At the 12th battle of Isonzo my true love gave to me 12 crazy Germans 11 Svetosar Borojevices 10 big mountains 9 pasta cannons 8 Luigi cadornas 7 muddy trenches 6 new corps Fiive goolden guuns! 4 rainy days 3 wintry days 2 heads of lice And Benito Mussolini!
Noo!!! The Generalissimo was supposed to break through!!! Its all lack of offensive spirit... no way in part to errors on Cadorna's behalf!! Had the troops been more patriotic, they surely would have broken through. They can just tell the families of the dead, that they were unpatriotic, and unworthy of Cadorna's brilliance.
+Christopher Conard The error wasn't throwing themselves in front of the bullets. It was the fact that they didn't believe hard enough in the Generalissimo! They surely would have survived, had they only trusted his enlightened command and advanced with steady hearts!
I'm not sure which is funnier: The fact that Central powers managed to one-up what Cadorna had done in 11 battles with just one battle, or the fact that it took 11 battles before the central powers actually realised that MAYBE it would be a good idea for them to attack for once.
>Ludendorff orders von Below to stabilize the Italian Front with as little effort as possible >von Below breakes through the Italian lines and forces the enemy to retreat in panic nicely done
@@NoName-hg6cc That is not true. The AH offensive was successful, but they had to withdraw because big offensive on the eastern front had surprised them and they had most of the soldiers on the italian front. And Central powers eventually "won" against Russian Empire. But AH suffered great losses during Brusilov offensive.
@@radegastov1570 False. Austrian offensive was stopped and repelled easily. Brusilov offensive however worried Germany enough that it relocated divisions to face Russia, who wasn't beaten but collaps on itself
My great grandfather was figting in the Austro-Hungarian army, got stabbed in the stomach,put in an amubalnce car that got hit by a mortar. He was buried alive in a mass grave, where he groaned loud enough to be dug out, survived the war and lived for another 50 years
On this day 100 years ago (26th october) my great grandfather won a military medal at Passchendaele his regiment was being held up by a machine gun position (not sure if it was a pillbox or not) he was a lance corporal and he and his few men where able to take it out. It makes me extremely proud but also saddened that he had to go to war in the first place, as he later broke his medal in two after receiving it as he was obviously deeply effected by the war mentally and physically as for example he was wounded on four separate occasions in the battle of Gallipoli alone.
Title of a greek newspaper on the 29th of October 1940: *The heroes of Caporetto attack Greece!* Anti-Italian sentiment was strong in Greece for decades after Mussolini's 1940-41 attack. My father once told me that as late as the 60s, in their village in northern Greece, they named a scared dog "Italian" . Today we love our Italian brothers and sisters, "una faccia una razza" as we say. Best regards from Salonica!
if you throw enough shit at the wall, some of it is going to stick. Eventually. Maybe. But yeah, this battle was launched by the central powers, not by Cadorna
I am actually watching this on my holiday in Ypres, such a devastating war. graves everywhere thank you Indie and the team for making this complex war a bit more understandable
I was on the website Tank Encyclopedia, and I found out that Austria-Hungary developed a trench tank called the Burstyn Motoreschütz. Could you elaborate more on Austria-Hungary’s armored corps?
As far as i read the central powers disregarded his idea even though it was ahead of it's time in 1911. With the turning gunturret etc. But in WW2 they were eager to use his ideas for tanks and tank warfare. Also the biggest tank caserne in Austria is named after him. And: he invented the "teeth" who were used as tank obstacles or barricades.
The Italians had a tank design as well, they built 2 of it and used them after the war an Abyssinia. It was built by FIAT and had more armor than any other tank of that period, I think the tank name was FIAT 2000.
Finally cadorno was happy! App 200.000 Italian soldiers stormed forward in masses and reached the German front...and even made it deep into Austria....they used a trick: They stormed forward with hands up ...and infiltrated enemies PW camps deep in the country!
That feeling when you fight hard for two years against the Italians, take heavy casualties and hold out against yet another large offensive and then supply the majority of forces for that one offensive happening on your front, yet it is still "German and Austrian divisions" and "Germany making advances."
Im not sure loyalty would be thew right word. It was in their interest to keep the Austrians in the war. I think sentimentality was the last thing you could attribute to men such as Falkenhayn or Ludendorff.
Pikkabuu The question is, who could have been a better ally for Germany instead of Austria-Hungary? France is obviously out of the question, the naval race alienated Britain. Italy is the worst among the Great Powers. Outside of Austria-Hungary, the only option left is Russia, which might make sense, however the Germans feared that it could grow too powerful. So the only possible (Great Power) ally left is Austria-Hungary. And indeed even with it's flaws, Austria-Hungary proved to be a better ally in WW1, than Italy was in WW2. If the war would have been postponed by two or four extra years, it could have been an even better ally, since the military budget started to increase significantly in 1913.
And when even the allies believed it was over for Italy, Diaz and the ragazzi del '99, just 18 years old young boys volounteered and stood their ground on the Piave river and on Monte Grappa! One of these of the braviest generation was my grandfather. Arditi began to counterattack and Italy stood together like one man! After the disastrous and horrible losses at Capotetto this was an unprecedented fight to save our holy land.
