In May 1915, when Italy entered the Great War at the urging of Britain and France,

it had been possible to hope that the balance of power had now shifted decisively against the central powers.

David Lloyd-George, for one, believed that the Austrian military,

already stretched to defend their frontier with Serbia and hold off the far larger Russian army in Galicia,

would collapse under the burden of defending yet another front line.

Italy joined the Great War with an army of 36 divisions, a far more formidable force than the mere six divisions of the British

expeditionary force in France, at least on paper.

And yet, after two years of fighting, during which the Italians threw their numerically

superior army against the Austrian defensive lines again and again in bloody offensive

after bloody offensive, the strategic situation remained unchanged, except that both sides were

nearing exhaustion. The Italian front might just come down to who collapses first.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th century. The

The Episode 150 Caporetto

Italy is a nation with a long and distinguished military history. I trust I don't need to remind you of the military

accomplishments of the Romans over the millennium between 500 BC and AD. The Roman Empire eventually

fell, of course, but Italians remained prominent in military history long afterward.

The Republic of Venice was a major power in the eastern Mediterranean for over five centuries.

The Venetians helped sustain the Byzantine Empire, then helped tear it down when they became

the first enemy ever to capture the fortress city of Constantinople.

Venetian armies, and especially navies, maintained control of crucial outposts and trade routes

against much larger Arab and Turkish empires. Renaissance Italian armies were on the cutting edge

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