The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919

In popular imagination, Italy in the World War II is an archetype of military incompetence. But as this books shows, in many respects their showing in the World War I was even worse.When the war started in August 1914, Italy was still formally allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. But it was a defensive alliance, and Italy was not bound to join what they interpreted as an offensive war. It was in many respects an unnatural alliance anyway, as Italy had for decades coveted Austro-Hungarian lands in what now are northern and north-eastern Italy.As the great war raged on with no decision in sight and both sides looking for ways to tip the balance, the Italian leadership saw their opportunity for territorial aggrandizement. Either Austria-Hungary would cede the lands as a payment for Italian participation on their side, or the Entente would agree to Italy's annexation of the disputed lands after a victorious war on French and British side. Italians made no bones about joining the side that would offer more, and that side ended being the Entente. Italy drove a hard bargain, which, together with their open rapaciousness, made the French and British leaders despise their new ally from the beginning.While looking for the opportunity to profit from the war, Italian leadership overlooked the facts that the majority of the population didn't want a war and that the Italian Army was woefully ill-prepared to fight a modern war. But the war was joined in May 1915, and it was soon revealed to be a disaster of first magnitude for Italy.Perhaps the greatest villan in the book is the Italian commander General Luigi Cadorna. Thompson makes him a stereotypical donkey who fought a previous war. For sound tactics and training Cadorna substituted rhetoric about 'willpower' and wave after wave of infantry attacks. This in a mountainous region which very much favored the defender. As a result the Italians suffered more that 650,000 military deaths in 1915-18 - a truly appalling number against a single opponent in a relatively short front. And the one time Germans concerned themselves with the Italian front in October 1917 resulted in an Italian disaster: in Battle of Caporetto they were pushed back almost to Venice and came close to quitting the war. Only massive Frech and British reinforcements manages to keep Italy afloat. But at least the defeat had the advantage of making Cadorna's ineptitude all too clear, and he was replaced by General Armando Diaz.For long Italy also refused to exploit the power of nationalism to destabilize their Austro-Hungarian opponent. The old empire was composed of many peoples clamoring for independence or at least increased autonomy, but Italy coveted many of the lands that were to form Yugoslavia for themselves and didn't even try to keep it secret. The result was that Bosnian, Croat and Slovene regiments were among the most determined fighters in the Austro-Hungarian army on the Italian front.But Italy eded up being on the winning side, and ended the war with a resounding victory against Austria-Hungary when their army was already disintegrating in the last weeks of the war. But it was no happy end. Italy had fought for war ams that were now patently unrealistic. The new Yugoslav state was not going to give up in 1918 the lands that were among those originally promised for Italy by the Entente in 1915. And the heated nationalism of the war years made the Italian leadership to aim for even more, and ended up by antagonizing even further the French, British and US leaders. The result was that Italy extended its border on Austria's expense, but not as much as wanted. Political atmosphere became more and more poisonous, and ended in the Fascist takeover and Mussolini's dictatorship in 1922.Thompson has written an engaging book about a relatively little-known subject. This is not a straightforward military history. He also discusses other aspects of the Italian society before and during the war, such as the role of art in generating the heated pre-war nationalistic atmosphere as well as the impact of the war on the arts.This also a very opinionated book. Thompson's conclusions and descriptions of the events feel sound enough, but his penchant for moral judgement makes one want to have a second opinion. Was Cadorna really such an ass? How inadequate the Italian Army really was compared with the other armies at the start of the war? Could they have realistically have been better prepared?

