Ally Kruper, Bharti Bharani, Chris Yoo, Sharda Raina Battles of Isonzo Ally Kruper, Bharti Bharani, Chris Yoo, Sharda Raina

Thesis Despite some success after the Sixth Battle, Italy was eventually defeated during the Battles of Isonzo due to Germany’s aid of its Austro-Hungarian allies, ultimately resulting in the dismissal of the Italians from World War I.

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Reasons for the start of the battle Italy joined on the side of the Allies in 1915 Although originally being aligned with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, Italy decided to get involved on the Allied side after the Treaty of London The Italian forces attacked Isonzo because Italy needed to satisfy Allied war goals

Battle of Asiago Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf wanted to lead an offensive against Italy Planned to drive through the mountain passes to Italy’s northern plain and trap the Italian forces Initiated on May 15, 1916 Was the only offensive initiated by Austria-Hungary against the Italians until Caporetto

Battle of Asiago End Results: heavy casualties on the Austro-Hungarian side so they were never able to launch an offensive again without Germany’s help No more pacifist sentiment in Italy despite the fear of invasion

The Sixth Battle of Isonzo Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna wanted to attack the Austro-Hungarians and capture Gorizia Austro-Hungarian lines still weak due to Battle of Asiago so Italians successful in capturing Gorizia and finally able to cross the Isonzo River High casualties on both sides Battle of Asiago: · Tired of continually defending his line along the Isonzo River in the seemingly endless Battles of the Isonzo, Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf resolved to mount an offensive of his own during the early part of 1916. · Conrad approached his German counterpart, Erich von Falkenhayn, with details of a planned attack along the Trentino designed to knock the Italians out of the war in a single combined blow. · Germans refused to help but Conrad still continued · plan was to drive through the Trentino's mountain passes and to occupy Italy's northern plain, thereby trapping Italian forces along the Isonzo in addition to those based in the Carnic Alps. · Battle of Asiago and the Trentino Offensive. It was to be the sole offensive initiated by the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian Front before Caporetto in October 1917, and was the only major Austro-Hungarian action to occur away from the Isonzo. · 15 May 1916 during a lull in the Italian Isonzo offensives (of which there had been five to date, most recently in March 1916) the attack was planned by Conrad himself and nominally executed by Archduke Eugen. · End result of battle: heavy causalities on Austro-Hungarian side, they were never again able to launch an offensive without German assistance · End result of battle: Trentino offensive dispelled pacifist sentiment (stopped the idea that they should be peaceful) at home amid fears of invasion. http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/asiago.htm Sixth Battle of Isonzo: · Also known as the Battle of Gorizia · With popular clamour at home for Italian success on the battlefield in the wake of the near-disaster at Trentino, Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna resolved once again to direct the force of his attack towards the capture of Gorizia. Austro-Hungarian lines depleted following their concerted attack at Trentino → Gorizia fell and the Italians succeeded in establishing a bridgehead at last across the Isonzo Austo-Hungarian troops tried to stop italian troops but didn’t make much of a difference high casualties on both sides but Despite this Italian morale experienced a marked boost. In the wake of this success the Italian government finally declared war on Austria-Hungary's ally, Germany, on 28 August 1916. Result: Italians switched tactics from broadly based diversionary attacks spread along the river to short, sharp initiatives tightly focussed upon a single objective. http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo6.htm

The Sixth Battle of Isonzo Results Boost in Italian morale encouraged Italy’s government to declare war on Germany on August 28, 1916 Italian battle tactics changed as they started to make sharp and focused attack rather than broad ones

The 11th Battle of Isonzo 19th August-12th September 1917 Italian Chief of Staff: Luigi Cadorna Austro-Hungarian pushed back up to 10km in some places, but the Italians outran their supply = couldn’t attack further Italians disregarded orders to retreat = lost in the next battle http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo11.htm 19th august 1917 Italians chief of staff Luigi Cadorna War of attrition-trying to wear each other down Target: corso and Italian bridgehead at gorzia Austro hungarian pushed back up to 10km in some places Army outran its artillery and supply lines=prevented further attack, might have broke Ausrto-Hungarian lines Astro-Hungarian troops held their lines, so the attack had to be abandoned This was the last attack to be initiated by Italians/Cadorna Cadorna knew Germans and ah would be planning a joint attack, so he ordered capellos forces to withdraw because of recent successful attack, capello decided to ignore orders= Italian disaster the next month was the major effect Germany finally gave forces to ah in october BC ah stretched to a breaking point and Italy could beat them =led to 12th battle

12th Battle of Isonzo-the Battle of Caporetto Set-up: Germany had just come to the aid of Austria-Hungary Actual Battle: Germany and A-H launched an artillery attack against the Italians → Italy was forced to retreat → Germany and A-H were able to cross the border between A-H and Italy and continue their offensive attacks Italians continued to retreat until the British and French armies joined them and stopped Germany and A-H armies → war ended as a victory for the Central Powers due to the many Italian casualties Importance: Over 300,000 Italians died, and over 280,000 were taken as prisoners Italy had to be on defense for the rest of the war Set-up: · Germany had just come to the aid of Austria-Hungary in the war against the Italians · Germany and Austria-Hungary split their army into two groups Actual Battle: · The first German and Austro-Hungarian army launched an artillery attack against the Italians using poison gas, grenades, and flamethrowers, which forced the Italians to retreat · Germany and Austria-Hungary were then able to cross the Judrio River, which is the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy · Then their second army attacked Italians until Italy had to retreat back to the Tilment River · While this attack was happening, Germany and Austria-Hungary’s first army launched an offensive attack towards Gorizia, which forced the Italians to retreat even more · The Germany-Austria-Hungary armies continued to advance through Italy until the Allied armies, supplied by Great Britain and France, came to the defense of Italy · This led to the end of the German offensive attacks along with the end of the war Importance: · Over 300,000 Italians died, and over 280,000 were taken as prisoners, which led to Italy not being able to launch any more offensive attacks for the rest of the war

Extras: Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms is set partly during these events

Citations http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-war-i/battle-of-caporetto.html http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-caporetto http://www.100letprve.si/en/mejniki/the_isonzo_front/the_12th_battle_of_isonzo/ http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/asiago.htm http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo6.htm