Italian Occupation of Posočje (1915-1917)

Abstract

Already the first day of combats (24th of May 1915) the Italian army occupied a large part of the Austro-Hungarian territory in Posočje, in east Friuli and south Tyrol. Primarily Italians, Friulians and Slovenes lived on the occupied territories. For managing civil affairs on the occupied territories the Italian supreme command established a General Secretariat (Segretariato Generale), which — following the International law — allowed the former administrative division, and introduced the system of civil commissaries. On the occupied territories the Italian government behaved as the occupator as well as liberator who must only vvait the end of the war and the succeeding peace-treaties to de iure solve the problem of annexing the occupied territories.