(Parts relating to Serbia and Montenegro)

Conclusions of the London Conference

Acting according to instructions of his Government, Marquis Imperiali, Ambassador of His Majesty the King of Italy, has the honour to communicate to the Rt. Hon. Sir E. Grey, His British Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and to Their Excellencies M. Paul Cambon, Ambassador of the French Republic and Count de Benckendorff, Ambassador of His Majesty The Czar of All Russians, the following

MEMORANDUM

. . . Article 5

Italy shall also be given the province of Dalmatia within its present borders, including Lisarica and Tribanj in the north, and in the south up to a line starting on the shore of the promontory of Planka and extending to the east following the peaks which create divides in such a way as to leave in the Italian territory all the valleys and watercourses descending towards Sibenik, such as Cikola, Krka and Butisnjica and their tributaries. In addition, Italy shall be given the isles situated in the north and in the west of Dalmatia, starting from the isles of Premuda, Silba, Olib, Skrda, Maun, Pag and Vir in the north up to Mljet in the south, including the isles of Sv. Andrija, Bisevo, Vis, Hvar, Torkul, Korcula, Kaciol and Lastovo, along with nearby reefs and islets, as well as Palagruz, but excluding the isles of Veliki Drvenik and Mali Drvenik, Ciovo, Solta and Brac.

The following shall be neutralised:

1. The entire coast from the promontory of Planka in the north to the southern coast of the peninsula of Peljesac in the south, so as to encompass the whole peninsula;
2. A part of the coast starting in the north at a point at a distance of 10 kilometres south of Cavtat and extending in the direction of the south all the way to the river Vojusa, encompassing the Bay and Port of Kotor, the ports of Bar, Ulcinj, Sv. Ivan Medovanski, Durres, without encroaching upon the rights of Montenegro based on the declarations of the Great Powers which they exchanged in April and May 1909; these rights shall apply only to the present territory of Montenegro and shall not be applicable to the lands and ports yet to be accorded to it; consequently, no part of the coast in possession of Montenegro at present shall be neutralised; the restrictions relating to the port of Bar consented to by Montenegro in 1909 shall remain in force;
3. Finally, all the islands which have not been granted to Italy.

Note

The four allied Great Powers shall grant the following territories to Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro:

The entire coast in the upper Adriatic from Volosko on the border of Istria to the northern coast of Dalmatia, comprising the present Hungarian coast and the Croatian littoral, including the port of Rijeka and the small ports of Novi and Karlobag, as well as the isles of Krk, Prvic, Grgur, Goli and Rab. In the southern Adriatic, in the area in which Serbia and Montenegro are interested, the entire coast from the promontory of Planka to the River Drim, including the important ports of Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Bar, Ulcinj and St. Ivan Medovanski, as well as the isles of Veliki Drvenik, Mali Drvenik, Ciovo, Solta, Brac, Jakljan and Kolocep. The port of Durres shall be left to the independent Muslim State of Albania.

. . . Article 7

If Italy is accorded Trieste and Istria under Article 4, Dalmatia and the Adriatic isles within the borders determined in Article 5 and the Bay of Vlore (Article 6), and if the central part of Albania is preserved for the creation of a small neutralised autonomous State, Italy shall not oppose the division of the northern and southern parts of Albania – if France, Great Britain and Russia so wish – between Montenegro, Serbia and Greece. The coast from the southern border of the Italian possession of Vlore up to the cape of Stylos shall be neutralised.

Italy shall be instructed to represent Albania in its international relations. Italy is agreeable to this arrangement provided that a sufficiently large territory is left in the east of Albania in order to secure the common border to Greece and Serbia in the west of Lake Ohrid.

. . . Article 16

This agreement shall be kept secret. Only the consent of Italy to the declaration of 5 September 1914 shall be made public immediately after the declaration of war by or against Italy.

Having acquainted themselves with this Memorandum the representatives of France, Great Britain and Russia, duly authorized to that effect, have concluded with the representative of Italy, also duly authorized by his Government, the following Treaty.

France, Great Britain and Russia declare that they are agreeable to the Memorandum proposed by the Italian Government.

Referring to Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Memorandum which provide for military cooperation between the four Great Powers on land and at sea, Italy declares that it shall enter the war as soon as possible, within a period not longer than a month after the signing of this declaration. In witness whereof the representatives duly authorized for that purpose have signed these presents and affixed their seals thereto.

Done at London, on 26 April 1915, in four originals.

Sir Edward Grey
Cambon
Marquis Imperiali
Count Beckendorff

Source: M. Marjanovic, Londonski ugovor iz 1915 (London Treaty of 1915). Contribution to the history of the struggle for the Adriatic 1914-1917, Zagreb, 1960, pp. 145-149.

Note - On the basis of this Treaty Italy finally joined the Entente Powers because they had more to offer than its Allies in the Triple Alliance (Austro-Hungary and Germany) and entered the world war. The Italian government previously made public the Declaration of Neutrality (on 3 August 1914) and started secret negotiations with the Entente Powers and, in parallel, with the Allies in the Triple Alliance. On 4 April 1915 the Italian Ambassador in Vienna handed to Count Berthold the Declaration on Italy's withdrawal from the Triple Alliance and, on 23 May, Italy declared war on Austro-Hungary. On the following day it severed diplomatic relations with Germany and the war between the two started on 28 August 1916. After the end of the war Italy abundantly used the secret London Treaty and Britain and France in order to augment its claims on Yugoslav territories through large-scale diplomatic struggle for the solution of the so-called Adriatic question. (Prof. Momir Stojkovic, “Balkanski ugovorni odnosi 1876-1996” /Balkan Treaty Relations 1876-1996/.