Fascism and World War II
Fascist Italy strove to be seen as the natural result of war heroism, against a "betrayed Italy" that had not been awarded all it "deserved", as well as appropriating the image of Arditi soldiers. In this vein, irredentist claims were expanded and often used in Fascist Italy's desire to control the Mediterranean basin.
In 1923, Mussolini temporarily occupied Corfu, using irredentist claims based on minorities of Italians in the Ionian islands of Greece. Similar tactics may have been used towards the islands around the Kingdom of Italy - through the Pro-Italian Maltese, Corfiot Italians and Corsican Italians - in order to control the Mediterranean sea (that he called in Latin Mare Nostrum).
Around 1939, the main territories sought by fascist irredentism included the rest of Dalmatia, the Ionian Islands (in Greece), Malta, Corsica, Nice, Savoy and Ticino.
During World War II, large parts of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy into the Governorship of Dalmatia from 1941 to 1943. Corsica and Nice were also administratively annexed by the Kingdom of Italy in November 1942. Malta was heavily bombed but was not occupied, due to Allied naval control of the Mediterranean and the success of Operation Pedestal, one of the most important British strategic victories of the Second World War.
After Italian capitulation in 1943, areas formerly under Italian control in Istria and the Julian March (Italian: Venezia Giulia) were temporarily controlled by Yugoslav Partisans. Shortly afterward these areas were occupied by the German Wehrmacht and SS forces, which drove away Josip Broz Tito's Partisans and found the remains of several hundred killed Italians, executed by Yugoslav partisan troops.
After 1945, many Italians were murdered in the Foibe killings and up to 270,000 (according to other sources up to 350.000) of them left these territories and moved mainly to Italy.
As a consequence, there was a very significant decline in Italian speaking populations in Istria and Dalmatia.
Read more about this topic: Italian Irredentism
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