Although a member of theTriple Alliance, Italy did not join theCentral Powers – Germany and Austria-Hungary – when the war started withAustria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. In fact, the two Central Powers had taken the offensive while the Triple Alliance was supposed to be a defensive alliance. Moreover, the Triple Alliance recognized that both Italy and Austria-Hungary were interested in the Balkans and required both to consult each other before changing the status quo and to provide compensation for whatever advantage in that area: Austria-Hungary did consult Germany but not Italy before issuing the ultimatum to Serbia, and refused any compensation before the end of the war.
Almost a year after the war's commencement, after secret parallel negotiations with both sides (with the Allies in which Italy negotiated for territory if victorious, and with the Central Powers to gain territory if neutral) Italy entered the war on the side of theAllied Powers. Italy began to fight against Austria-Hungary along the northern border, including high up in the now-Italian Alps with very cold winters and along theIsonzo river. The Italian army repeatedly attacked and, despite winning a number of battles, suffered heavy losses and made little progress as the terrain favoured the defender. In 1916, the Italians stopped theSüdtirol Offensive andconquered Gorizia. However, Italy was then forced to retreat in 1917 by a German-Austrian counteroffensive at theBattle of Caporetto after Russia left the war, allowing the Central Powers to move reinforcements to the Italian Front from the Eastern Front.
The offensive of the Central Powers was stopped by Italy at theBattle of Monte Grappa in November 1917 and theBattle of the Piave River in May 1918. Italy took part in theSecond Battle of the Marne and the subsequentHundred Days Offensive in theWestern Front. On 24 October 1918 the Italians, despite being outnumbered, breached the Austrian line inVittorio Veneto; as a result, the centuries-oldHabsburg Empire collapsed. Italy recovered the territory lost after the fighting at Caporetto in November the previous year and moved into Trento and Trieste. Fighting ended on 4 November 1918. Italian armed forces were also involved in theAfrican theatre, theBalkan theatre, theMiddle Eastern theatre and then took part in theOccupation of Constantinople. At the end of World War I, Italy was recognized with a permanent seat in theLeague of Nations' executive council along with Britain, France and Japan.
Roy Pryce summarized the experience as follows:
The government's hope was that the war would be the culmination of Italy's struggle for national independence. Her new allies promised her the "natural frontiers" which she had so long sought-the Trentino and Trieste-and something more. At the end of hostilities she did indeed extend her territory, but she came away from the peace conference dissatisfied with her reward for three and a half years' bitter warfare, having lost half a million of her noblest youth, with her economy impoverished and internal divisions more bitter than ever. That strife could not be resolved within the framework of the old parliamentary regime. The war that was to have been the climax of the Risorgimento produced theFascist dictatorship. Something, somewhere, had gone wrong.[1]
Italy was a member of theTriple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Despite this, in the years before the war, Italy had enhanced its diplomatic relationships with theUnited Kingdom andFrance. This was because the Italian government had grown convinced that support of Austria (the traditional enemy of Italy during the 19th centuryRisorgimento) would not gain Italy the territories it wanted:Trieste,Istria,Zara andDalmatia, all Austrian possessions. In fact, a secret agreement signed with France in 1902 sharply conflicted with Italy's membership in the Triple Alliance.
A few days after the outbreak of the war, on 3 August 1914, the government, led by the conservativeAntonio Salandra, declared that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor. Thereafter Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs,Sidney Sonnino, began to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war or its neutrality. Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime MinisterGiovanni Giolitti) was firmly against intervention, numerous intellectuals, includingSocialists such asIvanoe Bonomi,Leonida Bissolati, and, after 18 October 1914,Benito Mussolini, declared in favour of intervention, which was then mostly supported by the Nationalist and the Liberal parties. Pro-interventionist socialists believed that, once that weapons had been distributed to the people, they could have transformed the war into a revolution. Italy's neutrality also favored theSpanish's neutrality.[2]
The negotiation withCentral Powers to keep Italy neutral failed: after victory Italy was to getTrentino but not theSouth Tyrol, part of theAustrian Littoral but notTrieste, maybe Tunisia but only after the end of the war while Italy wanted them immediately. The negotiation with the Allies led to theLondon Pact (26 April 1915), signed by Sonnino without the approval of theItalian Parliament. According to the Pact, after victory Italy was to getTrentino and theSouth Tyrol up to theBrenner Pass, the entireAustrian Littoral (withTrieste),Gorizia and Gradisca (Eastern Friuli) and Istria (but withoutFiume), parts of westernCarniola (Idrija andIlirska Bistrica) and north-westernDalmatia with Zara and most of the islands, but withoutSplit. Other agreements concerned the sovereignty of the port ofValona, the province ofAntalya inTurkey and part of the German colonies in Africa.
