WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 I want you to close your eyes for a second and 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:04.599 just picture the horrors of trench warfare. You're 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:07.459 probably imagining the mud. Right, the mud, the 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.519 pouring rain, the endless tangles of barbed wire 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:12.779 stretched across the Western Front. It's the 00:00:12.779 --> 00:00:16.600 standard image we all have. Exactly. Now, take 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.420 that exact same horrific scenario, but imagine 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:21.960 fighting that war suspended on a glacier. At 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:25.300 high altitude. Yes, at 10 ,000 feet up. surrounded 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:28.780 by blinding snow, sub -zero temperatures, and 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:31.559 the constant terrifying threat of avalanches. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.799 It's almost unimaginable. Welcome to the deep 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:37.859 dive. Today, we are immersing ourselves in one 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:40.759 of the most extreme, and frankly, unbelievable 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:43.280 theaters of World War I. The Italian front. The 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.719 Italian front, which raged from 1915 to 1918. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.380 And we are drawing all our insights today from 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:52.259 a massive, comprehensive historical article on 00:00:52.259 --> 00:00:54.200 the subject. And the level of detail we have 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.579 to work with here, it gives us a uniquely clear 00:00:56.579 --> 00:00:59.119 window into a theater of war that rarely gets 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.899 the same attention as, say, the trenches of France 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:04.870 or Belgium. Our mission today is to unpack this 00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:07.659 high -altitude nightmare. We want to figure out 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:10.640 exactly why former allies suddenly turn their 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:13.019 guns on each other. Right. We'll examine the 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:15.340 truly terrifying physical conditions they fought 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:19.299 in and really understand how the political fallout 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.099 of this specific grueling conflict laid the direct 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:25.140 groundwork for the fascist movements that would 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:27.840 eventually ignite World War II. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.560 this because right out of the gate there is a 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.310 complex political puzzle we need to solve. just 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:35.689 to set the stage. The alliance situation. Right. 00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:38.390 Before the war, Italy was actually in the triple 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:40.469 alliance with Germany and Austria -Hungary. They 00:01:40.469 --> 00:01:43.650 were formal partners. They were. So when the 00:01:43.650 --> 00:01:46.829 rest of Europe goes to war in 1914, how on earth 00:01:46.829 --> 00:01:49.469 did Italy end up fighting against the very empires 00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:51.980 they were allied with? Well, it all comes down 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:54.560 to a very specific political loophole. A loophole? 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:57.180 Yeah. The Triple Alliance was, strictly speaking, 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.280 a defensive tact. Oh. It meant that if one of 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.900 those nations was attacked by an outside aggressor, 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:04.900 the others were obligated to come to their aid. 00:02:04.939 --> 00:02:07.569 That makes sense. But in the summer of 1914, 00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:10.430 Germany and Austria -Hungary were the ones who 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:13.009 went on the offensive. Ah, right. What's more, 00:02:13.409 --> 00:02:15.449 Austria -Hungary completely failed to inform 00:02:15.449 --> 00:02:17.849 Italy about its intended military actions against 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:20.069 Serbia. They just left them in the dark. Completely 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:22.530 in the dark. So because Austria -Hungary acted 00:02:22.530 --> 00:02:25.550 offensively and entirely without consulting their 00:02:25.550 --> 00:02:28.469 alliance partner, Italy was legally well within 00:02:28.469 --> 00:02:31.550 its rights to invoke that loophole and declare 00:02:31.550 --> 00:02:34.270 absolute neutrality. Which they did initially. 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:38.090 But then comes 1915, and this is where the dark 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:40.569 irony of geopolitics really kicks in. A Treaty 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:43.110 of London. Yes. The triple on time. So Britain, 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:46.199 France, and Russia, they approach Italy. with 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:48.960 this secret deal. It is essentially the ultimate 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.879 bait and switch. It was a massive geopolitical 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.340 corporate poaching offer. That is exactly what 00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:57.039 it is. They slide a secret contract across the 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.500 table that promises Italy vast, incredibly valuable 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.879 territories if they simply switch sides and fight 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:04.819 against their former allies. They were promised 00:03:04.819 --> 00:03:08.360 Trentino, Trieste, Istria and the Dalmatian coast. 