The Battle for Post-Habsburg Trieste/Trst: State Transition, Social Unrest, and Political Radicalism (1918–23)

Abstract In spite of the recent transnational turn, there continues to be a considerable gap between Fascist studies and new approaches transitions, imperial collapses, legacies post–World War I Europe. This article posits itself at crossroads fascist studies, Habsburg scholarship on post-1918 violence. this regard, difficulties state transition, subsequent social unrest, ascent forms political radicalism in post-Habsburg Trieste are case point. Rather than focusing “national strife” “Italians” “Slavs,” will concentrate unstable local relations civil society, which led multiple cycles conflict crisis. One arguments it makes is that Trieste, where different nationalist groups contended for space characterized by loyalties allegiances, Fascists claimed movement “true Italians,” identified with their sympathizers. Accordingly, while targeting alleged enemies “Italian nation” (defined as “Bolsheviks,” “Austrophiles,” “Slavs”), they aimed polarize Italian-speaking community along fault lines reconfigure society.