The Italian generals of the Great War - C-Z

The Italian Generals of the Great War, C-Z (original title: I generali italiani della Grande Guerra, C-Z) is an essay published by historians Paolo Gaspari, Paolo Pozzato and Ferdinando Scala in 2019, with an introduction by historian Filippo Cappellano and published in collaboration with the History Office of the Italian Army. It is the second volume of an encyclopedic series dedicated to the biographies of over six hundred Italian general officers who fought in the Great War on the Italian front and abroad, and concludes the work begun in 2011 with the publication of The Italian Generals of the Great War, A-B. The second volume in the series I generali italiani della Grande guerra completes a biographical reconstruction begun by Gaspari and Pozzato in 2011 and aimed at filling an important gap in Italian historiography. The collective imagination of the First World War on the Italian front and, in part, the historiography developed on it up to the early years of the 21st century, has identified the ruling class of the Italian Royal Army as being primarily responsible for the high number of casualties in the conflict. This criticism, which came mainly from historians and memoirists with an anti-militarist culture, emphasized the negative aspects of the conflict, such as defeats like the retreat of Caporetto and extreme disciplinary aspects like summary shootings. This production also had important moments for the construction of the public reading of the First World War, as for example through the film Uomini contro by Francesco Rosi. In this, as in other works, the criticism of general officers was particularly determined by the need to demolish the imagery linked to militarism and interventionism, themes dear to the Fascist Regime in particular. Until the appearance of the first volume of the series, the only biographical source available to scholars was the various editions of the Military Encyclopaedia (original title: Enciclopedia Militare), compiled during the Fascist period, which from a scientific point of view was at times too laudatory and certainly incomplete, since it lacked the profiles of all generals opposed to the regime, as well as those of Jewish origin.