On 3 May 1915 Italy officially revoked the Triple Alliance. In the following days Giolitti and the neutralist majority of the Parliament opposed declaring war, while nationalist crowds demonstrated in public areas for it. (The nationalist poetGabriele D'Annunzio called this periodle radiose giornate di Maggio—"the sunny days of May"; also called theRadiosomaggismo.) Giolitti had the support of the majority of Italian parliament so on 13 May Salandra offered his resignation to KingVictor Emmanuel III, but then Giolitti learned that the London Pact was already signed: fearful of a conflict between the Crown and the Parliament and the consequences on both internal stability and foreign relationships, Giolitti accepted the fait accompli, declined to succeed as prime minister and Salandra's resignation was not accepted. On 23 May, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. This was followed by declarations of war on theOttoman Empire (21 August 1915,[3] following an ultimatum of 3 August),Bulgaria (19 October 1915) and theGerman Empire (28 August 1916).[4]
Italy entered into World War I also with the aim of completing national unity with the annexation ofTrentino-Alto Adige andJulian March: for this reason, the Italian intervention in the First World War is also considered theFourth Italian War of Independence,[5] in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of theunification of Italy, whose military actions began during therevolutions of 1848 with theFirst Italian War of Independence.[6][7]
The Italian Front stretched from theStelvio Pass (at the border triangle between Italy, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland) along theTyrolean,Carinthian, andLittoral borders to theIsonzo. Its total length was around 650 km (400 mi), of which 400 km (250 mi) ran in high alpine terrain.[8] This information relates to measurements as the crow flies. Taking into account the natural terrain, the many yokes, peaks and ridges with the resulting differences in height, the effective length was several thousand kilometers.[9]
The front touched very different geographical areas: in the first three sections - from theStelvio Pass to theJulian Alps in the area ofTarvisio, it ran through mountainous territory, where the average ridge heights reached 2,700 to 3,200 meters. The higher mountainous regions have a highly rugged relief with little vegetation; Elevations over 2,500 meters are also covered by glaciers. The barren landscape and lack of sufficient arable land led to little development of these high elevations; settlement was largely limited to the lower-lying zones. From the Julian Alps to theAdriatic Sea, the mountains are constantly losing on height and only rarely reach 1,000 meters as in the area aroundGorizia. This area is also sparsely populated and characterized by a harsh climate with cold winters and very hot and dry summers. A craggykarst landscape spreads out around theIsonzo valley, which adjoins the Italian foothills of the Alps in the southwest.[10]
The topographical characteristics of the front area had a concrete impact on the conduct of the war. The rocky ground, for example, made it difficult to dig trenches and in addition, the karst rock in the Isonzo Valley turned out to be an additional danger for the soldiers. If grenades exploded on the porous surface fragments of the exploding rock acted as additional shrapnel.
Archduke Eugen, who was already in command of the Balkan forces, was promoted toGeneraloberst on May 22, 1915 and was given supreme command of the new southwest front.[11] Together with his chief of staffAlfred Krauß the5th Army was reorganized and placed under the command of General d. Inf.Svetozar Boroević who on May 27 had arrived from theEastern Front. The K. u. k. Landesverteidigungskommando inTyrol (LVK) was handed to GdKViktor Dankl to protect the Tyrolean borders. It included the GermanAlpenkorps which was suitable for operations in the high mountains, the first divisions arrived on May 26; a short time later, the Alpenkorps was already taking part in combat operations against Italian units, although theGerman Empire was not officially at war with Italy until August 28, 1916.[12] The "Armeegruppe Rohr" stood under the command ofFranz Rohr von Denta and was to secure theCarinthian front. The transfer of the 5th Army and additional troops from the east went smoothly; within a few weeks, Archduke Eugen had around 225,000 soldiers under his command. In June the 48. Division (FML Theodor Gabriel) and finally, in July, the fourKaiserjäger regiments and threek.k. Landesschützen regiments fromGalicia were added. A major advantage of the Austro-Hungarian defense was its entrenchment on higher ground.
