4 November 1918: the forgotten Victory of the Italians

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
04/11/18

100 years have passed since the Villa Giusti Armistice ended the conflict with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In the morning the president of the Republic went to the Altare della Patria to pay homage to the Unknown Soldier, symbol of all the fallen in the Great War. The speech that he later pronounced was a bleak banality on the importance of peace and brotherhood among peoples, with a taste of preaching. As if the outbreak of the immense conflict was the fault of the Italian people.

However, what is really regrettable is not so much the predictable speeches of the highest authorities of the state, but a total absence on their part of national pride for an undeniable victory, despite the adverse conditions. As if Italy were ashamed of having defeated one of the most powerful armies of the Earth, and having conquered those lands that belonged to it by law.

When it comes to the First World War, the betrayal of the Italian government towards the Germans and Austrians is often called into question. The young Kingdom of Italy had joined, in the 1882, an alliance with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Triple Alliance. In the second half of the nineteenth century the probability that a war broke out with the French was higher than with the Austrians, so from a strategic point of view, covering the eastern side of northern Italy had a high priority. Furthermore, the Triple had a purely defensive connotation and none of the Member States could wage war without first consulting the other two.

The arbitrary declaration of war by Serbia to Serbia has released Italy from any obligation to the Alliance, with the inactivity of the first year of war France has been able to make its colonial troops flow from North Africa, concentrating all the resources in the decisive battle of the Marne, which succeeded in blocking the victorious advance of the German troops.

In the following three years of war (1915-18) we lost, proportionally, a number of soldiers superior to that of the British Empire (although the foreign press says otherwise, the aid of the Entente Powers was very small). With the decisive thrust of Vittorio Veneto (24 October 1918) - in which 51 Italian divisions, French 3, English 2 and a Czechoslovakian faced 70 Austrian divisions - was completed that process of territorial unification started in the last century, seizing an undeniable Victory. It is also plausible that the real threat of an invasion of Bavaria by the Italian Army has led the German government to hastily request a ceasefire on the Western Front of the 11 November 1918.

(photo: Quirinale)