Most people memorise the First World War, or The Great War (1914-1918), because of the trenches in France and Belgium, the Dardanelles in Turkey (1915), the first use of tanks, gas, aeroplanes and U-boats, and the fall of European empires.
Many citizens of the British Commonwealth fought and died throughout Europe, Japanese and American soldiers were involved in the Russian civil war afterwards (1918-1921), and Eastern Europe became the theatre of unstable and dictatorial regimes, with Czecho-Slovakia as a democratic exception.
Little attention, however, is paid to the drama in the Austrian and Italian Alps. The Habsburgs possessed large parts of Northern Italy. Trieste was the only important sea harbour of the Austrians, and the trade route went through Trent and the Brenner pass to the Austrian homeland. The First World War allowed the Italian government to conquer these territories.
In 1915, after it became clear that Germany and Austria would not achieve their goals, Italy declared war on Austria. The main theatre of war was the mountainous region of South Tyrol. This region south of the Brenner was Austrian by people, language and history. The outcome is known. South Tirol (Süd Tirol) became Alto Adige in 1919. Bozen became Bolzano, Merano and Bressanone, German family names became Italianised, and many Italians moved (forcibly from 1922) to the region.
The Austro-Hungarian and Italian soldiers lived and fought on mountain peaks that had, until then, remained untouched, challenging the climate and altitude and achieving technical and organisational feats worthy of the first modern war.
The line of battle ran along peaks of 3,000 meters, and in those mountains, the armies faced each other in a technological and organisational challenge in all seasons. The front line did not move for three long years.
The Austrian Kaiserjäger and the Italian Alpini faced each other at the top of Europe. This war marked the end of an era and the birth of Europe as we know it today.
The ensuing cultural, historical, and political schism was immense, and, even today, after 90 years, the German and Italian people live separate lives. Though Bolzano is the perfect blend of Italian and German cultures, its heritage is omnipresent.
Trieste and Trento became Italian as well, though these cities and their surroundings were Italian by their people, language and location. Today, one can still see the only Austrian Lloyd office and the cruise ship office in Trieste.
(Source: www.bellumaquilarum.it).