Between the Wars: Italian Military Planning 1913-14

In September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire and embarked on the conquest of Libya, using innovative technologies such as the use of aircraft and radio in warfare. But in the aftermath of their colonial victory, Italy was left with severely depleted military forces.

In this presentation, Vanda Wilcox talks about how, in 1913 and 1914, the Italian armed forces set about analysing and learning lessons from this war, and preparing their strategic and tactical thinking for future conflict.

Vanda also discusses how Italy, previously allied to Germany and Austro-Hungary, came to 'switch sides' in the lead up to the outbreak of the First World War and how the kind of war had Italy prepared to fight in the run up to August 1914 suddenly had to change in terms of where they expected to do their fighting.