The Italians launch their 10th attack on the Isonzo

Jivan Johal
May 10, 2017
2 min read

When WWI broke out, the largest front from the start to the end was the Western Front. Most of the others theatres of combat were ignored, including the Middle Eastern front and the Italian front. In the beginning of WWI, the Italians had been part of the Triple Alliance, meaning they sided with the Germans. This changed in 1915, and Italy then changed sides and joined the Entente (Britain, France, Russia). The Italians bordered the Austro-Hungarian Empire both on land at at sea, with the land border being along the Isonzo river, and the oceanic border being the Adriatic Sea. There were countless battles along these two fronts in the Italian theatre of war, but the most important area of fighting was along the Isonzo river.

The Italians had tried nine times before to attack the Austro-Hungarian positions along the river, but had been largely unsuccessful. The front was developing into a war of attrition (as France had become), and the Entente powers were looking at sending aid to the Italians, fearful of a German reinforcement to boost the ailing Austrian-Hungarians. There was consideration of support, but it was sent too late.

The battle's tactics were different than previous battles, with the previous attempts being to fight short, concentrated battles. The italians deployed 34 battalions to face 14 Austro-Hungarian battalions. The Italians were predicted to succeed, and they were. By the end of May, Italy had advanced all the way to the coastal town of Duino. The Austrian-Hungarians fought back though, recovering almost all of their lost ground by the 3rd of June. There was some fighting along the Julian alps, but it was not major. The battle ended in a stalemate, and no country had advanced far. There were more battles along the Isonzo, but the entire front was a stalemate until the end of the war.

The tenth battle of the Isonzo was one of many battles along the Isonzo river, and for the most part, it was worthless because it was a stalemate. The latter half of the war would see mountain warfare, tunnel warfare (tunnelling into the mountains), and plenty of fighting in the Italian Alps (notably at Monte Grappa). The mountain warfare was unique to the region and employed interesting and new tactics.

The battle that took place on May 10th, 1915 did not change much, but was a small piece in the greater victory of the Entente Powers.