The Edge of the Abyss - Mountain Warfare On The Italian Front I THE GREAT WAR Special

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  • čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
  • The mountains along the Italian front made for one of the most brutal and unforgiving battlefields of the World War 1, and the soldiers who fought here were tougher and more resilient than most. The Italian Alpini and the Austro-Hungarian Alpenjäger and Kaiserschützen who fought in the Dolomites waged different versions of mountain warfare, but both were subject to the harsh conditions of the peaks.
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    Stone, Norman. World War One. A Short History, Penguin, 2008.
    Keegan, John. The First World War, Vintage, 2000.
    Hastings, Max. Catastrophe 1914. Europe Goes To War, Knopf, 2013.
    Hirschfeld, Gerhard. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg, Schöningh Paderborn, 2004
    Michalka, Wolfgang. Der Erste Weltkrieg. Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, Seehamer Verlag GmbH, 2000
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Komentáře • 611

  • @monroetoolman
    @monroetoolman Před 6 lety +627

    Frozen bodies of soldiers from WW1 still come out of the glaciers from time to time.

    • @user-eo8ee7tm4w
      @user-eo8ee7tm4w Před 6 lety

      Brian Anderson

    • @oskareriksson2202
      @oskareriksson2202 Před 5 lety +77

      My father s grandpa was there. Once he was sent to cut the barbed wire with other 2. They was killed and he remained hide in a ground hole for the whole day with the water until mouth, before return in Italian trenches at night. The Austrians probably saw him but they tough he was dead maybe and didn't shooted. He was decorated later for the battle of Monte grappa too.

    • @ErickBlessed
      @ErickBlessed Před 4 lety +17

      Not just out of glaciers bro, i find traces almost everywhere in high altitude ridges of my region (Trentino - Alto Adige/South Tyrol)

    • @Bruh-hq1hx
      @Bruh-hq1hx Před 3 lety

      @@wfw4182 aah your familys cross again

    • @mrdrums007
      @mrdrums007 Před 3 lety +1

      Yea they’re completely mummified

  • @utenteutente9531
    @utenteutente9531 Před 4 lety +419

    I'm Italian and I live in the places where the war was fought. I remember as a kid we'd learn a lot about ww1 and the trench life in school, often visiting the real places. Still, if you go in the woods here and dig, you'll find tons of ammo, clips, sometimes rifles and helmets (from both sides, all stacked on top of each other, which means probably the soldiers carrying them died on the same spot fighting). I've also studied German in Austria and visited a couple of museums there about "their" side of the war. It really makes you think... never again. All of our efforts will always have to be for peace and brotherhood.
    A few months ago we had a huge storm which destroyed the land more than the war did; one of the effects was that it brought up from the ground six corpses (what was left of them...) of ww1 soldiers, four Italians and two Austro-Hungarians. Their rests were put in urns wrapped in Italian and Austrian flags and they were honoured as equal in a ceremony in Asiago, in front of Italian and Austrian representatives.

    • @Commandos9
      @Commandos9 Před 3 lety +8

      @Rish Ganjeet From Turin I can tell you that you are welcome!

    • @giorgiociaravolol1998
      @giorgiociaravolol1998 Před 2 lety +8

      Sta storia non la sapevo. Bella

    • @matthiascontinibali5283
      @matthiascontinibali5283 Před 2 lety +4

      im italian myself, but i literally live on the opposite side of italy

    • @VindicAlpha
      @VindicAlpha Před 2 lety +16

      So long as the European Union stands, never again will we risk a war between the nations of Europe.
      Lest we forget.

    • @dieterh.9342
      @dieterh.9342 Před 2 lety

      @@VindicAlpha now it is the rulers in Brussels warring against the people.

  • @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1
    @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1 Před 5 lety +203

    When we think of WW1, we tend to think of the Trenches. But as intense as the Western Front was, it was far from the only battleground. The human sacrifice in Italy, the Balkans, Middle East and Eastern Front shouldn't be overlooked.

    • @neutronalchemist3241
      @neutronalchemist3241 Před 4 lety +18

      It's little known that avalanches killed more people than poison gasses in WWI.

    • @johnnyfives5416
      @johnnyfives5416 Před 3 lety +1

      @@neutronalchemist3241 and the hostile conditions of the environment that was either hot with diseases in the middle east and Africa or cold during the winters in the mountains of Europe and on the eastern fronts with hungry wolves and being frozen to death.

    • @Agent_3141
      @Agent_3141 Před rokem +6

      Just playing Isonzo you can really feel how intense fighting up a mountain was. It's probably my favorite front now

    • @FlagAnthem
      @FlagAnthem Před rokem +1

      well, in Italy we do think of the trenches as well
      just in the snows of the Alps and the rocky Carso mountains.
      and the Carabinieri in second line ready to shot at those who would refuse to bayonet charge into machine guns

    • @jc-xb8ve
      @jc-xb8ve Před rokem

      And the east Africa campaign! We know at least 4000 African porters died in service of the British campaign

  • @jeroldproductions6367
    @jeroldproductions6367 Před 6 lety +651

    What worse than being shot?
    Being shot after climbing A REALLY BIG HILL.

