Fiume question

In the aftermath of the First World War, the Fiume question was the dispute regarding the postwar fate of the city of Rijeka (Italian: Fiume) and its surroundings. As an element of the Adriatic question, the dispute arose from competing claims by the Kingdom of Italy and the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs carved out in the process of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. The latter claim was taken over by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia), itself formed through unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia in late 1918. In its claim, Italy relied on provisions of the Treaty of London, concluded in 1915, as well as on provisions of the Armistice of Villa Giusti, which allowed the victorious Allies of World War I to occupy unspecified Austro-Hungarian territories if necessary. In determining ownership of Rijeka, both sides in the dispute claimed the right of self-determination championed by US President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points, but the two sides defined the extent of the city of Rijeka differently, resulting in majority of the affected population being either Italians or South Slavs (largely Croats and Slovenes). The difference in interpretation of the city boundaries was that Italians claimed the city was limited to the territory of the Corpus Separatum, established as a special administrative unit attached to the Hungarian crown within Austria-Hungary, while the Yugoslav side claimed that the suburb of Sušak, located outside the Corpus Separatum, represented an inseparable part of the city. Two competing administrations were established in the city following the departure of Hungarian authorities in late October 1918. In November, the city was placed under Allied occupation in which the Italian Army provided the bulk of the occupying force. The occupying force left...