Interactive material for history lessons — from the creation of the border to its abolition
At the end of the First World War in 1918, the victorious powers redivided Europe. Italy was among the victors, Austria-Hungary among the defeated.
Even before the collapse of Austria-Hungary, on 29 October 1918 the Slovenes, together with the Croats and Serbs within the monarchy, proclaimed the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. For the first time in history the Slovenes were part of their own state — but it was not internationally recognised and was financially and militarily weak. Already on 1 December 1918 the State of SCS merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Slovenes became part of a larger common South Slavic state.
The founding of the new state did not stop Italy from insisting on the fulfilment of the British and French promises of new territory — Slovenian territory included.
In 1915, in a secret treaty with the Allies (the London Pact), Italy agreed to enter the First World War in exchange for the promise of Austro-Hungarian territories. The promised border ran from Tarvisio across Predel, Mangart, Podbrdo and Idrija to Snežnik and the Kvarner — deep into Slovenian territory.
In November 1918, Italian soldiers occupied Trieste, Gorizia, the Soča valley, the Vipava valley and a large part of the interior as far as Snežnik and Vrhnika. The Slovenes hoped that the Italian occupation would end after the peace conference in Paris.
At the Paris Peace Conference, the question of the border with Italy could not be resolved. The conference was decided by the victors — Italy demanded the fulfilment of the promises of the London Pact, while the American president Woodrow Wilson advocated the principle that each nation should decide its own fate. Wilson proposed a different border, more favourable to the Slovenes — one that would run to Čepovan and on across the Učka — but his proposal was not accepted. Because Italy and the Kingdom of SCS could not reach agreement, the border remained open.
The position of the Kingdom of SCS in 1920 was very poor. Wilson had lost the American elections — the new president announced the withdrawal of the United States from European affairs. Without American support, the Kingdom of SCS was left without its most powerful ally. In October 1920 the Kingdom of SCS also lost the plebiscite in Carinthia — the Carinthians voted for Austria. Diplomatically isolated and without allies, it had to accept worse terms in the negotiations with Italy.
Two years after the start of the Italian occupation, the two states reached an agreement in bilateral negotiations. The treaty did contain an article on the protection of the Italian minority in the Kingdom of SCS — but it contained no guarantees for the Slovenian and Croatian minority in Italy. The Slovenes in the west were left without written assurances for the preservation of their language, education and culture. The original text of the treaty was written only in Italian — that version was the only valid one.
When was the Treaty of Rapallo signed, which determined the border?
Why did Italy claim Slovenian territory after World War I?
The Rapallo border was not just ink on paper. Between 1921 and 1925 a joint commission of Italian and Yugoslav members walked through mountains, forests and valleys, agreeing on how the border would run.
Rudolf Maister was born in Kamnik and was one of the most important Slovenian generals, as well as a poet. He is best known for securing Maribor and Slovenian Styria for the Kingdom of SCS with his units in November 1918. From 1921 to 1923 he was president of the Yugoslav section of the joint commission for demarcation with Italy — the man who represented the interests of the Kingdom of SCS on the ground in determining precisely where the Rapallo border would run. In 1923 he was forced into retirement because Italy was not satisfied with him — for Maister did not yield to the Italian demands for yet more Slovenian territory.
The border began at the tripoint with Austria on Peč in the Julian Alps and ran south along the crest of the Julian Alps. It also included Triglav — after a long dispute between 1921 and 1924 the commission fixed the border on the very summit; Triglav remained on the Italian side until 1947. From there it descended across the Idrija hills and the Baška grapa, continued across Nanos and the karst plateau and crossed Snežnik before reaching the Adriatic Sea at Rijeka. Along its course it cut through alpine paths and old trading roads, separating villages from their fields and relatives from relatives. Former neighbours overnight became foreign nationals.
In most cases the border markers were rough stones hewn into the landscape. On one side the sector marking was carved (a Roman numeral and a sequential number of the marker within the sector). At the top some markers had the word ITALIA or S.H.S. (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) carved into them. A precise description of each marker was recorded in the commission's protocols.
Today many border markers can still be found in the wild — some were moved or damaged, but a large number remain in their original positions. Searching for border markers has become an engaging form of hillwalking and historical research.
Some locations were particularly tragic: the border passed through villages, cutting them in half. Farmers woke up to find their field on the "foreign" side. Those who had relatives "on the other side" now had to meet in secret in the forest — or not at all.
How long was the Rapallo border?
Into how many sectors was the Rapallo border divided?
Once the border was created, it had to be guarded. On both sides border guards were posted, guard posts (karaule) were built, and patrols were organised. Without monitoring, the border meant nothing.
Along the entire border small "barracks" (karaule) were built — little border posts where guards lived and worked. These buildings were placed every few kilometres so that the border was continuously monitored. Today many of these buildings are still visible in the landscape, while some have become crumbling ruins.
In the 1930s, as the international situation grew more tense, both sides built defensive systems along the border. Italy erected hundreds of bunkers along the entire Rapallo border — together they formed the Alpine Wall (Vallo Alpino). Yugoslavia built a fortification system on its side now known as the Rupnik Line. The remains of both systems are visible in the natural landscape today.
What did locals call the Yugoslav border financial guards?