    • @SigEpBlue
      @SigEpBlue Před 6 lety +17

      At least it gets you out in the fresh air. :3

    • @connormac4401
      @connormac4401 Před 6 lety +31

      Oh hey! I finally made it! It was a long and harsh climb wasn't it :D
      *gets shot*
      *fall off the cliff*

    • @jeroldproductions6367
      @jeroldproductions6367 Před 6 lety

      SigEpBlue Mind that gas!

    • @nightbandit1260
      @nightbandit1260 Před 6 lety +4

      Jerold Productions omg i hate that when playing battlefield 1. i get up a big hill. die. and have to run it up again and probably die again

    • @randoaccount4744
      @randoaccount4744 Před 6 lety +2

      Brother Romeo Bare. Whoa why? Actually whats the story behind it?

  • @pedrorocha4817
    @pedrorocha4817 Před 2 lety +33

    I won't be coming home
    I won't be going anywhere
    I will guard this post forever
    Here on the Alpine slope, where I did my final stand I shall remain
    Among the ice and snow that binds me to this mountain
    A force of nature too strong, sent from above
    Where spirits lead the way, the winds will never fade
    White Friday, I'll take the
    Stairway to heaven
    I'm sky high, when I die
    I'll be immortal
    Forever, I never
    I won't return to
    Blood mountain, I am the
    Soldier of heaven
    I saw the end of war
    I watched the soldiers come and go
    And I kept my watch forever
    So many brave men fell in the battles that were raging down below
    I have seen it all but none will hear my story
    All of these years I have been frozen in time
    I cried for spring to come but here
    Winter remain!
    White Friday, I'll take the
    Stairway to heaven
    I'm sky high, when I die
    I'll be immortal
    Forever, I never
    I won't return to
    Blood mountain, I am the
    Soldier of heaven
    I always dreamed that I would, serve high above
    Where spirits lead the way, the winds will never fade
    White Friday, I'll take the
    Stairway to heaven
    I'm sky high, when I die
    I'll be immortal
    Forever, I never
    I won't return to
    Blood mountain, I am the
    Soldier of heaven
    White Friday, I'll take the
    Stairway to heaven
    I'm sky high, when I die
    I'll be immortal
    Forever, I never
    I won't return to
    Blood mountain, I am the
    Soldier of heaven
    ("Soldier of Heaven" - Sabaton)

    • @CaptainRex712
      @CaptainRex712 Před 20 dny +1

      Respect to those who are eternally patrolling the Alps

  • @dbzfanexwarbrady
    @dbzfanexwarbrady Před 6 lety +255

    - 2 terrain penalty

    • @Shaeris
      @Shaeris Před 6 lety +34

      Attacker may get a crossing penalty
      -3

    • @oblo7389
      @oblo7389 Před 4 lety +6

      Depending on your general’s maneuver skill

    • @skiactive1830
      @skiactive1830 Před 3 lety +2

      Hoi4

    • @skiactive1830
      @skiactive1830 Před 3 lety +1

      @Registeel on CZcams aighhht sry

    • @indy_go_blue6048
      @indy_go_blue6048 Před 2 lety

      Ax1/2, Dx2... if entrenched or fortified on mountainous terrain Dx2x2.

  • @brianfuller7691
    @brianfuller7691 Před 4 lety +122

    My grandfather fought here and it was as beastly as you'd imagine. This was tough fighting with tough blokes. Alpini were badasses but so were the Austrians.

    • @davidecavina9138
      @davidecavina9138 Před 2 lety +22

      You're right both Alpini and Austrians were badasses on these front, but every men who fought this war was brave because it certainly took bravery to charged an entrenched position firing at you with machine guns or climbing a mountain fired upon by snipers and with possible avalanches. Such a shame that all this brave men fought and died for such a senseless war.

    • @tszirmay
      @tszirmay Před 2 lety +15

      Mine as well, a Hungarian captain in the Austrian artillery. When I was a child, he told me countless stories about the mountain warfare , the brutal conditions and the hardship that both sides endured.

    • @gladiatordude3723
      @gladiatordude3723 Před 2 lety

      @@tszirmay your grandfather?

    • @tszirmay
      @tszirmay Před 2 lety +1

      @@gladiatordude3723 yes, he passed away in the late 70s

    • @dusk6159
      @dusk6159 Před rokem

      @@tszirmay The hungarians and also troops like the slovenians and the bosnians! Or the italians levied in the austro-hungarian army to fight in the Carpatians in the East.

  • @oblo7389
    @oblo7389 Před 4 lety +45

    My great grandfather fought as a captain of the alpini. He was part of the esploratori, scouts if you may. He got gassed but survived, was sent back to the mountains. When the war ended he had to spend 2 years in Tripoli, because even Sicilian winters were too harsh for his lungs. He luckily recovered and lived till 1985, when he died aged 86. I’ll spare you the math. He was born in 1899, and enlisted as a volunteer in 1915, aged 16

    • @davidfiorini6416
      @davidfiorini6416 Před 3 lety +2

      Grande bisnonno!

