The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919
by Mark Thompson
|
List Price: ££25.00
Our Price: ££11.25
Your Save: £ 0.00 ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780571223336
ISBN: 0571223338
Label: Faber and Faber
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2008-09-04
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Studio: Faber and Faber
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A thorough and excellent book.
Comment: This is a wonderful book, thoroughly researched and perfectly pitched. Covers a great deal regarding Italy in the Great War and should definately be on anyone's reading list if they're studying the history of WW1.
I only dock it a star because it does drag at some points in the middle, perhaps covering some lesser aspects of the war in too much depth. But on the whole I enjoyed this book very much and consider it a key book in my own WW1 collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: When will they ever learn..........
Comment:
Mark Thompson's superbly researched account of this little known appendage to the wider 1914-18 war is a stark reminder of the impact of political ideology and the cost in human life, misery, suffering and deprivation caused by conflict. Starting from the blatant opportunist expansionist ideals of Italy's minority intellectual and political elite, double dealing and secret negotiations which finally brought Italy into the war on the side of the Allies, through to political ignominy in Paris in 1919, he paints a picture of a dysfunctional political Italy during the decades either side of the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, which laid the roots for fascism. The Italian military was in no better state, with its antiquated command structure cum strategy, an army under resourced in essential equipment and the inhuman treatment and knowing sacrifice of its own men. A side show this may have been, but one which had little support or understanding within the population at large and who paid with casualties comparable to the Allies on the western front for little or nothing to show in territorial or political gain.
Thompson leaves little doubt that the Austro-Hungarians are the aggrieved party in this conflict, with Italy the aggressor. Indeed Italy's claim to centuries' old Habsburg territory appears akin to German claims over the Sudetenland in 1939 and the Russian justification of their intervention in South Ossetia in 2008. There is also little doubt that the Habsburg's held what moral high ground there was in the conduct of the war and it is perhaps fortunate for Italy that she chose to be on the, ultimately, winning side in the larger 1914-18 war, for she was going nowhere on her own. However, with the subsequent rise of fascism under Mussolini it is questionable whether the rest of the world would agree.
Perhaps the lasting legacy of Thompson's account, however, will be the graphic and harrowing testimony of those participants caught up in a conflict they didn't understand or want and the wanton destruction and loss of life inflicted. Just one example, from many, illustrates the stark reality of the war, when in 1917, in a diversionary attack on Ortigara,
`The Italians have taken at least 25,000 casualties over the 19 days of the battle, on a front of three kilometres, for no gains whatsoever'.
Shorn of its basic facts this same attack is put more poignantly by Paolo Monelli, a captain in the Alpini, when the last enemy bombardment stopped,
`... a vast silence spreads... Then groans from the wounded. Then silence once more. And the mountain is infinitely taciturn, like a dead world, with its snowfields soiled, the shell craters, the burnt pines. But the breath of battle wafts over all - a stench of excrement and dead bodies.'
Thompson's book is yet another lesson in the futility of war and should be mandatory reading for all political leaders and governments around the globe.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Great War and Italy
Comment: 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 and 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 and croats strongly represented here) fought well on the Italian front, in contrast with other theatres.
The author gives a balanced, beautifully written, exciting and very moving account of this not-so-known part of the Great War: how Italy tumbled into it 1915, the desperate and futile fighting along the Isonzo, the debacle of Caporetto, the recovery and the peace settlement eventually leading to the establishment of fascism. The author is very much inside his material, and the book has a very strong sense both of time and of place. At times it reminded me of Alistair Horne or John Keegan. Strongly recommended, and not only to military history buffs!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fascinating history of a forgotten front
Comment: 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 and 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 - and in my opinion it does so beautifully.
Unlike many dry history books, Thompson paints a picture of suffering, confusion and 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 and ideas, and a futile attempt to gain land towards which many of the soliders fighting felt very little.
The book doesn't just provide names and dates. It also explores the politics, poetry and society which emerged out of the fray. It is easy to read, well researched and engaging without alienating the reader in any way. For a comprehensive understanding of an under represented period of history, you couldn't do much better.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Learn about what you were not told
Comment: In the UK, were are taught about the First World War. We are taught about the trenches, the slaughter and the waste. Mostly, were are taught about the British and 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 Calabria in the south, who barely had the vaguest idea of 'Italy' or what they were ordered to fight for. Thomson details the grim experience and 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 shooting in 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, and very little to the majority-Germanophone South Tyrol.
The writer does all this well, and 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, and 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 and the Somme.
|
|
|
- Ask about this education product "The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919" in the forum
- Give review on this education product "The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919" in the forum
- Search related information in the forum
|
|
|
|
|
| OOEN Referral Program Spotlight |
 | | Central Pennsylvania College
Earn a degree at Central Pennsylvania College and achieve your career goals. Choose from bachelor and associate degree programs in criminal justice, business administration (including healthcare administration and management), corporate communications and information technology (including cyber security). Programs allow you to focus on your specific area of interest and combine hands-on learning with high quality academics for career preparation. Professors have real-world professional experience in the subjects they teach. Our high job placement percentage speaks to the marketability of our students upon graduation. Benefit from personalized learning to build the skills you need for employment and success. Financial aid is available for those who qualify. | |  | |
 | | Chicago School of Massage Therapy
Chicago School of Massage Therapy offers the programs you need to start a rewarding career in massage. Extensive job placement and career counseling services are made available to all graduates. Financial aid is available for all students who qualify. A course sampling includes Seated Massage, Contemporary Western Massage, Introduction to Acupressure, Therapeutic Movement, Stretching and Exercise, Thermal Therapies, and Basic Sports Massage. Unique outreach program enables students to develop their massage skills during 50 hours of volunteer work with special groups, and at sports and special events such as health fairs. | | | |
 | | Clark University Computer Career Institute
Take the fast track to a computer and technology career. Clark University Computer Career Institute offers highly competitive certificate programs in IT, Web Development and Medical Information Technology. Choose from one of 4 convenient locations in the Boston area: Braintree, Cambridge, Framingham or Woburn. Choose from over 18 certificate programs - the largest variety available anywhere. | | | |
|
What is OOEN Referral Program Spotlight?
OOEN provides comprehensive listing of online courses, degree programs, colleges and universities.
Also OOEN provides links to their information request pages; if you want to find out more about any course,
degree program, college or university, you can just fill out the form linked from OOEN and request information.
It is completely free for anyone to request information, and you can request information from as many colleges
and universities as you'd like. We list featured schools and their brief information
in this "OOEN Referral Program Spotlight" section of OOEN Store for Education,
in case that you are interested in taking a class or two or even pursuing degree program
through these featured schools.
|
|
|
