1915-1918

Question 1

How was the Italian/Austro-Hungarian war fought for the first two years after the declaration of war?

Answer 1

• fought in mountains bordering countries
• trench warfare
• alpine terrain (ice + snow)
• thousands of soldiers sacrificed to move a few hundred metres

Question 2

In 1915 how did the Italians try and break the stalemate?

Answer 2

Launched four offensives against A-H that failed to change the situation
—> 62,000 Italians died

Question 3

How many Italians were conscripted during WWI?

Answer 3

5 million men

—> majority peasants or agricultural workers

Question 4

Why did Italian peasant conscripts resent the war?

Answer 4

• Southern peasant conscripts were over represented
• Italian expansion and reasons for fighting meant little to most
• majority of peasants spoke local dialect and couldn’t understand the orders of educated, northern commanders who spoke official Italian
• conscripts treated badly by their commanders

Question 5

Why did Italian troops in general resent the war?

Answer 5

• extremely low rations
• horrible conditions (cholera, frostbite, etc.)
• most soldiers couldn’t understand why Italy was taking part in war

Question 6

What happened as a result of the extremely low morale?

Answer 6

290,000 Italian soldiers were court-martialled for desertion during war

Question 7

What was the Italian Supreme Commander’s (1915) solution to the lack of discipline and morale?

Answer 7

Luigi Cardona

—>to repress dissent though harsh discpline

Question 8

How was desertion dealt with at the beginning of the war?

Answer 8

Military tribunals passed 4,000 death sentences on Italian soldiers throughout the war

Question 9

How did the Italian government treat their soldiers who were taken as POWs?

Answer 9

-leaders feared that if conditions in POW camps were rumoured to be tolerable, soldiers would surrender
—> gov cut off any attempts to help captured Italians
—> 100,000 Italian POWs died of hunger-related illnesses (5X number of British or French)

Question 10

What led to Salandra’s resignation as PM, 1916?

Answer 10

Austrian Strafexpedition = major offensive in trentaine salient, in order to open up a path to Bologna + Verona
—>Italian army regrouped and halted attack but many casualties
—>severe impact on army and morale
—>Salandra criticised by military command and parliament

Question 11

Who replaced Salandra, 1916?

Answer 11

Paolo Boselli, 78y/o

Question 12

When was the Battle of Caporetto?

Answer 12

24th of October 1017

Question 13

What happened at the Battle of Caporetto?

Answer 13

A-H forces attacked the Italian front line
—> Italian army dissolved
—> chaotic retreat took place

Question 14

Battle of Caporetto stats

Answer 14

10,000 killed
30,000 wounded
300,000 taken prisoner
400,000 vanished

Question 15

Why was the Battle of Caporetto so humiliating for the Italian government?

Answer 15

• months before leaders claimed national unity
• revealed poor state of army + low morale
• prompted anger + debate in Italy
• seizing Trente + Trieste no longer seemed possible
• majority of parliament still backed Giolitti, the rest called for trial of Giolitti and other neutralists for treason = v divided
• senator Leopoldo Franchetti killed himself from embarrassment

Question 16

What large changes in leadership took place after the Battle of Caporetto, 1917?

Answer 16

• Boselli resigned as PM —> replaced by Vittorio Orlando

- Italian army reorganised under new commander, General Diaz

Question 17

What changes did General Diaz bring to the army?

Answer 17

• rations increased
• annual leave increased
• lectures and trench newspapers to boost morale and improve Italian
• promised peasant conscripts land reform
• Dec 1917 established organisation to look after welfare of soldiers and their families
• more cautious = focused on holding line at Piave, avoided needless sacrifice of soldiers in suicidal offensives

Question 18

What results did General Diaz’s changes bring?

Answer 18

Fall in casualties;

• 520,000 in 1917
• 143,000 in 1918

Question 19

What was the PSI’s policy throughout the war?

Answer 19

• continual opposition to the war and refusal to vote for war credits
• “neither support nor sabotage” the war effort

Question 20

What occurred as a result of the PSI’s attitude to war?

Answer 20

-PSI despised by nationalists and many liberals who saw it as unpatriotic
—>hysteria after Battle of Caporetto = arrest and imprisonments of many socialists and members of the PSI

Question 21

When + how did Italy’s prospects in the war shift?

Answer 21

October 1918, A-H empire on verge of collapse

—> Orlando urged Diaz to attack

Question 22

What did the Italians do as a result of weakening of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918?

Answer 22

24th October 1918, launched offensive across the Piave
—> entered Italian town of Vittorio Veneto and split A-H army in 2
= Battle of Vittorio Veneto

Question 23

When did Austria-Hungary sign the armistice?

Answer 23

4th November 1918

=war in Italy finished

Question 24

What did the Battle of Vittorio Veneto come to symbolise?

Answer 24

Great moment for the Italian nation

—> used by nationalists to show glory of Italy achieved through unity, patriotism and self-sacrifice

Question 25

How Italian industry benefit from WWI?

Answer 25

• Fiat became Europe’s leading truck and lorry manufacturer
• -> produced 25 000 vehicles in 1918
• -> increased workforce from 6 000 to 30 000
• An aeronautical industry was created
• -> 6 500 planes manufactured in 1918
• By the end of the war Italy had produced 20 000 machine guns and 7 000 pieces of heavy artillery (more than Britain)
• Women and peasants were organised into factories and men essential to war production were exempt from conscription
• -> working hours increased, strikes were illegal and unsatisfactory behaviour could result in a military tribunal

Question 26

Who drove Italy’s successes in boosting its economy during the war?

Answer 26

Alfredo Dallolio, Under-Secretariat of Arms

Question 27

What economic problems arose from Italy’s involvement in the war?

Answer 27

• growth in industry was based on government investment which was paid for by foreign loans and printing more money
• -> after the end of the war this would cause great inflation, gov 23 billion lire in debt
• war based sectors (steel, chemicals, vehicles etc.) grew disproportionately compared to others
• production was based in the north-east = worsened north-south divide
• -> 1911-1921, north Italy’s economy grew by over 20%
• 1917, 25% fall in wages and rationing of bread and pasta = protests
• -> Aug 1917, 50 workers killed protesting in Turin
• increase in taxes to pay for war