    • @FlagAnthem
      @FlagAnthem Před rokem +2

      a '99 kid, the class sent to save Italy

    • @dusk6159
      @dusk6159 Před rokem +2

      @@FlagAnthem Not exactly save because the dozens upon dozens of italian divisions of all the combat-ready and veteran armies of the nation managed to comfortably halt and defeat the austro-germans on the battles at the Piave without the iconic and mythical 99' class being ready and prepared.

  • @alejococa00
    @alejococa00 Před 4 lety +46

    My great grandfather fought on the Italian side and told my grandmother that at a certain point they stopped receiving supplies and to survive they had to eat roots and hunt rats in temperatures always under to 0 degrees, luckily he survived and after that he went to live in Argetina where he met my great grandmother

  • @Patrick_3751
    @Patrick_3751 Před 6 lety +441

    So...did no one notice the dog being lifted up the mountainside under the artillery piece at 3:08?
    This is why the Italian Front is one of my favorite fronts of World War I as the troops fighting there had to be either complete bad asses or completely crazy. In many ways the Italian Front was way worse than the Western or Eastern Fronts.

  • @TheNilais
    @TheNilais Před 6 lety +386

    Give an alpino a bottle of grappa and he will level a mountain with bare hands

    • @ringo1692
      @ringo1692 Před 6 lety +17

      TheNilais heck, I'll level a mountain if you gave me a bottle of grappa 😂😂😂

    • @gromit8023
      @gromit8023 Před 6 lety +10

      id level a mountin not to have to drink it again :)

    • @TheNilais
      @TheNilais Před 6 lety +9

      HERESY

    • @Aleksitaly92
      @Aleksitaly92 Před 6 lety +10

      You clearly don't know what you are talking about, but I get that it's a strong liquor for some people

    • @bernarrcoletta7419
      @bernarrcoletta7419 Před 5 lety +11

      Back when I was a kid, the grappa could be so bad, we called it Veleno (poison), because sometimes they allowed too much woody matter which resulted in a high methanol content. People who drank too much could go blind.
      Grappa has come a long way since then. I’ll take a bottle of Nonino Picolit, thank you.

  • @Agent_3141
    @Agent_3141 Před rokem +59

    Playing this in Isonzo really gives you the scope of how intense having to fight up a mountain was. This is probably my favorite front of the war

    • @Skullkan6
      @Skullkan6 Před rokem +4

      Isonzo is really underrated. Land level maps are brutal, but mountain fighting varies between safety and sudden ambushes and death from sharpshooters far above you, little cover and luck. Albeit Isonzo ommits the weather and climate, which was a huge factor.

    • @dusk6159
      @dusk6159 Před rokem +3

      The italians and the austro-hungarians fought the harshest front ever, what a sacrifice, and a high toll also on the armies' systems.

  • @Matteo-ks6fn
    @Matteo-ks6fn Před 2 lety +19

    To us italians Alpini are an institution, respected, admired and - why not? - feared: tough and resilient as mountain people, trained and disciplined as soldiers.
    Alpini, side by side to others, are fist to go and, when needs arises, you see them - on active duty or retired - set up camps to shelter and feed people even abroad.
    We may have not reknown and movie worthy units as SEAL Team 6 or Delta Force or SAS but we have some same level we can count on and love deservingly.

  • @kingoftrash461
    @kingoftrash461 Před 2 lety +5

    I won’t be coming home, I won’t be going anywhere. I will guard this post forever.

  • @Mondo762
    @Mondo762 Před 6 lety +96

    I always thought mountain warfare was crazy and brutal. You just affirmed it Indie.

  • @LuKaZz420
    @LuKaZz420 Před 2 lety +12

    The remains of my great-great grandfather are stil up there, never retrieved. To think that I was born in 1984 and I have lived a life of the current times, uni, concerts, raves, comforts and a full belly. It's a roll of the dice. My ancestor was born in 1895, 99 years before me and he perished up there fighting the King's war (Italy was a monarchy back then)...only a roll of a dice, pure chance. If I had been born a century earlier, it would have been me.
    We should reflect and not make the same mistakes of the past.
    In the Second WW, my great grandfather was sent to Soviet Russia in 1941, ended up as a POW in a labor camp in Siberia, only came back to Italy in a prisoner exchange two whole years after the war was over, he was MIA until 1945, my grandma told me they assumed he was dead...then in 1945 the Red Cross or similar told them he was alive but a POW in the Soviet Union. He came back in 1947. Obviously back then PTSD was not diagnosed, here in Italy they had a very "nice" term for shell shock, they called you a "scemo di guerra", literally a "war idiot". My grandma said all veterans who came back messed up were called that.
    He would stare into space, never talked about the war, would sometimes milk the cow, the go into a rage and throw the bucket with the milk against the wall...took to the bottle, grappa (Italian moonshine) did him in 1950 of liver failure.
    My great great uncle fought in North Africa, was captured by the British after El Alamein, ended up as a POW in Greece. He came back fine though, spoke highly of the Brits, said they were gentlemen and he even had a pipe a British officer had gifted him.
    I guess a British POW camp would get better powadvisor reviews than a Soviet one.
    To think that these days we have people freak out because they are told to stay home and watch Netflix.
    We are so bloody lucky.
    R.I.P. to all on all sides, the uniform is irrelevant, all humans under it.
    Thanks for the video,
    Luca

  • @adamlindberg1
    @adamlindberg1 Před 2 lety +6

    "Sabaton - Soldier of heaven" Brought me here 🙂

  • @TS1336
    @TS1336 Před 4 lety +23

    My grandfather's older brother, who had my exact same name and last name, went MIA in this front in august 1917. He was 19 years old and served in the 274th Italian infantry regiment.

