alternatehistory.com

…Popular History views Italian Entry into the First World War as a mercenary nation selling its services to the highest bidder in defiance of its commitments to its alliances. Professional Historians will begrudgingly admit that the Triple Alliance was defensive in nature and that Italy was under no obligation to enter the war with the Central Powers. Likewise, if pressed they will admit that it was Austria-Hungary that had failed to consult Italy in regards to actions they will take in the Balkans as required by the Triple Alliance, with Italy finding out about the declaration of war on Serbia from the Newspapers rather than diplomacy. Furthermore, Austria-Hungary did not compensate Italy for its annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1909 as required by the Treaty. Despite this the majority of anglophone historians will present Italy as in the wrong during this period. While it cannot be argued that Italy’s choices proved catastrophic over the long-term orthodox historiography is too rooted in Post WWII biases to be truly objective.

Certainly, any historian must admit that Italy’s actions appear of a mercenary bent. Prime Minister Salandra and Foreign Minister Sonnino solicited offers for both sides and chose to pursue the Entente offers that promised them more. That Italy was dependent both on British finance and imports of British coal merely made them more confident in their decision. After the fall of Przemysl to the Russians Salandra and Sonnino became convinced that Entente victory was imminent, with the Russians soon to launch a major offensive into Hungary. Therefore, over the month of April a treaty was negotiated in London.

This preliminary treaty was much less favorable to Italy than the one eventually signed. Italy was promised Tyrol to the Brenner Pass, the Austrian Littoral minus Fiume and Veglia, Northern Dalmatia and most islands save Arbe and Brazza, parts of Carinola and Carinthia, Valona and unspecified Territory in Africa and near Adalia in Anatolia. Furthermore, Italy would have a Protectorate over Albania and control over the Dodacanese confirmed. Serbia would receive Dalmatia between Krka and Ston, the Sabbioncella Penninsula, Split and Brazza, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Syrmia Backa and part of Albania. Montenegro would receive Dalmatia between Budva and Ston, Ragusa, the Bay of Kotor and part of Albania. Greece would receive an unspecified part of Albania.

Salandra wanted more than this, he had originally asked for all of Dalmatia and Albania but was opposed by the Russians. Using the recent Bulgarian entry into the war as an excuse he decided not to sign the treaty at that moment. At the time, a majority of the Italian parliament was against joining the war and Salandra was nearly forced out by former prime minister Giovanni Giolitti. For the moment Italian entry into the war was halted.

On May 2nd, the Germans and Austrians launched the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive and forced the Russians back all along the front. This, along with continued bad news on the Serbian front, resulted in a feeling of desperation among the Entente, who a distraction for Austria-Hungary as fast as possible. It also served to shock a number of pro neutrality Italian parliamentarians, with Russia and Serbia seemingly in full rout it looked quite possible that the Central Powers would win the war by the end of summer. That opened the possibility of Italy finding herself facing off against them alone after the conclusion of the war, given the extant hostility with Austria-Hungary. This prospect was to some Italian politicians more terrifying than joining the war now, even if Italy was badly unprepared for war and would face heavy losses.

Salandra thus found himself with the whip hand in negotiations with the Entente and sent Sonnino to London for a second round of negotiations. Very quickly Italy started gaining more concessions. Fiume and Veglia were the first, followed by Arbe, Brazza and Solta. Greece was quickly denied a share of Albania, soon followed by Serbia and Montenegro. The Austro-Hungarian Navy would be turned over to Italy, save the riverine forces that would go to Serbia. Italy was given more than vague promises regarding Adalia and was even offered Cyprus. This satisfied Sonnino and Salandra, but they decided to keep playing hardball on the off chance that more would be offered. The Entente negotiators were taken in by this and became desperate for what else to offer.