What was the name of the Italian defensive bunker system along the Rapallo border?
The border was not impermeable — but it was monitored. Those who wished to cross it legally needed a permit. Many others crossed it illegally — usually at night, along mountain paths, with goods hidden in their clothing or on the backs of animals.
For legal border crossing, permits or passports were required. Farmers and workers along the border had special "border passes" that allowed them to cross to their fields or to visit relatives. There were few border crossings — it was not simple to come and go freely.
Smuggling along the Rapallo border was called kontrabant (from the Italian word contrabbando). For many border communities it was not merely criminal — it was a necessity for survival.
The Rapallo border cut across old trading routes. Farmers who had previously sold goods in the town on the other side could no longer do so. Prices differed between the two states, and some goods were cheaper or simply unavailable on one side. Smuggling was the response to these economic conditions.
Smugglers knew the terrain well — they knew where patrols went, where the border markers were, where the forest was dense enough for hiding. Women concealed tobacco under their clothing. Men led animals along narrow mountain paths in the dark. Children sometimes served as lookouts or message carriers.
The punishment for smuggling depended on how much goods you were carrying and on which side you were caught. On the Italian side, penalties included heavy fines and imprisonment. On the Yugoslav side, fines and prison sentences were also imposed. In some cases the goods were confiscated — meaning the smuggler lost everything they had invested in the "venture."
Despite the risks, smuggling did not stop — it was simply too necessary for survival. Some "professional smugglers" even made a successful living from it, while others did it only occasionally when they truly needed a particular commodity.
It was not only the ordinary farmer who smuggled. In the 1930s, Primorska students and young workers organised their own smuggling — not of goods, but of banned Slovenian books. The organisation documented by the authorities under the name "Black Brothers" distributed among Primorska youth the books that the fascist authorities had seized and banned. They carried the books hidden in hollow shoe soles, beneath their clothing, in the false bottoms of suitcases. Anyone caught risked arrest — yet they took the risk all the same. Because a book in one's mother tongue was not just a story. It was proof that the Slovenian language was still alive.
What did the word "kontrabant" mean along the Rapallo border?
Why did many people along the Rapallo border engage in smuggling?
Under the Treaty of Rapallo, approximately 325,000 Slovenes came under Italy. The Fascist regime, which took power in Italy in 1922, began systematically suppressing Slovenian national identity. The goal was clear: to turn the Littoral Slovenes into Italians.
One of the most important changes was the school reform of 1923. It banned Slovenian as the language of instruction in all state schools. A generation of Littoral children grew up without the possibility of being educated in their mother tongue. Slovenian teachers were sent to the interior of Italy, away from their communities.
All Slovenian personal and place names were forcibly translated into Italian:
The use of Slovenian in official premises, during religious services and in public was forbidden.
Violence began even before the Treaty of Rapallo was signed. On 13 July 1920 Fascists organised the burning and destruction of the National Hall (Narodni dom) in Trieste — the central cultural building of the Littoral Slovenes, housing a hotel, theatre, reading room and the headquarters of cultural associations. Mussolini publicly praised this attack as a "masterly act of Triestine Fascism."
In response to the oppression, the Littoral Slovenes in 1927 founded the national defence organisation TIGR — an acronym for Trieste, Istria, Gorizia, Rijeka. TIGR carried out acts of sabotage, gathered intelligence and maintained contacts with Yugoslavia.
Ferdo Bidovec, Fran Marušič, Alojz Valenčič and Zvonimir Miloš — four members of TIGR who were sentenced to death at the first Trieste trial. They were shot at Basovizza in 1930. In Slovenian memory they have remained symbols of resistance against Fascist domination.
A choirmaster from Gorizia who led church choirs and thereby helped preserve the Slovenian language. In December 1936 Fascists forced a mixture of petrol and machine oil down his throat. After weeks of suffering he died on 16 February 1937, the day before his 35th birthday. He became one of the most important symbols of Fascist violence against Slovenes.
What happened to Slovenian schooling in the territory under Italy after the school reform of 1923?
What does the acronym TIGR stand for?
The Rapallo border lasted 27 years. Its end was brought first by war, and then by a peace treaty.
The Paris Peace Treaty was enormously significant for Slovenia. After 27 years of separation, most of the Littoral — Gorizia, Koper, Nova Gorica, Tolmin, Ajdovščina and many other towns — returned to Yugoslavia. Slovenes in the west once again gained the right to be educated in their mother tongue and to lead their cultural lives in Slovenian. The date of 10 February is in Slovenia a day of remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian systems and wartime violence.
When was the treaty signed that officially abolished the Rapallo border?
What was the "Morgan Line" (1945)?
The Rapallo border (1920–1947) was one of the most important border changes in the history of the Slovenian people. Over 27 years it divided Slovenian territory, separated communities and forced approximately 325,000 Slovenes to live under a foreign political system that sought to erase their national identity. Despite everything, Slovenes preserved their identity — through resistance, through culture and through the resilience of border communities.
Key facts: Rapallo 12 Nov 1920 · 230 km of border · 58 sectors · 325,000 Slovenes under Italy · Italianisation from 1923 · TIGR 1927 · liberation 1945 · Paris 10 Feb 1947
