Chapter 31: The Italians Question Their Life Choices

The French got their asses handed to them — and their allies, the Italians, didn’t fare any better.

After getting the French invitation, the Italians rolled up their sleeves, mustered over 500,000 men, and planned to march across the Alps into Central Europe — figuring this was the perfect time to strike while Austria, freshly independent, was weak as hell.

Geography had always capped Italy’s ceiling. Their crown jewel, the Po Valley, sat right at the foot of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With that terrain advantage, the Austrians could threaten Italy’s core region from the north at any time.

To secure their heartland, the Italians had to expand northward — at minimum, they needed to grab the high ground on the southern slopes of the Alps.

That would form a protective barrier around the Po Valley and keep their most valuable territory out of enemy reach.

That’s why South Tyrol was non-negotiable for the Italians — they’d even betray their own allies to take it.

And once they had it, they could confidently push east into the Balkans.

Like Germany, Italy had only recently become a unified nation and had no overseas colonies to speak of.

If they didn’t use the World War as a chance to grab land, they’d never get another shot at climbing up the ladder.

Italy — sitting on the thousand-year-old glory of Rome — dreamed day and night of returning to the days of the Roman Empire.

In their minds, the southern coast of France, North Africa, and the Balkans were all their sphere of influence.

Sooner or later, they’d plant the Italian flag back on those lands and restore the glory of Rome!

But dreams are dreams. Reality hits different.

The Italian army, planning to waltz into Austria while it was weak, ran straight into a German wall.

The Italians were confused. What the hell are Germans doing here?

What they didn’t know was that two months earlier, Crown Prince Wilhelm had secretly contacted Field Marshal Mackensen — commander of the Danube Army Group stationed in the Danube region — and ordered him to abandon Romania and Hungary, move into Austria, and help stabilize the situation there.

Wilhelm had been watching for an Italian sneak attack ever since he gave that order.

And sure enough — the Italians actually showed up!

What a coincidence.

Unlike the Germans on the Western Front, the Southern Front had both numerical and equipment superiority.

In the west, they were up against the combined forces of America, Britain, and France — so they had to play defense.

But down south, facing a little country like Italy? No reason to be that conservative.

After beating back the Italian attack, Mackensen didn’t hesitate — he ordered his troops across the border and straight into Italy.

If they can come to us, we can damn well go to them!

The Germans, full of pent-up frustration, unloaded on the Italians with everything they had. In just three days, they smashed the Italian forces attacking South Tyrol, pushed into Italian territory, and captured the northern stronghold of Udine.

The sudden German offensive threw all of northern Italy into panic.

From Udine to Venice, all the way to Milan in the western Po Valley — Italians were everywhere, fleeing for their lives.

The Germans hadn’t even gotten there yet, but the Italians were already losing their minds!

The Italians never imagined their own aggression would bring this kind of disaster down on them. They scrambled to pull troops from across the country to hold the line, and fired off desperate pleas for help to the French.

When Marshal Foch got the Italian telegram, his face went dark as a storm cloud:

"These useless bastards! Can’t do a damn thing right but they sure can screw things up!"

After the cursing died down, he had to seriously ask himself — how did this operation go so wrong?

"The problem has to be their will to fight!"

Before this, the war had been fought entirely outside German borders — Germany was the aggressor.

Sure, the German propaganda machine kept telling the soldiers this was to stop the enemy from invading their homeland.

But the soldiers probably didn’t buy it — especially after four years of brutal fighting, massive casualties, and no end in sight.

The war-weariness in Germany had become impossible to contain. Regular citizens and frontline soldiers alike just wanted it over.

Back then, they still had illusions about the Entente.

They thought the armistice meant it was done — they could go back to their peaceful lives without paying any price.

But the Treaty of Versailles shattered those illusions.

It made them realize the Entente — especially the French — genuinely wanted to leave them with nothing.

Even a clay statue has a temper. And these were Germans — a people with a proud martial tradition.

Once they understood the Entente wanted them dead, their fury ignited.

If surrender means death and resistance means death, why not pick up a weapon and fight?

Even if they die, they’re taking someone down with them!

If the French don’t want them to have a good life, then drag the French straight to hell with them!

The French think this war is hard now?

They haven’t seen anything yet.

Wait until they actually set foot on German soil and light the fire of the entire German nation — then they’ll know what terror really means.

Even though the offensive wasn’t going well, the French weren’t ready to give up.

They kept sending people to lobby their allies, trying to get the British and Americans into the fight.

At this point, beating Germany with French strength alone just wasn’t realistic.

France’s overall national power was still a notch below Germany’s, and the French army didn’t have a significant numerical advantage either.

But if they could drag Britain and America into the war, their odds would shoot way up!

...

London, Buckingham Palace.

George V received the French request for troops again.

Compared to the last telegram, this one had the French humbling themselves.

They laid out their case with logic and emotion, spelling out the pros and cons, trying to convince the British to send their army.

After reading it, George V looked at his Prime Minister and asked:

"So, my Prime Minister, what do you make of this?"

Lloyd George had already read the telegram. He thought for a moment before answering:

"I think the French have a point. The French demands might be a bit much, but the Germans’ armed resistance is just as bad — they’re not just defying France, they’re defying the entire Entente and the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference!"

Lloyd George originally had zero interest in sending troops to attack Germany and force them to sign the treaty — a military operation that size would cost a fortune and bleed troops.

Britain had already spent way too much in World War I. The wealth they’d plundered from around the globe was nearly gone after four years of war.

On top of that, the British were drowning in debt. Just paying that back after the war was a headache — the last thing they wanted was to spend more money on another war.

But the whole reason they didn’t want war was the assumption that Germany would sign the Treaty of Versailles and accept the Entente’s terms.

Now Germany was refusing to sign.

That meant Britain couldn’t safely demobilize its military — they’d have to keep spending money to maintain a massive army. And they couldn’t use German war reparations to fix their budget deficit and pay off debts.

So from a pure self-interest standpoint, they had to send troops. No troops, no victory spoils.

The same logic applied to the Americans. Lloyd George figured the U.S. would probably agree to send troops once they got the French request.

If both of them committed forces, Germany probably couldn’t hold out — they might even be forced to make concessions.

George V agreed with Lloyd George’s assessment. He also thought that if both Britain and America accepted the French invitation and sent troops together, Germany would crack.

Germany in 1919 wasn’t Germany in 1914.

Four years of war, millions of casualties, and internal rebellion and uprisings had drained the country to its breaking point.

The young man who’d written him letters wasn’t the arrogant type like his father — he had to know exactly how weak Germany was right now.

So George V suspected the Crown Prince’s whole "fight to the death" posture wasn’t because he actually wanted war. It was just a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Entente.

The Crown Prince probably wasn’t unwilling to sign the treaty — he just hated the terms, especially the reparations. So he put on this tough-guy act.

If the Entente refused to budge on the treaty terms, though, he might actually choose to go down swinging.