In the years that led up to World War One, Italy had sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance. In theory, Italy should have joined in the sides of these two nations when war broke out in August 1914. She did not. Italy’s experience in World War One was disastrous and ended with the insult of her ‘reward’ at the Versailles Settlement in 1919. What Italy did was wait and see how the war progressed. On April 26th 1915, she came into the war on the side of the Triple Entente – Britain, France and Russia. Many socialists had supported the government ‘s stand in keeping Italy out of the war in 1914. The nationalists, however, were horrified. Why did the government want to go to war? In 1915, Italy had signed the secret Treaty of London. In this treaty Britain had offered Italy large sections of territory in the Adriatic Sea region – Tyrol, Dalmatia and Istria. Such an offer was too tempting for Italy to refuse. Britain and France wanted Italy to join in on their side so