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:12.139 Huge tracts of land. So Italy takes the bait 00:03:12.139 --> 00:03:15.039 renounces the Triple Alliance and declares war 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:19.500 on Austria -Hungary in May 1915 Marching right 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.639 into what would become a literal hell on ice 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:25.319 just to set the scene physically for you listening. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.719 What were the Italian forces actually walking 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:31.319 into? What's fascinating here is the sheer uncompromising 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.560 scale of the geographical nightmare Italy had 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:35.919 just signed up for. Right. The border between 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.439 Italy and the Austro -Hungarian Empire stretched 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:41.300 for roughly 600 kilometers. That's a massive 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:45.639 front. It is. And of that... About 450 kilometers 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:48.460 ran directly through high alpine terrain. Just 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:50.740 vertical rock. We are talking about fighting 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:54.280 at peak altitudes of over 3 ,200 meters. Why? 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:56.680 This means fighting above the tree line in the 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.419 clouds where the oxygen is thin and the freezing 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.900 cold is lethal before a bullet even has a chance 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.400 to hit you. And even as you move down from those 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.539 highest peaks toward the Adriatic Sea into the 00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:09.280 Isonzo Valley, the environment doesn't get much 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.939 more forgiving. No, it doesn't. The terrain there 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:16.100 is a craggy desolate karst landscape. The ground 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:20.519 is pure porous limestone rock. And that specific 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:23.480 geological feature completely dictated the casualty 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:26.600 rates. How so? Well, traditional warfare cavalry 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.300 charges, sweeping infantry maneuvers, or even 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:32.180 just digging a standard trench, it was entirely 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:34.180 impossible. Because you can't dig into solid 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:36.680 rock. Exactly. And when artillery shells hit 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:39.360 that porous karst stone, they didn't just blast 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.459 soft dirt into the air like they did in the mud 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:44.160 of the Western Front. The limestone shattered 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:46.519 instantly, and the jagged rock fragments acted 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.680 as highly -legal secondary shrapnel. That's horrifying. 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.399 Because of the geology alone, shell fire in that 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.199 rocky terrain caused seventy - percent more casualties 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.620 per round expended than on the softer ground 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:00.879 in France. Just a devastating environmental multiplier. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:02.879 I know they were generally unprepared for a war 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.139 of this scale, but just how bad was the equipment 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:09.180 shortage when Italy mobilized millions of men 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:12.240 into this meat grinder in 1915? Logistical shortfalls 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.519 were staggering. Yeah. When Italy mobilized, 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.040 the army possessed zero hand grenades. Wait, 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.259 zero? Not a single one for a modernized mountain 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:23.319 warfare conflict. That is insane. And for a mobilized 00:05:23.209 --> 00:05:27.329 force of millions, they had only about 750 ,000 00:05:27.329 --> 00:05:30.170 standard Carcano rifles. So not even enough rifles 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:33.089 for everyone. Nowhere close. They possessed only 00:05:33.089 --> 00:05:35.490 a fraction of their planned machine guns too. 