ABSTRACT
The Battle of Caporetto has two main aspects . The first is represented by the victory which followed the Austro-German breakthrough along the Isonzo Valley in October 1 9 1 7 - an event of unexpected magnitude even for the Supreme Commands of the Central Powers. However, the success of the Austro-German armies in northeast Italy was short-lived and became in essence a Pyrrhic victory. Not surprisingly, 70 years after Caporetto, even an Austrian historian described the offensive as such. 1 By contrast, shortly after the end of the First World War, General Krauss used the term 'miracle ' to describe the whole operation, entitling his 1926 book Das Wunder von Karfreit.