It took a while to wade through Thompson's account of the erstwhile 'Italian Front', principally due to the sometimes perplexing details of dramatis personae involved in the political adjudication of the Italian campaign's war effort. Other reviewers have already commented on the fact that this book is written with an ostensible bias towards Italy (fair enough, I suppose), but in my opinion there ought properly to have been more of a balance established between the two opposing nations in terms of motivations, reactions and interactions. The book's title is a slight disappointment to someone greatly interested in high altitude (Alpine) warfare such as myself, since I had expected far more focus on the absolutely horrendous fighting conditions faced by both sides in the highest parts of the Julian Alps...especially after viewing Luis Trenker's masterful 1931 film rendering ('Berge in Flamen'...'Mountains in Flames') of the Austrian defense of the Castelletto Peak on Mount Tofana. 19 year old FJI Cadet Ensign Hans Schneeberger's dramatic role as senior A-H officer directing the Austrian defense of that 400 meter high peak (on the flank of Tofana, which was held by the Italians) is superbly depicted in Trenker's film (distributed in English-subtitled NTSC DVD video by International Historic Films, Inc.); in Thompson's book, it is covered a bit more academically (read: rather dryly) in Chapter 17 ('Whiteness'). The conditions faced by both sides on those higher battle venues of the war were terrible beyond imagining, unless one is an experienced mountaineer used to the cold & merciless weather that is always the supreme enemy of all human beings at altitude. Only recently, with the unusually warm weather sweeping the planet exposing both long-dead Italian Alpini and Austrian Bergtruppen bodies on those high, perpetually snow-covered ridges, has more focus been placed on that particularly pitiless aspect of this part of the 'Great War'. [What a pity that Thompson, an Englishman, is apparently not a climber, like so many of his countrymen and Cambridge colleagues were and are!]A comment previously made by a reviewer concerning a relatively paucity of maps to accompany the book is also astute. The few maps that are provided in 'The White War' are somewhat difficult to sort through and there is a complete lack of any larger reference map of the region, save the generalised map that constitutes the beginning & end cover papers. More attention paid to the geographic & topographic aspects of this campaign would have, in my opinion, contributed immeasurably to the book's impact and the text's immediate relevance. A representation of the final effects of border establishment upon conclusion of the armistice would have been extremely welcome to put the whole 'Italian Campaign's' tragedy into proper perspective (and also help dramatise the incredible loss of life suffered by both sides in this regionalised part of the greater wartime conflict, as it is generally recognised that the casualties limited to this theatre alone FAR outstripped even those on the Western Front!)A further flaw, the few photographic images provided in a book covering a subject of this magnitude are only barely adequate, given that there are so many more available in the various respective national & military archives that photo-document this part of the war.Overall, the book is not a 'quick' nor a smooth read, given the complexity of the political processes Thompson devotes so much attention to, and for war historians accustomed to more in-depth and voluminous accounts of the battlefield actions themselves, this book...although very beneficial and well-researched...may be something of a disappointment. It does, however, cover one of the most little-reported and scantily under-documented parts of the World War One.Additionally and perhaps unintentionally, it highlights the qualities found in Italy's political matrix and armed forces of that era which make the Italians appear so inept at warfare. Given the far more complex inter-regional, racial & political dynamics that threatened always to tear the Habsburg Empire asunder in the early 1900s, it is a sad testimony to the fact that modern Italy has become a nation of hedonistic, temperate harmony and creature comforts, rather than a truly worthy descendant of ancient Rome's imperial military glory.One final area that is a bit deficit in Thompson's book is linking background on the foundation of the later fascistic adventures Italy experienced under the aegis of Benito Mussolini, insofar as the events of the First World War enabled them. In fact, were that included, there is enough raw material to extend the book by another 200 pages at least. Finally, and also echoing an earlier comment by another reviewer, the end of the book is rather a jumble that is terminated in a hasty and semi-truncated manner. After all the prior, extensive documentation, it seems almost as if Thompson, a bit exhausted by his efforts, peremptorily decided that 'enough is enough' and brought it all to a close with a simple 'And they all lived unhappily ever after...'.All that said, this book indeed belongs on the reference shelf of any military historian worthy of his substance, where hopefully it shall be in future joined by a few other fascinating examinations of this regrettably overlooked & under-valued campaign of that terrible war.

S'il ne faut lire qu'un livre sur ce "théâtre secondaire" de la 1ere GM, et bien c'est celui-là.Ne se contentant pas seulement de décrire les opérations militaires, l'auteur revient sur l'environnement socio-politique des belligérants, sur les va-t'en guerre sanglants comme D'Annunzio, sur les fautes criminelles du haut commandement italien (la bêtise et la suffisance monstrueuse de Cadorna font frémir), sur les mesures de terreur prises par ce même haut commandement pour museler la moindre contestation (la décimation ! au 20eme siècle !) ainsi que sur la succession d'offensives menées par l'Italie contre les Austro-Hongrois entre 1915 et 1918 qui finirent par déboucher en partie grâce à l'aide des Français et des Britanniques.A lire pour comprendre l'Italie d'aujourd'hui et pour découvrir ce "front oublié".

