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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
Our sword weighs too little and cannot tilt the balance.
Antonio Di San Giuliano, 12 September 1914In August 1914 the five European Great Powers went to war and nine months later Italy joined in, fighting against her pre-war ally Austria–Hungary. In coming to this decision, her diplomats had to consider not only Italy’s place in a future balance of power but also complex regional issues involving the Balkans, Turkey and even north and east Africa. The final decision was the result of a combination of calculation and guesswork in which domestic policy issues played only a secondary role. Her soldiers had problems of their own to resolve. A half-trained conscript army had to be readied for war; grave shortages of equipment had somehow to be made up; and strategic plans had to be devised in circumstances in which the mobilising army might be surprised by its enemy but could hope for no such advantage itself. Success depended heavily upon favourable strategic circumstances in other theatres – something that was not to be.
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