5:50 _Brothers in Arms_ was also a great Dire Straits album. ;) It's perhaps fitting the titles of singles from that album could also describe The Great War: "So Far Away," "Money for Nothing," "Brothers in Arms," "Walk of Life," and "Your Latest Trick."
The caporetto offensive really puts the pre-caporetto offensive war in Italy in perspective. It makes that front look like child’s play compared to the front where all the big boys fought, aka the western front.
@@NoName-hg6cc You missed my point completely. Up until the caporetto offensive, it was pretty much just entirely Austria-Hungary fighting Italy, both nations of which are considered to be generally pretty weak (and stupid) nations. So I just find it funny that when Germany was finally able to help Austria out, they made pushing back the Italians look easy. So it just goes to show you how powerful both sides were on the western front where they were locked in a stalemate.
@@RestitutorEuropaand u miss the reality of the context. But I get it, you just wanna shove to the public some sort of primacy of some nations over others. That's not history
First. I love the channel and your weekly episodes. I have a question for Out of the Trenches, why did the Italian government was willing to let Luigi Cadorna (sorry if I spell it wrong) launch 11 battles for the same area? Wouldn't it be obvious after a while that it was not working?
The Italian front was largely mountains. There really were not many places to attack, hence why the same places kept getting hit. You're not gonna break through or rapidly advance in the alps. That leaves the Isonzo as one of the few places suitable for offensives. Even the central powers chose the area to attack this week.
Colin Kelly Good point. I had not really considered that. I just thought that Cadorna was obsessed with taking that one area because he was ineffective as a commander.
The problem is that they were basically fighting trench warfare along a mountain range. There are only a few passes from Italy to Vienna, all already heavily fortified and easily defended. The small front Italy was forced to attack on was along the Isonzo river, the only piece of flat land leading into Austria-Hungary's territory. Although nearly all the battles were called ''battle of the Isonzo'', even in Italy, the battles are far from all in one place. The front was about 60 miles long. Cadorna's problem wasn't in the objective or strategy, but in the execution. EDIT: When you look at Indy's map, basically any battle fought between Monte Ermada and up past Caporetto was just generically called ''battle of the Isonzo.''
Indy, want to note your final comment was brilliant and captures the futility of this war and the arrogance that refused outright the prior offer of peace. When nations keep fighting to make the sacrifices of the men who died prior merely consign more to death. And since victory is no certainty, why not look for a way out that saves lives and brings freedom to the nations you fight for (Belgium). I often think your same comment visiting The Somme knowing that for several months in 1918 those lands were reconquered by the Germans and graves lost to the new chaos. Tragic...just tragic.
Great-granpappy was a cunning bloke. Him and a mate of his shot each other, I think, to get the angle right. In any case, they sent him home just before Below's attack. He'd actually come home from Argentina to bury his daughter, who'd died from typhus, when they snatched him up basically from the trainstation and sent him to the front. He was a big guy, his head and neck looked like an artillery shell, so they drafted him into an Arditi battallion. Don't know much else.
Probably the answer lies in political power balance: throughout the Great War Italy had weak governments. Antonio Salandra, the prime minister that led Italy into war (without a parliament vote, that should be reminded) was forced to resign by the early successes of the Austro-Hungrarian Trentino offensive in spring 1916. His successor was Paolo Boselli, an old liberal, heading a coalition that keep socialists out of government. He was politically weak, and, driven by a personal hatred for socialism, supported Cadorna (that shared a similar "reds fear"), that after the sixth battle of the Isonzo was hailed as the conqueror of Gorizia. Moreover, king Victor Emmanuel III remained idle and outside of military decisions until the defeat of Caporetto, sticking to the conditions imposed by Cadorna in 1914.
Today is my Birthday, thanks so much Indy for this awesome series, I couldn't thank you and your team enough for the effort put in each video, I am so glad I found your channel two years ago
The Austrians did in one attack,what Cadorna couldn`t manage to do in ..what 666 battles for the Isonzo? Nice. My question( for" Out of the Trenches") is,why was Cadorna still in charge? And my second question-would you do some Bio-special about General Vladimir Vazov a.k.a The Winner from Doyran? Greetings from Bulgaria! :)
I feel he was in there because of politics. Also he fired anyone who threatened his position, so at that point, not many alternative with some experience in command. What it took to remove Cadorna was a disastrous campaign where he could not escape his responsibilities (aka Caporetto).
Questions for Indy and the team (at the end of a really long comment). Great work on this channel, I can't get over the level of detail that you guys give week by week across the world. This is extremely helpful to comprehend the complexities of the development of war between several nations. Everybody keeps asking if you guys will continue on with the series when WWII roles around, and regardless if you guys do, I hope this channel forever changes the portrayal of conflicts for years to come. My question is where do you guys get all your combat footage? How common was it for men to set up in a defense while one guy sits in the back and records them getting shot at, suffocating from poison gas, or even being in hand to hand combat? I believe pictures speak 1000 words, but every picture/frame of a video is 1000 words that help build a story. Again, great work with everything that you guys do.
Next week, in October 31, before 100 years was the battle on Beersheba, which the British won the battle with one of the few cavalry charge in the war. Next week there is going to be a big ceremony in Beersheba with Israel, British, Turkish and Anzac representative. Also there will be recreation of the cavalry charge on Beersheba.
