![twelfth battle of the isonzo twelfth battle of the isonzo](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DYYKYB/emperor-charles-i-during-the-xi-battle-of-the-isonzo-1917-DYYKYB.jpg)
They are starting to have revolutions at home, they are losing on the Eastern front. One as you might remember, on the eastern front, in 1917, the Russians are starting to fall apart. Now, as we enter into 1917, several interesting things are happening. So let me show you, these are the battles on the Isonzo River, these continue all they way into 1917. In fact it continues, we pick up in 1916 with the 6th Battle on the Isonzo River and in these battles on the Isonzo River continue into 1917. So really the first two years of the conflict ended up in a bit of a stalemate. So by the end of that battle, the Italians had reclaimed that territory and the actual front had not moved dramatically. They weren't able to maintain their supply lines.
![twelfth battle of the isonzo twelfth battle of the isonzo](https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.timetoast.com/public/uploads/photos/6461290/download_(3).jpg)
They are able to get as far as Asiago, so battle of Asiago But once again, even though they were able to claim some ground, they weren't able to keep the ground, they were kind of spreading their troops out. The Austro-Hungarians decided to go on the offensive.Īnd they go on the offensive in this part of the border, right over here.Īnd their offensive is called the Battle of Asiago. Then as we get into May of 16, So May of 1916. So far in all the offenses the Italians have taken nothing really happened. A lot of people die in these battles, it's incredibly difficult terrain, it favors the defending forces.Īnd so nothing really happens to the border here. So let me draw that arrow a little bit longer.Īnd these essentially end up in a stalemate. These continue into 1916, we get all the way into the 5th Battle of the Isonzo River.
![twelfth battle of the isonzo twelfth battle of the isonzo](https://sites.google.com/a/g.coppellisd.com/a-farewell-to-arms/_/rsrc/1472873843024/home/conflict/333403w.jpg)
It's actually a very mountainous region, and as we'll see the Italian Front involved many, many battles along the Isonzo River, in fact 12 battles in all.Īnd these continue into 1916. So it goes right along, right along this area right over here. The Isonzo River contours the then border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They don't declare on Germany until the next year.ġ915- Declares war on Austria The first combat happens in June, happens in June With the first battle on the Isonzo river. So we can start in 1915 we already saw that in May, Italy declares war. So this next map that I'm going to show you is essentially a zoom in of this part of this map. So that lays the setting for the actual combat along the Italian/ Austro-Hungarian border that they share right over here. It actually wouldn't formally declare war on Germany until 1916. Then in May, it actually declares war on Austria-Hungary. You fast forward to the beginning of WW1, Italy tried to stay neutral arguing that the Triple Alliance was being on the offensive as opposed to the defense.Īnd then as we mentioned in early 1915, in the Spring to 1915, it signs the secret Treaty of London with the Allies. In the last video, we saw that despite the fact that Italy was an original member of the Tripple Alliance It was a very awkward relationship.