The story of the great war . taly and their compatriots were eager to free themfrom Austrian domination. Their freedom would add to the newItaly the last territory which belonged to her. It was also true that this same territory contained the militarydefenses of Italy. The Austrians, when driven from Italy in 1866,had insisted upon retaining the military frontiers in their own hands,thus leaving Italy helpless before an Austrian assault. This wasone reason why the great attack of 1917 was so successful. Thestrong position, the offensive position as we call it, the Austrianshad always held. One
The story of the great war . taly and their compatriots were eager to free themfrom Austrian domination. Their freedom would add to the newItaly the last territory which belonged to her. It was also true that this same territory contained the militarydefenses of Italy. The Austrians, when driven from Italy in 1866,had insisted upon retaining the military frontiers in their own hands,thus leaving Italy helpless before an Austrian assault. This wasone reason why the great attack of 1917 was so successful. Thestrong position, the offensive position as we call it, the Austrianshad always held. One reason, therefore, for Italys entering the warwas a desire to get possession of a frontier upon which she hadsome real chance to defend herself. Nor was there much doubt in the minds of a majority of Italiansin 1915 that, if Italy was to fight at all, she must join before theBritish and French were beaten. She had not moved at the veryoutset of the war because her armv was not readv and because WHY ITALY ENTERED THE WAR 157. \Ks«Tvn\ VunevX Hist. Mag. N. Y. Times Cu. The Shaded Area is the Territory the Italians Desired to Win 158 THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR she rendered the Allies from the beginning a really tremendousservice by declaring her neutrality and thus freeing the Frenchfrom the necessity of guarding their own rear. If the Italians hadjoined the Germans and had attacked France in the south at thesame time the Germans moved in the north, the position of theFrench would have been indeed desperate. By the spring of 1915, however, it w^as reasonably clear that theAllies could not win the war in a hurry, that long preparationmight be necessary, that cooperation and unity among Germanysenemies would be essential to victory. The Italians thereforedid not propose to wait until the British and French were flat ontheir faces before coming to their aid. It would then be too great object which Italy herself had at heart would have beenlost. They must act promptly and v
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