Italian Aegean Islands
The Italian Aegean Islands ( Italian Isole italiane dell'Egeo , also known as Italian Dodecanese ) are the Dodecanese archipelago with the main island of Rhodes in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea , which from 1923 to 1947 belonged to Italy , now part of Greece .
Italian occupation
As early as April and May 1912, the Dodecanese off the coast of Asia Minor, with the exception of Kastelorizo, was occupied by Italian troops as a result of the Italo-Turkish War . The declaration by the Italian government of a temporary occupation of the Dodecanese, the expulsion of Turkish representatives by the Italian military and misleading assurances by Italian officials suggesting that the islands would be integrated with Greece led to the Patmos conference . It was also attended by representatives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On June 4th jul. / June 17, 1912 greg. the autonomous Greek state of the Aegean (Πολιτεία του Αιγαίου) was founded, which had the connection to Greece as a goal.
According to the Ouchy Peace Treaty of October 18, 1912 between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire, the occupied islands were to be handed over to the Ottoman Empire, but the Kingdom of Italy kept them occupied in Libya as a guarantee for the treaty agreements and the withdrawal of troops.
During the First World War , the secret resolutions of the London Conference of April 26, 1915 assured Italy of leaving the Triple Alliance in § 8 as full ownership of all of the islands of the Dodecanese it occupied. Thereupon Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire on August 20, 1915.
After the end of the war, the Tittoni-Venizelos Agreement of July 29, 1919 saw in Article 5 against the Italian attitude u. a. the connection to Greece with the exception of Rhodes. Rhodes should gain autonomy and a referendum should be held after 15 years .
Time of fascism and loss
In Article 122 of the Treaty of Sèvres of August 10, 1920, the Ottoman Empire was supposed to move in favor of Italy to the islands of Astypalea (Stampalia), Rhodes (Rodi), Chalki (Chalchi), Karpathos (Scarpanto), Kasos (Casso), Tilos (Piscopi ), Nisyros (Nisiro), Kalymnos (Calimno), Leros (Lero), Patmos (Patmo), Lipsi (Lisso), Symi (Simi) and Kos (Coo) and the associated smaller islands. The Ottoman Empire did not ratify the treaty . Under pressure from the great powers, the Dodecanese Islands were to be handed over to Greece in a separate Greek-Italian subsidiary agreement. Kastelorizo, which had been occupied by France since December 28, 1915 , was ceded to Italy on March 1, 1921 and integrated into the Italian Aegean Islands as Castellrosso on July 11, 1922.
Due to the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and the seizure of power by the fascists in Italy, Mussolini did not recognize the agreement. Fascist imperialism had u. a. the goal of dominance in the Mediterranean.
In the Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, the islands became Italian property and not an Italian colony . Citizens were given special Italian citizenship, without the rights of Italian citizens and without the right to elect representatives.
In the period of fascism , the influx of Italians to the islands was encouraged. Italian has been made a compulsory language. The infrastructure was also expanded and numerous structures were built on the islands. The island of Leros with the natural harbor Lakki was expanded into a naval base on a large scale and therefore called the “Malta of the Aegean”. Hospitals and power plants were built to supply the capital Rhodes with electricity. From 1923 to 1936 Mario Lago was the governor of the Aegean Islands. This time was called the Golden Period by Italians . From 1936 to 1940 Cesare Maria De Vecchi was governor.
After Italy broke away from the alliance with the German Reich in the Second World War through the armistice of Cassibile in 1943 and then switched fronts, German troops occupied part of Italy and also the Dodecanese (see: Case Axis ). After Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945, it came under British military administration. In 1947 it was finally ceded by Italy to the Kingdom of Greece .
population
Numerous soldiers were stationed on the islands, particularly during World War II . There were 40,000 in total.
According to the Italian census of 1936, the total population in the Dodecanese was 129,135. These were mainly Greeks , Turks and Sephardic Jews . 7,015 of them were Italian. However, almost 80% of all Italians in the Dodecanese lived on Rhodes ; because there was an important Italian naval base.
In 1940 about 8,000 Italians lived in the Dodecanese, plus up to 40,000 Italian soldiers.
literature
- Nicholas Doumanis: Italians as “Good” Colonizers: Speaking Subalterns and the Politics of Memory in the Dodecanese. In: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Mia Fuller: Italian Colonialism . Palgarve Macmillian, New York 2005, ISBN 0-312-23649-2 .
Web links
- History of the Dodecanese
- Aegean Portal, The Dodecanese under Italian Rule (English)
- Foundation of the Hellenic World, Dodecanese - Δωδεκάνησα (Greek)
supporting documents
- ^ The resolutions of the London Conference of April 26, 1915 [1]
- ↑ From Paris To Sèvres. The Partition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919–1920 ( PDF , English).
- ↑ History of the island of Kos ( Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , Greek) .
- ^ A b Marc Dubin: The Dodecanese and the East Aegean Islands, p. 436ff.
- ↑ a b Italian architecture and the respective rulers of the Dodecanese ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Golden Years of Governor Lago ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Italian)