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:38.649 Unbelievable. And keep in mind They were launching 00:05:38.649 --> 00:05:42.610 offensives against heavily fortified Austro -Hungarian 00:05:42.610 --> 00:05:45.370 defenses that were already entrenched on the 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:47.290 higher ground. They had the ultimate high ground 00:05:47.290 --> 00:05:50.350 advantage. Exactly. The Italians were literally 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:54.029 hauling heavy artillery pieces up vertical, freezing 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:57.209 mountainsides using teams of horses and sheer 00:05:57.209 --> 00:05:59.769 human desperation. Here's where it gets really 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:03.009 interesting, because they couldn't just dig traditional 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:05.569 trenches into solid rock. And they absolutely 00:06:05.569 --> 00:06:07.709 needed protection from the relentless artillery 00:06:07.709 --> 00:06:10.089 in the freezing alpine winters. They had to get 00:06:10.089 --> 00:06:12.689 creative. They had to invent a completely new 00:06:12.689 --> 00:06:15.230 type of warfare of the Dolomites. It became known 00:06:15.230 --> 00:06:17.529 as the White War. And the sheer madness of the 00:06:17.529 --> 00:06:19.949 engineering involved cannot be overstated. I 00:06:19.949 --> 00:06:22.430 mean, they were digging into glaciers. Soldiers 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:25.449 and professional miners on both sides began digging 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:28.329 vast, intricate tunnel networks directly into 00:06:28.329 --> 00:06:31.170 the mountains. The Italians constructed massive 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:34.230 works like the Strada del 52 gallery, a road 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:37.149 of 52 tunnels. Inside the mountain. Inside the 00:06:37.149 --> 00:06:39.910 rock. They were carving these paths using pneumatic 00:06:39.910 --> 00:06:42.050 drills and explosives straight through solid 00:06:42.050 --> 00:06:45.329 carbonate rock and, in many cases, directly through 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:48.430 ancient glacial ice. So you have entire battalions 00:06:48.430 --> 00:06:51.529 living, sleeping, and fighting inside. the mountains 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:54.350 themselves. Completely shielded from the elements 00:06:54.350 --> 00:06:56.949 but trapped in the freezing dark. The psychological 00:06:56.949 --> 00:06:59.129 toll of that is hard to fathom and they weren't 00:06:59.129 --> 00:07:01.329 just digging for shelter they were actively digging 00:07:01.329 --> 00:07:03.829 under each other's positions. The mine warfare. 00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:07.069 Yeah imagine sitting in a freezing ice cave in 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:09.550 pitch black and hearing the muffled sound of 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:12.449 enemy pickaxes somewhere below you knowing they're 00:07:12.449 --> 00:07:14.709 chiseling through the rock to plant explosives 00:07:14.709 --> 00:07:17.449 right under your feet. That became a defining 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:21.000 extreme tactic of the White War. Both the Austro 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.360 -Hungarians and the Italians engaged in this 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.420 terrifying subterranean cat and mouse game. Planting 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:29.540 charges. Massive explosive charges beneath enemy 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:32.259 peaks. We aren't talking about a few sticks of 00:07:32.259 --> 00:07:34.740 dynamite to collapse a cave. No, the scale was 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:38.100 huge. The engineers were using up to 50 ,000 00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:41.879 kilograms of blasting gelatin at a time. My God. 00:07:42.100 --> 00:07:45.459 In April 1916, the Italians detonated a massive 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:48.500 mine under the peak of Col de Lana. What happened? 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.500 The explosion instantly annihilated the Austro 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:54.120 -Hungarian offenders and literally altered the 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:56.120 geographical shape of the mountain peak itself. 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.060 It is apocalyptic. But somehow, even more chilling 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:03.120 than the explosive tunneling is a specific event 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.639 from December 1916. White Friday. Yeah, known 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:09.000 historically as White Friday. That is perhaps 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.120 the most sobering moment of this entire front. 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:13.519 What exactly happened? Avalanches ripped through 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.259 the Dolomites and in a very short chaotic period, 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:19.180 they killed 10 ,000 soldiers on both sides. 10 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:21.800 ,000 men. Simply swallowed by the snow and ice. 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:24.100 And these weren't purely natural disasters, were 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.500 they? No, they were not. While some avalanches 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:29.459 were naturally occurring due to incredibly heavy 00:08:29.459 --> 00:08:31.839 snowfall that winter, many were deliberately 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.879 triggered. Weaponizing the avalanches. Exactly. 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.139 Both sides realized they could weaponize the 00:08:37.139 --> 00:08:40.000 environment itself by firing artillery shells 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.720 directly into the heavy snowpack, accumulating 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.159 above enemy positions. They could trigger a slide. 