Free Territory of Trieste stays independent.

Weird diplomatic loopholes that similarly enable Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican to remain independent to this day.

I dunno. Part of the reason that those nations are all independent is that no one really cares what happens to them. Trieste is a major port city.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Have Italian and Yugolavic politicians desire a neutral zone between the states, and Trieste remains an autonomous state. By the 60's this has been the norm and no one really wants to break the statues quo. In the Yugoslav was Trieste becomes an important Refugee hub.
 
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Istria would likely be added to a Trieste free state, due to its mixed racial makeup?

Free State of Istria, buffer between Italy and Yugoslavia. If that was created, the territory is big enough to become a fully-functional state like Belgium.

*Istria would likely join the EU at some point.


Now what if the state was limited to only the city of Trieste? This is more difficult. I don't see anyone desiring another Monaco-like city state made out of an important port.
 
Weird diplomatic loopholes that similarly enable Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican to remain independent to this day.

Except the Vatican nicely sums up why it's possible for a few blocks of Rome to be an independent state, but the Papal States was shorn of anything meaningfully important to its independence. These kinds of states only exist through their own total irrelevance to the world.
 
Kaliningrad?
Is not independent, it's an exclave of Russia. It had the strategic location of providing the Russians with an ice-free port all year round. Whilst Trieste is a port unless its got the ability to move goods into the surrounding countries that becomes rather moot.
 
What would it take for the city of Trieste to stay independent to this day.

A different vision of its organization. OTL, the governor of the Free City had to be agreed upon by both Italy and Yugoslavia ... needless to say, neither agreed with the other's proposals. If the governor is, say, appointed by the UN, then you can get something going.

If the system doesn't require the agreement of both nations, then a governor could be appointed and the state could function. With both occupation zones included, it could be a viable buffer.
 
Have the Venetian Republic survive dismemberment by the French and Austrians in 1797. The Republic delines in importance and shrinks over the years till only Venice, Trieste and Treviso and a thin strip of coastline between the three remains. The French, Venetians and the Russians sign a treaty in 1860 that guarantees the existence of the shrunken Republic (Now renamed the Marano Republic) with Basing rights for the French Navy in the Venice Lagoon and a major naval base for a Russian Mediteranean Fleet in Trieste with the joint intention of keeping the Austrians from dominating the Adriatic and Italy, also to prevent the Royal Navy dominating the Eastern and Central Mediteranean from its bases in Malta and Alexandria.

This treaty survives till 1915 when the French offer to transfer its Ventian basing rights to Italian control in exchange for Italy joining the Entente.

Early in 1918 the Austrians realising the Axis is doomed secretly agree to turn their backs on the Germans and pull out of the war and dismantle the Empire peacefully keeping all German speaking regions of the old Empire inside Austria. The reward will be no onerous post war treaty and access for Austria to the sea at the Free Port of Falkenberg (Montfalcone). The Versaille Treaty guarantees the rights of the Marano Republic and removes the Rusian rights to its Naval base in Trieste. A Democratic constitution is put in place removing the power of the Doge of Venice. A new Capital is sited in Trieste and the new President is called the Doge of Marano in deference to history

In 1940 Mussolini forces the tiny Republic to join Italy in a wartime ailiance. Postwar Marano was occupied jointly by the British and French who fought a long campaign against Tito backed Communist guerillas till 1952 when a treaty was signed with Yugoslavia. Marano regained independence in 1954 joining NATO in 1955 and the EEC in 1963. Today the Tiny Republic of 1.2 million people is a thriving trading nation at the heart of the European Union still using the ancient winged Lion emblem of Venice on its flag.



Not a free Trieste but the closest I could come up with.
 
I dig this, because I am in search of "Venice survives to this day" scenarios. Why does Italy fail to annex them? Because the tri-powers that created the republic don't want a unified republic from getting that port?
 
This is really cool!!

Have the Venetian Republic survive dismemberment by the French and Austrians in 1797. The Republic delines in importance and shrinks over the years till only Venice, Trieste and Treviso and a thin strip of coastline between the three remains. The French, Venetians and the Russians sign a treaty in 1860 that guarantees the existence of the shrunken Republic (Now renamed the Marano Republic) with Basing rights for the French Navy in the Venice Lagoon and a major naval base for a Russian Mediteranean Fleet in Trieste with the joint intention of keeping the Austrians from dominating the Adriatic and Italy, also to prevent the Royal Navy dominating the Eastern and Central Mediteranean from its bases in Malta and Alexandria.

[...]

Not a free Trieste but the closest I could come up with.
 
This is really cool!!

Thanks it is the framework for a timeline I was thinking of doing that kept Venice as a Republic and the ethnic Greek cities of the Ottoman Empire as independent free trade enclaves in a neutral Turkish state, basically a sort of Hanseatic League for the Eastern Med.

Couldnt pull all the threads together in my mind to make it work though and gave up after a month. Anyone want to pinch the idea they are free to run with it.
 
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