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Austro-Hungarian rule and union to Italy.
In 1813, Pula and Istria were restored to the Austrian Empire (later the Austro-Hungarian Empire), and became part of the Austrian Littoral crown land. During this period Pula regained prosperity. From 1859 Pula's large natural harbour became Austria's main naval base and a major shipbuilding centre. It was chosen for this honour by Hans Birch Dahlerup, a Danish admiral in the service of Austria. The city transformed from a small city with a fading antique splendour into an industrial town. The island of Brijuni to the south of Pula became the summer vacation resort of Austria's Habsburg royal family.
In World War I, the port was the main base for Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts and other naval forces of the Empire.
During this period many inhabitants were Italian speaking. The 1910 Austrian census recorded a city population of 58,562 (45.8% Italian speaking; 15.2% Slavic). However, this census focused on the spoken language, not the self declared ethnicity of the citizens.
Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Pula and the whole of Istria � except the territory of Kastav � were given to Italy under the peace treaty. Pula (Pola) became the capital of the Province of Pola. The decline in population after World War I was mainly due to economic difficulties caused by the large-scale reduction of the Austro-Hungarian military and bureaucratic facilities and the dismissal of workers from its shipyard.
Under the Italian Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, non-Italians, especially Slavic residents, faced huge political and cultural repression and many fled the city and Istria altogether.
The Nazi German army entered to fill the vacuum left by retreating Italian soldiers. The whole city became part of �K�stenland�, the occupied zone under the Third Reich. During German military rule (1943�1945), Pula was integrated into the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast, a
