Italy entered the war in 1915 with just a few dozen airplanes and more or less t…
154 Results
Regional Thematic Articles
Regional Thematic
Air Warfare (Italy)
By Fabio Caffarena
Regional Thematic
Art (Italy)
By Monica Cioli
The article demonstrates the significance of the Great War for Italian Futurism:…
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Italy)
By Vanda Wilcox
During the First World War, Italian soldiers’ attitudes varied widely, from enth…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (Italy)
By Barbara Bracco
This article illustrates the main characteristics of the long commemorative cycl…
Regional Thematic
Children and War (Italy)
By Antonio Gibelli
In Italy, as in all the belligerent countries, the First World War fully involve…
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Italy)
By Marco Mondini
In Italy, as in the other European states involved in the First World War, the o…
Regional Thematic
Colonies (Italy)
By Simona Berhe
The Italian colonies, with the partial exception of Libya, played only a seconda…
Regional Thematic
Discipline and Military Justice (Italy)
By Irene Guerrini, Marco Pluviano
The article illustrates the soldiers’ attitudes to the war, highlighting both th…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Italy)
By Alessandro Faccioli
Italian cinema has tried with difficulty to exploit the narrative idealization o…
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Italy)
By Maria Concetta Dentoni
During the First World War, the Italian government was unable to establish a rea…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Italy)
By Elena Papadia
During the period of neutrality, Italian public opinion was divided into two cam…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Italy)
By Nicola Labanca
Italian historiography of the Great War has been deeply affected by the close li…
Regional Thematic
Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Italy)
By Matteo Ermacora
This article analyzes changes provoked by the war within the world of industrial…
Regional Thematic
Literature (Italy)
By Fabio Todero
Literary activity in Italy during the Great War was based on a very wide range o…
Regional Thematic
Mourning and Cult of the Fallen (Italy)
By Oliver Janz
For Italy, the mass death of soldiers in the First World War was a completely un…
Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Austria-Hungary)
By Wolfram Dornik
While on the Western Front there were only limited territorial movements, the Ea…
Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Italy)
By Matteo Ermacora
During and after the First World War, Italy experienced different kinds of occup…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies: Industrial Mobilization (Italy)
By Piero Di Girolamo
Industrial mobilisation in Italy during the first World War took on particular c…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Italy)
By Fabio Degli Esposti
Starting from the essential parameters of the Italian economy and finance in the…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Italy)
By Andrea Baravelli
Post-war Italy was the only country that proved unable to use victory as a rheto…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Italy)
By Mauro Forno
Propaganda, combined with censorship, was indubitably one of the genuinely novel…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Italy)
By Filippo Cappellano
From 1870 to 1914, given the inferiority of the Italian army with respect to tha…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Italy)
By Luca Gorgolini
In the first part of the article, the salient features of the experiences of the…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Italy)
By Beatrice Pisa
The Italian government, in line with its liberal political views, left the mater…
Regional Thematic
Refugees (Italy)
By Francesco Frizzera
During World War I, about 630,000 people found refuge in the interior of the Kin…
Regional Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief (Italy)
By Maria Paiano
This article summarizes the state of knowledge about the role of religions durin…
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Italy)
By Andrea Scartabellati, Felicita Ratti
This article analyzes the events which occurred in the Italian scientific world …
Regional Thematic
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Italy)
By Roberto Bianchi
In the years 1914-1918, Italy was the scene of periodic waves of protest against…
Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Italy)
By Filippo Cappellano
The Italian Army faced the conflict in an inferior position compared to the oppo…
Regional Thematic
War Finance (Italy)
By Fabio Degli Esposti
Setting out from the fundamental variables of the Italian economy and finances o…
Regional Thematic
War Letters (Italy)
By Carlo Stiaccini
Despite the high rates of illiteracy in Italy on the eve of the war, the conflic…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (Italy)
By Pierluigi Scolè
The article examines the Italian losses in the Great War 1914-1918. Regarding th…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (Italy)
By Stefania Bartoloni
The departure of millions of men for the front created unprecedented areas of ac…
Encyclopedic Entries
Entry
Albertini, Luigi
By Rosaria Leonardi
