1-276-212 - Art Media/Heritage Images

Austrian soldiers, Austro-Italian war, Battle of the Isonzo, World War I, 1915. After declaring war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 23 May 1915, the Italians launched an unsuccessful offensive in the Isonzo Valley in what is today Slovenia. Because of the predominantly mountainous terrain of the frontier, the Isonzo Valley was the only location suitable for large-scale operations and over the next two years a total of twelve battles were fought in the area, with around 500,000 casualties. A photograph from Der Grosse Krieg in Bildern.