Why Did Italy Enter Ww1

Italy’s part in WW1 is often downplayed, as it compared to the larger campaigns staged on the Western and European fronts. The view of the Italian people towards their part in WW1 is significantly different however, as they see it as the catalyst which kicked off an era of immense disruption, change and human suffering. Glancing back into history, it is clear that Italy should have never entered the war in the first place. The decision to enter WW1 was a poor one by the Italian government, influenced by both nationalism and hopes of territorial gain. At the time of the war, Italy was still a rather agricultural country, which lacked the weaponry, military and grand scale industrial base of its enemies, notably the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Similarly to Germany, Italy at this time was still quite a new nation, given that it had unified just over fifty years earlier. For much of the 19th century, before Italian unification occurred, the nation now known as Italy was merely a compilation of small

Due to the failure of Italy’s military campaigns in June 1916, prime minister of the time, Salandra, was forced to resign. He was succeeded by Paolo Biselli, a 78 year old politician, who in the eyes of many possessed no outstanding talent or initiative. The Pope of the time, Pope Benedict XV was strongly against the war, referring to it as a ‘useless massacre’ and ‘horrible carnage that dishonours Europe.’ As a result of the high death rate and the influence the Pope held, the Italian peasants shunned the war and went on to completely abide by conscription orders, refusing to enlist in the war. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the situation further worsened, and the Austro-Hungarian forces moved their base form the Eastern Front to the Italian border regions. There were several German units who joined them, as Rome had declared war on Berlin in August