world war one

name 4 groups of people who were in favour of joining world war one (the intervention crisis)

1. nationalists

2. some socialists (national syndicalists)

3. salandra’s liberals

4. futurists

why were nationalists in favour for joining WW1?

• had been demanding italy made preparations for further wars and more money to be spent on defence spending

• also wanted to claim back the irredenta lands

• wanted to join the triple entente (britain, france and russia)

• wanted to use wwi to complete unification- some called it the fourth war of independence

why were some socialists in favour for joining WW1?

• national syndaclists

• sympathetic to nationalists and wanted the irredenta lands back

• thought it would spark further revolutions in italy- wanted to overthrow the economic system for the corporate state and maybe even overthrow the monarchy

why were salandra’s liberals in favour for joining WW1?

• thought italy would benefit from the war by strengthening its reputation

• dispatched negotiators to berlin and london to see who offered what (london treaty)

why were futurists in favour for joining WW1?

• wanted to speed up industrial development and technological development

• poets and artists volunteered to join military units before italy had even joined to show support

who was against joining joining WWI?

• socialists

• south

• liberals

why were socialists against joining WW1?

• thought it would be a capitalist war forcing ordinary people to fight for the elites on their behalf

• PSI was firmly against it and made that clear in parliament

• mussolini left the party in 1914 over this and joined a new movement called the “Fasci di azione Rivolvzione” which was pro war and had nationalist and futurists- attacked anti-war prople

what movement did mussolini join in 1914? what was that made up of?

fasci di azione rivolvzione

nationalists and futurists

pro war

why was the south against joining WW1?

they were the people being conscripted

they didn’t know half the places they were fighting for

apathetic at best

why were liberals against joining WW1?

• giolitti was not the PM but he was supporting this (salandra was PM)

• wanted to stay neutral and thought the war was pointless

• italy was underprepared (economically and military, on another fc)

• had enough support in the summer 1914 to ensure it stayed neutral

how economically prepared for WWI was italy?

underprepared:

• recoveing from libya still

• lack of raw materials

• economic depression

how prepared was the military for WWI?

prepared:

• increased defence spending (had risen to 27% in 1907-1912 from 21% in 1897-1906)

• more of a conventional war than libya

unprepared:

• libya took a long time

how much had defence spending risen?

1897-1906: 21%

1907-1912: 27%

what were the empire and land terms from the treaty of London?

SPITED → empire and land given to Italy

South Tyrol

Protectorate in Albania

Irredenta lands (South Tyrol, Trieste, Trentino)

Turkey (parts)

Empire and colonies of Germany

Dodecanese Islands and Dalmatia

what were the financial terms of the treaty of london?

£50 million loaned to Italy with generous terms

what are the military terms of the treaty of london?

army and military protection from Austria-Hungary and Germany to stop Austria-Hungary concentrating their strength on italy

what did italy have to do in return in the treaty of london?

had to commit entire resources to the war

reward is proportional to their sacrifice

who was the triple entente?

russia, britain and france

who was the triple alliance?

germany, austria hungary and italy

joined alliance in 1882 but they left for wwi

nationalists were angry about this alliance as austria-hungary had their lands

when did italy join the triple alliance with austria-hungary and germany?

1882

when was the london treaty?

april 26th 1915

name 5 ways frontline conditions were poor

1. treatment of soldiers

2. money

3. morale, food and temperature

4. prisoners of war

how were soldiers treated on the frontline? (3)

• cadorna treated them very harshly

• callous treatment of soldiers- arrested anyone who was accused of dessertion

• death penalty gave out a lot

  • 4,000+ given out and 750 actually done

• decimation was common

  • e.g. alpine troops killed for hoping bad weather would stop an attack

how many death penalties given out and how many actually done?

4000+ given out

750 actually done

name 2 ways morale was low on the frontlines

1. fear of death, horror from killed and missing loved ones. no faith or motivation and not ideologically motivated → most were from south and they didn’t care about any of the places they were fighting for

2. 1915- 4000 calories a day → 1916- 3000 calories a day (needed 4000 to survive in such cold temperatures)

   • very low temperatures → -40 to -50

explain the wages impact on frontline conditions

• ½ lire a day and 15 days leave (which was usually cancelled)

• men in factories were making 16 lire a day (33x more) → caused a lot of resentment towards these workers and saw them as weak and skiving especially when they were seen striking and complaining about conditions

explain prisoners of war impact on the frontline conditions

• cadorna didn’t want soldiers to surrender in hopes of better conditions

• they were abandoned and given no rations by the army and so they had to live on 1000 calories a day - extremely painful and almost starving

• 600,000 were kept as POWs

who was the general?

cadorna

how many death penalties given out? how many followed through on?

4000+

750

what were the wages of soldiers? how much leave? how much did others get?

½ a lire a day- 15 days leave

16 lire a day made by men in factories

how many calories in 1915? how many in 1916?

1915- 4000

1916- 3000

4000 was minimum able to survive such cold temperatures

what were the temperatures on the frontlines?

-40 to -50

how many calories for POW?

1000

how many POW?

600,000

explain the battles of the izonzo

12 battles (12th is caporetto)

wanted to force austrians away from well constructed positions high in the mountains (so italians had to fight uphill)

led by cadorna

lasted on and off (first 11 battles) from June 1915-September 1917

650,000 injuries and 300,000 deaths of italians

kept using the same tactics of fighting uphill and so they really struggled to advance at all because they just kept doing the same failing stuff

lacked energy and morale for the 12th battle (caporetto)

when were the first 11 battles of the izonso?

june 1915- september 1917

how many casualties in the 11 battles of italians?

