Customer Reviews
The Great War and Italy - By: Dag Chr Bjornland, 12 Nov 2008 
I fully agree with what the other reviewers have said about this book, which is a marvellous overview of the Italian front during 1915-18. Not only a military history - though it is that, of course, but also a political & cultural history. And not only of the Italian experience, even though that is the main focus, but also of "the other side", the multi-national Habsburg empire. The outnumbered Austrian army (with bosnians & croats strongly represented here) fought well on the Italian front,in contrast with other theatres.
The author gives a balanced, beautifully written, exciting & very moving account of this not-so-known part of the Great War: how Italy tumbled into it 1915, the desperate & futile fighting along the Isonzo, the debacle of Caporetto, the recovery & the peace settlement eventually leading to the establishment of fascism. The author is very much inside his material, & the book has a very strong sense both of time & of place. At times it reminded me of Alistair Horne or John Keegan. Strongly recommended, & not only to military history buffs!
A fascinating history of a forgotten front - By: Nancy Williams, 10 Oct 2008 For those of you who have read Hemingway's Farewell to Arms, you would be aware that the a war was fought on the Italian Front during the Great War. However, because so much is written about the Western Front, Gallipoli & even the Eastern Front, it is easy to forget this part of the war. Thompson, however, has brought together a book which seeks to redress this balance - &in my opinion it does so beautifully.
Unlike many dry history books, Thompson paints a picture of suffering, confusion & unbelievable bravery from a front which claimed millions of lives over the course of the War. Many of us know how the advent of technology brought about countless deaths on the Western Front, but countless more were lost on the Italian front due to the adherence to out of date tactics & ideas, & a futile attempt to gain land towards which many of the soliders fighting felt very little.
The book doesn't just provide names & dates. It also explores the politics, poetry & society which emerged out of the fray. It is easy to read, well researched & engaging without alienating the readerin any way. For a comprehensive understanding of an under represented period of history, you couldn't do much better.
Learn about what you were not told - By: M. Lawrenson, 15 Sep 2008 
In the UK, were are taught about the First World War. We are taught about the trenches, the slaughter & the waste. Mostly, were are taught about the British & Commonwealth soldier's experience on the Western Front. 'The White War' teaches the English reader about what they are not taught - the Italian/Austrian front.
After declaring war on Austria-Hungary for dubious territorial reasons, Italy sent hundreds of thousands of men to their deaths on the rocks of Carso near Trieste. Men, indeed, who were most likely to be peasants from places such as Calabriain the south, who barely had the vaguest idea of 'Italy' or what they were ordered to fight for. Thomson details the grim experience & grimmer treatment of these men from their superiors. The Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army, Luigi Cadorna, even practiced the Roman-era punishment of decimation for retreating or mutineering troops. Nor was Cadorna a particularly successful commander, often conceding vast losses for pointless gains soon lost. He was replaced, eventually, but too late to save the Italian effort.
Thompson shows that this war, though being triggered by that infamous shootingin Sarajevo, was propagandised as a continuation of the Risorgimento (the 19th Century unification of Italy), even though Italy had only a partial claim to Trieste, & very little to the majority-Germanophone South Tyrol.
The writer does all this well, & even the digressions into Italian war literature (no doubt inserted as a counterpoint to Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, 'Dulce et Decorum est' school) are fairly tolerable - though the well-aimed kicking given to D'Annunzio is amusing. Faint praise is not what this book deserves, however. It deserves to be read, & read especially by those whose sole exposure to WW1 history is the Western Front. They will learn something, even if it may be different to the lessons of Ypres & the Somme.
The Italian Great War and the roots of Facism - By: John, 07 Sep 2008 I have just finished reading "The White War: Life & Death on the Italian Front 1915-1918 by Mark Thompson which is a study of a 1st World War front that is often forgotten but where Italy lost 689, 000 solders( Britain lost 662,000 + 140, 000 reported as missing). That we tend to associate the infantry war with the plains of Flanders & Russia reveals the common myth as this part of the struggle was mountain warfare albeit also with trenches.
The conduct of the war exposed the weak hold of liberal structures & politics on the Italian population & the defeat of victory quickly letin 20 years of fascist government. The collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, & take over the successor national states by the communists has made it difficult to get a sense of what really went on: Italians & other non Germanic nationals did fight for the Emperor, many of the feature of Fascism (a puppet parliament, a muzzled press, a romantic nationalism, a militarised state) had their roots on the political conduct of the war.
What made the book an interesting read is that Mark Thomas does more then hold to the historical arc of the events from the turmoilin Italy leading to its ripping up of a long standing agreement to be allied with the Central Powers of Germany & Austria-Hungary ( It took on a secret 30 pieces of silver territorial deal with the Allies). And ending with the desperate mad dash to occupy land vacated by the collapsing Hapsburg armies-it made the most of the cock-up where as the armistice agreement ended the war one day earlier for Austria-Hungary. What he does is switch the narrativein cinematographic terms from wide/long shots, medium to close-ups as the narrative unfolds. So we take the long view at the ideas affecting Italian practicein politics, art & military such as Romantic Vitalism or the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Or the impact of how Italian unification actually unfolded. We then have medium shot accounts of how individual battles unfolded from both of the combatant's perspectives or the power struggles & conduct at military & political levels. And finally the close-up accounts of artists, reporters, & survivors that expose the official accounts or help to explain the mindset of the elites.
It was this rounded & varied explanation that held my attention, as I tended to wanderin the step by step of accounts of the battles(my attention span rather then the quality of the writing, although these are necessary to understand the appalling & arrogant way that the soldiers were used. For example, Military discipline justified the ancient Roman practice of randomly killing 1in 10 solders if the platoon had infringed any rules which could be just turning up late from leave. The fact, with no interest shownin the reason was enough for summary execution. This is because the Italian army leadership took the most extreme view of all the armed forcesin the 1st world war that the solders were only cannon fodder to do the will of the supreme commander. An attitude they paid for when Austria-Hungarian forces with direct support of Germany developed a forerunner of Blitzkrieg & took back all the territory fought overin the past three years & swept down to the pre 1866 national boundaries.
The resource imbalance between the foes & the deteriorating political realties for the Central Powers meant that this could not be turned into a knock-out blow. But with Russia out & embroiledin Revolution & no significant Allied victories, the collapse of the Central Powers as Germany struggled to avoid the fate of Austria- Hungary created the German Nazis myth of a stabin the back. It also confirmed the lack of democratic populist support for liberalism.
So why should you read this book? Well it gives you a clear account of one part of the wider First World War front that is only now becoming clear & even possible to study. (Attempts to clear the names of those summarily executed is still politically sensitivein Italy.) But a more important reason is that it offers insights into the conduct of events now. If History has anything to teach, its that we the ordinary people wont get a true picture what our masters have been doingin our name until we are pushing up the daisies.. In knowing what was going on behind closed doors then, we can question what the media, cultural elites, military strategists, politicians are doing now. But of course if you think we have the straight line on the War on Terror, then give it a miss.