Luigi Albertini was a journalist and editor-in-chief of one of the most importan…
Entry
Arditi
By Martina Salvante
Arditi were elite assault troops in the Italian army. They also emerged on Ital…
Entry
Attrition Warfare
By Nicholas Murray
Attrition warfare is the term used to describe the sustained process of wearing …
Entry
Baracca, Francesco
By Irene Guerrini, Marco Pluviano
Francesco Baracca was the most famous Italian aviator, and shot down thirty-four…
Entry
Battisti, Cesare
By Mirko Saltori
Cesare Battisti was the leader of the socialist party of the Italian Tirol (Tren…
Entry
Bishops and Chaplains (Italy)
By Sante Lesti
Italian bishops and chaplains played a central role in making sense of the war b…
Entry
Boselli, Paolo
By Vanda Wilcox
After a long parliamentary career, Paolo Boselli became Italy’s 22nd prime minis…
Entry
Cadorna, Luigi
By Anna Grillini
Luigi Cadorna was a career military man, the son of a major general in the army …
Entry
Camouflage
By Cécile Coutin
A technique of concealment and protection, a means to deceive but not kill, camo…
Entry
Capello, Luigi
By Andrea Argenio
Luigi Capello was an Italian general who took part in the war on the Gorizia fro…
Entry
Caporetto, Battle of
By Anna Grillini
The Battle of Caporetto, also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, remains…
Entry
Christmas Truce
By Alexandre Lafon
In December 1914, there were several truces between enemy soldiers along one par…
Entry
Croce, Benedetto
By Adviye Damla Ünlü
Benedetto Croce is an important figure for both Italian intellectual life (throu…
Entry
D'Annunzio, Gabriele
By Vanda Wilcox
One of Italy’s leading literary figures, Gabriele D’Annunzio agitated for Italia…
Entry
Diaz, Armando, Duke of Victory
By Alessandro Salvador
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Armando Diaz was an Italian officer and a general during World War I. In 1917, a…
Entry
Empire
By Erez Manela
World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of …
Entry
Fear
By Jan Plamper
Of the two world wars, the First World War was special in that fear figured prom…
Entry
Feminist Pacifism
By Annika Wilmers
A minority section of the women’s movements opposed World War I and organized th…
Entry
Flamethrower
By Paul Cornish
The use of portable flamethrowers in combat was a First World War innovation. Th…
Entry
Giardino, Gaetano Ettore
By Andrea Argenio
Gaetano Giardino was an Italian general best remembered for his role as commande…
Entry
Giolitti, Giovanni
By Spencer Di Scala
Giovanni Giolitti favored the increased liberalization of Italy, which encourage…
Entry
Gorizia, Battle of
By Francesco Frizzera
The Battle of Gorizia, known as the Sixth Isonzo’s Battle, was fought by the Ita…
Entry
Interventionism (Italy)
By Stéfanie Prezioso
Italy entered the First World War in May 1915, roughly ten months after it began…
Entry
Isonzo, Battles of
By Alessandro Salvador
The battles of Isonzo represented Italy’s main offensive efforts against the Aus…
Entry
Italian Irredentism
By Matthew Stibbe
This article examines the history of Italian irredentism before 1915; and its pl…
Entry
Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912
By Rachel Simon
The Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) took place mainly in Ottoman Libya following I…
Entry
London, Treaty of (1915)
By Stefano Marcuzzi
The Treaty of London was a secret agreement signed by Italy, Great Britain, Fran…
Entry
Machine Gun
By Paul Cornish
Between 1914 and 1918, the machine gun played an ever-increasing role on the bat…
Entry
Masculinities
By Sonja Levsen
The First World War represents the apex of the ideal of the male warrior hero. B…
Entry
Mediterranean Theater, Naval Operations
By Paul G. Halpern
The real naval war in the Mediterranean turned out to be a struggle against Germ…
Entry
Militarized Workers (Italy)
By Martina Salvante
In 1915 the Italian government created an agency called Mobilitazione Industrial…
Entry
Military Volunteers (Italy)
By Sante Lesti
The history of the Italian military volunteers concerns not only the roughly 10,…
Entry
Monte Grappa, Battle of
By Francesco Cutolo
After the battle of Caporetto, the Austro-German army launched several attacks a…
Entry
Mussolini, Benito
By Brian R. Sullivan
Italian Socialist Benito Mussolini envisioned war as the prerequisite for revolu…
Entry
Naval Warfare (Italy)
By Fabio De Ninno
Italy’s war at sea reflected the more general trends of the naval warfare in the…
Entry
Nitti, Francesco Saverio
By Pierluigi Pironti
Francesco Nitti was minister of the Treasury in the Orlando Cabinet after the de…
Entry
Ojetti, Ugo
By Selena Daly
Ugo Ojetti was a journalist who, during the war, was tasked with the protection …
Entry
Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele
By Spencer Di Scala
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
A renowned jurist with lasting influence, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando served as ju…
Entry
Orphans (Italy)
By Giuseppe Ferraro
This article focuses on the efforts of the Italian government and certain instit…
Entry
Piave, Battles of
By Stefano Marcuzzi
The two battles of the River Piave were fought between 10 November and 25 Decemb…
Entry
Pope Benedict XV
By John Pollard
Much of the reign of Pope Benedict XV was dominated by the First World War. Pope…
