Italy and Its Eastern Border, 1866-2016

Marina Cattaruzza is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Universität Bern.

"The main attractions in this project are the high quality of the author’s scholarship, the objective and balanced treatment the new work seems to provide, and its inclusiveness. Some of the aspects studied in this book are virtually unknown in the English-language literature… and is the first major work in quite some time to deal with the history of Italy’s north-eastern frontier in modern times. " - Stanley Payne, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA"Cattaruzza's book provides a fascinating case study of European "border nationalism" and the making and remaking of boundaries over two centuries. With a transnational perspective, the book is key to the understanding of modern Italian and European history." - Gerald Steinacher, University of Nebraska, USA"In this book Marina Cattaruzza examines a key topic in Italian history, long ignored both by Italian historiography and public opinion, that of the territories near the northeastern border, contested first between the Austro-Hungarian empire and Italy and subsequently between Italy and Yugoslavia. The author provides a thorough and balanced account of a century and a half of Italian social and political history, with a particular focus on the bitter struggle for the control of Trieste against Yugoslavia at the end of the Second World War, which makes the book additionally interesting to those who study the Cold War. The book is the result of many years of research into the complex history of these territories, shaped by contrasting cultural identities and nationalist sentiments." - Elena Aga Rossi, Universita Degli Studi Dell'Aquila, Italy"Marina Cattaruzza is an outstanding scholar of the history of Mitteleuropa and of the Italian Territories under the Austrian Monarchy. Cattaruzza’s mastery of sources and historiography makes Italy and Its Eastern Border, 1866-2016 a model of scholarship on a very controversial subject. Conflicts of nationalities on the Italian Eastern Border had dire consequences both on international and national situations. It caused the first failure of the 1919 Peace Conference in Europe, and was one of the main springboards of Fascism in Italy. Cattaruzza’s analysis of longstanding and at times bloody ethnic rivalries on both sides of the Italian Easter Border provides an insightful approach to understanding the ethnic conflicts in Eastern Europe today." - Emilio Gentile, Professor Emeritus University of Rome La Sapienza"Although the study of frontiers and border zones has become an important part of ancient and colonial history, Dr. Cattaruzza (Berne) offers what is a rare work dealing with border issues in Modern Europe, in this political history of Italy’s frontiers eastwards from the Veneto." - NYMAS Review, Spring 2017

• Introduction1. The Kingdom of Italy and the Irredentist Dilemma2. From Irredentism to Nationalism3. World War I4. From the End of the War to the Treaty of Rapallo: 1918-19215. Frontier Fascism6. The Italian Occupation in Slovenia and Dalmatia: 1941-19437. The Eclipse of the Italian State: From September 8, 1943 to the Eve of the Yugoslav Occupation of Venezia Giulia8. From the "Race for Trieste" to the London Memorandum9. From the London Memorandum to the End of the Long Post-War Era10. Conclusion