Battle of Vittorio Veneto
Launched on 24 October 1918 — the first anniversary of Caporetto, deliberately chosen — General Armando Diaz's offensive across the Piave broke the Austro-Hungarian army within a week and ended the war on the Italian Front. Italian, British, and French forces crossed the river, split the Austrian front, and took the town of Vittorio Veneto on 30 October as the imperial army dissolved: whole regiments of Czechs, Croats, Hungarians, and Poles refused to fight for an empire that was visibly disintegrating behind them, and over 350,000 prisoners were taken. Austria-Hungary signed the Armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918, effective the next day — a week before Germany's capitulation — by which time Czechoslovakia and the South Slav state had already declared independence and revolution had broken out in Vienna and Budapest. Vittorio Veneto completed the destruction of the Habsburg monarchy and gave Italy its victory, though the peace settlement's denial of Dalmatia would soon transform triumph into the nationalist myth of 'mutilated victory.'
- Year: 1918 CE
- Category: Military