Entry
Pre-war Socialist Pacifism
By Elisa Marcobelli
The Socialists’ opposition to war in France, Germany and Italy during the period…
Entry
Rape
By Antoine Rivière
Although rape was not usually systematic, it occurred frequently on all fronts d…
Entry
Salandra, Antonio
By Stefano Marcuzzi
Antonio Salandra was an important Italian politician in the early 20th century. …
Entry
Sonnino, Sidney
By Paola Carlucci
Sidney Sonnino was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs during World War I. H…
Entry
Stormtrooper
By Ralf Raths
Storm troopers were soldiers in specialized assault units, which emerged in the …
Entry
Supreme War Council
By Elizabeth Greenhalgh
The Supreme War Council was an Allied administrative organisation, created by th…
Entry
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Rome
By Martina Salvante
At the end of the Great War, many countries determined that they would bury an a…
Entry
Trentino
By Nicola Fontana, Mirko Saltori
Trentino is an Italian-speaking region which was the southernmost part of the Ty…
Entry
Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy
By Stefano Marcuzzi
Victor Emmanuel III played an important, if often overlooked part in Italy’s dec…
Entry
Vittoria Mutilata
By Brian R. Sullivan
Gabriele D’Annunzio’s phrase “mutilated victory” infers that Italy’s wartime sac…
Entry
Vittorio Veneto, Battle of
By Francesco Frizzera
The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between 24 October and 4 November 1918 …
Entry
War and Comics (Italy)
By Roberto Bianchi
Comics played a very important role in the total mobilization in Italy. Firstly …
Entry
War Poetry
By Jane Potter
This article examines the concept of war poetry and considers the range of poeti…
Entry
War Profiteers
By François Bouloc
As a long-lasting industrial war, the Great War led to the realization of consid…
Entry
War Widows
By Peggy Bette
One third of the 9.7 million soldiers killed or declared missing during the Grea…
See Also
Thematic
Air Warfare
By Ross Mahoney, James Pugh
This article considers the use and evolution of air power during the First World…
Thematic
Alliance System 1914
By Günther Kronenbitter
Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of Wo…
Thematic
Antisemitism
By Werner Bergmann, Ulrich Wyrwa
The First World War and its direct repercussions in the postwar period (revoluti…
Thematic
Art
By Sue Malvern
The nature of the First World War put an end to traditions for battle painting. …
Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War
By André Loez
Soldiers’ attitudes towards the Great War are a controversial issue, as they pro…
Thematic
Caricatures
By Eberhard Demm
This article presents cartoonists as patriotic propagandists mobilizing their pe…
Thematic
Censorship
By Eberhard Demm
Censorship was an indispensable war weapon: its task was to keep the people in a…
Thematic
Centenary (Battlefield Tourism)
By Romain Fathi
The centenary of the First World War has been a catalyst for battlefield tourism…
Thematic
Centenary (Computer Games)
By Chris Kempshall
The First World War centenary saw an emergence of new portrayals of the conflict…
Thematic
Centenary (Internet)
By Lorna M. Hughes, Ian G. Anderson
The centenary events surrounding the First World War have produced a significant…
Thematic
Centenary (Visual Arts)
By Paul Gough
The commemorative period between 2014 and 2018 was marked globally by numerous e…
Thematic
Children and Youth
By Andrew Donson
Mass conscription recast relationships in families, raised minors’ potential as …
Thematic
Civilian and Military Power
By Lawrence Sondhaus
By 1914 the leading states had succumbed to varying degrees of militarism, subor…
Thematic
Civilian Morale
By Matteo Ermacora
This article deals with civilian morale during the First World War. Between 1915…
Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen
By Stéphane Tison
The First World War ushered in an unprecedented wave of commemorations. Mass dea…
Thematic
Controversy: Total War
By Daniel Marc Segesser
Total war is a controversial term used in the past by politicians, publicists an…
Thematic
Demobilization
By Gearóid Barry
The end of fighting in 1918 raised hopes for swift and equitable military demobi…
Thematic
Espionage
By Emmanuel Debruyne
During the entire war, warring powers used the “secret war” to try to break the …
Thematic
Fascism and the Radical Right
By Gustavo Corni
The First World War was not only the precondition of the rise of fascist movemen…
Thematic
Film/Cinema
By Roger Smither
The First World War played a significant role in the evolution of film both as a…
Thematic
Food and Nutrition
By Emmanuelle Cronier
During the First World War, food became a major issue for military and civilian …
Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties
By Torsten Oppelland
One sees a wide range of political regimes from a democratic republic with unive…
Thematic
Health, Disease, Mortality; Demographic Effects
By Doina Anca Cretu
The rapid spread of epidemics ravaged military personnel and civilians in and ou…
Thematic
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
Thematic
International Labour Organization
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, establishing both the Leagu…
Thematic
International Law and the Laws of War
By Jean H. Quataert
