Battle of Vittorio Veneto

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Battle of Vittorio Veneto
Part of the Italian Front (First World War)
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
Date 23 October-3 November 1918 Location Vittorio Veneto, Italy Result Decisive Italian victory
Belligerents
Italy United Kingdom  France  United States	Austria-Hungary
Commanders
Armando Diaz	Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna
Strength
57 divisions 51 Italian , 3 UK 2 French , 1 US[1] 7,700 guns	52 divisions 6,030 guns
Casualties and losses
5,800 dead 26.000 wounded	35,000 dead 100,000 wounded 300,000 captured

v • d • e Italian Front 1st Isonzo – 2nd Isonzo – 3rd Isonzo – 4th Isonzo – 5th Isonzo – Asiago – 6th Isonzo – 7th Isonzo – 8th Isonzo – 9th Isonzo – 10th Isonzo – Ortigara – 11th Isonzo – Caporetto – Piave River – Vittorio Veneto

The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between 24 October and 3 November 1918, near Vittorio Veneto, during the Italian Campaign of World War I. The Italian victory coincided with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Army and empire and swiftly led to the end of the war on the Italian Front.

Some Italians see Vittorio Veneto as the final cumulation of the Risorgimento nationalist movement, in which Italy was unified and achieved its present borders.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Background 2 The battle 3 Conclusion 4 Result 5 Footnotes

[edit] Background

During the Battle of Caporetto ^[2], 24 October to 9 November 1917 the Italian Army lost over 300,000 men and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme General Luigi Cadorna with the General Armando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance and stabilized the front-line around the Piave River. The Italian victory in the Battle of the Piave River in June 1918 proved to be the decisive battle on the Italian front.

[edit] The battle

On the 23 October 1918, the Italian Army, led by Armando Diaz, and supported by Allied troops, launched the final offensive. Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Italy was Frederick Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, who in this capacity led the Italian Tenth Army.

After crossing the Piave River, the Italian Army took Vittorio ("Veneto" was added to the name only in 1925) and advanced in the direction of Trento, threatening to block the retreat of Austrian forces.

[edit] Conclusion

General Graziani's 11th Italian army made advances, and he was supported on his right by the 9th army. On 30 October 1918 the Austro-Hungarian army was split in two. The result was that Austria-Hungary lost about 30,000 casualties and between 300,000-500,000 prisoners (50,000 by October 31st, 100,000 by November 1st, 428,000 by November 4th). The Italians lost about 38,000 casualties, including 145 French and 374 Britons^[3]

It led to the Austrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti which was effective on 4 November 1918.

A source for the battle is George M. Trevelyan, Scene's from Italy's War (1919).

[edit] Result

The battle determined the end of the First World War on the Italian front and confirmed the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On October 31st Hungary officially left the personal union with Austria. Other parts of the empire had declared independence some days before.

The surrender of their primary ally was another factor (on October 30th was the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, shortly afterwards the November revolution started to spread from Kiel) to make the continuation of the war for Germany impossible as an additional front in the south could have been opened.

[edit] Footnotes

Coordinates: 45°57′21″N, 12°20′49″E