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On 16 October 1918 Emperor Charles I of Austria, after Foreign Minister Baron István Burián asked for an armistice based on the Fourteen Points on 14 October, and two days later issued a proclamation that radically changed the nature of the Austrian state. The Poles were granted full independence with the purpose of joining their ethnic brethren in Russia and Germany in a Polish state. To prevent the total collapse of the monarchy the rest of the Austrian lands were transformed into a federal union composed of four parts—German, Czech, South Slav and Ukrainian. Each of the four parts was to be governed by a federal council, and Trieste was to receive a special status. The National Council of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (SHS) was officially instituted on 16 October 1918 in Zagreb. On the evening of the 28 October, Zoltán Jekelfalussy, the Hungarian governor of Fiume, called Mayor Antonio Vio to his office to give him the news that the Hungarian Government had decided that Fiume was to be abandoned both militarily and politically. The members of the Municipal Council knew they could no longer base its right to authority on his appointment by a power that no longer existed in its previous form. The Municipal Council invoking the right of self-determination, advocated by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson reappointed Vio as major and expanded its ranks to some 60 co-opted members. in the meanwhile representatives of the National Council of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (SHS) arrived in the city and wrested command of the governor palace from Jekelfalussy who left the city. The city now had two self-proclaimed governments, each basing its claims on the same principle. The local representatives of the Municipal Council as a response formed immediately the Italian National Council, headed by Antonio Grossich. On October the 30th the body Proclaimed the annexation of Fiume to Italy [1]
Austria-Hungary reached an armistice with Italy through the Armistice of Villa Giusti signed on November 3, 1918. This agreement stipulated that Italy could occupy large parts of the territory included in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The National Council of the Slovenes Croats and Serbs (SHS) was dissolved when Italian Army units, commanded by General Enrico di San Marzano, occupied the city. The rule of the Italian National Council was tolerated by the Italian command, much less so by the American, English and French units who also came to the city.
At the Paris peace Conference Andrea Ossoinack was entrusted by the Italian National Council as its official representative and in that capacity it had a meeting with Wilson in April 1919.
The Italian National Council functioned as a de facto government with interruptions:
The city was annexed to Italy in February 1924.