A million and half men died in North East Italy in a war that need never have happened. Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Cadorna, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands. This is a tragic history of a war that gave birth to fascism. Mussolini fought, but so did many of the greatest European writers - Ungaretti, Gadda, Musil, Hemingway. Mark Thompson, with great skill and empathy, brings to life this forgotten conflict.