I have visited Kobarid and mainly Tolmin a few times. Funny to even hear those names. Today, (as back in the day, I would think) they are rather insignificant (but utterly beautiful) towns in Slovenia, close to the Italian border. Tolmin is on the gorgeous river Soça (= Isonzo) and looking at it, you would never imagine the scenes depicted here.
Lots of information about the battle in Rommel's book. Something I found interesting was that the Italians did nothing to disguise their positions so that even though they were generally well contructed they were easy to target for destruction by the artillery. While of course people would have known their approximate positions some work on concealment would have added greatly to their survivability.
I love this channel. It took me almost an hour to watch this episode - I was pausing and rewinding again and again to catch all of the great info and to stare and the images. Extremely well written and the photos/footage that were put together are just wonderful. And of course, Indy is the best. Thank you The Great War Channel team for continuing to put together this masterpiece of a project.
Hi Indy and Team, I've discovered your channel 6 month ago and since I've watched all your videos in chronological order... Today is a special day because it's the first I'll watch a video the day of its release, I've finally catched up ! Anyway thank you for your great show !
Thinking about my Great GrandFather this week and the brutal fighting he endured at Passchendaele. The Canadians Corps sacrificed so much 100 years ago this fall.
I am from Slovenia and can you please use original name Kobarid. But thanks for making a video about this we will never forget what Italians did to slovenians!
They use the names that were used at the time (Lemberg/Lviv, Kovno/Kaunas). Also i don't think there's anything bad in calling a place something else if it has another name in your language.
Well, yes but most of the names were original Slovenian and they use Italian or German versions, which were used in official maps. They very rarely use a Slovenian name.
They are all long dead, you were not alive, your parents weren't alive and most likely even your grandparents weren't. Stop this " 'we' slovenians will never forget" blablablabla. It's edgy, embarrassing and doesn't lead to anything just to perpetuate hate. Stop it!
Well one of the best books ever written plays on that front, and it features the "ordered" retreat and the collapse of the italian amy/government. A farewell to arm is the hemingway book children should read in school. Its Raw, its human and a good read.
The first 11 battles launched by the Italians didn't break the Austro-Hungarians. But the 12th battle launched by the Austrians & others. They break the Italians. Damn Lugi you done screwed up
In Italy nowdays when something goes horribly wrong and its a total defeat/failure in business, politics, private life we still say "what a Caporetto". It's incredible how shocking that defeat was for our people. More than the ppl dead or captured, it was about burning villages, livestocks, cows, fields, horses, pieces of artillery and warehouse full of weapons and goods that generals like Cadorna did not give to soldiers but held behind the front for no reason but madness and obsession with "discipline".
Cadorna has become the scapegoat of this defeat but few know that General Cadorna ordered in 1916 to build defensive fortifications and trenches along the Piave River and on Mount Grappa, foreseeing the risk of an enemy breakthrough and it was thanked to these fortifications that the Italian army could stop the advance of the Austro-Germans on the River Piave and Mount Grappa.
*140% discipline achieved. *100% Army tradition achieved. *Prussia Gloria intensives. :P ua-cam.com/video/f_6AQA4uzD0/v-deo.html Cadorna, you are in trouble. ;)
my grandfather fought at caporetto. got schrapnel to his back. i am czech. i love czech republic, czechoslovakia. and austro-hungary. it was greatest victory of our arms besides zborov. i know it is weird cuz zborov was battle of czechoslovak legions against austro-hungary. but i cannot help it i love both of my grandfanthers..
my second grandfather was one who survived zborov and then fight against russians to vladivostock, where they steal cruiser suvurov and then can finally can go home through panama
The battle of the Isonzo... Verdun... FUCK IT! THIS WHOLE WAR WAS INSANITY! Einstien said it best "Insanity is doing something, over and over, and expecting different results".
To men like Haig and Cadorna they had this huge ego thinking that if they used the same strategies over and over again they could make a breakthrough. However, because of this strategy a lot of men died for glory and ego. I will say this though Haig at least tried to care for the soldiers after the war albeit many still killed him a butcher.
A couple of tactical add up to Caporetto to bring more context on why it was such a complete and thorough defeat - the forward positions of the Italian army were set in an offensive posture, with machine guns close to the front and not on slopes. - recon was carried in the immediate surroundings and in the far with planes. The crucial mid which could have revealed the redeployments of germans was left in the dark -crucially, the army was set to fight on the top. So a vastt majority of troops were left stranded while the austro-germans broke trough the villages. This was the capital mistake that rendered a defense impossibile
That was a good episode, further proving my belief that the Germans won most of the battles in the Great War. A bit like the confederate (well a lot) they held on through interior lines but ultimately did not have the manpower or economic might to beat the combined Allies, including the United States.
Got my parents watching your channel. Amazing work and I've learnt so much. What are your plans for after the war ends? Would love to continue seeing more great content. All the best!!
That Isonzo 12...just like Indy said at the end--all those hundreds of thousands lost over 2.5yrs, clawing for every gain, all undone in a week. FFS...
Want to Win at the Isonzo? Attack From the Other Direction!!! Brilliant!
Nah. You only need someone competent in charge and never Cadorna.