Die Erinnerung an den Ersten Weltkrieg wird immer noch durch die Westfront geprägt. Marne, Verdun, Somme, Flandern, Michael - diese Begriffe fallen den meisten Leuten als erstes ein, wenn es um den Ersten Weltkrieg geht. In den letzten Jahren ist daher einiges an Literatur zur "vergessenen Front" erschienen, also zur Ostfront, die ein völlig anderes Gepräge angenommen hat. In Osteuropa blieb der Weltkrieg ein Bewegungskrieg, er warf aber auch schon die Schatten des ideologisierten Zweiten Weltkrieges voraus. Mittlerweile ist der Begriff "vergessene Front" für diesen Kriegsschauplatz nicht mehr wirklich zutreffend, er ist (um es mal mit den Worten Robert Citinos zum ebenfalls wiederentdeckten Koreakrieg zu sagen) "forgotten no longer".Ironischerweise gibt es aber immer noch eine vergessene Front; einen dritten Kriegsschauplatz, über den die meisten Leute noch viel weniger wissen als über die Ostfront, nämlich gar nichts: Die Alpenfront, die Südfront, die italienisch-habsburgische Front. 1919 führten (zumindest formal) nicht drei alliierte Mächte die Verhandlungen über die Nachkriegsweltordnung, sondern vier: Neben Frankreich, Großbritannien und den USA gehörte auch Italien zu den Siegermächten. Warum sie aber in den Krieg eingetreten sind, wie sie den Krieg geführt haben - das ist heute größtenteils vergessen. Grund genug also für ein Übersichtswerk.Mark Thompsons "The White War - Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919" bietet ein solches Werk. Thompson ist der modernen Militärgeschichte verpflichtet und beschränkt sich nicht auf Operations- und Technikgeschichte, sondern bietet politische, soziale, ökonomische und kulturelle Kontexte an, die er in einem angenehm lesbaren, sehr auf Verständlichkeit abzielenden Stil vorträgt. Der Aufbau des Buches ist chronologisch linear, thematisch aber erfrischend abwechslungsreich: Thompson bietet wechselnd immer ein Kapitel mit dem militärischen Kerngeschäft (Operationen, Schlachten, Bewegungen) und ein Kapitel mit den erwähnten Kontexten an. Dadurch gewinnt der Leser ein facettenreiches, vielschichtiges Bild von Italiens Krieg auf allen Ebenen: Von den Eliten bis hinab zu einzelnen Soldaten beleuchtet Thompson alles, so dass man den Krieg strukturalistisch UND mit Blick auf die wenigen Entscheider UND mit dem Fokus auf wichtige soziale Gruppen UND durch die Augen einzelner Menschen sehen kann.Thompson beginnt mit einer kompakten Einführung, die Italiens Vorkriegsgeschichte beleuchtet und dabei en passant erklärt, wie ungemein komplex die politischen, sozialen, kulturellen und ethnischen Verwicklungen in Süd- und Südosteuropa zwischen Österreich-Ungarn und Italien waren. Alleine dieses Kapitel wird für viele Menschen ein tolkien'scher Augenöffner sein, wenn es um das Wesen dieser Region geht. Darauf aufbauend zeigt er auf, auf welchem atemberaubend abenteuerlichen Weg Italien nicht nur den Weg in den Krieg, sondern auch noch den Weg in das alliierte Lager fand. Ab dann folgt die erwähnte Wechselstruktur: Kapitel zu den verschiedenen Schlachten wechseln sich ab mit Kapiteln über Politik (die Rolle der Minderheiten in den Ländern, innenpolitische Knflikte etc), Kultur (die Rolle der Presse, der Kunst, der Futuristen etc.), spannende Einzelpersonen (d'Annunzio, Mussolini u.a.) usw. (Hierbei ist wird z.B. klar, wie wenig man heutzutage über Italiens Armee weiß: Die Tatsache, dass sie ausgerechnet diese Armee die rigidiste und tödlichste Disziplinarpraxis aller Armeen hatte, dürfte die meisten Leser überraschen. ) Das Buch endet mit der desaströsen Rolle Italiens in den Nachkriegsverhandlungen.Zu den Schwächen des Buches gehört es, dass Thompson ein Buch geschrieben hat, dass sich zwar hauptsächlich um die Italiener dreht, aber nicht nur. Die habsburgische Seite wird immer wieder sehr interessant und differenziert beleuchtet - aber immer wesentlich weniger als die italienische Seite. Dieser Ansatz wirk unentschlossen und halbherzig und es stellt sich das Gefühl einer Ungleichgewichtung an, die eher stört. Schade ist, dass die Eigenarten des faszinierenden und verstörend absurden Alpenkrieges nicht mehr im Detail beleuchtet wurden. Der titelgebende White War wird nur gestriffen. Das ist sachlich zwar logisch, weil er auch nur einen geringen Teil des Krieges ausmachte - allerdings suggeriert der Titel eben etwas anderes.Daraus ergibt sich aber auch die Stärke des Buches: Anstatt sich in einem Detail zu verlieren, skizziert Thompson eben ein sehr breites und reiches Panorama, und dies sehr differenziert und souverän. Er stellt komplexe Themen verständlich und in prägnanter Form dar, wobei er oftmals ausdrücklich abwägend argumentiert, um am Schluss zu angenehm verbindlichen Urteilen zu kommen - er leistet mithin, statt wie so oft in Militärgeschichtsbüchern nur deskriptiv "Chronistenarbeit" zu leisten, die Kernaufgabe des Historikers souverän.Das Buch ist natürlich nur ein Überblick, ein kursorischer und oberflächlicher Start. Aber diese Aufgabe erfüllt es sehr gut und die vernünftige Belegarbeit (sowohl Zitation und Belege zum Text als auch Bibliographie) machen eine weitere Vertiefung leicht möglich.