00:08:45.259 --> 00:08:47.580 They could bring thousands of tons of ice and 00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:50.460 rock crashing down onto the troops below, burying 00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:53.899 entire encampments alive. A completely unrelenting 00:08:53.899 --> 00:08:56.840 meat grinder of a war, utilizing nature as a 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:00.419 weapon. And speaking of a meat grinder, we have 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:03.019 to transition to the battles of the Isonzo. The 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:05.500 Isonzo River. Yeah, there wasn't just one battle 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:09.279 here. There were 11 distinct massive battles 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.100 fought over the exact same stretch of the Isonzo 00:09:12.100 --> 00:09:14.919 River. Eleven. Eleven separate offensives over 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:17.820 the exact same blood soaked rocks. It really 00:09:17.820 --> 00:09:20.460 highlights the strategic deadlock and the brutal 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:22.940 military philosophy driving the Italian forces 00:09:22.940 --> 00:09:25.120 at the time. General Cadorna. Right. The army 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.279 was under the command of General Luigi Cadorna, 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:30.279 who firmly believed in a relentless punishing 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:32.659 offensive strategy, regardless of the terrain 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:34.840 or the cost in human lives. He just kept sending 00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:37.639 them in. The frequency of these offensives, averaging 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:40.279 one every three months, was extraordinarily high, 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:42.840 grinding the under -equipped soldiers down against 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:45.779 uphill defenses. What's wild is that Italian 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:48.279 discipline under Cadorna was actually harsher 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.320 than what we see in the other major powers of 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:53.259 the war. Oh, absolutely. He enforced more severe 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:56.799 punishments and a more rigid, unforgiving chain 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.919 of command than anything experienced in the British, 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:02.980 French or even the German armies. He was pushing 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:05.240 his men past the point of human endurance. He 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.820 was. And that constant pressure had a profound 00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:11.470 effect on the enemy as well. By 1917, the Austro 00:10:11.470 --> 00:10:13.710 -Hungarian forces were nearly exhausted from 00:10:13.710 --> 00:10:16.789 absorbing these massive repetitive Italian assaults. 00:10:16.809 --> 00:10:19.230 They were breaking. They realized their empire 00:10:19.230 --> 00:10:21.370 simply couldn't hold out much longer on its own, 00:10:21.389 --> 00:10:23.870 so they formally requested assistance from Germany. 00:10:24.110 --> 00:10:26.129 And that changes everything. The arrival of German 00:10:26.129 --> 00:10:28.509 forces marks the most significant tactical turning 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:30.629 point in the war on the Italian front. Which 00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:33.070 brings us to the Battle of Caporetto in late 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:36.460 1917. the Germans step in, and they bring an 00:10:36.460 --> 00:10:38.840 entirely new playbook that completely shatters 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:41.639 the Italian lines. The tactical shift at Caporetto 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:43.899 was terrifying for the Italian defenders. Because 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:46.179 it wasn't what they were used to. Right. Up until 00:10:46.179 --> 00:10:49.440 this point offenses usually involved massive, 00:10:49.779 --> 00:10:52.419 predictable waves of infantry marching toward 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:55.580 fortified lines. Frontal assaults. But the Germans 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:58.539 introduced new infiltration tactics. The stormtroopers. 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:01.620 Exactly. Instead of attacking the strongholds 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:04.820 directly, they used highly trained, fast -moving 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:06.840 shock troops to slip through the weak points 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:09.759 in the Italian defenses. Just bypassing the main 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.759 guns. Bypassing the front lines entirely, striking 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.299 deep into the enemy's rear to cut communication 00:11:15.299 --> 00:11:18.240 lines, destroy artillery, and cause total panic 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.620 from within. And they combined those infiltration 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:24.039 tactics with devastating chemical warfare. Exactly. 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:26.759 The Austro -Hungarians and Germans opened the 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.460 battle with a massive artillery barrage heavily 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:32.220 loaded with poison gas. And this wasn't standard 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.059 -tier gas either? No. They used a lethal combination 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:37.539 of chlorine arsenic agents and diphosph gene 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:39.700 gas. A combination? Yes. The chlorine arsenic 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:42.960 was designed to bypass standard gas masks. It 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:45.399 forced the soldiers to tear their masks off in 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:48.120 a panic. Oh, that's brutal. Exposing them to 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:50.799 the heavier diphosph gene gas, which settles 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:52.679 in the valleys and essentially causes delayed 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.080 drowning as the lungs fill with fluid. The fallout 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:59.379 from that combination of infiltration and chemical 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:01.940 terror was a complete disaster for the Italian 00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:05.559 army. A total rout. The lines broke and the forces 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:08.200 were forced into a desperate, chaotic retreat, 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.580 falling back 19 kilometers all the way to the 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:14.220 Tagliamenta River. It was a near total collapse. