America And "the Italian Border Line Issues"(1915-1919)

Since its unification, Italy had been redefining the border line with Austria-Hungary for the sake of imperialism, nationalism and national security. After the outbreak of the Great War, Great Britain, France and Russia included Italy into the Allies by secretly signing The Treaty of London on April1915. The Allies promised Italy that it could annex the territory originally belonging to Austria-Hungary after they won in World War Ⅰ.On April1917, the United States joined the Allies and declared the war against Germany. World War Ⅰ provided an excellent opportunity for the United States to scramble for the world leadership. Many signs indicated that America will play an important role in the postwar settlement. Since American concept was completely different from European secret diplomatic system, how America would deal with those secret treaties had greatly aroused the Allies’ attention. For Italy, the attitude of America had a direct bearing on whether it could get the trophy it wanted; but for America, the policy on Italian border line must serve its overall objective, that is, to scramble for the world leadership. During World War Ⅰ, America firmly avoided discussing the aim of the First World War with the Allies, and fudged the issues over Italian border line in order to enhance the military cooperation with the Allies and to defeat the Central Powers as soon as possible. The evasive attitude of America directly influenced its policies on Austria-Hungary and Yugoslavia.Not until America and the Allies negotiated armistice terms with Germany and Austria-Hungary did American evasive attitude change. Firstly, In President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, United States publicly announced its partial scheme to solve Italian border line issues. Then, it compromised with Italy on the northern border issues; in the truce, American acquiescence to Italian’s military control over the disputed areas. At the beginning of the Paris Peace Conference, President Wilson conceded South Tyrol to Italy in secret to exchange for Italian support of the League of Nations, which, at the same time, betrayed "National-Self Determination" that he preached. When the dispute over the draft covenant of League of Nations and the peace treaty with Germany was about to draw to an end. to salvage its reputations abroad, and to prove the League of Nations was an effective weapon to solve international disputes, America firmly opposed to Italian demand for the Adriatic Sea (especially for Fiume) and safeguarded the interests of Yugoslavia. At the insistence of the United States, Italy did not succeed at the Paris Peace Conference, but on September11,1919, under the leadership of Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, Italian voluntary army occupied Fiume. which marked the failure of American policy on Italian border line issues. Meanwhile, The Congress’refusal of ratifying the treaty also symbolizes America has slowed down its pace forging ahead toward international political stage comprehensively.My thesis aims to investigate the relation between the United States and "Italian border line issues". In my view, the making, implementation and results of the policy on Italian border line reflected the enhancement in the international status of America, and, at the same time, showed the difficult situations the emerging America faced in the course of fighting against the old diplomatic system.