Oct 16, 2008 Posted by booktiger on Oct 16, 2008 in History, Italy, Non-Fiction, Twentieth Century, War | 0 comments

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front – Mark Thompson

I received The White War as an Early Reviewer on LibraryThing, and it wasn’t a disappointment. I love reading history, particularly when the period is relatively unknown and undocumented as this. As readers of this blog will know, I read Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms and wasn’t particularly enamoured with it, although that was more for the writing style than than the period of history with which it dealt. But Hemingway only provided a very surface discovery of the Italian Front during the First World War. Where the novel missed, Thompson’s thoroughly researched history filled the gaps.

I have read a lot about the Western Front during the Great War, but I was unaware of the carnage which occurred on the Italian Front. The War had been entered by Italy not so much as a defensive exercise, rather as a means of gaining territory which the newly formed Italian state felt it held a right to. What followed was a war of attrition that was so destructive and futile that by the end, the boundaries were almost in exactly the same place they had been before they had started. What had been lost though were million of lives, and the trust towards the Italians from the Allies – an effect that would have repercussions into the following war.

The tragedy of this front though was not just in the destruction meted by the Austrians (although to be fair, they also suffered heavy casualties over the years of fighting). The Italian soldiers were also forced to suffer at the hands of their own superiors. Of course, the shortsightedness and pig headed stubborness to traditional methods exercised by the generals during the First World War was common across all countries involved. However, Cadorna appears to have been far worse than the others – what with his unflinching adherence to decimation (in the true sense of the word, i.e. one in every 10 solider in his own army was shot if any kind of transgression occurred, no matter how small) and his inability to recognise his own failings. In Cadorna’s view, morale of the troops was completely irrelevant. He was more than happy for them to go hungry, undertake futile attacks which led to nothing but slaughter, and disallow any kind of leave or respite, and if the result was loss or failure in battle, he blamed the troops whole heartedly, taking no responsibility whatsoever. If it hadn’t have ended up so tragic, it would have been laughable.

Thompson has captured the period beautifully through a combination of fantastic research, including speaking to some of the last few survivors of the battle, and well written prose. He extends his subject to encompass culture, politics and poetry as well as just dates and names of battles which makes the book a pleasure to read. Unfortunately, as my copy was an uncorrected proof copy, the maps were illegible so I had to resort to finding maps on Google so I had an idea where all of the action was taking place, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book.

This is a period which needs more written about it. The fact that it is almost forgotten save in fiction is happily addressed by this book. For anyone who is interested in the history of the Great War, this is an essential to fill those gaps in ones knowledge which the Western Front emphasis may have left.

Rating: 9/10
ISBN: 0571223338
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Date: 2008
Date Finished: 3rd October 2008
Pages: 464pp