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.919 It's at this point of near total collapse that 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:19.720 General Cadorna is finally ousted and replaced 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:22.840 by General Armando Diaz. A much needed change 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.279 in leadership. And Diaz manages, just barely, 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.080 to halt the retreat and establish a final desperate 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.399 defensive line at the Monte Grappa Summit. Holding 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.789 by a thread. So what does this all mean? If you 00:12:35.789 --> 00:12:37.610 are the Italian government and you've just suffered 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:39.830 this catastrophic defeat, lost massive amounts 00:12:39.830 --> 00:12:41.990 of hard -fought territory, and taken hundreds 00:12:41.990 --> 00:12:44.070 of thousands of casualties. How do you recover? 00:12:44.250 --> 00:12:47.149 Right. How does a military possibly recover from 00:12:47.149 --> 00:12:49.370 that brink? They recover by demanding heartbreaking 00:12:49.370 --> 00:12:51.409 sacrifices from the youngest members of their 00:12:51.409 --> 00:12:54.370 society. The kids. By this point in the war, 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.730 Italy had suffered 600 ,000 casualties. Their 00:12:57.730 --> 00:12:59.850 veteran ranks were completely depleted. There 00:12:59.850 --> 00:13:02.570 was almost no one left to fight. To hold those 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:05.289 new defensive lines at the Piave River, the government 00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:07.730 was forced to call up an entirely new class of 00:13:07.730 --> 00:13:11.809 conscripts known as the Ragazzi del 99, the 99 00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:15.029 boys. These were kids born in 1899? Yes, they 00:13:15.029 --> 00:13:17.350 were teenagers who were just turning 18 years 00:13:17.350 --> 00:13:21.330 old in 1917. The government rushed them to the 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:24.110 front lines, many with minimal training, to step 00:13:24.110 --> 00:13:26.450 over the bodies of the veterans and stop the 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:29.129 bleeding against the combined might of the Austro 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:32.440 -Hungarian and German empires. It is an incredibly 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.220 poignant human element, these 18 year olds holding 00:13:35.220 --> 00:13:37.519 the fate of the nation. And against all odds 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.120 they held. The line at the Piave River holds. 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.259 As we move into 1918, the tide finally begins 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:45.740 to turn back in Italy's favor. It does. And the 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:48.039 shift happens largely on a macro level across 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.899 the entire region. The Austro -Hungarian Empire 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:53.820 begins to aggressively disintegrate from within. 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:55.860 Because it was a huge mix of different peoples. 00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:59.299 Right. Austria -Hungary was a vast multi -ethnic 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:02.460 empire incorporating dozens of different nationalities. 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:05.200 And the economic and social strain of the war 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.200 was finally tearing those seams apart. I mean, 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.259 why would a Czech or Slovenian soldier continue 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:14.039 to freeze on a mountain for an Austrian emperor 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:17.080 when the Allies are actively promising them their 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:19.539 own independent nation states after the war? 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:22.259 That is exactly the dynamic that caused the collapse. 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:24.799 Czechoslovak, Croatian, and Slovenian troops 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:27.139 began discerning en masse. They just walked away. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.720 Many Czechoslovak soldiers actually crossed the 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:31.740 lines and started working for the Allied cause, 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.399 forming their own specific regiments within the 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:36.799 Italian army to fight against their former empire. 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:40.590 That is fascinating. The internal ethnic rot 00:14:40.590 --> 00:14:43.110 of Austria -Hungary made sustaining the war effort 00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:45.490 completely impossible. Meanwhile, the Italian 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:48.250 forces are finally getting some much needed economic 00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:50.929 aid from their allies. Trucial strategic materials. 