ABSTRACT

A unique perspective on the Soca (Isonzo) Valley’s conflict landscape in the early post-First World War years is described and analysed through the account of a battlefield tour undertaken by five British army officers in 1923. The battlefield tour was also a journey through a new political landscape, as the valley was hitherto part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but was firmly in the grip of the Italian victors of the war. An integral part of this was that sites visited by the British tour were also destinations for Italian veterans who regarded their visits as commemorative pilgrimages which reinforced the post-war process of Italianisation. British battlefield tourists, some travelling in organised groups, others alone, came from a broad cross-section of society—the bereaved, former and serving soldiers, and the relatives and friends of those who had fought and died. Soldiers have always visited former battlefields.