World war one or two....Austria and Italy can do jack sheet alone. They need German help...like in the e.u. now
@@Dilley_G45 Germany needed Italy in the early 90s...
To be fair, Luigi Cadorna plan would have Work, If germ😢would Help.
🗿
At the 12th battle of Isonzo my true love gave to me
12 crazy Germans
11 Svetosar Borojevices
10 big mountains
9 pasta cannons
8 Luigi cadornas
7 muddy trenches
6 new corps
Fiive goolden guuns!
4 rainy days
3 wintry days
2 heads of lice
And Benito Mussolini!
A Benito Mussolini sounds funnier
8 Luigi Cadornas? What one would do with 8 of them? Fight 96 battles of the Isonzo? No no no, one of them is already too much.
Leopoldo Aranha With that many Cadornas, you could conquer the world...
By putting them in charge of all major enemy armies.
Save it for Christmas
Well done Sr
"We need a successful offensive of Isonzo". German command: Hold my bier.
Noo!!! The Generalissimo was supposed to break through!!! Its all lack of offensive spirit... no way in part to errors on Cadorna's behalf!! Had the troops been more patriotic, they surely would have broken through. They can just tell the families of the dead, that they were unpatriotic, and unworthy of Cadorna's brilliance.
:D this one was good
Finally! Someone gets me!
Clearly the fault of the defeatists who threw themselves in front of Austrian bullets to deprive the Great General necessary troops.
+Christopher Conard
The error wasn't throwing themselves in front of the bullets. It was the fact that they didn't believe hard enough in the Generalissimo! They surely would have survived, had they only trusted his enlightened command and advanced with steady hearts!
Patton did say a man who dies in battle is "frequently a fool" to the grieving mothers, so maybe Cardorna can go with that line.
Not having Conrad von Hötzendorf was all that was needed to make a difference.
I'm not sure which is funnier: The fact that Central powers managed to one-up what Cadorna had done in 11 battles with just one battle, or the fact that it took 11 battles before the central powers actually realised that MAYBE it would be a good idea for them to attack for once.
Both
To be fair Luigi Cadorna plan would have Worked If Germany wouldnt have helped Caporetto
@@stevensamuels4041 Not really
to this day, in italian we say "it was a Caporetto!" when we want to say that something went disastrously wrong.
Kinda like how English speakers would say “it was a catastrophe!”, I imagine.
@@akend4426 Catastrophe in italian catastrofe, we speak in same way
So it's like two 10-year-olds were fighting until one of them called his older brother, who came in, sighed, kicked ass and went back home.
amazing xD
Ya know your not wrong
@@jamesphillips531 you're*
Sorry.
Nah, the Western Front wasn't won even in 3 vs 1 with the "big brother"
Days since last battle of the Isonzo: 0
But there should be no more...
random guy i
The front is like 100km away from the isonzo now YEETS
Cadorna, this is an intervention. You need to stop attacking the isonzo river!
I find your lack of offensive spirit disturbing.
How many battles does it take to change a Generallisimo? All of them.
To be fair Luigi Cadorna plan would have Worked If Germany wouldnt have helped Caporetto
>Ludendorff orders von Below to stabilize the Italian Front with as little effort as possible
>von Below breakes through the Italian lines and forces the enemy to retreat in panic
nicely done
When you fail 11 battles and the enemy gets it right from their first try. It was like the Germans decided to teach Cadorna how to war.
AH tried in 1916 and failed
@@NoName-hg6cc But only due to Brusilov Offensive.
@@radegastov1570 No, because Italians repelled them. The only thing that saved Entente was that Germans wanted to play with Russia (and even failed)
@@NoName-hg6cc That is not true. The AH offensive was successful, but they had to withdraw because big offensive on the eastern front had surprised them and they had most of the soldiers on the italian front. And Central powers eventually "won" against Russian Empire. But AH suffered great losses during Brusilov offensive.
@@radegastov1570 False. Austrian offensive was stopped and repelled easily. Brusilov offensive however worried Germany enough that it relocated divisions to face Russia, who wasn't beaten but collaps on itself
My great grandfather was figting in the Austro-Hungarian army, got stabbed in the stomach,put in an amubalnce car that got hit by a mortar. He was buried alive in a mass grave, where he groaned loud enough to be dug out, survived the war and lived for another 50 years
Erwin Rommel? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before.....
Rebel_Mike2094 never heard of her. She definitely sounds like she has a future that kid.
Yes, that is going places.
Erwin is a he 😂😂😂😂😂 but I agree, he's going places
Honestly at this point I wouldnt be surprised if Luigi Cadorna was actually working for the central powers the entire time.
On this day 100 years ago (26th october) my great grandfather won a military medal at Passchendaele his regiment was being held up by a machine gun position (not sure if it was a pillbox or not) he was a lance corporal and he and his few men where able to take it out. It makes me extremely proud but also saddened that he had to go to war in the first place, as he later broke his medal in two after receiving it as he was obviously deeply effected by the war mentally and physically as for example he was wounded on four separate occasions in the battle of Gallipoli alone.
It was an awful war. I hope your great grandfather found peace later in life.
Title of a greek newspaper on the 29th of October 1940:
*The heroes of Caporetto attack Greece!*
Anti-Italian sentiment was strong in Greece for decades after Mussolini's 1940-41 attack.