Russia, worried about the postwar fate of the Balkans, was against handing Italy the area between Zara and Fiume or denying any Dalmatian territory from Serbia and Montenegro. France possessed Nice and Savoy which had been Italian until 55 years ago, as well as Corsica which was also considered part of “Unredeemed Italy”, however France was adamant on not giving up any of its own national territory. Britain also had a piece of “Unredeemed Italy” in Malta but felt that too strategically valuable to give up at any cost. There was a consensus to confirm that Italy would receive Trans-Juba and the Jaghbub Oasis, as well as territory in the Sahara from France, but that was not thought enough to convince the Italians. With a reluctance to give the Italians any potentially strategic or profitable colonies elsewhere there was believed to be little more possible to entice Italians to join, with that being more needed than ever. Then two junior staffers, from the French and British delegations respectively came up with separate out of the box proposals.

The French staffer noticed that as part of their attempt to save the Serbian Army the Island of Corfu was to be seized by the French. Corfu had for centuries been owned by Venice and was seen by many as part of “Unredeemed Italy”. Turning it over to the Italians would be something they could do as a fait accompli. The British staffer suggested that rather than promise territory they promise aid in acquiring territory. The Italians had infamously been defeated at Adowa in 1896 during their attempt to conquer Ethiopia. Giving them a free hand to redress this at a later date would cost the Entente nothing, and even promises of material and financial support could be dealt with later when the war was won. The Russians did not like either proposal but given their situation they felt like there was no choice but to accept.

On May 28th the Treaty of London was signed in secret, committing Italy to war within a month in exchange for the aforementioned concessions. On June 2nd Italy left the Triple Alliance. An attempt by Giolitti to depose Salandra was narrowly thwarted and war was declared on June 28th. Italy had entered the war…


-Excerpt from Revisionist Viewpoints in History Volume XXVIII, University of California Press: Berkley, 2018




…The Gallipoli Campaign is a campaign of WWI that is usually forgotten by most people, the exceptions being Australians and New Zealanders. With the entry of the Ottoman Empire into WWI Sea routes to the Russian Empire were closed. The Trans-Siberian Railway was not yet complete, and its completion hindered by the loss of a key shipment to German commerce raiders, and Archangel on the White Sea was only useable during summer months. Given that Russian industrial production was not sufficient to equip its massive army on its own, this proved a problem.

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had the solution. A naval attack to force the Dardanelles and knock the Ottomans out of the war, or at the very least distract them. This was combined with a preexisting plan by Lord Kitchener to conduct a landing at Alexandretta and cut the Ottoman railway system in half, a plan scuttled by the French who thought that was there sphere of influence. The initial plan called for it to be a primarily naval affair, using mostly obsolete warships and the army to provide a mere occupying force.

On February 19th, the British and French began attacking the outer works of the Dardanelles, a place they had briefly bombarded on November 3rd before they had declared war on the Ottomans. By February 25th, the outlying forts had been reduced and the entrance to the Dardanelles cleared of mines, with a minor landing to spike the guns of destroyed fortresses. Then, however progress slowed as Ottoman mobile guns stymied minesweeping efforts. A large-scale push to rectify this on March 18th resulted in the loss of 3 British and 2 French Pre-Dreadnought battleships to mines. There were calls to push on, as those vessels were obsolete and fully expendable, but the Admiral on the scene and First Sea Lord Fisher were adamant that pure naval power alone could not settle this. A full-scale landing would be necessary.

Even before the attack itself went in on April 25th it was clear that there would be issues. To support the naval operations the British and French had seized several Greek islands for bases, that were soon used for landing practice. Many units were unloaded there, then diverted to Alexandria in Egypt to be loaded onto the transports that they would land in. Intelligence was poor to nonexistent and was at some points relying on tourist guides for information. The Ottomans were vastly underestimated after their defeats by the Italians and Balkan League in the previous years and hard fighting was not expected.

When the landing occurred on April 25th, at what is now Anzac Cove and Cape Helles the Ottomans were prepared. Having 4 weeks they built roads, made boats, dug trenches, laid mines and wire and trained their troops. The landings themselves proved costly, with heavy casualties being inflicted on both. Naval support proved less effective than hoped, as did air support. Diversionary landings on the Asiatic shore proved to be unconvincing.

