There are years in history that, more than others, are used as symbols to indicate a sea change, before and after. In the year 476 the Roman Empire crumbled and this led to the start of the long period of the Middle Ages. In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent and opened the way for the modern era.
Although historians refuse to accept such a clear-cut division, these dates have by now acquired a precise meaning. Similarly, the year 1914 can easily be included among the group of these moments that are also symbols. In that year a whole chain of events set off that involved much of the world and changed it radically: it was the Great War. Without any exaggeration, it can be claimed that this was one of the most tragic and violent episodes in the whole history of mankind: "Peace meant the years before 1914: after this year there came an era that will never deserve the adjective peaceful." (Eric Hobsbawn, "Il Secolo breve - 1914 - 1919", BUR, Milan, page 34).
Millions of people in Europe, Asia, America and Africa were involved directly or indirectly in this conflict. The plains, the hills, the plateaus, the mountains, the seas and even the skies became battlefields. The numbers were frightening: about ten million casualties (of whom at least 650,000 were Italians), more than eighteen million were wounded and seven million were taken prisoner or were lost (data given by Gianni Pieropan, "Storia della Grande Guerra sul fronte italiano", Mursia, Milan, 2009, pages 850-851). Only the Second World War was more terrifying.
Certainly one should not be led to think that from one moment to another, in the summer of 1914, the European powers decided to declare war against each other. Indeed, the year 1914 witnessed an explosion of all the tensions that had been accumulating over the years. For several decades the leading states (England, France and Germany above all) were busily engaged in challenging each other and in competing against each other in the political, economic and technological fields by means of imperialism, colonialism and the innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution. At the social level there was instead an emergence of new movements and currents of thought that were destined to take over the future such as nationalism (especially in the "old" Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires) and socialism. After years of tension, challenges and small wars, Europe in 1914 "in a few hours fell into the abyss" (Fernand Braudel, "Il mondo attuale" in Luciano Canfora, "1914", Sellerio, Palermo, page 16).
And what about Italy? In 1914 Italy was "an interested spectator". Less developed economically and having less influence when compared to other European powers, Italy initially kept away although it was linked to Germany and to Austria-Hungary under the pact of the Triple Alliance. Subsequently, enticed by the proposals of the other countries, Italy decided to join the fray in May 1915. In this way, like the rest of Europe, the course of history changed even for Italy.
