The Italian Army and the First World War

A major new account of the role and performance of the Italian army in the First World War.

John Gooch (Author)

9780521149372, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 June 2014

402 pages, 17 b/w illus. 6 maps
22.6 x 15 x 2.3 cm, 0.5 kg

'Gooch offers a concise narrative history of the bloody battles that raged along Italy's north-eastern frontiers from 1915 to 1917, and in this respect alone it is a useful place to start … the work is much more than that with Gooch also spending considerable time on such topics as recruitment, training, organisation, discipline and, above all, morale.' Charles J. Esdaile, War in History

This is a major new account of the role and performance of the Italian army during the First World War. Drawing from original, archival research, it tells the story of the army's bitter three-year struggle in the mountains of Northern Italy, including the eleven bloody battles of the Isonzo, the near-catastrophic defeat at Caporetto in 1917 and the successful, but still controversial defeat of the Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto on the eve of the Armistice. Setting military events within a broader context, the book explores pre-war Italian military culture and the interactions between domestic politics, economics and society. In a unique study of an unjustly neglected facet of the war, John Gooch illustrates how General Luigi Cadorna, a brutal disciplinarian, drove the army to the edge of collapse, and how his successor, general Armando Diaz, rebuilt it and led the Italians to their greatest victory in modern times.

Introduction
1. Before the war
2. From neutrality to action
3. 1915 - first endeavours
4. 1916 - setback and success
5. 1917 - the year of danger
6. 1918 - recovery and victory
7. In the wake of war
Notes
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]