My father once told me that as late as the 60s, in their village in northern Greece, they named a scared dog "Italian" .
Today we love our Italian brothers and sisters, "una faccia una razza" as we say.
Best regards from Salonica!
Ahahah! Mia faza mia raza, my Greek friend!!!
the Greeks would lost in a long war anyway, the germans just made it faster because of the russian campaign
An acquaintance of mine remember fondly how Greeks caved in in Corfu crisis...
Its funny that Rommel fought againts Italians during WW1 and fought alongside them in North Africa during WW2
He was surprised to find many italian prisoners who could understand Germans.
They were former expatriated who travelled in Germany to work
Eleven battles for the isonzo are enough?
Cadorna: nah, we need one more, surely this time it will work.
Svetozar Boroevic: I'm getting tired of this shit, I'm ending it.
Serious, indy tells in the first 20 seconds that the central powers launched the battle
if you throw enough shit at the wall, some of it is going to stick. Eventually. Maybe.
But yeah, this battle was launched by the central powers, not by Cadorna
It's not like he wasn't going to make another one, later on he says that cadorna thought he was right all along, and was preparing for the last month.
Perfectly explains Einstein's theory on insanity "Insanity is doing the same thing, repeated time and time again and expecting different results."
"Let's get'em boyz" -cit Svetozar Boroevic, moments before launching the battle of Caporetto
I can't believe how much better this series was done than World War Two
how?
Fredo Corleone > Luigi Cadorna
V. Athanasiou He broke their hearts.
V. Athanasiou Chef Boyardee of Italian General
As soon as he doesn't go fishing with his nephew. PANKI_7 thank you! :)
Everybody that's not Conrad von Hötzendorf > Luigi Cadorna > Conrad von Hötzendorf
Conrad was surpassed by his student.
I am actually watching this on my holiday in Ypres, such a devastating war. graves everywhere thank you Indie and the team for making this complex war a bit more understandable
I was on the website Tank Encyclopedia, and I found out that Austria-Hungary developed a trench tank called the Burstyn Motoreschütz. Could you elaborate more on Austria-Hungary’s armored corps?
Never heard of it but I am sure it is supposed to be "Motorgeschütz" (Motorised-gun) Just looked up the wiki page about it. What a cute little thing.
As far as i read the central powers disregarded his idea even though it was ahead of it's time in 1911.
With the turning gunturret etc. But in WW2 they were eager to use his ideas for tanks and tank warfare.
Also the biggest tank caserne in Austria is named after him.
And: he invented the "teeth" who were used as tank obstacles or barricades.
The Italians had a tank design as well, they built 2 of it and used them after the war an Abyssinia. It was built by FIAT and had more armor than any other tank of that period, I think the tank name was FIAT 2000.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burstyn-Motorgesch%C3%BCtz
Finally cadorno was happy! App 200.000 Italian soldiers stormed forward in masses and reached the German front...and even made it deep into Austria....they used a trick: They stormed forward with hands up ...and infiltrated enemies PW camps deep in the country!
After binge-watching the last few weeks, this is the first episode I've seen as it's been uploaded. Great show.
Amazing episode Indy, even including some news about Brazil! Cheers from Rio de Janeiro.
That feeling when you fight hard for two years against the Italians, take heavy casualties and hold out against yet another large offensive and then supply the majority of forces for that one offensive happening on your front, yet it is still "German and Austrian divisions" and "Germany making advances."
Haha Karl I 5:10 pulled the move where you ask your sibling for something, but when they say no you get your parents to give it to you anyway.
Anybody else has these repeat impression of "germany saves austrian bacon again"?.....
Yes, however, this is not the case here, actually. Out of the 33 CP divisions used in the offensive, only 7 was German.
Germany has a bad hapid of allying with less capable countries than it: new2.fjcdn.com/pictures/Italy+of+best+ally_d9e72c_5232203.png
You can say a lot about Germany, but their loyalty to a true ally has never been in question I think. Over the ages.
Im not sure loyalty would be thew right word. It was in their interest to keep the Austrians in the war. I think sentimentality was the last thing you could attribute to men such as Falkenhayn or Ludendorff.
Pikkabuu The question is, who could have been a better ally for Germany instead of Austria-Hungary?
France is obviously out of the question, the naval race alienated Britain. Italy is the worst among the Great Powers.
Outside of Austria-Hungary, the only option left is Russia, which might make sense, however the Germans feared that it could grow too powerful.
So the only possible (Great Power) ally left is Austria-Hungary. And indeed even with it's flaws, Austria-Hungary proved to be a better ally in WW1, than Italy was in WW2.
If the war would have been postponed by two or four extra years, it could have been an even better ally, since the military budget started to increase significantly in 1913.
And when even the allies believed it was over for Italy, Diaz and the ragazzi del '99, just 18 years old young boys volounteered and stood their ground on the Piave river and on Monte Grappa! One of these of the braviest generation was my grandfather. Arditi began to counterattack and Italy stood together like one man! After the disastrous and horrible losses at Capotetto this was an unprecedented fight to save our holy land.
You are probably wondering where is the Russian October Revolution.
Well spoiler alert...
It happened in November
You are a fun guy, aren't you?
