This is certainly the best short account of the campaign, an useful for anyone looking for a quick introduction. He gives us some excellent looks at the respective armies, their equipment, organization, and evolution through the war, and at their commanders, most notably the inept and brutal Italian chief-of-staff Luigi Cadorna, incapable of understanding the nature of the war, and very able Svetozar Boroevic, an ethnic Croatian Austro-Hungarian general. MacDonald gives us a concise, yet informative look not only at how the battles unfolded, within the framework of the greater war. 'With its 130 or so excellent and previously unseen photographs gives a good description of the campaign based partly on the experience of individuals.'Īs featured by VaeVictis, n° 150 - March/April 2020 Highly Recommended 10/10.' Great War Magazine 'Certainly this is one to add to the bookshelf for anyone who wants to add to their knowledge of the Italian Front and for all those generally interested in the Great War. His description of the Isonzo battles, of the battlefields and of the atrocious conditions in which the soldiers lived and fought is supported by a graphic selection of original photographs that record the terrible reality of the conflict. John Macdonald, in this accessible and highly illustrated account, aims to set the record straight. Yet this massive struggle is too often neglected in histories of the war which focus on the fighting on the Western and Eastern Fronts. The campaign was fought in the most appalling terrain for combat, with horrendous casualties on both sides, often exceeding those of the more famous battles of the Great War. From May 1915 to October 1917 the armies of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire were locked into a series of twelve battles along the River Isonzo, a sixty-mile front from the Alps to the Adriatic.
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