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IRREDENTISTS

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 841 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IRREDENTISTS , an See also:

Italian patriotic and See also:political party, which was of importance in the last See also:quarter of the 19th See also:century. The name was formed from the words Italia Irredenta—Un redeemed See also:Italy—and the party had for its avowed See also:object the emancipation of all Italian lands still subject to See also:foreign See also:rule. The Irredentists took See also:language as the test of the alleged Italian See also:nationality of the countries they proposed to emancipate, which were See also:South See also:Tirol (Trentino), See also:Gorz, See also:Istria, See also:Trieste, Tessino, See also:Nice, See also:Corsica and See also:Malta. The test was applied in the most arbitrary manner, and in some cases was not applicable at all. Italian is not universally spoken in South Tirol, Gorz or Istria. Malta has a See also:dialect of its own though Italian is used for See also:literary and judicial purposes, while See also:Dalmatia is thoroughly non-Italian though it was once under the political dominion of the See also:ancient See also:Republic of See also:Venice. The party was of little See also:note before 1878. In that See also:year it sprang into prominence because the Italians were disappointed by the result of the See also:conference at See also:Berlin summoned to make a See also:European See also:settlement after the Russo-See also:Turkish See also:War of 1877. The Italians had hoped to See also:share in the See also:plunder of See also:Turkey, but they gained nothing, while See also:Austria was endowed with the See also:protectorate of Bosnia, and the Herzegovina, the vitally important See also:hinterland of her possessions on the Adriatic. Under the sting of this disappointment the cry of Italia Irredenta became for a See also:time loud and apparently popular. It was in fact directed almost wholly against Austria, and was also used as a stalking-See also:horse by discontented parties in Italian domestic politics—the Radicals, Republicans and Socialists. In addition to the overworked See also:argument from language, the Irredentists made much of an unfounded claim that the Trentino had been conquered by Giuseppe See also:Garibaldi during the war of 1866, and they insisted that the See also:district was an "See also:enclave" in Italian territory which would give Austria a dangerous See also:advantage in a war of aggression.

It would be equally easy and no less accurate to See also:

call the Trentino an exposed and weak spot of the frontier of Austria. On the 21st of See also:July 1878 a noisy public See also:meeting was held at See also:Rome with Menotti Garibaldi, the son of the famous Giuseppe, in the See also:chair, and a damour was raised for the formation of volunteer battalions to conquer the Trentino. Signor See also:Cairoli, then See also:prime See also:minister of Italy, treated the agitation with tolerance. It was, however, mainly superficial, for the See also:mass of the Italians had no wish to See also:launch on a dangerous policy of See also:adventure against Austria, and still less to attack See also:France for the See also:sake of Nice and Corsica, or See also:Great See also:Britain for Malta. The only See also:practical See also:con-sequences of the Irredentist agitation outside of Italy were such things as the assassination See also:plot organized against the See also:emperor See also:Francis See also:Joseph in Trieste in 1882 by Oberdank, which was detected and punished. When the Irredentist See also:movement became troublesome to Italy through the activity of Republicans and Socialists, it was subject to effective See also:police See also:control by Signor See also:Depretis. It sank into insignificance when the See also:French occupation of See also:Tunis in 1881 offended the Italians deeply, and their See also:government entered into those relations with Austria and See also:Germany which took shape by the formation of the Triple See also:Alliance. In its final stages it provided a way in which Italians who sympathized with French republicanism, and who disliked the monarchical governments of Central See also:Europe, could agitate against" their own government. It also manifested itself iL periodical war scares based on affected fears of See also:Austrian aggression in See also:northern Italy. Within the dominions of Austria Irredentism has been one See also:form of the complicated language question which has disturbed every portion of the Austro-Hungarian See also:empire. See See also:Colonel von Haymerle, Ilalicae res (See also:Vienna, 1879) for the' See also:early See also:history of the Irredentists.

End of Article: IRREDENTISTS

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