LA QUESTIONE MACEDONE NELLA POLITICA ITALIANA (1878-1908)

The Macedonian issue is one of the essential moments of the complex history of the Balkans. Its repercussions were felt in the entire Balkan geographical area and strongly influenced the life of the newly constituted Principality of Bulgaria. The Macedonian issue involved more or less directly also all the territories that gravitated around the Adriatic Sea, like Albania, causing worries in the Italian political leaders. In the period of time between the Berlin Congress (1878) and the Young Turks’ takeover in Constantinople (1908), the “Consulta” followed the events with constant attention, fearing that they could have led to a new Balkan conflict or even European. Moreover, Italy feared that a certain instability in the area could favour Wien’s politics in the Albanian territories where Rome also aspired to impose its own influence and to put the basis of an embryonic economical presence. In 1908, the Young Turks’ takeover, the annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina by Wien and the independence of Bulgaria produced a series of changes in the Balkan context. A new crisis was about to explode, but not due to the Great Powers, but to the Italian endeavours in Libya. The Balkan wars (1912-1913) determined the division of the Macedonian territories and the disappearance, at least for a long while, of the Macedonian issue from the agenda of the Great Powers and that of Italy.