Great Britain, Italy, the “oppressed nationalities,” and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in the First World War

Cattaruzza, Marina (2019). Great Britain, Italy, the “oppressed nationalities,” and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in the First World War. Italogramma, 16, pp. 1-19. Istituto di Italianistica della Facolta di Lettere dell'Università Eötvös Loránd di Budapest, Società e Storia

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This contribution aims to analyse the process of dissolution of the Hapsburg Empire during WW1. In 1917, the Entente powers found themselves in a difficult military situation, due principally to two factors: a) the outbreak of the Russian revolution and the coming into power of the Bolsheviks, who immediately signed an armistice with the Central powers and exited the war; b) the catastrophic defeat of the Italian army in Caporetto by joint Austrian and German forces.
In this uncertain circumstance, a network of Italian politicians and journalists relaunched the slogan of “self-determination for the oppressed nationalities”, utilizing it as a non-conventional weapon adopted to overcome their country’s military weakness. The programme of self- determination was solemnly proclaimed in Rome in April 1918, in the presence of Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, delegates of the Entente powers, the United States, and, of course, self-declared representatives of the “oppressed nationalities”. This congress signed the death sentence of the Hapsburg Monarchy: from then on, the Entente powers and the USA progressively backed the formation of the new “national” states” of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Ironically enough, the principle of self-determination was not a decisive factor for the outcome of the war. The victory of the Entente was determined much more by the American intervention on the side of the French and British troops on the Western front. Consequently, we may consider the dissolution of the Hapsburg Monarchy a side effect of a failed propaganda campaign aimed at regaining the upper hand over the enemy

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