Márton Köves oh yes,yes i am
Well that depends on your calendar of choice
Don’t let the French advances in Lamalmaison distract you from the 12th battle of Izonzo
5:50 _Brothers in Arms_ was also a great Dire Straits album. ;) It's perhaps fitting the titles of singles from that album could also describe The Great War: "So Far Away," "Money for Nothing," "Brothers in Arms," "Walk of Life," and "Your Latest Trick."
The caporetto offensive really puts the pre-caporetto offensive war in Italy in perspective. It makes that front look like child’s play compared to the front where all the big boys fought, aka the western front.
Nah, Italian front is where men fought and died in harshly conditions, in confront to toddler game aka Wester and East Front 😂
@@NoName-hg6cc
You missed my point completely. Up until the caporetto offensive, it was pretty much just entirely Austria-Hungary fighting Italy, both nations of which are considered to be generally pretty weak (and stupid) nations. So I just find it funny that when Germany was finally able to help Austria out, they made pushing back the Italians look easy. So it just goes to show you how powerful both sides were on the western front where they were locked in a stalemate.
@@RestitutorEuropaGerman troops where exauted After the Battle of Caporetto
@@RestitutorEuropaand u miss the reality of the context. But I get it, you just wanna shove to the public some sort of primacy of some nations over others. That's not history
First. I love the channel and your weekly episodes. I have a question for Out of the Trenches, why did the Italian government was willing to let Luigi Cadorna (sorry if I spell it wrong) launch 11 battles for the same area? Wouldn't it be obvious after a while that it was not working?
The Italian front was largely mountains. There really were not many places to attack, hence why the same places kept getting hit. You're not gonna break through or rapidly advance in the alps. That leaves the Isonzo as one of the few places suitable for offensives. Even the central powers chose the area to attack this week.
Colin Kelly Good point. I had not really considered that. I just thought that Cadorna was obsessed with taking that one area because he was ineffective as a commander.
The problem is that they were basically fighting trench warfare along a mountain range. There are only a few passes from Italy to Vienna, all already heavily fortified and easily defended. The small front Italy was forced to attack on was along the Isonzo river, the only piece of flat land leading into Austria-Hungary's territory.
Although nearly all the battles were called ''battle of the Isonzo'', even in Italy, the battles are far from all in one place. The front was about 60 miles long. Cadorna's problem wasn't in the objective or strategy, but in the execution.
EDIT: When you look at Indy's map, basically any battle fought between Monte Ermada and up past Caporetto was just generically called ''battle of the Isonzo.''
Don't worry he will get fired soon, Diaz will be sent to take his place
MrMaffy96 spoiler! Now I will have to quit this series!
Yet another great episode
rooty tooty point and shooty exquisite a like just for the name.
Thanks
I love this show so much dude.
I must say, your pronunciation of French and German names is becoming much better! Big fan here, keep up the good work!
Indy, want to note your final comment was brilliant and captures the futility of this war and the arrogance that refused outright the prior offer of peace. When nations keep fighting to make the sacrifices of the men who died prior merely consign more to death. And since victory is no certainty, why not look for a way out that saves lives and brings freedom to the nations you fight for (Belgium).
I often think your same comment visiting The Somme knowing that for several months in 1918 those lands were reconquered by the Germans and graves lost to the new chaos. Tragic...just tragic.
This show is simply incredible! Love the way Indy tells the story so passionately!
Work won’t be so terrible now. Thanks.
oh no what will cadorna do now????
Clearly I will just attack that will go well....
Cadorna has launched more attacks than Edward Snowdan getting on a plane.
He will get replace to a more better commander.
Not much. He was on vaction,
My home town became a town in 1357. :)
The first real breakthrough for two years, yay!
Great-grandpappy shot himself in the foot just before this battle. I think he was more sick of Cadorna than we are.
Great-granpappy was a cunning bloke. Him and a mate of his shot each other, I think, to get the angle right.
In any case, they sent him home just before Below's attack. He'd actually come home from Argentina to bury his daughter, who'd died from typhus, when they snatched him up basically from the trainstation and sent him to the front.
He was a big guy, his head and neck looked like an artillery shell, so they drafted him into an Arditi battallion. Don't know much else.
How could Cardorna be so bad? Why didn't the Italian prime minster or president just replace him? He just seems absolutely useless
As Lincoln once said of Grant: "I can't spare this man; He fights". Looks like Italian leaders wanted to keep on fighting, damn the casualties.
Italy was a monarchy back then. So the only one who could have sacked Cadorna was King Victor Emmanuel III.
Tech Showdown That could be said for dozens of Italian politicians, company presidents and team managers. Why aren't they replaced? ....
Archaic and ineffective Aristocratic system is to blame
Probably the answer lies in political power balance: throughout the Great War Italy had weak governments. Antonio Salandra, the prime minister that led Italy into war (without a parliament vote, that should be reminded) was forced to resign by the early successes of the Austro-Hungrarian Trentino offensive in spring 1916. His successor was Paolo Boselli, an old liberal, heading a coalition that keep socialists out of government. He was politically weak, and, driven by a personal hatred for socialism, supported Cadorna (that shared a similar "reds fear"), that after the sixth battle of the Isonzo was hailed as the conqueror of Gorizia. Moreover, king Victor Emmanuel III remained idle and outside of military decisions until the defeat of Caporetto, sticking to the conditions imposed by Cadorna in 1914.
