Virtual Tour |
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VIRTUAL TOUR The economy and society between the 19th and 20th century The defence of Trentino's italian character The partecipation of the Trentino population in the wars for national unification World War I |
Following the
mobilisation order issued by Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph on July 31, 1914, approximately
60,000 Trentino men were enrolled in the Austrian army and sent to the eastern front to
fight the Russians. Here Trentino soldiers discovered the cruel aspects of modern war and
had many deaths, injured and prisoners.When the war with Italy broke out on May 24, 1915, the front
passed through Trentino, and for three years the so-called "white war" was
fought on the mountains, altering the Alpine landscape.
Not
all Trentino men fought with the Austrian army. Some of them (approximately 700) who
because of their pro-Italian convictions had evaded conscription and escaped from Trentino
in 1914, enrolled as volunteers in the Italian army.
When the Italian front opened, the towns and cities along the line of battle were evacuated within a few days. Over 30,000 people were sent towards the south by the Italian army while the Austrians sent 70,000 to the north, to the central provinces of the Empire, spread among various families or concentrated in the so-called "wooden" cities. Another 1,700 Trentino people, suspected of being pro-Italian, were imprisoned in the Katzenau camp. For over three years the refugees lived in exile, far from their own homes, often living in extreme poverty. The other half of Trentino, the half that stayed at home, had to undergo the laws of economics and the codes of war: requisitioning, food rationing and the militarization of civilian life. On November 3, 1918 Italian troops entered Trento; the war was over and Trentino, after the Austrian defeat, was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.
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