In 2018, as part of centenary observances of World War 1, a monument unveiled at Fiume Road Graveyard in Budapest. This became the first national memorial erected commemorating the efforts Hungarians undertook during the Great War. Government officials noted the memorial was in line with a fundamental theme of the nation: to restore historical continuity broken during the Nazi and Communist occupations.
Continue reading
Ravelnik and Čelo are two open-air museums allowing visitors a chance to visit spaces where soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army defended the Bovec basin from invading Italian troops from the end of May 1915 until the end of October 1917. The two sites restored by locals and the Slovene government are different in what they offer as well as their original purpose with regard to their roles in holding off the Italians.
Continue reading
Standing in the renewed Italian positions of the open-air museum of the Kolovrat, you are rewarded with an all-world view over the Isonzo River valley with the Krn-MonteNero massif rising dramatically on the other side. Of the Bovec-Kobarid open-air museums, the view from here is only matched by what you gain at the former Austrian artillery base on Čelo above Bovec.
Continue reading
Long-distance paths have acquired quite a following in the past few decades. In the US you have ways like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail standing as the Big Three. There are plenty of other long-distance paths to spend days upon days on, as well, such as the Arizona Trail, the Green Mountain Trail, and on and on. Of course, the American examples pale in number when compared to the Old World.
Continue reading
Three euros and one hundred thirty-one winding steps leads to the observation platform atop the base of the dome of La Basilica di Superga. Only so many people are allowed to climb up at one time. For the best of times, morning. Then, the sun illuminates the snow-clad peaks of the Alps to the west and north. The city of Torino – Turin – sits far below resting on the banks of the Po River. It is a magical scene, one allowing for reflection on the utter beauty, natural and urban. The Basilica also represents the tie between an adopted city and the family that adopted it, the House of Savoy.
Continue reading
Monte San Michele. Welcome to one of the battlefields upon where so many Italians, as well as their opponents from Austria-Hungary, spilled blood during the 1915 to 1916. These campaigns fought in the harsh limestone hills just east off the Isonzo River. The extreme efforts of that long year and three months remembered by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s proclamation in 1922 of the hill’s inclusion as a zona sacra, a place of special memory to the Italian nation. At least three zone sacra in Italy relate to World War 1 – Pasubio and Monte Grappa are the other two. There might be more but those along with Monte San Michele are the big three.
Continue reading
Rombon sits at the eastern end of the dolomitic Kanin massif. It is a serious mountain. The climb is relatively straightforward, but it entails 1,750 meters of elevation gain over 5 ½ to 7 hours of climbing. Once you are up there, you have all of that elevation to lose. There is no water nor alpine huts up here. The mountain rises to 2298 meters while Bovec, the normal starting point, sits at a mere 460 meters. For over two years, Italians and soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire grappled with each other amidst the alpine splendor. The fighting conducted sporadically, but when fought, bitterly.
Continue reading
Until 1940, there really was no fast and easy way to reach the Pacific Coast from the main population center of Oregon – Portland. At first, there were river steamers coming downstream from Portland to Astoria. Then, the train to Astoria with a branch line going further south to Gearhart and Seaside. The first road connection finally came in 1915 with the building of the Lower Columbia Highway, today’s US Highway 30.
Continue reading
After the crushing loss suffered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the battle of Sadowa in 1866, The Empire lost more lands in Italy to the Kingdom of Savoy. The entire Veneto added to earlier losses of Lombardy and smaller duchies in central Italy like Tuscany. Austria’s old defense system centered around the forts of the Quadrilateral. Those forts were all given up after 1866 with the loss of the Veneto and Friulian. A totally new defensive system became needed – enter the Kärtner Sperren.
In the far northeast of Italy, Austrian fortifications were not as elaborate as those in South Tyrol. Here, a modern fort system developed in the early 20th century to both defend and to serve as a potential base for offensive operations against potential Italian aggression – even though, Italy supposedly was an ally to Austria-Hungary.
Continue reading
As future generals for the Federal Army during the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan are also remembered for their service in the Pacific Northwest during the 1850’s. Another, George Brinton McClellan made a cameo appearance. He led a group tasked with identifying a possible rail route through the Cascades. In addition, they potential were to build a military road across the mountain chain so emigrant wagons could more easily reach the Puget Sound of Washington Territory. This reconnaissance gave McClellan his first extended period of independent command since graduating from West Point with the Class of 1846.
Before George McClellan became the leading Federal general in the early Civil War, he served in the wilds of Washington, surveying for railroad routes.
Continue reading