Today is my Birthday, thanks so much Indy for this awesome series, I couldn't thank you and your team enough for the effort put in each video, I am so glad I found your channel two years ago
Happy Birthday to you!
The Austrians did in one attack,what Cadorna couldn`t manage to do in ..what 666 battles for the Isonzo?
Nice.
My question( for" Out of the Trenches") is,why was Cadorna still in charge?
And my second question-would you do some Bio-special about General Vladimir Vazov a.k.a The Winner from Doyran?
Greetings from Bulgaria! :)
Petyo22 To be fair, the german troops did most of the actual work. Most of the austrian troops just followed them and occupied the land....
Tokisaki Kurumi Yea, u are right...sadly.
Petyo22 The battles of Galicia weren't your (assuming you're "austro-hungarian" or the like) fault.....at least not entirely.
I feel he was in there because of politics. Also he fired anyone who threatened his position, so at that point, not many alternative with some experience in command. What it took to remove Cadorna was a disastrous campaign where he could not escape his responsibilities (aka Caporetto).
Of course ,everything is because of politics.
I think he wanted to break the record for most attacks at one place.
Questions for Indy and the team (at the end of a really long comment). Great work on this channel, I can't get over the level of detail that you guys give week by week across the world. This is extremely helpful to comprehend the complexities of the development of war between several nations. Everybody keeps asking if you guys will continue on with the series when WWII roles around, and regardless if you guys do, I hope this channel forever changes the portrayal of conflicts for years to come. My question is where do you guys get all your combat footage? How common was it for men to set up in a defense while one guy sits in the back and records them getting shot at, suffocating from poison gas, or even being in hand to hand combat? I believe pictures speak 1000 words, but every picture/frame of a video is 1000 words that help build a story. Again, great work with everything that you guys do.
Next week, in October 31, before 100 years was the battle on Beersheba, which the British won the battle with one of the few cavalry charge in the war. Next week there is going to be a big ceremony in Beersheba with Israel, British, Turkish and Anzac representative. Also there will be recreation of the cavalry charge on Beersheba.
Read "infantry attacks" Gen. Rommel writes about this at length. Its fascinating.
The Battle of Caporetto made a great background for Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.
This is the only news channel I watch and everything covered is 100 years old
It’s too bad this is the war to end all wars. That Rommel kid could have had a future as a military leader.
Caporetto offensive: Switch up the short atrillery barrage (and gas) with planes and the shocktroops with tanks and you basically have Blitkrieg.
I have been looking forward to the battle of caporetto for quite a while and i`m so excited to finally be here!
I have visited Kobarid and mainly Tolmin a few times. Funny to even hear those names. Today, (as back in the day, I would think) they are rather insignificant (but utterly beautiful) towns in Slovenia, close to the Italian border. Tolmin is on the gorgeous river Soça (= Isonzo) and looking at it, you would never imagine the scenes depicted here.
Lots of information about the battle in Rommel's book. Something I found interesting was that the Italians did nothing to disguise their positions so that even though they were generally well contructed they were easy to target for destruction by the artillery. While of course people would have known their approximate positions some work on concealment would have added greatly to their survivability.
I hope they make a ww2 show when the war is over that would be so interesting
they will.......... in 22 years :(
Wait...there is a ww2?!?
G X.T Nope. They’ll start it in 2019 on the 80th anniversary if they do it at all.
what is ww2?
J nor it will be boring. Everyone knows the story: Nazis kick everyone’s arse then the Americans come and save the world.
I love this channel. It took me almost an hour to watch this episode - I was pausing and rewinding again and again to catch all of the great info and to stare and the images. Extremely well written and the photos/footage that were put together are just wonderful. And of course, Indy is the best. Thank you The Great War Channel team for continuing to put together this masterpiece of a project.
Hi Indy and Team, I've discovered your channel 6 month ago and since I've watched all your videos in chronological order... Today is a special day because it's the first I'll watch a video the day of its release, I've finally catched up !
Anyway thank you for your great show !
Thinking about my Great GrandFather this week and the brutal fighting he endured at Passchendaele. The Canadians Corps sacrificed so much 100 years ago this fall.
I am from Slovenia and can you please use original name Kobarid. But thanks for making a video about this we will never forget what Italians did to slovenians!
They use the names that were used at the time (Lemberg/Lviv, Kovno/Kaunas). Also i don't think there's anything bad in calling a place something else if it has another name in your language.
Well, yes but most of the names were original Slovenian and they use Italian or German versions, which were used in official maps. They very rarely use a Slovenian name.
They are all long dead, you were not alive, your parents weren't alive and most likely even your grandparents weren't. Stop this " 'we' slovenians will never forget" blablablabla. It's edgy, embarrassing and doesn't lead to anything just to perpetuate hate. Stop it!
Matija Debeljak Oh, grow up.
Well one of the best books ever written plays on that front, and it features the "ordered" retreat and the collapse of the italian amy/government.
A farewell to arm is the hemingway book children should read in school.
Its Raw, its human and a good read.
mostly officers.
