Italian Campaign (World War I)

Italian front
Part of the European theatre of World War I
Clockwise: Italian soldiers listening to their General's speech; Austro-Hungarian trench on the Isonzo; Austro-Hungarian trench in the Alps; Italian trench on the Piave
Date 23 May 1915 – 6 November 1918 (3 years, 5 months and 2 weeks) Location Eastern Alps and Venetian Plain Result Italian victory Armistice of Villa Giusti Dissolution of Austria-Hungary Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Treaty of Trianon
Belligerents
Allied Powers: Italy  United Kingdom  France  United States	Central Powers: Austria-Hungary  German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Duke of Aosta Rudolph Lambart Jean César Graziani	Conrad von Hötzendorf Arz von Straußenburg Archduke Eugen Svetozar Boroević Otto von Below
Strength
Italy 1915 – up to 58 divisions  United Kingdom 1917 – 3 divisions  France 1918 – 2 divisions Czechoslovak Legion 1918 – 5 regiments Romanian Legion 1918 – 3 regiments  United States 1918 – 1 regiment	Austria-Hungary 1915 – up to 61 divisions  German Empire 1917 – 5 divisions
Casualties and losses
1,832,639:[1][2] 246,133 killed 946,640 wounded 70,656 missing [nb 1] 569,210 captured [nb 2] 6,700:[3] 1,057 killed 4,971 wounded 670 missing/captured 2,872: 480 killed (700 died indirectly) 2,302 wounded Unknown captured	1,386,327:[4][5][nb 3] 155,350 killed [nb 4] 560,863 wounded 175,041 missing [nb 5] 477,024 captured [6][nb 6] N/A
589,000 Italian civilians died of war-related causes

The Italian campaign was a series of battles fought between Austria-Hungary and Italy in the mountains of northern Italy between 1915 and 1918.

Italy did not fight for the Triple Alliance, despite promises to Germany and Austria-Hungary, in 1914, when World War I started. In 1915, Italy joined the Triple Entente to take part of Austria-Hungary. Italian irredentism wanted the province of Trento (Trentino), the port of Trieste and the province of Bolzano-Bozen (Alto Adige/Südtirol), Istria, and Dalmatia.

Italy had hoped to begin the war with a surprise attack to act quickly and capture several Austrian-held cities. However, the war in Italy soon turned to trench warfare, which was similar to that of the Western Front.

1. ↑ Mortara 1925, pp. 28–29 link text harvnb error: no target: CITEREFMortara1925 (help)
2. ↑ "War Losses (Italy) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)".
3. ↑ Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920, The War Office, p. 744.
4. ↑ Glaise von Horstenau 1932, pp. BeiL. IV. V. VII. link text harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGlaise_von_Horstenau1932 (help)
5. ↑ "War Losses (Austria-Hungary) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)".
6. ↑ Tortato, Alessandro: La Prigionia di Guerra in Italia, 1914–1919, Milan 2004, pp. 49–50. Does not include 18,049 who died. Includes 89,760 recruited into various units and sent back to fight the AH army, and 12,238 who were freed.