Italy ordered general mobilization on May 22, 1915 and by the end of June four armies had marched into the north-east border area. In the deployment plan of the Italian general staff (Commando Supremo) under the direction of FMLuigi Cadorna, three main points were set:
Although the Italian armed forces were numerically superior, things initially remained surprisingly quiet on the southwestern front. No attempt was made to break through on theTyrolean front, and there was no major offensive on theIsonzo either. Due to the hesitant implementation of Cadorna's attack plans, the chance to score the decisive blow right at the beginning was lost.[13] FML Cletus Pichler, the chief of staff of the LVK Tirol, wrote:[14]
A general attack on the most important penetration points, such as the Stilfser Joch, Etschtal, Valsugana, Rollepass [sic], [and] Kreuzbergpass, [...] could have led to significant enemy successes in view of the extremely weak defense forces in May.
That the opportunity for a quick breakthrough was not used was partly due to the slow mobilization of the Italian army. Due to the poorly developed transport network, the provision of troops and war material could only be completed in mid-June, i.e. a month later than estimated by the military leadership.[15] The Italian army also suffered from many shortcomings on the structural level.Artillery pieces and munitions were not the only area where shortages were acute. In August 1914 the Italian army had at its disposal only 750,000 rifles of the standardCarcano 1891 model and no hand grenades available at all. This inadequate supply of equipment especially limited the scope and efficiency of training throughout 1914 and 1915. Munitions were also urgently needed: in July 1914 only ca. 700 rounds were available per rifle, despite Cadorna's demand that 2,000 rounds each be found in preparation for war, by May 1915 the army had only succeeded in procuring 900 rounds per rifle.[16] Meanwhile,Emilio De Bono records that "throughout 1915 hand-grenades remained unheard of in the trenches".[17]
Italy's first machine guns were prototypes, as thePerino Model 1908, orMaxim guns acquired in 1913 from the British manufacturer Vickers. In line with the 1911 plan for creating 602 machine gun sections. By August 1914 only 150 of these had been created, meaning there was only one machine gun section per regiment, as opposed to one per battalion, as envisaged in the plans. By May 1915 theFiat-Revelli Mod. 1914 became the standard machine gun of the Italian army and a total of 309 sections had been created, with 618 guns in total; though this was an improvement it was still only half the planned number, leaving many battalions to do without. In contrast a standardk.u.k regiment had four machine gun sections,MG 07/12 "Schwarzlose", one for each battalion, whilst a standard British regiment had by February 1915 four machine gun sections per battalion.[16]
During theItalo-Turkish War in Libya (1911–1912), the Italian military suffered equipment and munition shortages not yet repaired before Italian entry into the Great War.[18] At the opening of the campaign, Austro-Hungarian troops occupied and fortified high ground of theJulian Alps andKarst Plateau, but the Italians initially outnumbered their opponents three-to-one.
The first shells were fired in the dawn of 24 May 1915 against the enemy positions ofCervignano del Friuli, which was captured a few hours later. On the same day the Austro-Hungarian fleet bombarded the railway stations ofManfredonia andAncona. The first Italian casualty was Riccardo Di Giusto.
The main effort was to be concentrated in theIsonzo andVipava valleys and on theKarst Plateau, in the direction of Ljubljana. The Italian troops had some initial successes, but as in theWestern Front, the campaign soon evolved intotrench warfare. The main difference was that the trenches had to be dug in the Alpine rocks and glaciers instead of in the mud, and often up to 3,000 m (9,800 ft) of altitude.
At the beginning of theFirst Battle of the Isonzo on 23 June 1915, Italian forces outnumbered the Austrians three-to-one but failed to penetrate the strong Austro-Hungarian defensive lines in the highlands of northwesternGorizia and Gradisca. Because the Austrian forces occupied higher ground, Italians conducted difficult offensives while climbing. The Italian forces therefore failed to drive much beyond the river, and the battle ended on 7 July 1915.
Despite a professional officer corps, severely under-equipped Italian units lacked morale.[19] Also many troops deeply disliked the newly appointed Italian commander, generalLuigi Cadorna.[20] Moreover, preexisting equipment and munition shortages slowed progress and frustrated all expectations for a "Napoleonic style" breakout.[18] Like most contemporaneous militaries, the Italian army primarily used horses for transport but struggled and sometimes failed to supply the troops sufficiently in the tough terrain.