    • @Bruh-hq1hx
      @Bruh-hq1hx Před 3 lety

      And how old are you?

    • @davidfiorini6416
      @davidfiorini6416 Před 3 lety +6

      Disperso in azione. Ma non dimenticato.
      La vera morte è solo quando nessuno si ricorda più.
      Tu continui a far vivere la memoria del fratello di tuo nonno.
      Saluti

    • @TS1336
      @TS1336 Před 3 lety +2

      @@Bruh-hq1hx 31

    • @TS1336
      @TS1336 Před 3 lety +2

      @@davidfiorini6416 ho fatto alcune ricerche e ho scoperto dove potrebbe essersi disperso

  • @zantan123
    @zantan123 Před 6 lety +22

    My grandmothers family is from Vittorio Veneto and her grandfather was an Alpini and Cavalieri and knighted later on in his career. We got to see the trenches he actually fought in when we visited a few years ago. Apparently he used to take the younger members of the family to tour his old fighting holes. I guess people dealt with PTSD differently back then lol.

    • @FlagAnthem
      @FlagAnthem Před rokem

      when there wasn't blant denial there was the mark of "scemo di guerro" (war moron); oh yeah, words used to have different meaning back then

  • @ted.angell7609
    @ted.angell7609 Před 4 lety +39

    I was inspired to visit this area a few years ago by the book Un Anno Sull’altipiano (A Year On the High Plateau), by the Italian legislator Emilio Lussu. He was called up from Sardinia and later wrote about his experience while recuperating from lung issues he suffered as a result. It’s like an Italian version of All Quiet On the Western Front in its sympathies and criticism. You can explore the trenches and artillary emplacements, and there is still war debris lying around, such as at the monument to the Catania Brigade on Monte Zebio, which to a man was wiped out by a mine explosion.

  • @julianmorrisco
    @julianmorrisco Před 4 lety +8

    My granddad (Nono) was an Alpini in WWI. He probably had PTSD, and died an alcoholic in 1975. The details in this vid give me a little insight into why his Italian Army service might have been so traumatic.

  • @matejpfajfar8039
    @matejpfajfar8039 Před 29 dny

    Hello from Slovenia! I feel sorry for poor souls, who built paths for horses an mules from the walley floors to mountain tops. It s a sight to behold, when you are walking on one of them paths... You have to see that with your own eyes, to thruly grasp the magnitude of what those soldiers built and endured. The fact, that all those paths, bunkers and fortresses were built in just few years makes me respect those people even more.

  • @marcmonnerat4850
    @marcmonnerat4850 Před 6 lety +11

    This summer I was in the _Alpi Giulie_ and virtually everywhere you have artefact of this war: foot path, holes in the rock, via ferrate, barracks, chapel, barbewires, lost cartridge and shoes, etc..Very moving. And as Indie said, these troops beeing local people from both side of the border, sometimes men had to fight relatives or friends from the other side. And after the lost battle of Caporetto, all these trops had to rushed down the valley to reach the Piave. W gli Alpini

  • @Letulily69
    @Letulily69 Před 10 měsíci +2

    "i saw the end of war, i watched the soldiers come and go and i kept my watch forever. So many great attempts in the battle that were raging down below, i have seen it all but none will hear my story"
    That lyrics from Sabaton hits hard considering that some soldier's corpse out there is frozen, some got stuck and were never able to go back down as they freezed to death.

  • @mattbarnes9296
    @mattbarnes9296 Před 2 lety +10

    Who else is watching this after hearing Sabaton's Soldier of Heaven? :D

  • @KAT-hs3xh
    @KAT-hs3xh Před 2 lety +7

    Soldier Of Heaven!

  • @pizzatime3367
    @pizzatime3367 Před 6 lety +228

    I just realised that Abyssinia is called that because it has a lot of mountains

    • @bp837
      @bp837 Před 6 lety +66

      Durr Plant Yeah, and Ethiopia literally means "dark/burnt face" in ancient greek.

    • @nostradamusofgames5508
      @nostradamusofgames5508 Před 6 lety

      lol

    • @soupycask
      @soupycask Před 6 lety +2

      Harlowe Iasingston wow... their name is racist?

    • @varana
      @varana Před 6 lety +39

      From an ancient Greek point of view, more descriptive than racist. (And it referred to all of sub-Saharan Africa, not just Ethiopia.)
      Abyssinia, OTOH, does _not_ come from "abyss". It's from the Arab al-Habash, which in turn referred to one of the peoples living there.

    • @japeking1
      @japeking1 Před 6 lety

      Hey, thats clever but have you any references to its veracity? Thanks.

  • @SirSaladhead
    @SirSaladhead Před 6 lety +49

    That photo at 7:28 gives me the chills every time, even though I know it from your patreon posts already.

