Battle of Caporetto Timeline

(October 24 – November 19, 1917)

The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo) was a major World War I battle fought from October 24 to November 19, 1917, near Kobarid (Caporetto) in present-day Slovenia. German and Austro-Hungarian forces, employing new infiltration tactics, launched a surprise offensive that shattered the Italian Second Army, forcing a chaotic retreat of over 100 kilometers to the Piave River. The Italian army suffered around 300,000 casualties, including some 265,000 captured. The disaster prompted Allied reinforcements, led to the unification of Italian command under General Armando Diaz, and inspired Ernest Hemingway's novel 'A Farewell to Arms.' More Less

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Aftermath and Legacy

Caporetto remembered as symbol of catastrophic defeat

1917

Over the decades, 'Caporetto' entered Italian language and memory as a byword for a terrible, humiliating defeat, invoked whenever national efforts collapsed in disarray.

Image source: Battle of Caporetto

Caporetto becomes an unprecedented catastrophe for Italian arms

Nov 1917

By any standard, Twelfth Isonzo (Caporetto) and its aftermath represented an unprecedented catastrophe for Italian arms, with enormous losses of men, materiel, and territory in a single campaign.

Disaster shocks Italy and triggers a search for scapegoats

Dec 1917 - 1919

The disaster came as a shock to the Italian nation and triggered a search for scapegoats, with accusations of treason and incompetence directed at commanders, politicians, and even socialists on the home front.

Opera Nazionale Combattenti founded to assist war veterans

Dec 1917

Opera Nazionale Combattenti, an Italian charitable organization, was set up in December 1917 in the immediate aftermath of the battle, to provide assistance to veterans of the First World War.

Austrians launch offensive across the entire Italian front

Jun 1918

When the Austrians launched an offensive across the entire front in June 1918, their bridgeheads were contained and were ultimately forced back across the river, marking a decisive failure for Austria-Hungary.

Image source: Second Battle of the Piave River

Italian military commission investigates the Caporetto debacle

1919

The search for culprits culminated in a 1919 Italian military commission that investigated the causes of the debacle, examining failures of command and intelligence that had led to the defeat.

Lead-up to Battle

Italian offensives on the Austro-Hungarian lines in the Isonzo sector

Mar 1917 - Sep 1917

Throughout the spring and summer of 1917, the Italians had launched numerous offensives on the Austro-Hungarian Lines in the Isonzo Sector, seeking to break through towards Ljubljana and Trieste.

Image source: Battles of the Isonzo

Hindenburg and Arz decide to send troops from the Eastern Front

Aug 1917

In August 1917 Paul von Hindenburg and Arthur Arz von Straußenburg decided to send troops from the Eastern Front to the Isonzo Sector in response to the Italian advances.

Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo

Aug 18, 1917 - Sep 12, 1917

The Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was the most successful Italian offensive in pushing back the Austro-Hungarians, gaining ground on the Bainsizza plateau and alarming the Central Powers about Italy's growing strength.

Image source: Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo

Central Powers reinforce the Isonzo front

Sep 1917 - Oct 1917

German divisions were transferred from the Eastern Front to the Italian front during September and October 1917, secretly massing forces for a combined Austro-German offensive against the Italians near Caporetto.

Battle of Caporetto

Battle of Caporetto begins

Oct 24, 1917

The battle between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central Powers began on 24 October 1917 near the town of Kobarid (then part of the Austrian Littoral) and near the river Isonzo, with a devastating Austro-German assault that shattered the Italian Second Army's front.

Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo fought at Kobarid

Oct 24, 1917 - Nov 1917

Also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the fighting centered on Kobarid (Caporetto), where German and Austro-Hungarian troops using new infiltration tactics broke through the Italian lines with gas bombardments and rapid advances down mountain valleys.

Italian Second Army collapses under the Central Powers' offensive

Oct 24, 1917 - Nov 1917

The Italian Second Army suffered a catastrophic collapse in the opening days of the battle, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed, wounded, captured, or scattered in retreat as enemy forces poured through the broken front.

Central Powers advance across the Isonzo region

Oct 25, 1917 - Nov 1917

Following the breakthrough, Central Powers forces advanced rapidly across northeastern Italy, capturing vast quantities of supplies and artillery and driving the retreating Italian armies westwards.

Italian retreat towards the Tagliamento

Oct 27, 1917 - Nov 1917

In the wake of the breakthrough, the Italian army conducted a long and chaotic retreat across the plains of Friuli, abandoning territory gained over two years of fighting along the Isonzo.

Cadorna orders retreat to the other side of the Tagliamento

Oct 30, 1917

Finally, on 30 October 1917, Cadorna ordered the majority of the Italian force to retreat to the other side of the Tagliamento, attempting to establish a new defensive line behind the river.

Image source: Luigi Cadorna

Battle of Caporetto ends

Nov 19, 1917

The battle concluded on 19 November 1917 after nearly a month of fighting, having represented one of the worst defeats in Italian military history despite the eventual stabilization of the front along the Piave.

Cultural Impact

Curzio Malaparte writes La rivolta dei santi maledetti

1921

Curzio Malaparte wrote an excoriation of the battle in his first book, La rivolta dei santi maledetti, published in 1921, condemning the leadership failures that produced the catastrophe at Caporetto.

Image source: Battle of Caporetto

Malaparte's book censored by the state and suppressed

1922 - 1980

La rivolta dei santi maledetti was censored by the state and suppressed for decades, remaining unavailable to readers until it was finally published in full in 1980.

Mussolini calls failed General Strike the 'Caporetto of Italian Socialism'

Aug 1922

It became used to denote a terrible defeat – the failed General Strike of 1922 by the socialists was referred to by Mussolini as the 'Caporetto of Italian Socialism', cementing the battle's place in Italian political rhetoric.