Two weeks later on 18 July 1915, the Italians attempted another frontal assault against the Austro-Hungarian trench lines with more artillery in theSecond Battle of the Isonzo. In the northern section of the front, the Italians managed to overrun Mount Batognica over Kobarid (Caporetto), which would have an important strategic value in future battles. This bloody offensive concluded in stalemate when both sides ran out of ammunition.
The Italians recuperated, rearmed with 1200 heavy guns, and then on 18 October 1915 launched theThird Battle of the Isonzo, another attack. Forces of Austria-Hungary repulsed this Italian offensive, which concluded on 4 November without resulting gains.
The Italians again launched another offensive on 10 November, theFourth Battle of the Isonzo. Both sides suffered more casualties, but the Italians conquered important entrenchments, and the battle ended on 2 December for exhaustion of armaments, but occasional skirmishing persisted.
This stalemate dragged on for the whole of 1916. While the Austro-Hungarians amassed large forces inTrentino, the Italian command launched theFifth Battle of the Isonzo, lasting for eight days from 11 March 1916. This attempt was also fruitless.
Following Italy's stalemate, the Austro-Hungarian forces began planning a counteroffensive (Battle of Asiago) in Trentino and directed over the plateau ofAltopiano di Asiago, with the aim to break through to thePo River plain and thus cutting off the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Italian Armies in the North East of the country. The offensive began on 15 May 1916 with 15 divisions, and resulted in initial gains, but then the Italians counterattacked and pushed the Austro-Hungarians back to the Tyrol.
Later in 1916, four more battles along the Isonzo river erupted. TheSixth Battle of the Isonzo, launched by the Italians in August, resulted in a success greater than the previous attacks. The offensive gained nothing of strategic value but did takeGorizia, which boosted Italian spirits. TheSeventh,Eighth, andNinth battles of the Isonzo (14 September – 4 November) managed to accomplish little except to wear down the already exhausted armies of both nations. The price was a further 37,000 dead and 88,000 wounded for the Italians, again for no remarkable conquest. In late 1916, the Italian army advanced for some kilometers in Trentino, while, for the whole winter of 1916–1917, the situation in the Isonzo front remained stationary. In May and June was theTenth Battle of the Isonzo.
The frequency of offensives for which the Italian soldiers partook between May 1915 and August 1917, one every three months, was higher than demanded by the armies on the Western Front. Italian discipline was also harsher, with punishments for infractions of duty of a severity not known in the German, French, and British armies.[21]
Shellfire in the rocky terrain caused 70% more casualties per rounds expended than on the soft ground in Belgium and France. By the autumn of 1917 the Italian army had suffered most of the deaths it was to incur during the war, yet the end of the war seemed to still be an eternity away.[21] This was not the same line of thought for the Austro-Hungarians. On 25 August, theEmperor Charles wrote to theKaiser the following: "The experience we have acquired in the eleventh battle has led me to believe that we should fare far worse in the twelfth. My commanders and brave troops have decided that such an unfortunate situation might be anticipated by an offensive. We have not the necessary means as regards troops."[22]
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From 1915, the high peaks of theDolomites range were an area of fiercemountain warfare. In order to protect their soldiers from enemy fire and the hostile alpine environment, both Austro-Hungarian and Italian military engineers constructedfighting tunnels which offered a degree of cover and allowed betterlogistics support. Working at high altitudes in the hardcarbonate rock of the Dolomites, often in exposed areas nearmountain peaks and even inglacial ice, required extreme skill of both Austro-Hungarian and Italian miners.
Beginning on the 13th, later referred to asWhite Friday, December 1916 would see 10,000 soldiers on both sides killed by avalanches in the Dolomites.[23] Numerous avalanches were caused by the Italians and Austro-Hungarians purposefully firing artillery shells on the mountainside, while others were naturally caused.
In addition to buildingunderground shelters and covered supply routes for their soldiers like the ItalianStrada delle 52 Gallerie, both sides also attempted to break the stalemate oftrench warfare by tunneling underno man's land and placing explosive charges beneath the enemy's positions. Between 1 January 1916 and 13 March 1918, Austro-Hungarian and Italian units fired a total of34 mines in this theatre of the war. Focal points of the underground fighting werePasubio with 10 mines,Lagazuoi with 5,Col di Lana/Monte Sief also with 5, andMarmolada with 4 mines. The explosive charges ranged from 110 to 50,000 kilograms (240–110,230 pounds) ofblasting gelatin. In April 1916, the Italians detonated explosives under the peaks of Col Di Lana, killing numerous Austro-Hungarians.
