I chose a few years back to look into Italy in WW1.
snoopcester Send a noteboard - 12/05/2011 11:47:06 PM
And I ended up being forced to admit that the Italians played a rather more important role than I had thought at first. People think of them as an unreliable partner switching sides at the last minute and all that, but they don't think of the horribly bloody battles Italy fought against the Austro-Hungarians. The Italian army may have done little else than dying en masse, but that goes for just about every army in that war except the Americans who had the timing on their side and better tanks. And considering how long the outcome of that war was in doubt, Austria-Hungary being able to use its Italian army on either the Western or Eastern front might have had some serious consequences on the outcome of the war, who knows.
I don't think any of that contradicts what I said - neither side wanted them, they just didn't want the diversion of having to keep them pinned down. I'm well aware of how horrible the warfare in that front was - much of it fought on ground that they couldn't dig into and in mountain terrain that would have been treacherous just to travel through. The sad truth is that it was a front largely fought between two badly equipped, badly trained armies with negligible morale... which in fact made it even bloodier than it might have been since neither was competent enough to take advantage of how poor they were.
And the British may have looked down on the Italians, but that didn't stop them from trying to get Italy on their side prior to both wars.
No, nor in despising them as did the other major powers - as I said they wanted them because much as they looked down on them it was better that the other side was distracted by them than they were.
*MySmiley*
Robert Graves "There is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either."
Henning Mankell "We must defend the open society, because if we start locking our doors, if we let fear decide, the person who committed the act of terror will win"
Robert Graves "There is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either."
Henning Mankell "We must defend the open society, because if we start locking our doors, if we let fear decide, the person who committed the act of terror will win"
A.J.P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War
- 11/05/2011 04:55:49 PM
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Interesting - I'm about two thirds of the way through it at the moment
- 11/05/2011 05:18:36 PM
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"Great minds think alike" or "Fools seldom differ"?
- 11/05/2011 08:03:52 PM
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I always fear the latter
- 12/05/2011 12:12:29 AM
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Ah, this reminds me of the old jokes
- 12/05/2011 04:58:07 AM
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Italian army rifle for sale...
- 12/05/2011 10:22:50 AM
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I was forced a few years back in a discussion on wotmania to look into Italy in WW1.
- 12/05/2011 10:20:29 PM
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I chose a few years back to look into Italy in WW1.
- 12/05/2011 11:47:06 PM
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Is it an academic work?
- 11/05/2011 05:23:11 PM
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This is a pain in the ass...
- 11/05/2011 10:31:09 PM
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I've heard Pat Buchanan talking about his book and wondered about it
- 11/05/2011 11:16:03 PM
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Re: I've heard Pat Buchanan talking about his book and wondered about it
- 12/05/2011 12:47:50 PM
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