunzio from Ronchi to Fiume on 12 September 1919 had to resolve the situation with a bold coupimpasse regarding the definition of the border between Italy and the newly born Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The annexation of the port of Carnaro to Italy was not contemplated by the London Pact, but was proclaimed by National Council of Fiume on October 30, 1918, appealing to the principle of self-determination of peoples that was part of that 14-point program intended to guarantee world peace and on the basis of which President Woodrow Wilson had dragged the United States into the First World War. The redefinition of the border in Dalmatia compared to what had been promised in the British capital on April 26, 1915 and the obstacles placed by the other victorious powers regarding the annexation of Fiume (without dwelling on the failure to participate in the partition of the Ottoman Empire and the German colonies) fueled the rhetoric of the "mutilated victory”, which shook Gabriele d'Annunzio from the torpor of his golden Venetian retreat.

Born in a military and nationalist context, the Fiume expedition would later transform Fiume into a “city ​​of life”, the scenario of a “fifth season” that was supposed to realize the palingenetic ideals that the war had raised and the peace conference had largely frustrated, with particular reference to the new European border arrangements and the autonomy promised to the colonies when France and England had to swell the ranks of their bloodless armies with robust injections of colonial units. The League of Oppressed Peoples and the Carnaro Charter were the projects that best embodied the libertarian and revolutionary spirit that some of the Poet's collaborators (Alceste De Ambris, Leon Kochnitzky, Eugenio Coselschi, Ludovico Toeplitz, Giovanni Bonmartini and Henry Furst) tried to impress on an expedition that was continually at risk of being reduced to a lever with which the Kingdom of Italy was trying to destabilize the neighboring Yugoslav state by establishing contacts with Croatian, Slovenian, Montenegrin and Kosovar separatists, starting from agents present in Fiume (Giovanni Giuriati, Corrado Zoli and Giovanni Host Venturi). Relations with Irish, Indian and Egyptian representatives came to nothing due to the lack of adequate funding with which to fuel revolutionary ferments, where the work on the fragile foundations of the Karađeorđević kingdom was beginning to become threatening, so that the November 12, 1920 in Rapallo Rome and Belgrade defined their border. Fiume would become a free state (as had happened to Danzig and Memel); of Dalmatia, only Zara together with some islands would become part of the Kingdom of Italy; the land border was set along the Julian Alps watershed, thus meeting the requests of the Royal Army and disappointing the expectations of the Italian Navy, which wanted the whole of Dalmatia to ensure full control of the Adriatic. Disappointed by this arrangement, d'Annunzio found himself isolated in protest, since theAdmiral Millo, military governor of Dalmatia who in the previous months had shown him friendship and led him to believe that he was equally ready for military insubordination if all of Dalmatia was not annexed, fell back into line and withdrew his troops from the territories that had passed under Yugoslav sovereignty.

In order to avoid foreign interference, the Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti he committed himself to putting an end to the D'Annunzio sedition which in the meantime, in order to demonstrate its vitality, had occupied the islands of Arbe and Veglia. Some soldiers still deserted to reach Fiume and give support to the Commander, who could count on about 2.500 legionaries, but the troops under the command of the general Ankle they were now besieging the capital of Kvarner from the sea and from land. Benito Mussolini he urged the Julian squadristi not to intervene, since he understood that the Fiume cause was destined to succumb; however, the government feared repercussions on internal public order if it were necessary to resort to force, therefore it took advantage of the Christmas holidays in the publication of newspapers to proceed with the attack on the defensive positions prepared by the D'Annunzio deserters and the Fiume volunteers.

From 24th to 29th December, what the Abruzzese poet himself defined as the Bloody Christmas, which caused 25 deaths and 139 wounded among the regular troops and 31 deaths and 61 wounded among the insurgents, including many civilians: disheartened by this episode of civil war between Italians, d'Annunzio decided to surrender, in order to avoid further deaths and damage to the city, which was subjected to shelling. The Commander would hold as his last public speech in Fiume a vibrant funeral oration at the cemetery of Cosala, where the fallen of those days were buried.

Lorenzo Salimbeni