The Italians directed a two-pronged attack against the Austrian lines north and east of Gorizia. The Austrians checked the advance east, but Italian forces underLuigi Capello managed to break the Austrian lines and capture theBanjšice Plateau. Characteristic of nearly every other theater of the war, the Italians found themselves on the verge of victory but could not secure it because their supply lines could not keep up with the front-line troops and they were forced to withdraw. However, the Italians despite suffering heavy casualties had almost exhausted and defeated the Austro-Hungarian army on the front, forcing them to call in German help for the much anticipated Caporetto Offensive.
Though the last Italian offensive had proven inconclusive, the Austro-Hungarians were in strong need of reinforcements. These became available when Russia crumbled and troops from the Eastern front, the Trentino front and Flanders were secretly concentrated on the Isonzo front. On 18 August 1917 began the most important Italian offensive, theEleventh Battle of the Isonzo. This time the Italian advance was initially successful as the Bainsizza Plateau southeast of Tolmino was captured, but the Italian army outran its artillery and supply lines, thus preventing the further advance that could have finally succeeded in breaking the Austro-Hungarian army. The Austro-Hungarian line ultimately held and the attack was abandoned on 12 September 1917.
The Austro-Hungarians received desperately needed reinforcements after the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo fromGerman Army soldiers rushed in after theRussianoffensive ordered byKerensky of July 1917 failed. Also arrived German troops from Romanian front after theBattle of Mărășești. The Germans introducedinfiltration tactics to the Austro-Hungarian 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.
On 24 October 1917 the Austro-Hungarians and Germans launched theBattle of Caporetto (Italian name forKobarid or Karfreit in German).Chlorine-arsenic agent anddiphosgene gas shells were fired as part of a huge artillery barrage, followed by infantry using infiltration tactics, bypassing enemy strong points and attacking on the Italian rear. At the end of the first day. From Caporetto the Austro-Hungarians advanced for 150 km (93 mi) south-west, reachingUdine after only four days. The defeat of Caporetto caused the disintegration of the whole Italian front of the Isonzo. The situation was re-established by forming a stop line on theTagliamento and then on thePiave rivers, but at the price of 10,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, 265,000 prisoners, 300,000 stragglers, 50,000 deserters, over 3,000 artillery pieces, 3,000 machine guns and 1,700 mortars. The Austro-Hungarian and German losses totaled 70,000. Cadorna, who had tried to attribute the causes of the disasters to low morale and cowardice among the troops, was relieved of duty. On 8 November 1917 he was replaced byArmando Diaz.
When the Austro-Hungarian offensive routed the Italians, the new Italian chief of staff,Armando Diaz ordered to stop their retreat and defend the fortified defenses around theMonte Grappa summit between the Roncone and the Tomatico mountains; although numerically inferior (51,000 against 120,000) the Italian Army managed to halt the Austro-Hungarian and German armies in theFirst Battle of Monte Grappa.
The Central Powers ended the year 1917 with a general offensive on the Piave, the Altopiano di Asiago, and theMonte Grappa, which failed and the Italian front reverted to attritional trench warfare. The Italian army was forced to call the 1899 levy, while that of 1900 was left for a hypothetical final effort for the year of 1919.
The Central Powers stopped their attacks in 1917 because German troops were needed on the Western Front while the Austro-Hungarian troops were exhausted and at the end of much longer logistical lines. The offensive was renewed on 15 June 1918 with Austro-Hungarian troops only in the Battle of Piave. The Italians resisted the assault. The failure of the offensive marked the swan song of Austria-Hungary on the Italian front. The Central Powers proved finally unable to sustain further the war effort, while the multi-ethnic entities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were on the verge of rebellion. The Italians rescheduled earlier their planned 1919 counter-offensive to October 1918, in order to take advantage of the Austro-Hungarian crisis.
