In May 1915, Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire. Nearly 750,000 Italian troops were killed in savage, hopeless fighting on the stony hills north of Trieste and in the snows of the Dolomites. To maintain discipline, General Luigi Cadorna restored the Roman practice of decimation, executing random members of units that retreated or rebelled. With elegance and pathos, historian Mark Thompson relates the saga of the Italian front, the nationalist frenzy and political intrigues that preceded the conflict, and the towering ...
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In May 1915, Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire. Nearly 750,000 Italian troops were killed in savage, hopeless fighting on the stony hills north of Trieste and in the snows of the Dolomites. To maintain discipline, General Luigi Cadorna restored the Roman practice of decimation, executing random members of units that retreated or rebelled. With elegance and pathos, historian Mark Thompson relates the saga of the Italian front, the nationalist frenzy and political intrigues that preceded the conflict, and the towering personalities of the statesmen, generals, and writers drawn into the heart of the chaos. A work of epic scale, The White War does full justice to the brutal and heart-wrenching war that inspired Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms .
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Seller's Description:
New. Presents the military history of First World War that gave birth to fascism. This book shows how some of the greatest modernist writers in Italian and German-Ungaretti, Gadda, Musil, Hemingway fought in these trenches. Num Pages: 496 pages, Illustrations, maps, ports. BIC Classification: HBWN. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 196 x 130 x 32. Weight in Grams: 386. We ship daily from our Bookshop.
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Seller's Description:
New in new dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 454 p. Contains: Illustrations, black & white, Maps. Audience: General/trade.
Mark Thompson's history of the fighting on the Italian Front during World War I skillfully combines military maneuvers, political machinations, and cultural background. A balanced, incisive, and readable history. Among the book's strongest sections are those dealing with the writers, including Svevo, D'Annunzio, and Gadda, who were involved in the fighting. Thompson's assessment of the average Italian soldier's motivations and experiences on the front are persuasive and balanced, and help foster a deeper understanding of the interplay between regional and national identities in the still-young unified Italy, and the tragedy of war. This is a superb work of history that enriches the vast literature of the Great War.
