![]() At the end of the battle he commanded eight divisions, and was always outnumbered by at least two to one. They faced the Austrian Fifth Army, under General Boroevic. By the end of the first battle these two armies contained 18 divisions, supported by 700 guns, although only 200 of these seem to have been the heavy guns needed to break the Austrian wire. To the north was the Second Army under General Frugoni, while to the south was the Third Army, under the Duke of Aosta. Two Italians armies were involved in the fighting on the Isonzo Front. A second attack in early June failed to make any progress, and so Cardorna prepared for his first major attack. On the Isonzo front the Italians advanced to the river in some places, and reached close to it in others, but Gorizia remained out of reach. The Italian advance during eleven battles on the Isonzo never penetrated to the higher mountains to the east.Ĭardorna began the war with his “First Offensive Leap” of 23. ![]() The town of Gorizia, on the Isonzo river, was only captured during the sixth battle of the Isonzo, yet it lies on the western flank of the mountains. However, the role the mountains played in the Austrian defences should not be overplayed. While not the highest of mountains, the rocky slopes and ridges of the southern Julian Alps and the Carso Plateau meant that some of the fighting took place at over 2000 feet. The only problem with this grand plan was that the mountainous terrain on the Isonzo front would turn out to be ideally suited for a defensive battle. A breakthrough on the Trentino would merely eliminate an Austrian salient, whereas a breakthrough on the Isonzo might lead to an advance into the heart of the Empire, and even threaten Vienna. The Italian commander in chief, General Luigi Cardorna, chose to attack on the Isonzo. If the Italians were to launch an effective assault on the Austrians, then it would either have to be on the Trentino, or towards the Isonzo valley. The only real gap in the mountains led along the Adriatic coast to Trieste, but that was a dead end, surround by more mountains. In some places the mountains were so rugged that no offensive could even be contemplated. Their 400 mile long border with the Austro-Hungarian Empire ran through the Alps. The Italians had one major problem in 1915. The Allies were able to promise that Italy would receive these areas at the end of the war and so on Italy declared war on the Allied side. At the end of the Italian Wars of Independence two major Italian speaking areas had remained within the Empire – the Trentino, north of Lake Garda, and the Littoral, the lower Isonzo valley and the area around Trieste. The British and French had a big advantage in this effort – the Italians had claims on two parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over the next few months both sides attempted to convince the Italians to join them. Despite having been part of the pre-war Triple Alliance with Austro-Hungary and Germany, in 1914 Italy had remained neutral.
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