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Hello,

This is my first attempt at contributing a timeline to your forum. This particular topic is one I have been greatly interested in and hope I can offer a fun alternate history to:


University of Colorado 400 level History Class October 2017, Professor Dennis Showalter:

DS: Who here is familar with La grade retata della prigione? Yes Nathan
NR: It translates to ~the great prison roundup~
DS: Excellent Nathan, and were did this term come from? Yes
SB: It refers to the mass surrender of Italian armies to the central forces during the battle of Caporetto


DS: Ms. Borke is absolutely correct, now as we sit on the 100th anniversary of the battle of Caporetto I ask you class, was the collapse of the Italian army, a uniquely Italian problem or part of something greater, Mr Taylor?
RT: I believe it is both Dr. Showalter
DS: How so?
RT: The Italian war effort sustained tremendous casualties without the front moving much if it all. Their soldiers where also subject to much more violent discipline than other countries. The commander in Chief of their army conducted sustained and unpopular purges all of which wore heavily on the entire army's morale
DS: That's a compelling case to say Italy's army was burdened with a great deal of problems, but how do you see it as part of something greater?
RT: I think it ties in with our other lessons concerning 1917 Dr Showalter. 1917 was a destructively transformative year for the entente, Russia and France and Italy suffered full scale mutinies; they all emerged for similar reasons to Italy's, even if Italy's dynamic was arguably the worst, word got around despite censorship, and there was bitterness at home as much as there was in the trenches


DS: Class, I believe Mr. Taylor's point is worth discussing further, I have attended lectures, read and written papers about whose war situation was worse in 1917, France, Russia or Italy; and comparing them I found made me lose perspective on their being interconnected. Obviously news of the sequential collapses and problems did get around despite their being aggressive censorship, but how else might they be connected? Go ahead Randall


RF: They where militarily connected, France's descent into Mutiny following the failed Nivelle offensive, and their slow response to addressing the soldier's demands and restoring order took their army out of the fight in the second half of 1917 while they had to deal with their desertion, morale and discipline problems. That was coupled with a conscious decision to not risk the testy army again without large scale American ground troops.
French inability to attack alongside the British allowed the Germans to more effectively respond to the attacks at Ypres, and heavy British losses forced their fall attacks to be far smaller in scale, and a mutiny was feared from the commonwealth formations if they continued as they had up to that point


DS: How does that play into the great prison roundup?
RF: The Germans where able to filter their elite foot guard corps off the line from facing the French and add them to the forces that attacked Caporetto
DS: I expect you will say Russia's military reverses lent much the same fortune to the central powers
RF: Well when the Kerensky offensive failed, the Central power's launched their long delayed assault on Riga, which demonstrated then and it would prove to be completely that Russia was done fighting and that the Central powers could transfer their striking power to more decisive theaters


DS: Were the Julian Alps a decisive theater?
RF: Given what happened after the mass surrenders I would say so
DS: Speaking of which, we have been looking at the big picture of what happened, let us bring our lecture in the battle itself, which will be more interesting to discuss and review with the strategic situation we have discussed in mind
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