La struttura della popolazione militare italiana durante la Prima guerra mondiale

Abstract

This article analyses the Italian Army’s demographic composition during First World War. The focus is on the number of soldiers employed and their age structure at different stages of the conflict. The work also aims to evaluate the possible consequences of the demographic evolution of the corps on the quality of troops. The average age of Italian soldiers in July 1915 was 23.8 while in October 1918 rose to 27.4. The call to arms of younger and younger soldiers has not been sufficient to balance the mortality of the birth cohorts fighting since the beginning of the conflict and the growing involvement of increasingly older cohorts having as a result the increase in the average age.