The role of Triest in the Italian geopolitical and geoeconomic theories between the two world wars

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the role of Trieste in the Italian geopolitical and geoeconomic theories and strategies between the two world wars. The article is based on three statements: 1. Trieste lost its outstanding trading position after World War 1. 2. Despite the loss of significance, its advantageous geographical position made the port-city important for the Italian foreign policy. 3. The symbolic role of Trieste was also determinative in the Italian policy. The literature and the statistical data proved my first statement, the trading position of Trieste changed in a negative way after the territorial changes of the peace agreements. Although there was partial success in the turnover of goods of the port of Trieste in the researched era, though, the city could not manage to reach the pre-war time results. However, my second statement was also proved, Trieste was important for the Italian foreign policy due to the strong impact of the geopolitical theories which envisioned a remarkable role for the city in the influence of the states of the Danube Basin and the Balkan Peninsula. Eventually, primarily due to the political changes in Central Europe the trading flows dropped between Trieste and the client countries, which led the city into crisis. Responding to the crisis the local industry was improved successfully. But besides the geopolitical and economic objectives there were other determinative factors in the development of the city, such as the symbolical significance of the ‘home returned” city.