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World history
Course: World history > Unit 6
Lesson 2: Other fronts of World War IItalian front in World War I
Created by Sal Khan.
Want to join the conversation?
- What are the blue areas in the map?(18 votes)
- I found the map online, the blue areas are labeled as: "Area occupied by the Italians up to the time of the Austrian attack, principally by 16 June 1915". So the blue area was the area first conquered by Italy before the stalemate (and Austria-Hungary's counter attack).(17 votes)
- Were all of the Battles of the Isonzo fought under conditions of trench warfare?(10 votes)
- Yes, the italians had a system of trenches that was almost impossible to brake, but the austro-hungarians did when they attacked along the germans. As the italians had a much higher concentration of soldiers on the border than on the inner country, it was "easy" for the Central Powers to push the Italian Army a long way through the Piove River.(12 votes)
- What happened to the Italy after WWI ended?(6 votes)
- So, they were part of the triple alliance, but balked out when War broke out, as the alliance was a defensive one only. Since Germany was the aggressor, the Italians said, the pact did not apply. The Italians, now on the side of the Entente, fought against the superior German military to little result. (Rommel writes about fighting the Italians in the mountains in his autobiography) By the end of the war, they were given basically nothing, pushed away by Britain and France. The prime minister Vittorio Orlando walked out and later resigned disgraced for failure to gain anything at in the Treaty of Versailles. As a result of a poor economy, nationalism, anti-communism, and the general anger of the Italians, Benito Mussolini came to power.(10 votes)
- So why did the Austro Hungarians not plan their attack so well? (at) Did they think they had a well thought out plan? Or was it some other mistake? 6:30(7 votes)
- During WWI warfare was shifting from the trench warfare of the 1800s into blitzkrieg utilized during WWII. During this time period many Generals had difficulty adjusting to new tactics and used outdated methods of attack. In this particular case the failure of the attack was not only due to bad planning but also the leak of information regarding the time of the attack.(6 votes)
- Sorry if I would have to know this, but what is a "stalemate"?(4 votes)
- It is a term from chess where the player who's turn it is is not in check but has no legal move anymore left, usually late in the game when one player has only the king left and can't move it anywhere where he would not be in check. I chess it is counted as a draw.
Here it is used to describe a situation where both sides are not willing to go onto the attack because the danger is too great.(11 votes)
- Did the allies provide any military assistance to the Italians?(5 votes)
- Very little in the early stages of the war. It was essentially Italian troops fighting with Italian materials until late 1917. Even when some British and French troops started bolstering the lines in 1918, the most useful thing the Italians received was actually raw materials and imported goods from the UK, France, and the US; Italy was almost bled dry by that point and had been having trouble supplying its troops for years.(5 votes)
- What is a stalemate?2:04(2 votes)
- Good question, Haylee. A stalemate is basically a point in a game/war/disagreement where it is impossible for either player/side/team to win. Kind of like in checkers when each player only has one checker piece left and there's no way to jump your opponent.
Like @the3lusive pointed out, another word for stalemate is "draw," but that is mostly used in chess.(4 votes)
- How many casualties did both sides suffer in the Italian Front?(3 votes)
- The estimated deaths of the Italians on the Italian front was 600,000 troops. Meanwhile, the Austrians suffered 400,000 casualties, many of them from the battles on the Isonzo River.
Hope this helps!(3 votes)
- @, It looks to me like the Germans were the driving force for WWI. Did they, perhaps, goad Austia-Hungry into invading Serbia? Why was Germany so much more ready for war than any of the other European Countries? 10:43(2 votes)
- Because Germany and Britain were having an arms race. And, long before WWI, there were already tensions between the European country. Serbia was the straw that broke the camel's back if you know what I mean. It's like all of Europe was arguing and trading and getting mad about trading and making a big giant bomb. Serbia was just the match to the bomb, not actually a big problem by itself. Without the rising tensions in Europe, the Serbian issue would have just been the umpteenth Croatian'n'Hungarian'n'Austrian'n'Serbian (that whole area there) argument/war. Its still going on now. In fact, just 20 years ago, there was a war back there. The Croats tried to ethnically cleanse the Bosnians (another racial sect in that area) and the UN got involved and it got real ugly fast, but it was nothing like a world war.(4 votes)
- Didn't Italy only capture a small piece of land in the north, so WWI wasn't much of a victory for them, right?(2 votes)
- Yep. Italy managed to get South Tyrol, the port city of Trieste, and Istria. But that wasn't really much for the price they've paid. Since the Allies didn't satisfy Italy, Italy slowly drifted away from them over time.(3 votes)
Video transcript
In the last video, we saw that
despite the fact that Italy was an original member
of the Triple Alliance, it was a very
awkward relationship. You fast forward to the
beginning of World War I, Italy tried to stay neutral arguing
that the Triple Alliance was being on the offense as
opposed to the defense. And then, as we mentioned,
in the spring of 1915, it signs the secret Treaty
of London with the Allies. Then in May, it
actually declares war on Austria-Hungary. It actually wouldn't formally
declare war on Germany until 1916. And so that lays the setting
for the actual combat along the Italian
Austro-Hungarian border that they share right over here. And so this next map I'm going
to show you is essentially a zoom in of this
part of this map. So that's this map
right over here. So we can start in 1915. So we're going to start
right over here in 1915. We already saw that in May
Italy declares war on Austria. They didn't war on Germany
until the next year. The first combat happens in
June with the first Battle on the Isanzo River. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it. The Isanzo River
contours the then border between Italy and the
Austro-Hungarian empire. So it goes right along
this area right over here. It's actually a very