Can you talk about the rise and fall of the great Liechtenstein Empire
I know a big task and most likely 10+ videos to talk about it
Vladimir Kichev I heard it was 80 and I think you mean luxembourg
Vladimir Kichev the great Liechtenstein empire sent 1 soilder to the war
The first 11 battles launched by the Italians didn't break the Austro-Hungarians. But the 12th battle launched by the Austrians & others. They break the Italians. Damn Lugi you done screwed up
I’m watching this series again, I only missed like 20 weeks
Finally, after a weeks binge watching i caught up, love the show! keep up the good work!
I salute you Indy and team
In Italy nowdays when something goes horribly wrong and its a total defeat/failure in business, politics, private life we still say "what a Caporetto". It's incredible how shocking that defeat was for our people. More than the ppl dead or captured, it was about burning villages, livestocks, cows, fields, horses, pieces of artillery and warehouse full of weapons and goods that generals like Cadorna did not give to soldiers but held behind the front for no reason but madness and obsession with "discipline".
''Another large conflict.''
I wonder what that could be...
Cadorna has become the scapegoat of this defeat but few know that General Cadorna ordered in 1916 to build defensive fortifications and trenches along the Piave River and on Mount Grappa, foreseeing the risk of an enemy breakthrough and it was thanked to these fortifications that the Italian army could stop the advance of the Austro-Germans on the River Piave and Mount Grappa.
Lugi did nothing wrong!
Doesn't matter, he was a butcher and an idiot.
Why would he need defences on the piave in 1916 if the front was far away on the isonzo and it was he who was attacking while Austria defended?
This channel is the bees knees, thanks big fan
Luigi Cadorna is like some imperial commander from Warhammer40k universe. He would fit PERFECTLY in that role.
nah, he's too competent
*140% discipline achieved.
*100% Army tradition achieved.
*Prussia Gloria intensives. :P
ua-cam.com/video/f_6AQA4uzD0/v-deo.html
Cadorna, you are in trouble. ;)
Wow! This week was really the war in a nutshell! Cool stuff!
Ho ho traveler thanks for posting a new great war episode for me to enjoy!
Great episode guys, really enjoyed this one especially the closing statements
my grandfather fought at caporetto. got schrapnel to his back. i am czech. i love czech republic, czechoslovakia. and austro-hungary. it was greatest victory of our arms besides zborov. i know it is weird cuz zborov was battle of czechoslovak legions against austro-hungary. but i cannot help it i love both of my grandfanthers..
my second grandfather was one who survived zborov and then fight against russians to vladivostock, where they steal cruiser suvurov and then can finally can go home through panama
More on Caporetto please!
This week in the news: Luigi Cadorna does something incredibly stupid. Also in the news: Water = Wet.
Luigi must have been upset that HE didn't start the 12th Battle of the Isonzo!!!!!!
true, starting Battles of the Isonzo was his favourite hobby
Apparently his second favorite hobby was firing generals.
NOT MY COFFEE, GERMANY! * *diplomatic interactions menu > declare war option > click* *
Rommel: 9000 prisoners vs 6 dead. But, how many Italians casualties?
The battle of the Isonzo... Verdun... FUCK IT! THIS WHOLE WAR WAS INSANITY! Einstien said it best "Insanity is doing something, over and over, and expecting different results".
I know is hard with Slovenian names, so here is some help: j is in Slovenian pronounced quite like y in English - so Matajur (matayur).
To men like Haig and Cadorna they had this huge ego thinking that if they used the same strategies over and over again they could make a breakthrough. However, because of this strategy a lot of men died for glory and ego. I will say this though Haig at least tried to care for the soldiers after the war albeit many still killed him a butcher.
Caught up here finally from Ep 12 where I previously stopped during college.
A couple of tactical add up to Caporetto to bring more context on why it was such a complete and thorough defeat
- the forward positions of the Italian army were set in an offensive posture, with machine guns close to the front and not on slopes.
- recon was carried in the immediate surroundings and in the far with planes. The crucial mid which could have revealed the redeployments of germans was left in the dark
-crucially, the army was set to fight on the top. So a vastt majority of troops were left stranded while the austro-germans broke trough the villages. This was the capital mistake that rendered a defense impossibile
A 12th Battle of the Isonzo river? I am surprised!
Wow the French are really kicking ass. I am sure they will fight just as heroically is all future wars with Germany!
"In another large conflict" I wonder what that could be 🤔
False Dmitriy the great Martian invasion of course
John Lee ah of course, how could I not have known that.
That was a good episode, further proving my belief that the Germans won most of the battles in the Great War. A bit like the confederate (well a lot) they held on through interior lines but ultimately did not have the manpower or economic might to beat the combined Allies, including the United States.
Been waiting for this battle!
Ich fiebere immernoch mit, obwohl ich weiß wie es ausgeht
Luigi needs to rank up there in the list of people who needed to be assainated during the war, but weren't
Got my parents watching your channel. Amazing work and I've learnt so much. What are your plans for after the war ends? Would love to continue seeing more great content. All the best!!
Otto von Below was like: "I only have till December? Well, no time to lose then!"
You might call Rommel a Mountain Fox.
I could not wait for this moment
"Just" 14,000 French casualties. Good lord. That's most of the population of my home town, right there...
That Isonzo 12...just like Indy said at the end--all those hundreds of thousands lost over 2.5yrs, clawing for every gain, all undone in a week. FFS...