Why did Italy perform badly in WW1?

Question 1

How did poor leadership within the army lead to Italy’s poor performance in the war?

Answer 1

-poor estimation of incompetent leaders, who demonstrated lack of concern and awareness, especially for their troops and terrain. They had a tendency for harsh discipline for their troops, who were incapable of achieving their objectives.

Question 2

Who was Luigi Codorna?

Answer 2

One of the worst military commanders of the 20th Century. In the Battle of Caporetto he vastly underestimated the enemy, which had a catastrophic result.
He had very poor strategy and was of the old military so his way of thinking and tactics were outdated.

Question 3

What impact did the harsh discipline have on troops?

Answer 3

Led to low morale for soldiers.

Question 4

How did the army’s low morale lead to Italy’s poor performance in the war?

Answer 4

• Many solders were poor peasant conscripts, who spoke a range of dialects and could not communicate with each other or understand and follow the orders of their leaders, who were educated Northern Italians who spoke mainly the official Italian language.
• ->This meant that soldiers didn’t want to fight and felt little cause in what they were fighting for.

Question 5

How many soldiers were martialled for desertion?

Answer 5

290,000.

Question 6

How did the army’s lack of preparation lead to Italy’s poor performance in the war?

Answer 6

Italy was completely unprepared to engage in a modern war- rather than training their troops to an acceptable level, the Italian government and military sent poor trained troops to their deaths.

Question 7

How did the army’s inferior equiptment lead to Italy’s poor performance in the war?

Answer 7

The Italians were fighting with equipment inferior of that of their opponents. This became immediately obvious and increasingly more apparent as they suffered huge defeats. The Austrians had better and more accurate rifles. The Italians had 2 rifles per battalion, where the Austrians had 12.

Question 8

How did the terrain lead to Italy’s poor performance in the war?

Answer 8

• The Austrians held the high ground, whereas the Italians had to launch their attacks from the valleys and so the Austrians could see their preparations.
• The Italians had to push through mountainous terrain and Italian Alps to get to Austria Hungary.
• Adverse weather conditions at high altitudes eroded morale of the Italians ans caused further casualties, avalanches and temperature drops.
• The harsh terrain also hampered supply lines.

Question 9

How many soldiers lost their lives to the weather alone?

Answer 9

60,000