page_title: Military history of Italy during World War I
section_title: Consequences
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Italy during World War I / Consequences
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Foto del sacrario militare di Redipuglia
context_page_description: Although a member of the Triple Alliance, Italy did not join the Central Powers – Germany and Austria-Hungary – when the war started on 28 July 1914. In fact, those two countries had taken the offensive while the Triple Alliance was supposed to be a defensive alliance. Moreover the Triple Alliance recognized that both Italy and Austria-Hungary were interested in the Balkans and required both to consult each other before changing the status quo and to provide compensation for whatever advantage in that area: Austria-Hungary did consult Germany but not Italy before issuing the ultimatum to Serbia, and refused any compensation before the end of the war.
  Almost a year after the war's commencement, after secret parallel negotiations with both sides Italy entered the war on the side of the Allied Powers. Italy began to fight against Austria-Hungary along the northern border, including high up in the now-Italian Alps with very cold winters and along the Isonzo river. The Italian army repeatedly attacked and, despite winning a majority of the battles, suffered heavy losses and made little progress as the mountainous terrain favoured the defender.
context_section_description: Italy's representative at the Paris Peace Conference, which led to the Versailles Treaty, was Premier Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Orlando was considered one of the "Big Four" with Premier Georges Clemenceau of the French Republic, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, and Prime Minister David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom. Italy received a bit of the land promised in The Treaty of London but not northern Dalmatia nor Fiume. The expectation to gain part of German colonies conquered by the Allies was also not realized. After long discussions the Italian diplomats left the Conference in protest but were forced to rejoin after the Allies refused to concede to all Italian demands and just went on.  The territorial gains were perceived as small in comparison to the cost of the war for Italy. The debt contracted to pay for the war's expenses was finally paid back only in the 1970s. The uncertain socio-economic situation and the broken promises from Allied powers caused heavy social strife which led to the Biennio rosso and later the rise of Fascism and its leader Benito Mussolini.
caption: The Redipuglia War Memorial.
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