Austrian Soldiers Repeatedly Begged Italian Troops to Retreat Rather Than Be Massacred
"There are loads of stories about the Austrians saying to the Italians, 'Go back, we won't shoot at you. Stop, go back, we won't shoot anymore. Do you want everyone to die? Italians, go back, we don't want to massacre you. You're brave men, don't get yourselves killed like this.' And there's even a story from later in the year, the Austrians actually stopped firing during a battle and they said to the Italians, 'Go on, you know, enough. Get your dead and go back down.' And as the Italians were collecting all their dead, the Austrians came out from behind their machine guns to help them, to bring them stretchers and cigarettes."
About this episode
In this episode of The Rest Is History, hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine Italy's catastrophic entry into World War I in May 1915, a war the nation chose to join for territorial conquest despite having no defensive obligation. The episode opens with poet Gabriele D'Annunzio's bloodthirsty speech celebrating Italy's first casualties, setting the tone for a story of cynical politics and senseless slaughter. Prime Minister Antonio Salandra and Foreign Minister the Marquess of San Giuliano orchestrated Italy's betrayal of its alliance with Austria-Hungary, coining the infamous phrase 'sacred egoism' to justify abandoning the Triple Alliance. When parliament and the Italian people resisted war, D'Annunzio led a nationalist campaign in Rome featuring speeches that perverted Christian scripture to glorify bloodshed. His rhetoric, backed by crowds demanding war, intimidated King Victor Emmanuel III and parliament into submission. The episode details how Italy's subsequent campaign against Austria-Hungary on the Isonzo front became one of the war's greatest disasters. General Luigi Cadorna, wedded to an outdated doctrine of frontal assault, launched twelve battles over limestone mountains against Austrian defenders led by the capable Slavic general Svetozar Borojević. Italian troops carrying 35-kilogram backpacks charged uphill into machine gun fire in conditions worse than the Western Front, unable to dig proper trenches in limestone that sent deadly shards flying with each shell impact. The Austrians repeatedly ceased fire and begged Italian soldiers to retreat rather than die uselessly. By war's end, Italy had lost 689,000 killed in battle, 600,000 civilians, and a million wounded, yet failed to secure promised territorial gains. This sense of betrayal fed directly into the rise of fascism, with both D'Annunzio and Benito Mussolini channeling wartime resentment into authoritarian movements that would dominate Italy's future.
Key takeaways
- Italian Prime Minister Salandra justified betraying Austria-Hungary with the phrase 'sacred egoism,' acknowledging Italy was fighting purely for territorial conquest rather than defense.
- Poet Gabriele D'Annunzio delivered speeches parodying the Sermon on the Mount to promote war, calling for blood and glory in what historians call proto-fascist rhetoric that directly influenced Mussolini.
- Italy voluntarily entered World War I despite public opposition, with D'Annunzio's nationalist mob in Rome intimidating parliament and King Victor Emmanuel III into voting for war in May 1915.
- General Luigi Cadorna sacked 217 generals and over 600 officers in two years rather than abandon his failed frontal assault doctrine, launching twelve battles of the Isonzo with identical tactics.
- Austrian soldiers repeatedly ceased fire and begged Italian troops to retreat, even helping collect Italian dead and wounded, in an unprecedented display of battlefield compassion.
- Italy suffered nearly 700,000 military deaths, 600,000 civilian deaths, and a million wounded, but failed to secure promised territorial gains, fueling the national resentment that enabled fascism's rise.
- The Isonzo front's jagged limestone terrain made conditions worse than the Western Front, as troops couldn't dig proper trenches and shell impacts sent deadly rock shards flying half a mile.