First World War.com - Battles - The Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, 1916

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Austria-Hungary Emperor Franz-Josef Battles: The Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, 1916
Updated - Tuesday, 22 January, 2002

The Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, fought briefly from 10-12 October 1916, was essentially a continuation of attempts made during the Seventh Battle of the Isonzo (14-17 September 1916) to extend the bridgehead established at Gorizia during the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in August 1916.

For a single-article background to the Isonzo battles click here.

Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna was determined to continue Italian attacks to the left of the town, a policy that continued during the following (ninth) battle - with an equal lack of success.

As with the earlier, Sixth, attack, heavy Italian casualties required that the short, sharp concentrated initiative be called off pending the army's recuperation.

The seemingly interminable Isonzo onslaught was next renewed with the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo on 1 November 1916, the fifth and final attack of the year.

Click here to view a map charting the progress of the first eleven battles of the Isonzo.

Photograph courtesy of Photos of the Great War website.

Russia mobilised 12 million men during the war; France 8.4 million; Britain 8.9 million; Germany 11 million; Austria-Hungary 7.8 million; Italy 5.6 million; and the USA 4.3 million.