Page 319 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

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The occupied Slovene territory (between Austro-Italian border and the Soča) was part
of the military territory that included also Italians provinces in a state of war, the Adriatic
coastal municipalities and islands, and fortresses that Italian Ministry of War specified as
defensive. The military territory was divided into territory of military operations, hinterland
and provinces in a state of war which were not included in either the operational zone or
hinterland areas. Fighting took place within the operational zone, and military units lived in
it. The hinterland was land in which military units were accommodated that were not at the
front and in which supply took place. The Slovene territory that the Italian army occupied be-
longed administratively within the County of Gorizia – gradisca, with a population according
to the 1910 census of 260,749. According to that census, the occupied Slovene municipalities
had a population of 27,834.
In the territories of the Kingdom of Italy where a state of war had been proclaimed and
in those that were occupied by the Italian army, political and administrative authority was
in the hands of the Supreme Command of the Italian army. Besides performing exclusively
military operations, the Supreme Command was also charged with remedying the situation
in the occupied areas, ensuring law and order and the safety of military routes, helping the
civilian population and local authorities as well as facilitating or even enabling the normal
functioning of public services. The Supreme Command assumed direct control and respon-
sibility over the organisation of public services by establishing the General Secretariat for
Civil Affairs (It. Segretariato Generale per gli Affari Civili) on 29 May 1915. The General
Secretariat had its seat in Udine and was run by the prefect Agostino d’Adamo and his deputy
Carlo Galli, a diplomat, former Consul General in Trieste and a great authority on conditions
in Venezia Giulia. It employed a large number of irredentists who wanted to take an active
part in solving the problem of the unredeemed provinces.
The instructions in principles of the Supreme Command complied with Article 43 of the
Hague Conventions from 1907, which recognised the right of the occupying force to un-
3
dertake to protect public order and the safety of public life by all possible means. The Hague
Conventions lay down that all measures, as well as the state of military occupation, were to
be provisional. The Hague Conventions determined that one of the basic conditions for the
validity of occupation is actual authority of the occupying army over specific territory, which
during World War I were simultaneously a right and an obligation. In spite of the right to
exercise authority, it was undisputed in this period that occupied territories were foreign terri-
tories in which the occupant was not allowed to introduce his own legislation except in order
to establish order and peace. the occupant was supposed to base his actions on the interests
of the occupied territories. He was not allowed to collect taxes, introduce contributions and
requisitions, and could encroach on state and not on private property. The inhabitants of the
occupied territory during occupation were allowed to retain their citizenship, therefore the
population was not required to swear allegiance to the occupier, but it was obliged to obey

venskega ozemlja 1915 – 1917 (Soča, the Sacred River. Italian occupation of the Slovene territory 1915
– 1917). Nova revija, Ljubljana 2003; Petra Svoljšak, la popolazione civile nella Slovenia ocupata. In: La
violenza contro la popolazione civile nella Grande Guerra. (A cura di Bruna Bianchi), Edizioni Unicopli, Ve-
nezia 2006, pp. 147 – 164; Petra Svoljšak, L’occupazione italiana dell’Isontino dal maggio 1915 all’ottobre
1917 e gli Sloveni. In: Qualestoria, 1998, n.1-2, pp.33 – 63.
3 http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lawofwar/hague02.htm