650,000 injuries

300,000 deaths

how many people missing or taken prisoner in the 11th battle?

20,000

what were the caporetto conditions like?

deep snow

fog

fighting uphill when austrians were in mountains with high ground

kept being pushed back by austrians

explain what happened at caporetto

OCTOBER 24TH - DECEMBER 19TH 1917

italian army failed under a surprise attack by the Austrian army

the army had very low morale and energy due to the last 2 years of fighting and bad conditions

700,000 italians retreated over 150km until the line was at the river piave

300,000 taken prisoner

cadorna blamed cowardice of the troops and executed thousands in response

nationalists blamed government for inefficiency in running of the war

government blamed cadorna

when was caporetto?

october 24th to december 19th 1917

how many troops retreated in caporetto? how far?

700,000 troops

150km until line was at river piave

how many italians taken prisoner in caporetto?

300,000

how many did cadorna execute in response to caporetto? why?

1000s because he blamed them for being cowardly

what happened to cadorna after caporetto?

he was sacked and replaced with diaz

name 4 short term reasons caporetto went so badly

1. cadorna ignored intelligence reports about where germany and austria would attack

2. civillian refugees made it difficult to fight against them- 400,000

3. cadorna had gone on holiday for 3 weeks in the september before the attack

4. vital equipment had been lost

5. 350,000 absconded

6. 4 enemy divisions in the area

7. germany helped austria hungary

how many civillian refugees during caporetto?

400,000

how long did cadorna go on holiday and when?

3 weeks in september before caporetto

how many soldiers absconded during caporetto?

350,000

name 4 short term reasons caporetto went so badly

1. 11 battles beforehand- made morale low, low munitions, bad conditions, lots dead or POW

2. italy wasn’t prepared- as shown by the libyan war

3. cadorna is an uncreative and poor leader- using the same tactics repeatedly + demoted and dismissed people he didn’t think were good enough or disagreed with him- 800 senior officers dismissed

4. soldiers were inexperienced- most were conscripted from the south

how many senior officers dismissed by cadorna?

800

name 3 factors for the recovery from caporetto

1. italian strength

2. austrian weakness

3. other

name 3 ways italian strength helped them recover from caporetto

1. reorganised and reequipped- they were retrained by britain and france → improved fighting skills

2. took a lot more prisoners while in piave

3. spotted dreadnoughts and sunk 2 torpedo boats

   however, italy relied heavily on the allies to recover and do most of the fighting for them

where did italy take a lot more prisoners

piave

how many ships did italy sink after caporetto?

2

name 3 ways austrian weaknesses helped italy recover from caporetto

1. weakening of morale led to lots of desertion- deserters made diaz aware of austrian plans

2. lack of resources- e.g. food, munitions, coal, etc due to blockades

3. civillian unhappiness and had to put out socialist revolutions in vienna and budapest. they were tired and giving up

4. austrian commanders couldn’t agree on plans- attacking piave or asiago plateu

where did austria-hungary and germany have socialist revolutions out?

vienna and budapest

where could austrian commanders not decide on attacking?

piave or asiago plateu

name 3 other factors which helped italy recover from caporetto

1. frontline was easier to defend because it was shorter

2. communication and supply was more straight forward than it used to be

3. british intelligence uncovered austrian plans

4. britain and france helped italy significantly

explain the two parts of vittorio veneto

PART 1: JUNE 1918

managed to secure and stabilise the frontline and held off a major attack

killed 100,000 austro-hungarians

this victory helped morale

PART 2: OCTOBER 1918

launched an offensive at vittorio veneto

54 italian divisions + 3 british and france divisions

recaptured vittorio veneto on october 30th 1918

in those 10 days, 135,000 austrian casualties → only 32,000 italian casualties

and recaptured lost land

advanced 24km out of a 56km front

TRUCE WAS SIGNED ON NOVEMBER 2ND 1918

how many austro-hungarians killed in the first part of vittorio veneto (june 1918)

100,000

how many italian divisions at vittorio veneto? how many british and french?

italian: 54

britain and france: 3

how many days was vittorio veneto?

10

how many austro-hungarian casualties at VV?

135,000

how many km advanced at VV?

24km out of 56km

how many italian casualties?

32,000

vittorio veneto dates?

part 1: june 1918

part 2: october 1918

captured vv: 30th october 1918

truce signed: november 2nd 1918

when did italy join ww1?

23rd may 1915

when was the treaty of versailles signed?

28th june 1919

what were the positives from the treaty of versailles?

they gain back the irredenta lands

what were the negatives from the treaty of versailles?

• backlash from nationalists regarding what they didn’t get + what happened at caporetto

• no colonial territory in turkey

• 600,000 dead and 1 million wounded

• america wasn’t involved in treaty of london but got to decide what they got

• felt betrayed by britain and france

what happened with fiume in the treaty of versailles?

italy demanded something new (fiume) in hopes of the allies refusing to give them that but giving them what they were originally promised

they stormed out when the allies said no in hopes of making them think about it but nothing changed

why did italy get so little in treaty of versailles?

because they didn’t do enough