ITALY.
ALTHOUGH during recent days public attention has been mostly concentrated on the Somme and the Dobrudja, important events have also been taking place upon the Italian front. On the Cdrso, after a pause of several weeks due to the necessity of making new roads to bring up heavy guns, the Italians have pressed forward in the direction of Trieste, and have gained a considerable extent of territory and taken many prisoners. They have also made considerable advances in the Cadore district, capturing new points in this maze of mountains, and securing the command of valleys which may be of very great importance for the further development of this mountain campaign. Italy, in fact, has, like the rest of the Entente Powers, definitely assumed the offensive all along the line, and has proved her capacity to maintain it. It is this latter point to which perhaps most importance should be attached. Englishmen and all Northerners are rather inclined to assume that the Southerner is good for a sudden dash, but cannot maintain a steady fight. The history of the Italian war against Austria has demonstrated that this hasty generalization is unsound. The most striking fact about the Italian campaign on the Carso, in the Cadore, and in the Trentino has been the persistence with which the Italians have held on in face of tremendous natural difficulties. From the outset the Austrians have had the advantage of the ground. The Italians have been compelled to climb hills, in many cases almost as precipitous as the sides of houses, in the face of Austrian fire, but by persistent efforts they have accomplished this apparently impossible task, and have gradually won their way from point to point. This great military effort is significant of the spirit of the Italian people at the present time. Italy is essentially a young nation as the nations of Western Europe go, but she is keenly conscious of her national unity and filled with hope for her national future. To the English or French visitor Italy may still represent the home of artistic treasures belonging to past ages ; to the Italian himself Italy represents a new country with tremendous present and future possibilities. The war itself has done much to strengthen and to bring into the open sentiments and aspirations which were previously to some extent latent. It is common knowledge that during the long years of peace which preceded the present war Germany had acquired an extraordinary control over Italian finance and commerce and industry. From the purely material point of view the services which Germany rendered to Italy in the process of acquiring that control were doubtless valuable. German industrial methods were introduced to facilitate the development of Italian industries ; German machinery was set up in Italian factories, with the result that Italy before the war was beginning to become an industrial as well as an agricultural country. But the Italians felt that the German, though a helper, was also a master, and their .pride revolted at the fact. At the same time, their experience of what Germany had done gave them a clearer insight into what Germany could. do than we ourselves possessed. When war 'broke out in August, 1914, there were many Englishmen who thought it would be a brief war, and that Germany and Austria would quickly be crushed by the united military forces of France and Russia and the Navy of Great Britain. There 'were no Italians who entertained that delusion ; they knew the strength of Germany, and no one is entitled to blame them ,for pausing before challenging that strength. When the challenge was first given nine months after the beginning of war, it was nominally directed against Austria only ; but it is hardly necessary to point out that in declaring war against Austria the Italians ran the risk of a German declaration of war aaainst themselves. They ran the risk, not at a time when the fortunes of the Central Powers were at a low ebb, but at a time when the British and French forces were absolutely blocked on the Western Front and the Russian advance from the East had been brought to a pause. Within less than a fortnight after the Italian declaration of war on Austria the Austro-Germans recaptured Przemysl. The Italians are therefore more than justified in saying that they did not sit on the fence till they -could see which side was winning, but took their fortune in their hands and risked their fate for the causes which they -held dear.
-That popular sentiment in Italy wangreatly moved by the atrocious methods employed by Germany in the war there can be little doubt ; but in order to obtain a just view of the whole situation it is better to assume that the main purpose which prompted Italy to engage in war was the determination to strike a blow for the realization of her national ambitions. The memory of the days of the Austrian occupation of Northern Italy created a special reason why Austria should be selected as the enemy. But it is now generally known that the Italians also had their special grievances against Germany. Not only was there the feeling that Germany had acquired too dominant an influence in Italian commerce and industry, but there was the recollection of the trick which Germany had played upon • Italy in connexion with Libya. It is possible that the Libyan War would never have occurred if the Italians had not dis- covered that Germany was making a secret arrangement with Turkey for the lease of that slice of Northern Africa which the Italians had long marked down as their special sphere of influence. That is the kind of way in which Germany treats her allies, and by itself it fully justified the decision of the Italian people to break with the Central Powers. In this country the failure of Italy to follow up her attack on Austria by a definite declaration of war against Germany was more than a twelve months' puzzle. But the Italian reply is not an unreasonable one. The Italians argue that they had honourably taken the risk of a German declaration of war against them, and that if Germany did not choose to take up their challenge it was not incumbent upon them to take any further steps to provoke the active hostility of Germany. In particular, they feared that Germany might violate Swiss neutrality by pouring troops down through the St. Gothard Tunnel into the plains of Lombardy. Meanwhile in all essen- tials the two countries were at war. German shipping in Italian ports was sequestrated, and though no German military units were used as such against the Italians, a considerable number of individual German soldiers fought in the Austrian ranks. The official declaration of war by Italy against Germany only gave legal form to existing facts.
To Englishmen, who have always had in their hearts a peculiarly warm place for Italy, it is specially satisfactory to note that the history of the war, so far as it has gone, has been one of almost uninterrupted success for our Italian Allies. The one interruption was the attempt of the Austrians to break through into the plain—an attempt which nearly succeeded, but was baffled by the splendid leadership of General Cadorna. From the moment that this Austrian attack failed the Italians have pushed on steadily from one success to another. Nor have their successes been confined to the battlefield. The war has proved for Italy almost an industrial revolution. German control of Italian industries and com- merce has of necessity come to an end so far as it was open and above-board, and has been reduced to a minimum so far as it was covert. At the same time the Italians, thrown back upon their own resources, hive found that those resources were sufficient to enable them to produce, or to acquire from the outer world, practically everything which they had previously drawn from Germany. They have become to a greater extent than ever before an organized industrial nation. At this moment Italy is manufacturing munitions of war not only for herself but also for Russia. She is manufacturing accessories of war, such as motor-cars, motor-wagons, and submarine engines, for all the Allies ; and incidentally she is building up a large population of skilled operatives, male and female, who will be able to carry on the industries of peace when the war ends. Whatever else the war may produce, it will certainly have created a richer, a stronger, and a more united Italy than existed before, and the Italians will have the proud conscious- ness that this result will have been due mainly to their own energy and to their courage in taking the right decision at the critical moment.
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