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Page 12
The entire chamber, and all those occupying the other tribunes, rose and
applauded for five minutes, crying "Viva D'Annunzio!" Later thousands
sent him their cards and in return received his autograph bearing the
date of this eventful day. Se�or Marcora, President of the Chamber,
took his place at three o'clock. All the members of the House, and
everybody in the galleries, stood up to acclaim the old follower of
Garibaldi. Premier Salandra, followed by all the members of the Cabinet,
entered shortly afterward. It was a solemn moment. Then a delirium of
cries broke out.
"Viva Salandra!" roared the Deputies, and the cheering lasted for a long
time. After the formalities of the opening, Premier Salandra, deeply
moved by the demonstration, arose and said:
"Gentlemen, I have the honor to present to you a bill to meet the
eventual expenditures of a national war."
The announcement was greeted by further prolonged applause. The
Premier's speech was continually interrupted by enthusiasm, and at times
he could hardly continue on account of the wild cheering. The climax was
reached when he made a reference to the army and navy. Then the cries
seemed interminable, and those on the floor of the House and in the
galleries turned to the military tribune from which the officers
answered by waving their hands and handkerchiefs.
At the end of the Premier's speech there were deafening vivas for the
King, war and Italy. Thirty-four Socialists refused to join the cheers,
even in the cry "Viva Italia!" and they were hooted and hissed.
The action of the Italian Government created intense feeling. A
newspaper man in Vienna, describing the Austrian indignation, said:
"The exasperation and contempt which Italy's treacherous surprise attack
and her hypocritical justification aroused here, are quite
indescribable. Neither Serbia nor Russia, despite a long and costly war,
is hated. Italy, however, or rather those Italian would-be politicians
and business men who offer violence to the majority of peaceful Italian
people, are unutterably hated." On the other hand German papers spoke
with much more moderation and recognized that Italy was acting in an
entirely natural manner.
On the very day on which war was declared active operations were begun.
Both sides had been making elaborate preparations. Austria had prepared
herself by building strong fortifications in which were employed the
latest technical improvements in defensive warfare. Upon the Garso and
around Gorizia the Austrians had placed innumerable batteries of
powerful guns mounted on rails and protected by armor plates. They also
had a great number of medium and smaller guns. A net of trenches had
been excavated and constructed in cement all along the edge of the hills
which dominated the course of the Isonzo River.
These trenches, occupying a position nearly impregnable because so
mountainous, were defended by every modern device. They were protected
with numerous machine guns, surrounded by wire entanglements through
which ran a strong electric current. These lines of trenches followed
without interruption from the banks of the Isonzo to the summit of the
mountains which dominate it; they formed a kind of formidable staircase
which had to be conquered step by step with enormous sacrifice.
During this same period General Cadorna, then head of the Italian army,
had been bringing that army up to date, working for high efficiency and
piling up munitions.
The Army of Italy was a formidable one. Every man in Italy is liable to
military service for a period of nineteen years from the age of twenty
to thirty-nine.
At the time of the war the approximate war strength of the army was as
follows: Officers, 41,692; active army with the colors, 289,910;
reserve, 638,979; mobile militia, 299,956; territorial militia,
1,889,659; total strength, 3,159,836. The above number of total men
available included upward of 1,200,000 fully trained soldiers, with
perhaps another 800,000 partially trained men, the remaining million
being completely untrained men. This army was splendidly armed, its
officers well educated, and the men brave and disciplined.
The Italian plan of campaign apparently consisted first, in neutralizing
the Trentino by capturing or covering the defenses and cutting the two
lines of communication with Austria proper, the railway which ran south
from Insbruck, and that which ran southwest from Vienna and joined the
former at Fransensfets; and second, in a movement in force on the
eastern frontier, with Trieste captured or covered on the right flank in
the direction of the Austrian fortress at Klagenfurt and Vienna.
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