Advancing deep and fast, the Austro-Hungarians outran their supply lines, which forced them to stop and regroup. The Italians, pushed back to defensive lines nearVenice on thePiave River, had suffered 600,000 casualties to this point in the war. Because of these losses, the Italian Government called to arms the so-called99 Boys (Ragazzi del '99); the new class of conscripts born in 1899 who were turning 18 in 1917. In November 1917, British and French troops started to bolster the front line, from the 5 and 6 divisions respectively provided.[24][25][a] Far more decisive to the war effort than their troops was the Allies economic assistance by providingstrategic materials (steel, coal and crops – provided by the British but imported from Argentina – etc.), which Italy always lacked sorely. In the spring of 1918, Germany pulled out its troops for use in its upcomingSpring Offensive on the Western Front. As a result of the Spring Offensive, Britain and France also pulled half of their divisions back to the Western Front.
The Austro-Hungarians now began debating how to finish the war in Italy. The Austro-Hungarian generals disagreed on how to administer the final offensive.Archduke Joseph August of Austria decided for a two-pronged offensive, where it would prove impossible for the two forces to communicate in the mountains.
TheSecond Battle of the Piave River began with a diversionary attack near theTonale Pass named Lawine, which the Italians repulsed after two days of fighting.[27] Austrian deserters betrayed the objectives of the upcoming offensive, which allowed the Italians to move two armies directly in the path of the Austrian prongs. The other prong, led by generalSvetozar Boroević von Bojna initially experienced success until aircraft bombed their supply lines and Italian reinforcements arrived.
To the disappointment of Italy's allies, no counter-offensive followed the Battle of Piave. The Italian Army had suffered huge losses in the battle, and considered an offensive dangerous. GeneralArmando Diaz waited for more reinforcements to arrive from the Western Front. By the end of October 1918, Austro-Hungary was in a dire situation. Czechoslovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia proclaimed their independence and parts of their troops started deserting, disobeying orders and retreating. Many Czechoslovak troops, in fact, started working for the Allied Cause, and in September 1918, five Czechoslovak Regiments were formed in the Italian Army.
The Italian attack of 52 Italian divisions, aided by 3 British 2 French divisions and 1 American regiment, 65,000 total and Czechoslovaks (seeBritish and French forces in Italy during World War I), was started on 24 October fromVittorio Veneto. The Austro-Hungarians fought tenaciously for four days, but then the Italians managed to cross the Piave and establish a bridgehead, the Austro-Hungarians began to retreat and then disintegrate after the troops heard of revolutions and independence proclamations in the lands of the Dual Monarchy. Austria-Hungary asked for an armistice on 29 October. On 31 October, the Italian Army launched a full scale attack and the whole front began to collapse. On 3 November, 300,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers surrendered, at the same day the Italians enteredTrento andTrieste. The armistice was signed on 3 November atVilla Giusti, nearPadua. The Italian victory[32][33][34] which was announced by theBollettino della Vittoria and theBollettino della Vittoria Navale.
Italian soldiers enteredTrento whileBersaglieri landed from the sea inTrieste, greeted by the population. The following day the Istrian cities ofRovigno andParenzo, the Dalmatian island ofLissa, and the cities ofZara andFiume were occupied: the latter was not included in the territories originally promised secretly by the Allies to Italy in case of victory, but the Italians decided to intervene in reply to a local National Council, formed after the flight of the Hungarians, and which had announced the union to the Kingdom of Italy. TheRegia Marina occupiedPola,Sebenico andZara, which became the capital of theGovernorate of Dalmatia.The Governorate of Dalmatia had the provisional aim of ferrying the territory towards full integration into the Kingdom of Italy, progressively importing national legislation in place of the previous one. The Governorate of Dalmatia was evacuated following the Italo-Yugoslav agreements which resulted in theTreaty of Rapallo (1920). Italy also occupiedInnsbruck and allTyrol by the III Corps of the First Army with 20–22,000 soldiers.[35]
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Italian troops played a major role in the defence ofAlbania against Austria-Hungary. From 1916 the Italian 35th Division fought on theSalonika front as part of theAllied Army of the Orient. The Italian XVI Corps (a separate entity independent from the Army of the Orient) took part in actions against Austro-Hungarian forces in Albania.
Some Italian divisions were also sent to support the entente on theWestern Front. In 1918 Italian troops saw intense combat during theGerman spring offensive. Their most prominent engagement on this front was their role in theSecond Battle of the Marne and in the100 days offensive.
Italy played a token role in theSinai and Palestine Campaign, sending a detachment of five hundred soldiers to assist the British there in 1917.
In Africa, Italy faced local movements supported by the Ottomans and Germans, fighting defensive campaigns to retain her colonial presence inLibya andSomalia.