mountainous region. And as we'll see,
the Italian front involved many, many battles
along the Isanzo River, in fact, 12 battles in all. June 1915, it was
the first battle. And these continue into 1916. We get all the way
until the Fifth Battle of the Isanzo River. So actually, let me draw that
arrow a little bit longer. These continue all
the way into 1916. And these essentially
end up in a stalemate. A lot of people die
in these battles. It's incredibly
difficult terrain. It favors the defending forces. And so, nothing really
happens to the border here. So far, all the offenses
that the Italians had taken, nothing really happened. Then, as we get
into May of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians decide
to go on the offensive. And they go on the
offensive in this part of the border right over here. And their offensive
is called the Battle of Asiago, which
is right over here. They are able to get
as far as Asiago. But once again, even though they
were able to claim some ground, they weren't able
to keep the ground. There were spreading
their troops out. They weren't able to
maintain their supply chain, their supply lines. So by the end of that
battle, the Italians had reclaimed that territory. And the actual front had
not moved dramatically. So really the first two
years of the conflict ended up in a bit of stalemate. In fact, it continues. We then to pick up in 1916
the Sixth Battle on the Isanzo River. And then these battles
on the Isanzo River continue into 1917. So let me show you. These are the battles
on the Isanzo River. These continue all
the way into 1917. Now, as we enter into 1917,
several interesting things are happening. One, as you might remember,
on the Eastern Front in 1917, the Russians are
starting to fall apart. They are starting to
have revolutions at home. They're losing on Eastern Front. This allows the Germans
to redeploy some troops. Also, at this point,
Italy is formally at war with the Germans. So as we get to October of
1917, the Austro-Hungarians are able to get
reinforced by the Germans. And it was just in time. Because frankly,
by the 11th Battle of the Isanzo
River in late 1917, the Austro-Hungarians
aren't quite sure whether they can handle a 12th
Battle on the Isanzo River. So the Germans essentially
show up just in time. In October of 1917, along
with the Austro-Hungarians, the Germans then launch
their own offensive on the Isanzo River. And this one is actually
the first dramatic movement that we see along
the Italian front. And this is often
called the Battle of Caporetto, which
is right over here. But as you could
imagine, it's right along the border between
these two states and it's along the Isanzo
River, so this is also referred to as the 12th
Battle of the Isanzo River. And this one is a very
successful offensive. They focused their
troops near Caporetto at this point of the front. They're able to break
the Italian front. And then push deep
into Italian territory. So through October
and early November, they're able to, over
the next several weeks-- this is in October,
November 1917-- they're able to push the Italians
all the way back to behind it the Piave River, so
this right over here. You may or may not
be able to read it. That says the Piave River. So they're able to push
the Italians roughly back to this boundary
right over here. And so this takes us into 1918. Now at this point, the Germans
are planning their last ditch spring offensive. They say, hey, look
Austro-Hungarians, it looks like this war is taken. We're going to leave
this front to you guys. You guys should be able
to do the knock out blow on the Italians right now. We're going to go return
to the Western Front, so that we can take
care of the Allies, especially because if we
don't do it sooner than later the Americans are going
to be able to reinforce the Western Front. So the Germans redeploy
to Western Front, away from this front. And essentially leave
the Austro-Hungarians to try to essentially
take out the Italians. And so in June 1918,
the Austro-Hungarians attempt their final--
what they hope is their final-- offensive. And its along this boundary
right here on the Piave River. Unfortunately for the
Austro-Hungarians, and fortunately
for the Italians, the Austro-Hungarians did
not plan that assault well. Instead of doing
a point offensive like they did with the Germans
in the Battle of Caporetto, where they were able to break
the trenches, break the lines, here it was less planned,
less coordinated. It was more spread out
along the entire line. On top of everything,
the Italians got word of the
exact time and date that the battle
was going to start. It was literally going to
start 3:00 AM on June 15. The Italians decide,
well, it the battle's going to start at 3:00
AM on June 15, that means that all of their
soldiers are going to be in the trenches ready to
attack at 3:00 AM on June 15. So they started
lobbing artillery into these densely
packed trenches knowing that it was likely to
hit a lot of people because there were a lot
of people who were waiting in the trenches
for an offensive. And so even before
the battle began, they were able to
inflict a lot of carnage on the soon to be invading
Austro-Hungarians. The invasion itself
was a bit of a debacle. When they were able to get
on top of the Piave River, it isolated their troops. The Italians were able to
take advantage of that. And those troops
that were isolated the south bank of
the Piave River, they were able to
take care of them. And they were able to push
the Austro-Hungarians back. And they secured huge losses. The Austro-Hungarian army
was incredibly weakened. And some people believe
that the Italians could have just done an
immediate counter offensive and taken the
Austro-Hungarians out. The Italians, on
the other hand, they were still licking their wounds
from the Battle of Caporetto and they decided to wait their
chance and regroup a bit. And so they wait
until October of 1918. You have a very weakened
Austro-Hungarian army. And this is when the Italians
do their decisive offensive of the Italian front, the
Battle of the Vittorio Venito. Vittorio Venito is
right over here. And once again, I apologize
to all of the Italians out there for my
mispronunciations. But this is what's
essentially able to break the back
of the Austrians. The Italians are
able to pour through. They're able to, essentially,
take out the Austrians. The Austrians were
already weakened. They're starting to
have internal strife. The empire is starting
to fall apart. And so by November, the
Austro-Hungarian empire essentially surrenders. And not just with the
Italians, but surrenders relative to the Allies,
which is essentially the end of the Italian
front of World War I.