Italy enteredWorld War I in May 1915, declaring war onAustria-Hungary. TheRoyal Italian Army stands under command of Chief of Staff and Field MarshallLuigi Cadorna. TheIsonzo is the main battlefield on theItalian Front. The goal of these offensives was the fortress ofGorizia, the capture of which would permit the Italian armies to pivot south and march onTrieste. The frequency of offensives, one every three months, was higher than demanded by the armies on theWestern Front. Italian discipline was also harsher, with punishments for infractions of duty of a severity not known in the German, French, and British armies.
March 9–15 – After the winter lull, the Italians launch theFifth Battle of the Isonzo, but Austrian-Hungarian troops repulse the offensive, and the battle concludes in poor weather for trench warfare.
May 15 – June 10 –Battle of Asiago. Following the stalemate, the Austrian forces begin planning a counteroffensive inTrentino and directed over the plateau ofAltopiano di Asiago, with the aim to break through to thePo River plain and thus cutting off the Italian Armies in the North East of the country. The offensive results in no gain.
June 11 – Due to the aftermath of the Battle of Asiago, Prime MinisterAntonio Salandra resigns.[2]
June 18 –Paolo Boselli forms a new Cabinet. The new government has the character of a government of national unity and consists of nineteen ministers, representative of all political groups.Vittorio Emanuele Orlando becomes Minister of the Interior, whileSidney Sonnino remains Foreign Minister.[1][3]
July 12 –Cesare Battisti and Fabio Filzi, both Austrian subjects but exponents ofTrentino irredentism are hanged by the Austrians inTrento. They had enlisted in the Italian army and were captured by the Austrians, who condemned them as deserters.[1]
August 6–17 – TheBattle of Doberdò and theSixth Battle of the Isonzo, both launched by the Italians, result in a success greater than the previous attacks. The offensive gains nothing of strategic value but did takeGorizia, which boosts Italian spirits.
September 14–17 –Seventh Battle of the Isonzo. The Italians try to extend their hold of their newly-won Gorizia bridgehead in attacks to the south-east of the town. Despite the greater concentration of resources upon a single point – intended to reduce the severely high casualty rate sustained to date – the attack was called off after three days of heavy casualties.
October 5 – The Italian Government is informed of the content of the agreement signed in May between France, England and Russia for the partition of the Asian part of theOttoman Empire. Italy advances reservations about these agreements and demands that part ofAsia Minor including the Turkish provinces ofAidin (Smyrna),Konya andAdana, would be allocated to Italy as agreed in the1915 Treaty of London.[1]
October 10–12 –Eighth Battle of the Isonzo. The attack is essentially a continuation of attempts made during the previous Seventh Battle of the Isonzo to extend the bridgehead established at Gorizia during the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in August 1916. Heavy Italian casualties require that the initiative is called off pending the army's recuperation.
November 1–4 –Ninth Battle of the Isonzo is called off in failure, and the Italians, weakened by continual offensive operations throughout the year – 1916 had seen five Isonzo operations on top of four undertaken the year before – take a lengthy break for the winter.
December 13 – "White Friday", 10,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers are killed by avalanches in theDolomites.[4] According to some reports both sides deliberately fired shells into the weakened snowpacks in an attempt to bury the other side.
April 20 –Claudio Casanova, Italian professional football player who died from the injuries he suffered at front in World War I (b. 1895)
August 6 –Enrico Toti, Italian one-legged cyclist killed in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo (b. 1882)
August 10 –Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Italian rower, killed in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo (b. 1884)
August 17 –Umberto Boccioni, influential Italian painter and sculptor that helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of theFuturism movement (b. 1882)
October 10 –Antonio Sant'Elia, Italian architect and a key member of theFuturist movement in architecture, killed during the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo (b. 1888)
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