As a result of the1911-1912 Italo-Turkish war, Italians acquired Libya from the Ottoman Empire, with their forces controlling the Libyan coast. Italy then began to expand into the interior but, preparing to enterWorld War I, cut its occupation force and was forced to retreat back to the coast after some reverses (nearMizda andGasr Bu Hadi) and uprisings.
After Italy entered the war, the Ottoman sultan tasked Sayed Ahmed to recover Libya and supported (together with the Germans) theSenussi and other groups against the Italians. Ottoman–German operations in Tripolitania were based atMisratah, where a submarine visited every couple of weeks to deliver arms and ammunition. In July 1915, Italy abandoned the coastal territory of Zuwarah. The Italians re-occupied Zuwarah in May 1916 and, in 1917, Agilat, Sidi Bilal, Saiad and Janzur. In April 1917, theAccords of Acroma were signed between the Italians and the Senussi. The latter stopped conducting attacks on the Italians and ended their allegiance to the Ottomans. The armistice wth the Ottoman empire and the Paris Peace conference, resulting in the treaties of 1920 and 1922, confirmed the Italian possession of Libya and deprived the Sultan of every right and religious role he had retained in the area after 1912.
DuringWorld War I, theDervishes (supported by the Ottomans) conducted raids into Italian-controlled territories, but were stopped by the garrisons ofBulo Burti andTiyeglow; on 27 March 1916, thanks to the betrayal of some Somali irregulars hired into the service of the Italians, the dervishes sacked the fort of Bulo Burti. Italian officer Battistella was killed in this attack. After the recapture of Bulo Burti, an Italian column under captain Silvestri defeated and dispersed the Dervishes in the battle ofBeledweyne (16 January 1917), which was the main base of operations against Italian Somaliland. The Italian column had light casualties (6 dead and 4 wounded), while the Dervishes suffered 50 dead and numerous wounded; furthermore, the Italians captured 200 camels, depriving Dervishes of their mobility. The Dervishes stopped conducting significant attacks on Italian Somaliland for the rest of World War I.[36]
As the war came to an end,Italian Prime MinisterVittorio Emanuele Orlando met withBritish Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George,Prime Minister of FranceGeorges Clemenceau andUnited States PresidentWoodrow Wilson inVersailles to discuss how the borders of Europe should be redefined to help avoid a future European war. The talks provided little territorial gain to Italy as Wilson promised freedom to all European nationalities to form their nation-states. As a result, theTreaty of Versailles did not assignDalmatia andAlbania to Italy as had been promised. Furthermore, the British and French decided to divide the German overseas colonies into their mandates, with Italy receiving none. Italy also gained no territory from the breakup of theOttoman Empire. Despite this, Orlando agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which caused uproar against his government. TheTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and theTreaty of Rapallo (1920) allowed the annexation ofTrentino Alto-Adige,Julian March,Istria,Kvarner as well as theDalmatian city ofZara.
Furious over the peace settlement, the Italian nationalist poetGabriele D'Annunzio (also famous for the August 9th 1918Flight over Vienna) led disaffected war veterans and nationalists to form theFree State of Fiume in September 1919. His popularity among nationalists led him to be calledIl Duce ("The Leader"), and he used black-shirted paramilitary in his assault on Fiume. The leadership title ofDuce and the blackshirt paramilitary uniform would later be adopted by thefascist movement ofBenito Mussolini. The demand for the Italian annexation of Fiume spread to all sides of the political spectrum.[38]
The subsequentTreaty of Rome (1924) led to the annexation of the city ofFiume to Italy. Italy's lack of territorial gain led to the outcome being denounced as amutilated victory. The rhetoric ofmutilated victory was adopted by Mussolini and led to therise ofItalian fascism, becoming a key point in thepropaganda of Fascist Italy. Historians regardmutilated victory as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuelItalian imperialism and obscure the successes ofliberal Italy in the aftermath of World War I.[39] Italy also gained a permanent seat in theLeague of Nations's executive council.
The book includes: – A detailed overview of the Italian Campaign and its battles. – Notes on the [five] Divisions engaged in Italy.
... Ludendorff wrote:In Vittorio Veneto, Austria did not lose a battle, but lose the war and itself, dragging Germany in its fall. Without the destructive battle of Vittorio Veneto, we would have been able, in a military union with the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, to continue the desperate resistance through the whole winter, in order to obtain a less harsh peace, because the Allies were very fatigued.
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