Ein sehr spannendes und interessantes Buch. Der besondere Fokus liegt außer auf militärischem Aspekten auf der Psyche der jungen italienischen Nation. Wirtschaft, Innen- wie Außenpolitik und Kultur werden gleichermassen beleuchtet. Warum der Dreibund 1915 verraten wurde, Italien militärisch versagt hat und warum Triest und Südtirol so wichtig waren im Expansionsstreben, auf alles gibt es hier die Antworten. Unglaublich wie die italienischen Soldaten von störrischen Generälen zu hunderttausenden verheizt wurden...schockierend. Die Schlachten am Isonzo werden in allen Details beschrieben. Nach dem Lesen des Buches wird auch klar, wie der Faschismus im Anschluß an den 1.Weltkrieg das Land so einfach verschlingen konnte.Ich habe das Buch auf Englisch gelesen, die Sprache ist sehr akademisch und versetzt mit Wörtern, wie sie wohl nur der hochgebildete englische Muttersprachler beherrscht. Nichtsdestotrotz atmosphärisch sehr dicht und in guter Tradition der lebendigen angelsächsischen Geschichtsschreibung, das Buch ist wie gesagt trotzdem empfehlenswert.Ich gebe trotzdem keine fünf Sterne, würde aber 4,5 geben wenn es möglich wäre. Das Buch ist meistens sehr einseitig aus Sicht der Italiener geschrieben, nur 20-30% wird aus Sicht der KuK Monarchie berichtet. Ist eine subjektive Bewertung, für alle Interessierten die sich mal abseits der üblichen Ernst Jünger/Remarque Pfade bewegen möchten unbedingt lesen!

I visited the Vittorio Emmanuel monument in Rome a few years ago. The Italian tomb of the Unknown Soldier is part of the monument and there are displays on Italian military history. Italian participation in World War one was mentioned a lot and I realised I knew very little about this subject.I did some research and this was one of the very few English language books on the subject. Thankfully Mark Thompson has written an excellent book.The book is primarily about the origins and effects of the war in Italy rather than Austria.Thompson goes into great detail on the state of Italian politics and diplomacy before the start of the war. This is very interesting, particularly how some politicians saw the "Risorgiemento" of the 19th century as unfinished business until certain territories could be reclaimed from Austria/Hungary as well as the dynamics of Italy's Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria.Italy finally entered the war on the side of Britain, France and Russia in 1915, seeing an opportunity to gain territory from a weakened Austria. Thompson describes the usual initial enthusiasm for the war. Needless to say this soon waned, as breakthrough successes proved elusive. The war soon became a stalemate, with Austrians usually holding strong defensive positions.Thompson strongly criticises the tactics and ability of the Italian military hierarchy under the command of Cadorna for any number of costly deficiencies and errors. Life for ordinary soldiers was as bad as on other fronts and this is described well. The casualty figures are frightening, especially considering the tiny territorial gains that were made, if any were made at all.Thompson has not just written a military history of the war. Almost every second chapter looks in detail at a particular aspect of the war, such as profiles of Cadorna and "War poet" Gabriele D'Annunzio. There is a particularly detailed chapter on the poetry to emerge from the war. It seems to be a particular interest of the author.The aftermath of the Italian "victory" is described, stretching up to the post World War II era, when a lot of the territory gained was lost. Thompson also examines the influence the war had on the emergence of Mussolini's dictatorship in the early 1920's.This is an accessible, well-written book on a relatively little known aspect of World War I.

A very readable and informative book giving a good overview of the Italy/Austria Hungary conflict. Not one for the war history anorak where it would fall short on military data. More readable for this though in my view. A few too many literary excursions into personallity and poetry and consigning the conflict in the mountains to a single chapter makes it difficult to justify the books' title.It is intersting though and does convey well the futility of the war and gives an interesting insite into the background of more recent political and social conflict in the slavis lands.