    • @connormac4401
      @connormac4401 Před 6 lety +1

      Where can I find the picture :)

    • @greensheep4918
      @greensheep4918 Před 6 lety +1

      SirSaladhead it's still a cool and rather beautiful picture. I'd go as far as to say its poetic.

    • @rak2495
      @rak2495 Před 5 lety +1

      Me too

    • @ChallisVenstra
      @ChallisVenstra Před 4 lety

      Reminds me of the elk hunt here in Utah

  • @dasaggropop1244
    @dasaggropop1244 Před 4 lety +9

    this was insane. they built entire cities into the rock and the ice. my great-grandfather fought at monte pasubio.

  • @johnbrowne3518
    @johnbrowne3518 Před 4 lety +9

    The book "Infantry Attacks" has a number of chapters on what it was like to fight in the Mountains during WW1 (especially in the Carpathians).

  • @2serveand2protect
    @2serveand2protect Před 2 lety +2

    I don't think regular army soldiers today could endure those types of conditions. I knew some old Alpini and the tales of their forefathers have been preserved along the memory of the battles they fought and they are just mindblowing. You'd have to take kids from the mountains - used to live there, knowing the terrain and used to that environment, but today...most of them prefers to live in the cities. Most of those small old mountain-villages are empty or they turned into tourist attractions. Those men were epithomy of bravery, and not just as a "say-so" but LITERALLY. Just to get to the line was a major thing and once there - you either conquered or died. If you were wounded, the chances to give you medical aid were close to zero, so you'd just die on the spot. A serious wound had no chances to be threaten - you don't have hospitals at 2500-3000 metres above the sea. It's unbelievable what these men went through.

  • @ForgottenHonor0
    @ForgottenHonor0 Před 2 lety +7

    Came here after Sabaton's teaser for Soldier of Heaven!

  • @kristoffermangila
    @kristoffermangila Před 2 lety +5

    Remember all of those men who died in the mountains in the Great War. I recommend listening to Sabaton's newly released single, "Soldier of Heaven".

  • @JustaCastle
    @JustaCastle Před 6 lety +13

    Unlike the war, I don't want this series to end!

  • @chickenstudio7801
    @chickenstudio7801 Před 2 lety +6

    White friday i take the stairway to heaven

    • @aidanalvarez5486
      @aidanalvarez5486 Před 2 lety +3

      I’m sky high, when I die
      I’ll be immortal
      Forever, I never
      I won’t return to
      Blood Mountain, I am the
      Soldier of Heaven

    • @chickenstudio7801
      @chickenstudio7801 Před 2 lety +2

      @@aidanalvarez5486 [music]

    • @chickenstudio7801
      @chickenstudio7801 Před 2 lety +2

      @@aidanalvarez5486 i saw the end of war
      I watch the soildier come and go

  • @MrNicklasson87
    @MrNicklasson87 Před 2 lety +5

    Soldiers: Saints will look after us and keep us safe.
    Luigi Cadorna: Hold my cognac… while I order you to go to Isonzo…

  • @paulx7540
    @paulx7540 Před 6 lety +17

    An outstanding on - location episode. Now I really want to return to the Trentino/ Sud Tyrol. The photography of the Great War is compelling- 4:24 and 7:27. The fighting on this front was like the Western Front but fought in snow on a 45 degree uphill slope.

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  Před 6 lety +3

      +Paul there will be much more, this was just a teaser.

  • @magnumopus1628
    @magnumopus1628 Před 2 lety +7

    8:11 In Italy the term "cecchino" still means sharpshooter or sniper, it's not a military term, but more as a slang word.

  • @sgtpepper3161
    @sgtpepper3161 Před 6 lety +8

    Great video! It's insane to think what these men faced fighting one another on peaks.
    Thank you for your ongoing documentary series, gentlemen :D

  • @MrFestante
    @MrFestante Před 6 lety +15

    it's funny and quite troubling sometimes for me to think that my great-greatparents from my mother's side were Kaiserjaeger while my great-greatparents from my father's side were Alpini! probably the could have never tought that things could be end this way :D

  • @alexanderklatt9217
    @alexanderklatt9217 Před 6 lety +5

    Another great episode, thank you Great War Team.

  • @arnfinn
    @arnfinn Před 6 lety +1

    Great video. The background story to see mountain fighting in the context of mountains just being accessible is interesting. As soon as they where attainable, we found a way to fight there. Incredible.

  • @Spartan412
    @Spartan412 Před 6 lety +285

    "The already produced Mexicans were adopted by the Austro-Hungarians"
    Well then...

    • @belisarius6949
      @belisarius6949 Před 6 lety +15

      NOTW SPARTAN
      ITS THE NAME OF THE GUN ;-;

    • @Spartan412
      @Spartan412 Před 6 lety +9

      Belisarius The Historian That I know of now, just that I misclicked to the end of the show and that was the first thing I heard xD

    • @belisarius6949
      @belisarius6949 Před 6 lety +3

      NOTW SPARTAN
      XDD

    • @Spartan412
      @Spartan412 Před 6 lety +3

      Belisarius The Historian Though one can't rule out the possibility that actual Mexicans may have found a home in A-H

    • @varana
      @varana Před 6 lety +11

      Of course some did. There was no wall between A-H and Mexico.

