The plain at the confluence of the Soča and Vipava rivers around Gorizia is the main passage from Northern Italy to Central Europe.
The Battles of the Isonzo (known as the Isonzo Front by historians, Slovene: soška fronta) were a series of twelve battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I mostly on the territory of present-day Slovenia, and the remainder in Italy along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917.
Italian military plans
In April 1915, in the secret Treaty of London, Italy was promised by the Allies some of the territories of Austro-Hungarian Empire which were mainly inhabited by ethnic Slovenes, Croats and Austrian Germans.
As a result, the Austro-Hungarians were forced to move some of their forces from the Eastern Front and a war in the mountains around the Isonzo River began.[3]
The 138 kilometres (86 mi) long Soča River at the time ran entirely inside Austria-Hungary in parallel to the border with Italy, from the Vršič pass in the Julian Alps to the Adriatic Sea, widening dramatically a few kilometers north of Gorizia, thus opening a narrow corridor between Northern Italy and Central Europe, which goes through the Vipava Valley and the relatively low north-eastern edge of the Postojna Gate to Inner Carniola and Ljubljana.
Italian troops did not reach the port of Trieste, the Italian General Luigi Cadorna's initial target, until after the Armistice.[4]
Primary sector for Italian operations
Italian soldiers during the Second Battle of the Isonzo, 1915
With the rest of the mountainous 640-kilometre (400 mi) length of the front being almost everywhere dominated by Austro-Hungarian forces, the Soča (Isonzo) was the only practical area for Italian military operations during the war. The Austro-Hungarians had fortified the mountains[citation needed] ahead of the Italians' entry into the war on 23 May 1915.
Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna judged that Italian gains (from Gorizia to Trieste) were most feasible at the coastal plain east of the lower end of the Soča (Isonzo) River. Cadorna had not expected operations in the Isonzo sector to be easy. He was well aware that the river was prone to flooding—and indeed there were record rainfalls during 1914–1918. Further, when attacking further north the Italian army was faced with something of a dilemma: in order to cross the Isonzo safely it needed to neutralise the Austro-Hungarian defenders on the mountains above, yet to neutralise these forces the Italian forces needed first to cross the river.[opinion]
Northeast Italy, farthest Italian advance against Austria-Hungary
Casualties
Italian infantry leaving the trenches, 1916Austrian troops crossing the Isonzo, November 1917
Despite the huge effort and resources poured into the continuing Isonzo struggle, the results were invariably disappointing and without real tactical merit, particularly given the geographical difficulties that were inherent in the campaign.
Cumulative casualties of the numerous battles of the Isonzo were enormous. Half of the entire Italian war death total — some 300,000 of 600,000 — were suffered along the Soča River. Austro-Hungarian losses, while by no means as numerous, were nevertheless high at around 200,000 (of an overall total of around 1.2 million casualties).[5]
More than 30,000 casualties were ethnic Slovenes, the majority of them being drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, while Slovene civilian inhabitants from the Gorizia and Gradisca region also suffered in many thousands because they were resettled in refugee camps where Slovene refugees were treated as state enemies in Italian refugee camps, where thousands died of malnutrition.[6]
Number of battles
Austro-Hungarian supply line over the Vršič Pass. October 1917
With almost continuous combat in the area, the precise number of battles forming the Isonzo campaign is debatable.[citation needed] Some historians have assigned distinct names to a couple of the Isonzo struggles, most notably at Kobarid (Caporetto, Karfreit) in October 1917, which would otherwise form the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo.
The fact that the battles were always named after the Isonzo River, even in Italy, was considered by some a propaganda success for Austria-Hungary: it highlighted the repeated Italian failure to breach this landmark frontier of the Empire.[7]
The Isonzo campaign comprised the following battles:
The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes.
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