November 13th, 1915 - The Fourth Battle of Isonzo

Conflict: World War I

Combatants: Austro-Hungarians vs. Italians

Location: Slovenia

Outcome: Austrian victory

Following almost immediately on the heels of the Third Battle of Isonzo (October 18th to November 4th, 1915), in the Fourth Battle of Isonzo the Italians resumed the offensive to push back General Svetozar Borojevic von Bojna's Austrians near the Isonzo River. Both the Third and Fourth battles ended without success. The Italians, commanded by Generals Pietro Frugoni and Emanuele Filiberto, lost 117,000 men in the fighting; the Austrians 72,000.

Italian troops at the Isonzo River by an unknown photographer

Points of Interest:

• Between August 1916 and September of 1917, there would be six more Battles of Isonzo; all of which resulted in little more than thousands of additional casualties.

• The Isonzo battles would finally come to an end in November of 1917 when a German offensive forced the Italians to retreat to the Piave River.

Svetozar Boroëvić von Bojna 1914 by an unknown photographer

Generale Pietro Frugoni by an unknown photographer

Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, duca d'Aosta (Duke of Aosta) by an unknown photographer

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Sources:

Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).

Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.

Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Ellis, John, & Cox, Michael (2001). The World War I Databook. Bodmin, UK: MPG Books Ltd.

Keegan, John (2001). An Illustrated History of the First World War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.