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Full Description
This is the first account in English of a much-overlooked, but important, First World War battlefront located in the mountains astride the border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Not well known in the West, the battles of Isonzo were nevertheless ferocious, and compiled a record of bloodletting that totaled over 1.75 million for both sides. In sharp contrast to claims that neither the Italian nor the Austrian armies were viable fighting forces, Schindler aims to bring the terrible sacrifices endured by both armies back to their rightful place in the history of 20th century Europe. The Habsburg Empire, he contends, lost the war for military and economic reasons rather than for political or ethnic ones.
Schindler's account includes references to remarkable personalities such as Mussolini; Tito; Hemingway; Rommel, and the great maestro Toscanini. This Alpine war had profound historical consequences that included the creation of the Yugoslav state, the problem of a rump Austrian state looking to Germany for leadership, and the traumatic effects on a generation of young Italian men who swelled the ranks of the fascists. After nearly a century, Isonzo can assume its proper place in the ranks of the tragic Great War clashes, alongside Verdun, the Somme, and Passchendaele.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
The Road to War
Italia irredenta
A Hopeless Struggle
1915
"The Hour of the Triumph of the Finest Values"
The Battle of Monte San Michele
Materielschlacht: Assembly-Line War
"The Superior is Always Right, Especially When He is Wrong"
1916
A So-Called Battle
The Battle of Gorizia
The Triumph of Attrition
1917
A Hundred Thousand Shells an Hour
Bainsizza Breakthrough
Caporetto
1918
An Italian Renaissance
"Austria is in your Camp"
Epilogue
Since Then
The Battlefield Today
Maps
Placenames
Essay on Sources
Bibliography
