Innocenti, Claudio Roberto2024-04-122024https://hdl.handle.net/2097/44253This dissertation counters the general perception of Italian military ineffectiveness in the 19th and 20th centuries to argue in favor of the political values of military disasters. Major defeats at Adwa in 1896 and Caporetto in 1917 enabled the Kingdom of Italy to gain more political leverage over both allies and rivals in a way that was not possible before those failures. In particular, a special relationship with Great Britain provided the opportunity for Italian politicians to manipulate stronger states from a position of weakness. Thus, battlefield disasters provide the impetus for nations to embark on internal reforms and to secure international support to redress a state of temporary weakness.en-US© the author. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/Italian military historyStrategic cultureDefeatsDissertation