Bloody Christmas (1920)
| Bloody Christmas | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Company of the River clashes | |||||||
|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Italy
|
Italian Regency of Carnaro | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Enrico Caviglia | Gabriele D'Annunzio | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 8,000 | 2,500 legionnaires | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
25 soldiers dead 139 soldiers injured 2 civilians dead (Fiume) 7 civilians injured (Fiume) |
22 dead Legionnaires (Fiume) 4 dead Legionnaires (Krk) 5 civilians dead (Fiume) 15 civilians injured (Fiume) |
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25 soldiers dead 139 soldiers injured
2 civilians dead (Fiume)
22 dead Legionnaires (Fiume) 4 dead Legionnaires (Krk)
5 civilians dead (Fiume)
The Bloody Christmas of 1920 (Italian: Natale di sangue) was a series of clashes in Fiume (now Rijeka), which led to the conclusion of the Fiume campaign carried out by Italian poet and adventurer, Gabriele D'Annunzio in 1920.
Upon the return of the liberal politician Giovanni Giolitti to government in June 1920, during the Biennio Rosso, the official attitude towards the Kingdom of Italy's regency of Carnaro constituted in Fiume began to waver. On November 12 of the same year, Italy and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Rapallo, forming the Free State of Fiume as a consequence to an occupation of Fiume by Gabriele d'Annunzio and his troops which began with the Impresa di Fiume. D'Annunzio entered Fiume as part of his and many Italians protest for an incomplete victory after World War I, because Italy was denied some of the Eastern Adriatic lands it claimed and was promised at its entry to the war.
The resumption of Italy's premiership by the liberal Giovanni Giolitti in June 1920 signalled a hardening of official attitudes to d'Annunzio's coup. On 12 November, Italy and Yugoslavia concluded the Treaty of Rapallo, under which Fiume was to be an independent state, the Free State of Fiume, under a government acceptable to both. D'Annunzio refused to accept an ultimatum forced upon him to abandon Fiume and claimed the Treaty of Rapallo as illegal. Consequently, his Regency declared war on Italy, further provoking a backlash from the Italian forces, resulting in a cannonade from the Royal Navy. General Enrico Caviglia led his troops against the city, beginning on 24 December 1920 and after just five days occupied the city.
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