  • @ChallisVenstra
    @ChallisVenstra Před 4 lety +3

    Loved the Hemingway quote. I just read that on tape while I mowed the lawn. Very moving.

  • @Duececoupe
    @Duececoupe Před 6 lety +2

    There's no need for TV, with channels like this! 👍👌👏

  • @randomclouds4404
    @randomclouds4404 Před 6 lety +267

    How did the millionth battle of the Isonzo go? Another huge failure by Cadorna's ghost?

    • @NerevarOfficialReal
      @NerevarOfficialReal Před 6 lety +67

      I'm telling you, the battle is going to work out for the Italians and they'll enter Austria-Hungary and make them surrender on the 712nd Battle of the Isonzo!

    • @MajinOthinus
      @MajinOthinus Před 6 lety +25

      Just wait 2 more weeks, trust me it will be worth it......

    • @blackmichael75
      @blackmichael75 Před 6 lety +4

      Inclusive. Lots of casualties, and called off after a few days.

    • @Calum_S
      @Calum_S Před 6 lety +8

      It was because the men lacked attacking spirit again. They'll have to be punished.

    • @connormac4401
      @connormac4401 Před 6 lety +6

      When you won 10 out of 11 battles of Isonzo but the 12th one is an Austrian offensive

  • @teriyakichicken1848
    @teriyakichicken1848 Před 6 lety +6

    This mountain warfare sounds so badass, they should make a game from it

  • @WadeOhWells
    @WadeOhWells Před 6 lety

    Fascinating. Thanks for all that you and the crew do.

  • @bogdan6785
    @bogdan6785 Před 6 měsíci

    A great overview of one of the less studied and quite often overlooked parts of this war. Amazing job!

  • @damianomastroiaco2457
    @damianomastroiaco2457 Před 2 lety

    We will always be grateful to you, Indy.

  • @samholdsworth3957
    @samholdsworth3957 Před 6 lety +2

    Amazing series Indy! Thanks for the history education

  • @kman1759
    @kman1759 Před 2 lety +8

    Anyone else here after listening to Soldier of Heaven?

    • @przemekbiaek2698
      @przemekbiaek2698 Před 2 lety +5

      White Friday
      I'll take the
      Stairway to Heaven
      From sky high
      When I die
      I'll be immortal

    • @erikcastro5605
      @erikcastro5605 Před 2 lety

      @@przemekbiaek2698
      Forever, I never
      I won't return to...
      Blood Mountain
      I am the... SOLDIER OF HEAVEN!

  • @TheSpritz0
    @TheSpritz0 Před 6 lety +4

    AMAZING video, a lot of work went into this!!!!

  • @neilwilson5785
    @neilwilson5785 Před rokem

    Thank you for shining a light into the terrible ordeal of these alpine warriors.

  • @manuelapollo7988
    @manuelapollo7988 Před 6 lety +3

    indiana you pronounce incredibly well italian words to be a native english speaker. and it's very beautiful you tell these stories being in the very places of the War. compliments and thank you for your lessons. thanks to you i can say i know even a bit better my country

  • @brainyskeletonofdoom7824
    @brainyskeletonofdoom7824 Před 4 lety +10

    8:10 Carcanos with optics were probably really rare, as it is estimated than no more than 2000 in total were modified (some say no more than 100). The sources are incredibly scarce on the subject, is often thought that italians had no snipers at all (but there are some pictures of them)

    • @paolocolombo174
      @paolocolombo174 Před 3 lety +2

      Carcano is the rifle used to kill President Kennedy

  • @WAMTAT
    @WAMTAT Před 6 lety

    Love your work Indy and crew. You guys rock!

  • @glennsan1998
    @glennsan1998 Před 5 lety +2

    Ever time I watch the intro i nearly cry because am reminded that how much sad stuff happened.

  • @vojtech5368
    @vojtech5368 Před 2 lety

    My great great grandfather has fought on this front, thank you for making this video

  • @theneonmage
    @theneonmage Před 2 lety +2

    I miss this show

  • @MrMrboy09
    @MrMrboy09 Před 2 lety +1

    Those tunnels dug into the mountains reminds me of the under ground cities in turkey 🇹🇷 “Why would people build these?” WAR! 😔

  • @tornadoalleyx71
    @tornadoalleyx71 Před 2 lety +4

    Sabaton brought me here

  • @morgan97475
    @morgan97475 Před rokem +1

    I was unaware of how active this area was during WW1. Very cool.

  • @michealohaodha9351
    @michealohaodha9351 Před 6 lety +2

    IMO one of the best videos to date - really insightful and informative on the troops plus their traditions and beliefs in particular. I really enjoyed it!!! The onl thing I would say is that the Kaiserjager were regular infantry regiments recruited in the mountainous Tyrol region and not specialist mountain troops. Like Salzburg's 59th 'Rainer' Regiment for example they just happened to be depoyed in the mountains to fill an existing need.

  • @ericdee6802
    @ericdee6802 Před 4 lety

    Your an excellent narration historian.
    Great video thanks for sharing ✌️

  • @nathanboolin4944
    @nathanboolin4944 Před 6 lety +5

    AMAZING CHANNEL !!! I LOVE EVERY VIDEO!!

