<P> Italy fought mostly against Austria - Hungary along the northern border, including high up in the now - Italian Alps and along the Isonzo river . The Italian army repeatedly attacked, making little progress and suffering heavy losses, and then forced to retreat in 1917 by a German - Austrian counteroffensive after Russia left the war allowing the Central Powers to move reinforcements to the Italian Front from the Eastern Front . </P> <P> In October 1918 the Italians attacked again . The Austrian army broke, and the Italians drove deep into Austrian territory, leading to the collapse of Austria - Hungary . Fighting ended on 11th November 1918 . Italy and the Allies had been victorious . Italian armed forces were also involved in the Western Front and in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I . At the end of World War I, Italy was recognized a permanent seat in the League of Nations' executive council along with Britain, France and Japan . </P> <P> Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria - Hungary . Despite this, in the years before the war, Italy had enhanced its diplomatic relationships with the United Kingdom and France . This was because the Italian government had grown convinced that support of Austria (the traditional enemy of Italy during the 19th century Risorgimento) would not gain Italy the territories it wanted: Trieste, Istria, Zara and Dalmatia, all Austrian possessions . In fact, a secret agreement signed with France in 1902 sharply conflicted with Italy's membership in the Triple Alliance . </P> <P> A few days after the outbreak of the war, on 3 August 1914, the government, led by the conservative Antonio Salandra, declared that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria - Hungary had been the aggressor . Thereafter Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs, Sidney Sonnino, began to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war or its neutrality . Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti) was firmly against intervention, numerous intellectuals, including Socialists such as Ivanoe Bonomi, Leonida Bissolati, and, after 18 October 1914, Benito Mussolini, declared in favour of intervention, which was then mostly supported by the Nationalist and the Liberal parties . Pro-interventionist socialists believed that, once that weapons had been distributed to the people, they could have transformed the war into a revolution . </P>

What year did italy switch sides in ww1