While most WWI belligerents framed their involvement as a defensive necessity for "Hearth and Home," Italy was transparently opportunistic. Its leaders openly admitted they were not defending themselves but attacking for conquest and glory, making it arguably the most acquisitive campaign of the war.
Italian leaders openly framed their switch of alliances as a "sacred egoism" – a divinely appointed mission to enlarge the fatherland. This concept sacralized raw national self-interest, providing a moral justification for betraying former allies and pursuing a war of conquest.
In a rare display of battlefield compassion during WWI, Austrian soldiers on the Isonzo front repeatedly shouted at attacking Italians to retreat to avoid a pointless massacre. At times, they even ceased firing to allow Italians to collect their dead, demonstrating a shared humanity amid the slaughter.
As a newly unified country, Italy lacked a strong national identity. Leaders cultivated a sense of grievance and "unfinished business" over its border with Austria, a concept known as irredentism. This became a powerful political tool to weld the new nation together against a common enemy.
Italy joined WWI after being promised vast territories, but received only a fraction of them after immense sacrifice. This widespread sense of betrayal and resentment over a "mutilated victory" created the perfect political environment for nationalists like Benito Mussolini to rise to power in the 1920s.
Despite widespread public opposition, the Italian government used celebrity poet Gabriele D'Annunzio to ignite war fever. His impassioned, quasi-religious speeches created a frenzy among a vocal urban minority, pressuring politicians and the king into a war the majority of the population did not want.
Lacking a parliamentary majority for war, Prime Minister Salandra executed a masterful political maneuver by resigning. This dared the king to appoint an anti-war successor amidst orchestrated street protests. Fearing civil unrest, the king was forced to reappoint Salandra, effectively greenlighting Italy's entry into the war.
Italy's blatant negotiation with both sides of WWI to secure the best territorial deal earned it contempt from its new allies. Winston Churchill called Italy the "harlot of Europe," and Prime Minister Asquith described it as "voracious, slippery, and perfidious," highlighting the deep cynicism behind their alliance of convenience.
Italian General Cadorna was dogmatically committed to the "irresistible forward movement" theory from his own pamphlet. Unwilling to adapt to modern warfare, he repeatedly ordered futile frontal assaults, sacking any officer who disagreed rather than changing his flawed strategy, leading to immense and unnecessary casualties.