1918
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
The setting
Around Vittorio Veneto and the Piave river, Veneto, northern Italy
River plain and lower Alpine foothills
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideKingdom of Italy (with British, French and US contingents)
Recorded resultdecisive victory
Italian breakthrough split the Austro-Hungarian armies; the empire's forces collapsed and the Armistice of Villa Giusti ended hostilities on 4 November 1918
How the atlas explains it
Diaz attacked when Austria-Hungary was disintegrating internally; once Italian forces forced the Piave and drove on Vittorio Veneto, the already mutinous and ethnically fracturing Habsburg armies came apart and surrendered en masse.
What followed
The decisive battle of the Italian Front: it ended Austria-Hungary's military existence, knocked the empire out of the war, and contributed to its political dissolution.