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:53.870 Yeah, like steel and coal from the British. Bolstered 00:14:53.870 --> 00:14:56.149 by this aid and the internal collapse of their 00:14:56.149 --> 00:14:58.889 enemy, Italy launches a massive counteroffensive 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:01.990 in October 1918 at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. 00:15:02.269 --> 00:15:04.529 And they completely break through the Austro 00:15:04.529 --> 00:15:07.500 -Hungarian lines. The collapse is total. 300 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:10.299 ,000 Austro -Hungarian soldiers surrender. Which 00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:12.899 leads directly to the armistice of Villa Giusti 00:15:12.899 --> 00:15:16.519 in November 1918. It's over. This officially 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:19.240 ends the war on the Italian front and effectively 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:21.860 serves as the death knell for the Austro -Hungarian 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.419 Empire itself, which splinters into multiple 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:28.019 new nations. So on paper, Italy wins. Right. 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:30.919 They held the line, they launched a massive counter 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:33.480 -attack, and their enemies surrendered unconditionally. 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:36.620 But here is the massive contradiction that reshapes 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:39.860 the 20th century. Italy won the war, but the 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:42.419 nation was absolutely furious. If we connect 00:15:42.419 --> 00:15:44.320 this to the bigger picture, we have to look closely 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.960 at the geopolitical maneuvering at the Paris 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.740 Peace Conference at the end of the war. This 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:50.460 is where it all falls apart diplomatically. It 00:15:50.460 --> 00:15:53.320 really is. U .S. President Woodrow Wilson arrived 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:56.159 in Paris pushing a guiding philosophy of self 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:00.750 -determination. That idealistic vision that European 00:16:00.750 --> 00:16:03.289 nationalities should be free to form their own 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:06.450 independent nation states based on ethnic boundaries. 00:16:06.990 --> 00:16:10.649 But Wilson's ideals directly clashed with the 00:16:10.649 --> 00:16:13.980 gritty secret, real, politic promises made to 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:17.100 Italy in that 1915 Treaty of London. A secret 00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:20.100 contract. Yes. The ultimate bait and switch finally 00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:22.460 comes due. The Allies essentially tell Italy, 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:25.639 we know we promised you vast territories if you 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:28.039 joined us, but the geopolitical landscape has 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:31.460 changed, so we're avoiding the contract. Precisely. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:34.580 Because of Wilson's push for self -determination 00:16:34.580 --> 00:16:37.440 and the desire to create a new Yugoslav state, 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.340 the British and French did not honor the full 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:42.690 secret agreement. What did Italy actually get? 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.500 Italy was granted Trentino and Trieste, but they 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:47.700 were entirely denied the Dalmatian coast, and 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:49.899 they were completely shut out of receiving any 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:51.940 overseas colonies from the post -war division 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:54.399 of the German or Ottoman empires. Think about 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.899 the massive cognitive dissonance that creates 00:16:56.899 --> 00:16:59.700 for the Italian public. It's huge. You sacrifice 00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:01.960 millions of lives. You endure avalanches and 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:04.299 gas attacks. You were officially declared the 00:17:04.299 --> 00:17:06.779 victor. But your economy is in ruins. Exactly. 00:17:06.859 --> 00:17:09.200 And you were denied the very territorial spoils 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.720 you were promised to enter the war in the first 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:14.809 place. Right. received betrayal births a very 00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:19.089 specific potent political myth in Italy, the 00:17:19.089 --> 00:17:21.750 concept of the mutilated victory. And this raises 00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:24.390 an important question about how societies process 00:17:24.390 --> 00:17:27.190 collective trauma and perceived national humiliation. 00:17:27.890 --> 00:17:30.690 The mutilated victory became a powerful propaganda 00:17:30.690 --> 00:17:33.569 tool, weaponizing a national identity crisis. 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:36.670 We see the blueprint for this perfectly illustrated 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:39.250 in the actions of Gabriele Denuncio. And we should 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:40.869 note for you listening, we're just reporting 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:43.450 what the historical source lays out here regarding 00:17:43.450 --> 00:17:45.130 these political movements. We are not taking 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:47.430 any sides. Absolutely. We are simply tracking 00:17:47.430 --> 00:17:50.670 the historical events. Denuncio was a a nationalist 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:53.630 poet who was so outraged by the diplomatic settlement 00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:57.430 that in September 1919, he led a paramilitary 00:17:57.430 --> 00:17:59.829 group of disaffected, traumatized war veterans 00:17:59.829 --> 00:18:02.869 to physically occupy the city of Fidumay. Defying 00:18:02.869 --> 00:18:05.009 the international community. Defying everyone. 