After the Caporetto Offensive, where the Italian Army lost over 300,000 men and most of its trench artillery, General Luigi Cadorna was sacked and replaced by General Armando Diaz. The new prime minister, Vittorio Orlando, agreed to a new Allied Supreme War Council that would help coordinate Italian operations.

Diaz managed to stabilize the front-line but was unwilling to undertake an offensive of his own. Vittorio Orlando, the Italian prime minister, was aware that he would need military victories to strengthen his negotiating position to obtain territorial demands after the war. He therefore pressurized General Armando Diaz to launch an offensive in a war that would soon be over.

On the 23rd October 1918, Armando Diaz launched an offensive at Vittorio Veneto. Diaz was able to put 57 Italian divisions in the field. These were supported by soldiers from the French Army and the British Army.

After initial difficulties crossing the Piave River, the Italian Army took Vittorio Veneto. The Austro-Hungarian Army collapsed and by the Armistice the Allied forces had reached Trento in the west and Tagliamento in the east. When the ceasefire was called on 2nd November, the Italians had taken 300,000 prisoners.

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