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World War I -- Italian refugees trends Austrian empire
World War I Italian Refugees: Austrian Empire
Figure 1.--After Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary the Italian Army lunched an offensive north into the Tretino, the Italian ethnic populated Alpine region. The Austrians evacuated civilians near the front lines. The Ledro Valley was one of these areas. The men despite being ethnic Italians were conscripted into the Austrian Army. The displaced people went resettled to more secure region of the Empire, far from the front. These children from Ledro were resettled in Bohemia. Given their clothing they seem to be wll cared for. After the war, the Tretino and neigboring South Tyrol (Alto Adige) were awarded to Italy. It was one reason that Mussolini was at first suspicious of Hitler. He though Hitler wanted the area back, especially as South Tyrol had a mostly Germn population.
Much of the World War I fighting between Italy and Austria was foght in areas with Italian ethnic populations. The Italians hoped to seize the Austrian Littoral and northern Dalmatia, and in the north the Trentino and South Tyrol. Ethnic Italians in the Austrian Empire were involved in both a voluntary flow and deportations from Adriaric regions. And the flow was both to Italy and to interior areas of the Austrian Empire. This is a topic not well covered in most World War I histories. Rather large numbers of young men immediately fled the Austrian Adriatic areas populated by ethnic Italians. Austria-Hungary was a multi-ethnic empire and among its various ethnicities were Italians. Some 87,000 ethnic Italians from Trieste, Trento, Dalmatia, and other locations fled to Italy. They wanted at all cost to avoid conscription and service in the Austrian Arm. Many wanted to join up and fight for Italy. Adding to this movement, the Austrian authorities began expelling ethnic Italian civilians (mostly women, children and the elderly) which were of no use to the war effort. Available evidence suggests that 42,000 ethic Italians were expelled into Italy. A companion measure was the relocation of some 52,000 ethnic Italians in northern Italy away from the front and moving them to other areas of the Empire. There were also additionl relocations based on �national security�. We have less information on this, but apperantly several thousand people were involved.
