At the military level, the withdrawal from the Isonzo in Piave was devastating as can be confirmed from the official numbers released by the Army: 12,000 dead soldiers, 30,000 wounded men, 300,000 prisoners and 350,000 soldiers left without any instructions or leaders or deserters, thousands of heavy weapons that were left abandoned and 14,000 square kilometres of land that were surrendered to Austria-Hungary with a total civilian population of one and a half million people. The army remained with only 700,000 men (half of whom, however, formed part of the First Army and therefore not deployed on the front of the Piave) and the survivors of the Second Army (about 300,000 men) who, once realigned, were reorganized in the Fifth Army that was positioned behind the frontlines for the time being.
The heavy losses forced the Supreme Command to deploy immediately the notorious "class of 99", youths who were born in 1899 (and therefore just over eighteen years of age). After a short period of training, they were transferred along the Piave and kept away from the divisions that had survived Caporetto: in this way they would not be influenced by the feeling of resignation to defeat which in these days was prevalent in the ranks of the army and to a large extent in Italian society.
Even at the political level things changed considerably when compared to the past. The Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was convinced by the military representatives of France and Great Britain to replace the leaders of the Supreme Command. In a meeting held in Rapallo on 06th November 1917Luigi Cadorna was dismissed. His place was taken by Armando Diaz, a "young" general (he was at that time aged 56 years) who had a completely different way of how to assume leadership. In fact he proved himself a capable mediator, put himself at the disposal of the government in Rome and urged the troops to fight for their Homeland, their family and their honour and eliminated the climate of terror that was widespread under Cadorna. Diaz was able to bring back trust among the soldiers in a key moment when it was no longer the time to recall the indignity, at Trento or at Trieste, but simply to resist and to avoid a final defeat.
