How significant and impactful were the geographical and military strategies of Italy and the Central Powers in the outcome of the battle of Caporetto?
History
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Major Commanders involved-
Austria-Hungary- Arz von Straussenberg
Germany- Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff
Italy- Luigi Cadorna
dates- 24 Oct 1917 – 19 Nov 1917
Location- Kobarid, Austria- Hungary(present day Slovenia), Matajur, Soca
Combatants- Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany
Consequences-
The Italian Army suffered major losses at Caporetto in terms of prisoners taken and equipment lost.
Italy won previous Isonzo battles but only to have no man power left.
Several changes were made after this Italian disaster. There was change in military command
A new ministry was assigned
The battle ended on December as the snows came in
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Start- On October 24, after four hours of shelling with gas and one hour of general bombardment, the Battle of Caporetto began
The Central powers launched a massive revolt at Italy's North- Eastern Border
Reason- They wanted to seize the Italian speaking areas surrounding the border
Italian gas masks proved unable to deal with the German gasesThe fight was an exhibit of the viability of the utilization of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics mostly developed and effectively introduced by Oskar von Hutier.
Cardona was a bad leader who did not listen to his subordinates. He had poor leadership and lacked military skills. Soldiers weren't motivated because of him
Diary Entry
The role I played- General of the Italian army LUIGI CADORNA
How Did I feel?
I felt anger
I felt disgust upon my failed battle strategies
I felt absolutely helpless
Where did my army go wrong?
What was the outcome and what caused it?
We were overpowered
We did not have a definite strategy
The central powers easily captured our territory and we lost
The enemy had sused their land well and had strategised the event
We did not adequately use the land we had
We did not know how to use the weather as an element for war
We had fought several battles which were not needed and thus had a deducted workforce and a rather tired army
My feeling before the battle
I felt patriotism
I was a little scared as our men were tired and the opponent was huge
Battle of Caporetto-October 24–December 19, 1917
It was between the Central powers- Germany and Austria Hungary and Italy
300,000 casualties and 265,000 prisoners
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The battle was fought october onwards- The weather was very cold at this period. By December from 16 degrees it came to 0 degrees celsius. The soldiers were extremely tired.
Location- Kobarid, Austria-Hungary; (present day Slovenia). This was North- Eastern Italy
The Austrio- Hungarians took advantage of this elevated region and based their defense on their location.
Something Italy failed to do.
German and Austro-Hungarian tactics
infiltration tactics
saturation bombardments combining high-explosive and gas shells
swift penetration at weak points
Ahan Saraf 8a- Mind Map
What led to the outcome+ conequences
The battle proved as an Italian disaster as they had no strategy.
They were easily beaten my several tactics and faced many consequences.
The Italian transport had been outrun
The country was damaged and significantly purged
There was a change in military command and a formation of a new ministry.
What I learnt from the outcome
I learnt that an army needs to be fully prepared for a battle.
I also learnt that sometimes battles are not necessary and can be avoided.
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Content, Research and Inter- disciplinary Synthesis- /5
Link to the research question and 3 bullet points- /5
Creativity,Design and Layout-/5
total- /15