The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogativ…
Thematic
Italian Front
By Vanda Wilcox
In May 1915, Italy attacked Austria-Hungary along the Isonzo River and in the Tr…
Thematic
Labor
By Steven E. Rowe
Across the major belligerent powers, industrial production and the mobilization …
Thematic
Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes
By James Thompson
This article compares the history of labour movements during the war across a ra…
Thematic
League of Nations
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, the same day on which the L…
Thematic
Militarism
By Christian K. Melby
Militarism is a vague term that has meant different things to different people a…
Thematic
Military Justice
By Steven R. Welch
This essay offers a comparative survey of the practice of military justice among…
Thematic
Military Lessons of the First World War
By Nikolas Gardner
This article examines the lessons derived by the military organizations that par…
Thematic
Moral Norms and Values
By Gearóid Barry
Change and continuity marked belligerent societies’ norms and values during the …
Thematic
Nationalism
By John Paul Newman
This article offers an overview of the progress of nationalism and the national …
Thematic
Naval Warfare
By Eric W. Osborne
All of the great belligerent states of World War I were naval powers and engaged…
Thematic
Negotiating and Mediating Conduct of War
By Matthew Stibbe
Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were imperviou…
Thematic
On the Road to Modern War
By Dennis Showalter
The Great War was never considered the “war to end all wars” by the states and a…
Thematic
Peace Initiatives
By Ross Kennedy
This paper examines major peace initiatives during World War I. It describes eff…
Thematic
Post-war Welfare Policies
By Pierluigi Pironti
The Great War gave new impulses to the further development of public welfare sys…
Thematic
Prisoners of War
By Heather Jones
The First World War marked the shift from a 19th century, relatively ad hoc mana…
Thematic
Propaganda at home and abroad
By Eberhard Demm
This article summarizes and compares the principal arguments and strategies of p…
Thematic
Property Rights and Economic Nationalism
By Daniela L. Caglioti
This article explores the policies adopted and implemented against enemy propert…
Thematic
Raw Materials
By Pierre Chancerel
Raw materials were vital during the First World War. Due to the armaments produc…
Thematic
Refugees
By Peter Gatrell
This article addresses the scale of wartime population displacement in continent…
Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief
By Patrick J. Houlihan
From the cradle to the grave, popular religion formed a necessary and vital, if …
Thematic
Resettlement
By Peter Gatrell
The conduct of warfare in 1914-1918 included extensive population resettlement i…
Thematic
Revolutions
By Chad R. Fulwider
This article surveys the various movements toward social, national, and politica…
Thematic
Rural Society
By Matteo Ermacora
The paper describes the impact of war on peasantry and its mobilisation in the w…
Thematic
Schools and Universities
By Andrew Donson
The military service of teachers and the mobilization of schoolchildren for volu…
Thematic
Sea Transport and Supply
By Michael B. Miller
Allied capacity at sea to sustain global transport and supply determined their a…
Thematic
Social Conflict
By Claire Morelon
This article deals with the nature of social conflict during the war. The length…
Thematic
Social Costs of War
By Kimberly A. Redding
This article explores how the anticipation, reality, and memory of sacrifice inf…
Thematic
State, Civil Society and Relief Organizations for War
By Branden Little
A vast array of initiatives designed to counteract the destructiveness of the Fi…
Thematic
The Churches
By Patrick J. Houlihan
Reflecting current historiography, this article focuses primarily on Christian c…
Thematic
The Everyday as Involved in War
By Tammy M. Proctor
This essay examines how the "everyday" functions in war, not only for those on t…
Thematic
The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
By Graydon A. Tunstall
October 1918 witnessed the collapse of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, b…
Thematic
The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences
By Alan Sharp
This article offers an overview of peacemaking after the First World War from th…
Thematic
The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences
By Alan Sharp
This article offers an overview of peacemaking after the First World War from th…
Thematic
The Way to War
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 191…
Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918
By William Philpott
Static “trench warfare” belied a dynamic transformation in warfare between 1914 …
Thematic
War Finance
By Nicholas Mulder
The Great War required war-making states to mobilize and sustain the financial r…
Thematic
Willingly to War. Public Response to the Outbreak of War
By Jean-Jacques Becker
It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in fav…
Thematic
Women’s Mobilization for War
By Susan R. Grayzel
This article explores women’s economic, social, and political responses to the F…
Thematic
Women War Reporters
By Stephanie Seul
Female war reporters from belligerent and neutral countries were present in the …