  • @BR54966
    @BR54966 Před 4 lety

    Excellent videos, Thank you

  • @forgivenessisasixgun
    @forgivenessisasixgun Před 6 lety

    I love this channel. I absolutely love history and the all the different wars. And it's nice there is a channel dedicated to ww1

  • @andreadalcortivo747
    @andreadalcortivo747 Před 6 lety +1

    Welcome Hindy on Italian Alps
    Ty for this episode.
    Italian Dolomitic front was not an important front in WW1, but surely it was the most spectacular one.
    It's uncredible how Alpini and Kaiserjaeger fight on these awersome mountains.

  • @StormLaker
    @StormLaker Před 6 lety +1

    Hope your whole crew is feeling better. Flo says you all have the flu. Keep up the great work, I have learned FAR more here than I ever did in history class back in high school!

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  Před 6 lety +3

      +StormLaker1975 By Monday everyone should be fine again.

  • @biobomb93
    @biobomb93 Před 6 lety +8

    Have you ever heard about the songs the alpini (or their sons)still sing today?

  • @GenghisVern
    @GenghisVern Před 6 lety +1

    Excellent episode. Beautiful location shot.

  • @ApolloReloaded
    @ApolloReloaded Před 4 lety +2

    My greatgrandfather was part of an autrian batallion and after beeing shot he survived three days alone on an glacier, but went back to fighting soon after. Men on both sides on the Southern Frond were hard as you can get.

  • @jdj8168
    @jdj8168 Před 10 měsíci

    there is something so fascinating and utterly insane about this. I cant describe how this makes me feel. especially because i grew up in the lowest and flattest country in europe

  • @musicisakindofloving1081

    Best teacher ever...the secret is passion

  • @TheBladeMaster23
    @TheBladeMaster23 Před 6 lety +2

    One of the most epic episodes !! :D great job !

  • @thegoose5294
    @thegoose5294 Před 6 lety +5

    I was confused to where I need to search about WW1 history after I fail the public servant's test since there was a question about WW1.
    But after I found this channel, I can answer some question about WW1 :D
    Thanks a million, Indy and crew.

    • @belisarius6949
      @belisarius6949 Před 6 lety +1

      Winia Firmansyah
      Well this might not help.
      This channel covers every single day of World War 1.
      The answers for your test might not be easy to find.
      If you cant find your answers, maybe contact me. I can help ya out ^^

  • @ianedwards3482
    @ianedwards3482 Před 2 lety

    Great stuff, thank you

  • @Erxhyj
    @Erxhyj Před 4 lety +1

    My great grandfather fought as a Kaiserjager during ww1. His son fought and died less than 30 years later as an alpino in the battlefield. Both fought against russians, one for the Kaiser, the other for Mussolini and both in the same geographic area. Funny and deeply sad at the same time, but in my home region, in the valley where I come from (Sole valley), many families lived the same incredible experience.

  • @zulubeatz1
    @zulubeatz1 Před 3 lety

    What an excellent episode

  • @hlynnkeith9334
    @hlynnkeith9334 Před 6 lety

    Good episode. Outstanding photo and film selection.

  • @74aztlan
    @74aztlan Před 6 lety

    Excellent episode.

  • @Aviationlord7742
    @Aviationlord7742 Před 6 lety +71

    Question for out of the trenches. What was the rule regarding captured enemy weapons? I know that many allied soldiers took german Luger pistols as prizes. Were they allowed to keep them or made to turn them over to officers?

    • @oceannavagator
      @oceannavagator Před 6 lety +21

      What officers don't know didn't happen.

    • @demonprinces17
      @demonprinces17 Před 6 lety +5

      Told my grandfather was discharged with rifle.traded it for baby stuff.

    • @howardbaxter2514
      @howardbaxter2514 Před 2 lety +2

      @@oceannavagator heck even officers were probably like, “what my superior officers don’t know didn’t happen.”

  • @jpmtlhead39
    @jpmtlhead39 Před rokem

    Ive seen many photos from both sides ( Italian and Áustrian) and its very hard to grasp the hardships that all of those man were subjected.
    They were realy very Brave Man,all of them to fight in such conditions.
    Much,much worse than the trench warfare on the western front.
    Were bullets,shrapnel,avalanches,sub zero temperetures,etc,etc...a real Nightmare.
    Real heroes,all of them.
    RIP all who perish in those terrible mountains..

  • @ScipionLaurentiend
    @ScipionLaurentiend Před 6 lety

    great episode ,keep it up

  • @Lokster
    @Lokster Před 6 lety +216

    I wonder how is Conrad doing at this time of the war? Is he throwing all his incompetence in the army hes commanding on the Italian front?

    • @belisarius6949
      @belisarius6949 Před 6 lety +20

      Lokster
      As far as I know he wasnt commanding there.
      And the only one incompetent on this front were the italians as we saw in previous episodes.

    • @Lokster
      @Lokster Před 6 lety +39

      He got assigned to the South Tyrolean Army Group after he was dismissed as chief of staff. And yes the Italians were the most incompetent but the Austrians were as well, its only because Svetozar Boroević von Bojna was commanding the defence on the Isonzo river, barely holding them off with what little resources and men he had.