The landing at what is now Anzac cove was conducted by forces from the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC Despite initial success, the lack of maps and coordination let a Turkish counterattack take back the high ground overlooking the beaches by the end of the day, forcing the Anzacs into a small perimeter. Despite later efforts to break out they would remain trapped in the perimeter until evacuation.

The landing at Cape Helles proved somewhat more successful in that it was not immediately bottled up. However, the main landings at V&W beaches were immediately stymied, the subordinate landings at X, Y and S beaches were not. A lack of planning and communication led for the forces landed there not to exploit their position, as they had been told to wait for troops from V&W, despite in some cases having literally no opposition. As such Ottoman counterattacks were able to contain them for the first day, with Y beach being evacuated in the night.

On the 26th and 27th the Entente and Ottoman forces clashed at Cape Helles, with the Ottomans being gradually pushed back, but inflicting heavy losses. A major attack on the 28th failed due to bad coordination leading to Entente troops being separated and outflanked, with the troops sent back to their starting line. A Major set piece battle was launched on May 5th and lasted to the 8th, pushing the Ottomans back but not defeating them and ending when the Entente ran out of ammunition. An Ottoman attempt to eliminate the Anzac landing on the 19th ended in disaster despite a 2.5 to 1 advantage in numbers and led to a brief truce to bury the dead. At sea a Turkish destroyer bagged a British pre Dreadnought on May 12th, and a German U-Boat bagged a Pre Dreadnought and a Battlecruiser on the 24th, precautions to prevent a repeat severely limited Entente naval power.

A final major Entente attack occurred on June 4th and failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough. The situation then dissolved into a Western Front style stalemate for six weeks when things changed. With Serbia captured the railway lines from Germany and Austria to the Ottoman Empire were reopened. The Germans were able to rearm the Ottomans with heavy artillery to match the Entente, while the Austrians sent surplus artillery units of their own to join the fighting. It was clear that material attrition would no longer favor the Entente, therefore maneuver would have to be tried.

On August 9th, a landing was launched at Sulva Bay to support a breakout from Anzac Cove. Conducted in darkness confusion was rampant and most of the landing forces became lost, taking until daylight to reorient themselves, suffering heavily in the process. The commander of the landing, Lt. General Stopford was old and lethargic and let his chief of staff dominate him, said chief of staff’s experiences on the Western front had predisposed him to excessive caution. Despite an advance to the high ground overlooking the bay being possible after the troops reorganized themselves, Stopford decided to consolidate his position instead of advancing. After two days General Hamilton in command of the theater ordered Stopford to advance. The nighttime advance ran into Ottoman reinforcements and was halted. Hamilton then conducted an attritional battle to unite the Anzac and Sulva landings until the 22nd when he called it off.

With the French planning a fall campaign on the Western front, they were disinclined to send more reinforcements. Furthermore, with Serbia fully out of the war and the Eastern Front winding down for the year, the Germans and Austrians could reinforce at will. There were calls to abandon the campaign as early as September 15th. Hamilton feared what that would do for British prestige, but he was replaced on October 1st, his replacement Charles Monro immediately suggested evacuation, and following a tour by Lord Kitchener he recommended it to the Cabinet in early November, and it was set by November 10th.

The evacuation started on November 20th, with full evacuation by the 28th. On the 23rd the Ottomans learned of it and with German and Austrian assistance launched full scale assaults. The evacuation went into overdrive and naval artillery was used to cover the evacuation. Despite this the Entente suffered 20,000 casualties during the evacuation, and had to leave behind huge quantities of munitions, animals and other supplies to be captured, despite efforts to destroy such.

In all the Entente suffered 315,000 casualties, and the Ottomans 240,000. The campaign had caused the resignations of Winston Churchill and Jackie Fisher in May. It had lost 7 Battleships and a Battlecruiser, all for no gain. If not for the fact that this was the first large scale combat for Australia and New Zealand forces this would be totally forgotten in the popular mind. However, for them April 25th is considered a day of mourning to remember all those who lost their lives in war…



-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004


Not my best work I will admit but oh well, at least I am inspired to write this and it isn't that short. Anyways a response to questions about the POD