Armistice of Villa Giusti

The Armistice of Villa Giusti or Padua ended warfare between Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front during World War I. The armistice was signed on 3 November 1918 in the Villa Giusti, outside Padua in the Veneto, Northern Italy, and took effect 24 hours later.^[1]

Nov 4, 1918, US media coverage of Austria-Hungary exiting WWI

Background

By the end of October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Army was so fatigued that its commanders were forced to seek a ceasefire. By 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was tearing itself apart under ethnic lines, and if the Dual Monarchy were to survive, it needed to withdraw from the war.

In the final stage of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, a stalemate was reached, and the troops of Austria-Hungary started a chaotic withdrawal. On 28 October, Austria-Hungary began to negotiate a truce but hesitated to sign the text of the armistice. In the meantime, the Italians reached Trento and Udine, and landed in Trieste. After a threat to break off negotiations, the Austro-Hungarians, on 3 November, accepted the armistice.

Terms

The ceasefire would start at 15:00 on 4 November, but a unilateral order of the Austro-Hungarian High Command made its forces stop fighting on 3 November.

The armistice required Austria-Hungary's forces to evacuate not only all territory occupied since August 1914 but also South Tirol, Tarvisio, the Isonzo Valley, Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, western Carniola, and part of Dalmatia. All German forces would be expelled from Austria-Hungary within 15 days or interned, and the Allies were to have the free use of Austria-Hungary's internal communications. Austria-Hungary was also to allow the transit of the Triple Entente armies to reach Germany from the South.^[2] In November 1918, the Italian Army, with 20,000 to 22,000 soldiers, began to occupy Innsbruck and all North Tyrol.^[3]

After the war, Italy annexed Southern Tyrol (now Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol), according to the secret Treaty of London, as well as Trieste, Austrian Littoral and part of Dalmatia (Zadar, Lastovo, Palagruža).^[4]

Signatories

Italy

• Tenente Generale Pietro Badoglio
• Maggior Generale Scipione Scipioni
• Colonnello Tullio Marchetti
• Colonnello Pietro Gazzera
• Colonnello Pietro Maravigna
• Colonnello Alberto Pariani
• Capitano di Vascello Francesco Accinni

Austria-Hungary

• General Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau
• Oberst Karl Schneller
• Fregattenkapitän Johannes Prinz von und zu Liechtenstein
• Oberstleutnant J.V. Nyékhegyi
• Korvettenkapitän Georg Ritter von Zwierkowski
• Oberstleutnant i.G. Victor Freiherr von Seiller
• Hauptmann i.G. Camillo Ruggera

See also

• Bollettino della Vittoria, Italian General Armando Diaz's victory speech
• Treaty of Trianon, the resulting treaty

References

1. Armistice Convention with Austria-Hungary
2. Cervone, Pier Paolo (1994). Vittorio Veneto, l'ultima battaglia (in Italian). Milano: Mursia (Gruppo Editoriale). ISBN 88-425-1775-5.
3. Di Michele, Andrea. (PDF) (in Italian). pp. 436–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
4. Moos, Carlo (2017), "Südtirol im St. Germain-Kontext", in Georg Grote and Hannes Obermair (ed.), A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915–2015, Oxford-Berne-New York: Peter Lang, pp. 27–39, ISBN 978-3-0343-2240-9

• Antonello Biagini, Giovanna Motta, The First World War: Analysis and Interpretation, Volume 1, p. 100
• John Gooch, The Italian Army and the First World War, p. 299
• Bullitt Lowry, Armistice 1918, p. 112
• Manfried Rauchensteiner, The First World War and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918, p. 1005

External links

• Text of the armistice