00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:07.349 And the aesthetic choices Denuncio makes during 00:18:07.349 --> 00:18:10.210 that occupation are incredibly significant. They 00:18:10.210 --> 00:18:12.410 are the foundation of everything that comes next. 00:18:12.970 --> 00:18:15.450 Our source clearly outlines the specific aesthetic 00:18:15.450 --> 00:18:18.099 and rhetorical choices Denuncio utilized. He 00:18:18.099 --> 00:18:20.839 dressed his paramilitary followers in distinctive 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:24.599 black -shirted uniforms. Furthermore, he adopted 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:28.079 a specific authoritarian title for himself, Il 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:30.880 Duce, meaning the leader. The black shirts and 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.319 the title Il Duce. This event served as a direct 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:37.480 blueprint. The historical record notes that this 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:40.019 exact rhetoric of the mutilated victory, the 00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:42.019 black shirt uniform, and the leadership title 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.720 of Il Duce were adopted shortly after by Benito 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:47.960 Mussolini. Just lifting the whole aesthetic. 00:18:48.259 --> 00:18:51.099 Mussolini utilized that profound sense of national 00:18:51.099 --> 00:18:53.900 betrayal and trauma to build the foundation of 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:56.759 Italian fascism. He channeled the unresolved 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.059 grievances of the Paris Peace Conference into 00:18:59.059 --> 00:19:01.420 a movement of aggressive imperialism. It's all 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:03.839 connected. We are simply tracking the history 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.160 as our source presents it, demonstrating how 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.700 the specific unresolved fallout of one global 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:11.559 conflict laid the precise ideological foundation 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:14.240 for the next. It is a devastating chain of historical 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:16.140 cause and effect. And when you look at the human 00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:18.480 cost of this high -altitude front, it is just 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.299 staggering to comprehend. The numbers are horrific. 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:24.480 Over 531 ,000 Italian military personnel died, 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.779 up to 400 ,000 Austro -Hungarian military dead. 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:30.140 And that's just the military. Right. On top of 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:32.740 that, an estimated 600 ,000 Italian civilian 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:36.430 excess deaths. primarily from privation, malnutrition 00:19:36.430 --> 00:19:38.950 in refugee camps, and the rapid spread of the 00:19:38.950 --> 00:19:41.569 Spanish flu. It completely grounds everything 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.299 we've analyzed today. This history proves how 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:46.900 backroom geopolitical deals, secret treaties 00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:49.500 and diplomatic maneuvering can drag millions 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:52.960 of ordinary people into unimaginable, world -altering 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.400 nightmares. It's so true. The decisions made 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:57.799 by a few men in London and Paris fundamentally 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.119 reshaped the political landscape of a continent, 00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:02.700 resulting in the dissolution of ancient empires 00:20:02.700 --> 00:20:05.839 and providing the fertile ground for new, dangerous 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.799 ideologies to take root. It is a stark reminder 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:10.869 of the weight of history. And I want to leave 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:13.529 you with one final haunting image to mull over 00:20:13.529 --> 00:20:16.130 on your own. Yeah. Because so much of this incredible 00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.089 fighting, tunneling, and dying took place inside 00:20:19.089 --> 00:20:22.230 solid rock and deep within glacial ice. The Italian 00:20:22.230 --> 00:20:24.490 Alps are quite literally still holding on to 00:20:24.490 --> 00:20:26.470 the war. They are. Think about that the next 00:20:26.470 --> 00:20:29.470 time you look at a majestic mountain range. Somewhere 00:20:29.470 --> 00:20:33.390 up there, right now, in the freezing, inaccessible 00:20:33.390 --> 00:20:36.859 heights of the Dolomites. There are still unexploded 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:39.140 artillery shells waiting in the deep ice. It's 00:20:39.140 --> 00:20:41.799 still dangerous today. There are miles of abandoned 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:44.140 tunnels carved by desperate men that have never 00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:46.559 seen the light of day since 1918. Just frozen 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:49.240 in time. And perhaps perfectly preserved in the 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.759 dark, frozen solid in the glaciers. They're even 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:55.119 the lost footprints of the 99 boys waiting silently 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.460 in the cold. Thank you for joining us on this 00:20:57.460 --> 00:20:58.019 deep dive.