Editing Istria (section)

===Italy (1919–1947)===
{{See also|Italianisation#Istria, Julian March and Dalmatia|Julian March|Foibe massacres}}
[[File:Litorale 1.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Changes to the Italian eastern border from 1920 to 1975.
{{legend|#ffff00|The [[Austrian Littoral]], later renamed [[Julian March]], which was assigned to Italy in 1920 with the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]] (with adjustments of its border in 1924 after the [[Treaty of Rome (1924)|Treaty of Rome]]) and which was then ceded to Yugoslavia in 1947 with the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Treaty of Paris]]}}
{{legend|#10FF20|Areas annexed to Italy in 1920 and remained Italian even after 1947}}
{{legend|#00fa9a|Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the [[Free Territory of Trieste]] in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Italy in 1975 with the [[Treaty of Osimo]]}}
{{legend|#FFFF99|Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Yugoslavia in 1975 with the Osimo treaty}}]]

Although a member of the [[Central Powers]], Italy remained neutral at the start of WWI, and soon launched secret negotiations with [[Triple Entente|the Triple Entente]], bargaining to participate in the war on its side, in exchange for significant territorial gains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cattaruzza |first=Marina |date=2011 |title=The Making and Remaking of a Boundary – the Redrafting of the Eastern Border of Italy after the two World Wars |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26265925 |journal=Journal of Modern European History / Zeitschrift für moderne europäische Geschichte / Revue d'histoire européenne contemporaine |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=66–86 |doi=10.17104/1611-8944_2011_1_66 |issn=1611-8944 |jstor=26265925 |s2cid=145685085|url-access=subscription}}</ref> To get Italy to join the war, the secret [[Treaty of London (1915)|1915 Treaty of London]] the Entente promised Italy Istria and parts of [[Dalmatia]], [[South Tyrol]], the Greek [[Dodecanese Islands]], parts of Albania and Turkey, plus more territory for Italy's North Africa colonies.

After the war, Italy annexed Istria. Istria's political and economic importance declined under Italian rule, and after the fascist takeover of Italy in 1922 the Italian government began a campaign of forced [[Italianization]]. In 1926, the use of Slavic languages in schools and government was banned, even Slavic family names were Italianized to suit the fascist authorities.<ref name="Minahan">{{cite book |last1=Minahan |first1=James |title=One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0313309847 |pages=340–341}}</ref> Slavic newspapers and libraries were closed, all Slavic cultural, sporting, business and political associations were banned. As a result, 100,000 Slavic-speakers left Italian-annexed areas in an exodus, moving mostly to Yugoslavia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=dLib.si - Izseljevanje iz Primorske med obema vojnama |url=https://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-JQ6XF18D |access-date=2020-04-17 |website=www.dlib.si}}</ref>

The organization [[TIGR]], founded in 1927 by young Slovene liberal nationalists from [[Goriška|Gorizia region]] and [[Trieste]] and regarded as the first armed [[antifascist]] resistance group in Europe<ref>{{cite web |author=Office of the President of the Republic of Slovenia |url=http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/news/newsletter_slovenia_news/news/article/391/1482/ea264064ed/?tx_ttnews%5Bnewsletter%5D=58 |title=President Hails Heroism of Slovenian WWII Patriots |date=5 May 2010 |publisher=Government Communication Office |access-date=9 September 2010}} {{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=SheriffIsInTown |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> soon penetrated into Slovene and Croatian-speaking parts of Istria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rawson |first=Andrew |date=2013 |title=Organizing Victory: The War Conferences 1941–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePgSDQAAQBAJ |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK |publisher=History Press |isbn=9780752489254}}</ref>

In World War II, Istria became a battleground of competing ethnic and political groups. Istrian nationalist groups which were pro-fascist and pro-Allied and Yugoslav-supported pro-communist groups fought with each other and the Italian army. After the German withdrawal in 1945, Yugoslav partisans gained the upper hand and began a violent purge of real or suspected opponents in an "orgy of revenge".<ref name=Minahan />