The South Tyrol Question

This Video is about the history of South Tyrol (Südtirol) and its political situation over the years. Today is South Tyrol, with its capital of Bozen, a part of Italy. But before World War 1 it was a part of Austria-Hungary and other German speaking empires, which explains why the majority of its population is still ethnically German to this day.

Sources (mostly):

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[metisdocumentaries]

Correction @ 12:59: The numbers for the Italian speaking poll should be the other way around. 22% favor secession, 78% reject it. Sorry for that mistake!

[tancreddehauteville]

In fairness, compared to the way Alsace-Lorraine was treated by France and the brutal expulsions imposed by Poland, Russia and Czechia on the eastern German lands and Sudetenland, South Tyrol has been pretty well treated. People there have kept a lot of cultural and political autonomy.

[Suessaurerapfel]

Das Schönste auf der Welt, ist mein Tyroler Land. Mit seinen steilen Höhen, mit seiner Felsenwand. Tirolerland, wie bist du schön, so schön, wer weiß ob wir uns wiedersehen.

[themfwestcoast]

South Tyrol was made italian in the treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, not Versailles :)

[MikeParsonsOutdoorGearCoach]

I really appreciated this very clear overview as I have visited Sud Tyrol many times for skiing and climbing. As a UK citizen, I see Sud Tyrol as and very wealthy area and very proud people with s Strong sense of identity. I was once in a climbing hut on the Italian'Sud Tyrol border, having lunch, but we were the only group. The little girl of der wirt came to try to play cards with me which I didn't know how to. So I asked a quick question; Bist du eine Italienerin order Oestreichsicherin? She was only 6 yrs old, maybe but replied emphatically, 'Ich bin Sud Tyroler'.

[orso]

Very good video! Thank you for describing this topic so well and I hope that this video will get more attention!

[mr.dudeperson]

Both Italians and Austrians make good points on why each should have it, but in the end I think it is rightful Albanian land

[MrZenGuitarist]

Thank you very much for this - I had no idea about that the 'troubles' in South Tirol lasted for so long...and up and until relatively recently.
But as you said - this is a good example of how to work out disputes amongst different nations and countries, without going to war. Hopefully we will see more and more controversies and disputes 'solved' in this way. (But, to achieve that we would probably have to rid the world of all authoritarian despots...which in the end can only, realistically be done by the people living there themselves.)

[volcanianthegreat]

HOW DO YOU HAVE ONLY LIKE 4 SUBSCRIBERS?! Seriously though, this has so much effort put into it, i really liked the video so far! Hope this is seen by more people, i think at the very least you should have like 50k subscribers! Earned a new sub.

[robju]

The Trentino and South Tirol cannot be divided. They are properly a self governing province within Italy.

[gunston]

These days the Italian government lets South Tyrol speak whatever language they want to..there are no restrictions.

[algoraxmago]

The fact that in 2022 there are still people even considering things like indipendence or reunification instead of moving towards a federalised Europe shows how much they deserve each misfotune the fate has in store for them...

[AshleyGravesreal]

So to clearify an issue that you foreigners do get confused about is South Tyrol, so I am an italian and basically there are 2 provinces autonomus the italian zone, trent and the german one bozen/bolzano (which is the german speaker zone.)

[EuropeanFella]

My dumbass thought the country in the thumbnail was Latvia 💀

[gj]

South Tyrol was part of the Roman province of Raetia for about 500 years from 15BC TO 476 AD. What happened is that it’s just being ruled by Rome once again.

[SmashingCapital]

It would be kinda stupid for south tyrol to secede, they get a lot of privileges and that helps their economy a lot

[nathanwalker]

Thank you Metis for the video, it was very interesting although there are several imprecisions.

I am not Italian and I don't have bias.
I am a historian and an expert in ancient languages, particularly Indoeuropean languages.

I would like to start by quoting Dante, the Italian poet:

«Suso in Italia bella giace un laco,
a piè de l'Alpe che serra Lamagna
sovra Tiralli, c'ha nome Benaco.»

(Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto XX, vv.61-63)

While reading this passage I have always found it absurd that Dante refers to Tiralli, and Benaco and called them Italy.
I can’t buy that Dante had a bias against Germans or Ladins.

Ladins. this leads me to my second point.
Ladin was (is?) the language of Tiral. Not German.

The Raeti tribe was submitted by the Romans, and Tiral was their land.
The Raeti tribe was related to the Etruscans not to the Germans.

Point Three. Tiral is the name of the land, Tyrol started to appear from the 1200.
This date correspond to the “Ostsiedlung” (literally Colonization of the East) that is an important point of German culture (and focal point of Hitler’s propaganda).

The Germans didn’t colonize just the est they also moved to other areas.
It is fascinating to find in Italy and further south than Tiral or Trentino other small areas that still preserve German dialects.

I find this topic very interesting and stimulating.

I found your video a positive contribution because it gives the chance to talk about history and old Alpine tribes.

So to be correct we need to say that the Raeti were the people of Tiral, then the Romans, and just later on the Germans invaded Tiral (see Tyrol).

The Italians wanted South Tiral because it was quoted as Italian by many ancient writers. On top of that was the Italian side of the alps (by culture, history [roman, medieval])

It would be interesting if you could further explore the concept of “why the Italians insisted to have South Tyrol?” in a second video.

I hope to see it in future.

Good luck 🍀

Kind regards from an old professor 🍀

[Nick-kzdg]

1:37 The Treaty of Versailles was the German treaty, the Austrian treaty was the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

[Ashybasha]

Fascinating how majority of Italian speakers @13:00 in South Tyrol seem favour separation.

[Debrydelys-Deeberdeyn]

Your work is really great. I have lived in this area since my childhood, (but I loved Switzerland much more because I also lived there as a child). You have been able to explain the situation very well. 💯💯 👌👌👌