Page 318 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

318 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

In the spring of 1915, people of Soča valley and Friuli, despite the whispering, the unrest
in official institutions and numerous guesses, still hoped for peace, or simply didn’t think at
all, that war between Italy and Austro-Hungary was thinkable. The short, mild winter and the
coming of spring had raised hopes that the war would be over by summer. Even the fortifica-
tion works along the border with Italy did not convince the people of Soča valley that Italy
was prepared for war against Austro-Hungary. This could be explained by the ignorance and
even self-deception of the population by their boundless faith in German and Austrian weap-
ons, which self-evidently excluded the possibility of an Italian war with them. It was even
more likely that people just didn’t want to believe that the Alliance would fight. However,
the numerous arrests and stricter control by the Austrian police, especially of Italian (and
Slovene) citizens, strengthened the foreboding that links between allies were crumbling.
On 23 May 1915, the people who lived along the Soča river awaited the war in their
backyards. World War I met with a peculiar response from the population, which experienced
it from the immediate vicinity of the front lines. It may be said to have been a local event
of global repercussions; forced to move constantly, the inhabitants were filled with anxiety
and compelled to make collective and individual decisions that shook the steadfast founda-
tions of the world as they knew it. The totality of war unleashed its destructive potential
most effectively on border areas, where the national identity of these territories came most
to the fore. The Slovene population faced two types of emigration during World War I, one
involved men aged between 18 and 50 were dispersed across numerous fronts, on the other
hand, there were exiled families that were scattered across the Empire and the Kingdom of
Italy respectively. Mobilisation and the militarization of everyday life were followed by ex-
pulsion and homelessness.
The beginning of hostilities on the Soča Front unleashed a widespread civilian migration
in retreat from the Italian advance towards the so-called “redeemed” provinces and the oc-
cupation of ethnic territories that did not belong to Italy but were nevertheless regarded as a
crucial strategic and security asset. The direction of evacuation was determined by the front
line. The Austrian government evacuated the Slovene population (approximately 80,000)
from the left flank of the front to Carniola, Lower Styria and Carinthia, as well as to refugee
camps in Lower Austria, while 10,000 – 12,000 Slovenes were transported to the Kingdom
of Italy. The next wave of refugees came in the wake of the Italian occupation of Gorizia
1
in August 1916. In 1917 another two refugee waves followed the Italian victories on the
Banjšice plateau in August and their breakthrough towards Bovec and Tolmin in October;
however, in this case the refugees were Friulians. The end of the war triggered yet another
wave of Slovene refugees who, after Italy had re-acquired the Slovene territories, fled to the
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.
At the dawn of 24 May 1915 the Italian Army made the first offensive move – il primo
balzo offensivo and crossed the Italian-Austrian border. The Italian occupation of Friuli and
the Soča basin progressed smoothly, without much resistance from the Austro-Hungarian
army – and also without much of the expected enthusiasm among the local population. 2

1 Petra Svoljšak, la popolazione civile nella zona di guerra. in: Camillo Pavan, Caporetto. Storia, testimo-
nianze, itinerary. Camillo Pavan, Treviso 1997, pp. 242 – 263.
2 About the occupation and the administration see: Petra Svoljšak, Soča, sveta reka. Italijanska zasedba slo-