February 25 – At a national congress of theItalian Socialist Party (PSI) in Rome the division between reformists and hard-liners increases; only the approval of an agenda proposed byCostantino Lazzari manages to avoid fracture.[1]
May 1 – Riots break out inMilan and in the suburbs of the city and some other towns in Lombardy.[1]
May 8 – The PSI and theItalian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), the socialist parliamentary group and the PSI sections of Milan and Turin meet in Milan. After fierce debate, a call is approved inviting organizations and individual workers to comply with "discipline" to the directives of the party and not to take "isolated and fragmented" initiatives.[1]
May 10 – June 8 –Tenth Battle of the Isonzo. The Italians advance to within 15 km ofTrieste almost reaching the coastal town ofDuino, but a major Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive launched on 3 June reclaimed virtually all lost ground and by the time the battle was called off little territory had been gained.
May 23 – After almost a month of civil violence inMilan the Italian army forcibly takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries. Fifty people are killed and 800 arrested.[2]
June 10 – A proclamation of the commander of the Italian troops in Albania, GeneralGiacinto Ferrero, promising freedom and independence of Albania under the protection of Italy, which had been approved by Foreign MinisterSidney Sonnino without consulting the Council of Ministers, provokes strong reactions on the part of ministers of the Interventionist left, the RepublicanUbaldo Comandini and socialist reformistsLeonida Bissolati andIvanoe Bonomi, who present their resignation in protest to Prime MinisterPaolo Boselli.[1]
June 10–25 –Battle of Mount Ortigara. After fierce and bloody fightings the Italian 52nd Alpine Division managed to capture the top of Mount Ortigara. The Austro-Hungarian command promptly sent many trained reinforcements which retook it, the strenuous Italian resistance notwithstanding.
June 23 – Italy establishes anItalian protectorate over Albania in an effort to secure ade jure independent Albania under Italian control (until the summer of 1920).
June 30 – In the Chamber of Deputies the Socialist leaderFilippo Turati calls on the government to start peace negotiations.[1]
August 18 – September 12 –Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. The offensive soon wore out. After the battle, the Austro-Hungarian army were exhausted, and could not have withstood another attack. But so were the Italians, who could not find the resources necessary for another assault, even though it might have been the decisive one. So the final result of the battle was another inconclusive bloodbath. Chief of Staff, General Luigi Cadorna warns Prime Minister Boselli of a vast work of socialist incitement in the army.[1]
August 21 – Insurrection for "peace and bread" inTurin.[3] The uprising quickly turns into open rebellion against the war.[1]
October 4 – By royal decree heavy criminal sanctions are proclaimed against anyone who commits or incites to commit acts of defeatism (The decree will be abolished on 19 November 1918).[1]
October 24 – November 12 –Battle of Caporetto, also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. The Austrians received desperately needed reinforcements from German Army. The Germans introducedinfiltration tactics to the Austrian front and helped work on a new offensive. Meanwhile, mutinies and plummeting morale crippled the Italian Army from within. The soldiers lived in poor conditions and engaged in attack after attack that often yielded minimal or no military gain. Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line due to the use ofstormtroopers and theinfiltration tactics. The use ofpoison gas by the Germans also played a key role in the collapse of theItalian Second Army.[4] France and Britain send reinforcements through theItalian Expeditionary Force.[5]
October 26 – The Italian military disaster atCaporetto on October 25, leads to the fall of thePaolo Boselli government.[6]
October 30 –Vittorio Emanuele Orlando becomes Prime Minister,[7] and continues in that role through the rest of the war. He had been a strong supporter of Italy's entry in the war and successfully leads a patriotic national front government, theUnione Sacra and reorganizes the army.[8]
November 9 – GeneralLuigi Cadorna was relieved of command of the Italian army. Italy's allies Britain and France sent eleven divisions to reinforce the Italian front, and insisted on his dismissal. The new Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando appoints the respected GeneralArmando Diaz as Chief of General Staff.
November 10 – The Italian front on the Piave effectively resist the enemy offensive, despite superior resources and manpower employed by the Austro-Germans. The Germans gradually withdraw their military contingent from the Italian front in the following month to prepare for the great offensive in the spring of 1918 on theWestern Front.[1]
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