Svetozar Boroević von Bojna

Recorded sideAustria-Hungary

Recorded resultlargely successful defense

Indecisive attrition: eleven Italian offensives produced limited territorial change (notably the capture of Gorizia in the sixth battle, August 1916) before the front collapsed at Caporetto

From the defender's side, the broken karst and mountain terrain favored entrenched Austro-Hungarian positions, so repeated Italian frontal assaults achieved little while bleeding both armies white.

What followed

The Isonzo campaign defined the Italian Front as a war of attrition comparable to the Western Front, draining both nations and setting the stage for the Caporetto breakthrough.

Recorded sideCentral Powers (Austria-Hungary and German Empire)

Recorded resultdecisive victory

Central Powers breakthrough; the Italian 2nd Army disintegrated and Italian forces retreated roughly 100 km to the Piave river line

A short, intense bombardment using gas and high-explosive shells preceded German and Austro-Hungarian stormtroop units who bypassed strongpoints and infiltrated the rear; surprise, fog, and the brittle morale of an exhausted Italian army turned a local breakthrough into a general rout.

What followed

The worst defeat in Italian military history; it cost Cadorna his command, brought British and French reinforcements to Italy, and made 'Caporetto' a byword for catastrophic collapse.

Recorded sideAustria-Hungary

Recorded resultdecisive defeat / collapse

Italian breakthrough split the Austro-Hungarian armies; the empire's forces collapsed and the Armistice of Villa Giusti ended hostilities on 4 November 1918

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.