Military stalemate 1915-1916 Flashcards
What had Salandra hoped for in the War and what were the reality’s?
Salandra hoped the war would be a quick offensive, quickly bringing Italy into territorial gains, but the war fought between Austria and Italy was largely in the Alps with horrific conditions in the ice and snow. Many soldiers were killed by Cholera and frostbite.
What was the situation during the first 2 years of war?
The first 2 years were stalemate with 000’s of soldiers being sacrificed often to only move a few yards down the mountainside.
How many Italian soldiers died in 1915?
62000 during 4 attempted offensives against the Austrians which failed to change the situation at the front.
What problems did the war reveal?
- Nearly 5 million men were conscripted for the war and a majority of these were peasants who found it difficult to comprehend why the frozen wastelands were worth dying for
- A majority of the peasants spoke a vast range of dialects and couldn’t understand their orders given to them mainly by educated Northern Italians who spoke the official language.
- Italian conscripts were treated poorly by their commanders and rations were very low
- 29000 Italian soldiers were court martialled during war for desertion as they couldn’t comprehend why the war was being fought
How did the Italian supreme commander react to the lack of discipline and morale.
He though the solution to it was through hard punishments. As a result, 4000 death sentences were passed, significantly more than any other Western army.
What were Italian leaders afraid of when Italian soldiers were caught, and what did this lead to?
They were afraid that if the Italisn heard that the POW camps had tolerable conditions, they would surrender themselves. As a result they refused to help any captured Italian soldiers who had to live on only 1000 calories a day.
How many of the Italian POW’s died and why?
Out of about 600000, 100000 died due to hunger related illnesses, which was more than 5 times the amount of French and British who were allowed food parcels from home.
How did the POW’s feel as a result of this government action against them?
They felt angry and abandoned by their government for having betrayed them.
