From Caporetto to Garibaldiland : interventionist war culture as a culture of defeat

Abstract

This article traces the evolution of interventionist war culture during the period beginning with the defeat of Caporetto and ending with the occupation of Fiume. As a result of the invasion of Italy, interventionists were subject to a cultural crisis concerning the meaning of the war. It is argued here that this cultural crisis may be conceptualised as a culture of defeat. Understanding culture as fluid and existing in a state of tension with itself, the article shows how the intersection of interventionists' war culture with military and political events produced cultural phases allowing interventionists to understand and respond to their volatile experience.