    • @ricv.8015
      @ricv.8015 Před 6 lety +1

      Didnt expect to meet you here

    • @Lokster
      @Lokster Před 6 lety +1

      Josef Bepp Do you watch my videos?

    • @joey8062
      @joey8062 Před 5 lety +5

      if were talking about their leadership, not their soldiers then yes they were both incompetent

  • @ziggyzagg561
    @ziggyzagg561 Před 2 lety

    MY 1st episode, subbed and liked . You have a new fan.

  • @geoffreyzwegers3711
    @geoffreyzwegers3711 Před 6 lety

    Awesome special!

  • @fleximan_army
    @fleximan_army Před 2 lety

    those soldiers had to make superhuman efforts to live and fight in that cold weather, I cannot figure how hard it was!

  • @danielefabbro822
    @danielefabbro822 Před rokem +1

    By the way, in my family we have some Alpini.
    Two of my uncles are Alpini, a third one was ant Alpini artilleryman.
    My father was in the Air Force and my older uncle in the Navy.
    My grandfather from father side was in the regular Army and the grandfather from mother side was a sharpshooter.
    The brother of my grandfather was also an Alpini artilleryman in Russia, where he died and remained until now.
    I'm the only one, the first generation of my family that was exempted to serve in the armed forces.
    Considering that my family transferred here in Friuli in 1400 from Genua, I can guess that most of them if not all fought in some wars.
    600 years of sacrifices just to give me the chances to live in peace... and I don't know what to do as civilian. 😑 I always wanted to serve too and fight for my country and my family. But the Army doesn't need me. We live in peace finally.

  • @AlanDeAnda1
    @AlanDeAnda1 Před 6 lety +2

    Wow, Indy!. This was my favorite video of the channel (up to date).That barrage at 6:50, truly apocalyptic. I can not imagine the horrible desperation of being a rappeling platoon targeted by a snipper. Nowhere to escape. Surely, that feather in the head did not help. About the Mexican rifle, yep, mexican federal army had Mausers. First they were imported from Austria and Germany, but with the outbreak of the revolution in 1910, mexican dictatorship asking permission to produce it in mexican soil under european enginners supervision. Fortunatelly, the new mexican rifles weren't determinant against revolucionarios, which had Winchester 30/30 and later 50/50 and also Colt pistols in their arsenal. By the wat, I readed some histories about horse-mounted revolucionarios charging with 2 Colts, holding the reins with their theet. Well, keep the superb work and the beautiful landscape takes. Avanti!

  • @ikhlasng
    @ikhlasng Před 4 lety +1

    The photograph at 7:28 is used by Minenwerfer as a cover for their album : Alpenpasse. One of the best album cover i've seen but probably because the photograph is so surreal.

  • @fedymatty
    @fedymatty Před 6 lety +4

    The alpini, is the best and older mountain corp in the World, my grandad was an alpino during ww2 and fought in Russia

    • @spevoljub
      @spevoljub Před 6 lety

      Not so sure about "the best."

    • @extremathule982
      @extremathule982 Před 3 lety

      @@spevoljub Who is the best, dude? According to you, of course..

    • @spevoljub
      @spevoljub Před 3 lety

      @@extremathule982 Today probably Indian and Swiss army.

    • @NoName-hg6cc
      @NoName-hg6cc Před 2 lety +1

      @@spevoljub I think Alpini still got n1 spot

    • @spevoljub
      @spevoljub Před 2 lety

      @@NoName-hg6cc Well, I dont.

  • @Klarud
    @Klarud Před 6 lety +7

    Suomalaiset mainittu!
    Tavataan torilla!
    Finns mentioned!
    See you at the town square!

  • @ronaldderooij1774
    @ronaldderooij1774 Před 6 lety

    I was in one of those positions in the Italian alps. Scary, to say the least. Do not be afraid to die an of Heights....

  • @void.defender
    @void.defender Před 6 lety +1

    Mountain warfare is the king discipline of any war

  • @OregonMinuteman
    @OregonMinuteman Před 4 lety

    Beautiful video

  • @tropifiori
    @tropifiori Před 3 lety +2

    Nothing to joke about that. 1 million dead on that front including about 500,000 Italians. Grandfather was a 17 year old kid who was drafted and sent to “ high altitude”. He had never seen snow before.The Alpini was a special forces group and a minority of the troops there.
    The suffering was amazing . Many men died of avalanches. The Austrians had pre prepared positions blasted into dolomitic rock.
    It was appalling. Grandfather would not talk about it .
    Cardona was a complete idiot.
    Frank

  • @Ed-pn9id
    @Ed-pn9id Před 6 lety

    Even though harsh I believe it was a slight bit better than drowning in mud , surrounded by corpses of both men and beast. And you knew the area and landscape. Still death is death no matter where you are. Another great segment from the Great War

    • @NoName-hg6cc
      @NoName-hg6cc Před 2 lety

      Meh. I don't know if fighting vertically, in the snow, with avalanches and the risk to be buried alive was better

  • @ulyssesthomas2184
    @ulyssesthomas2184 Před 4 lety

    Nice to see these videos are still getting views