Monte San Michele is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

on the

Karst Plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region ( sl, Kras, it, Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills sur ...

, in the Italian

province of Gorizia The Province of Gorizia ( it, Provincia di Gorizia, fur, Provincie di Gurize; sl, Goriška pokrajina) was a province in the autonomous Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of Italy, which was disbanded on 30 September 2017. Overview Its capital was th ...

, on the border between the municipalities of

Sagrado Sagrado (; vec, label= Bisiacco, Sagrà; fur, Segrât; sl, Zagraj) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Gorizia, on th ...

and

Savogna d'Isonzo Savogna d'Isonzo ( sl, Sovodnje ob Soči; fur, Savogne di Gurize) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia. The ...

. It is located eight kilometres southwest of

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

, on the left bank of the Isonzo, and has four peaks, the highest two of which (Cima Due and Cima Tre) have an elevation of 275 meters above sea level, while the lowest (Cima Uno) has an elevation of 237 meters, and Cima Quattro stands at 264 meters. Due to its commanding position over the lower Isonzo valley and the plain of Gorizia, it was the theatre of heavy fighting during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; along with

Sabotin Sabotin ( it, Sabotino, fur, Mont di San Valantin) is mountain ridge overlooking Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Solkan on the border between Slovenia and Italy. At its foot stands the Solkan Bridge spanning the Soča River. Name The mountain was f ...

and Podgora, the San Michele was one of the main bulwarks of the Austro-Hungarian defense of Gorizia during the early

battles of the Isonzo The Battles of the Isonzo (known as the Isonzo Front by historians, sl, soška fronta) were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I mostly on the territory of present-day Slovenia, and the remaind ...

, heavily fortified with multiple orders of

trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from eros ...

es,

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

, heavy

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

, tunnels and

machine-gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

posts. It was one of the most bitterly contested heights on the Karst during the first six

; during the

Second Battle of the Isonzo The Second Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and of Austria-Hungary in the Italian Front in World War I, between 18 July and 3 August 1915. Overview After the failure of the First Battle of the Isonzo, ...

, in July 1915, it was twice captured by Italian troops, and twice recaptured by Austro-Hungarian counterattacks. Partial gains were made during the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and

Fourth Battle of the Isonzo The Fourth Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I, between 10 November and 2 December 1915. Overview In contrast to the previous three Battles ...

WWI - Monte San Michele - 29th June 1916 Italian casualties after a gas attack

On 29 June 1916 the San Michele was the location of the first use of

poison gas Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perman ...

on the Italian Front, when the Austro-Hungarian released a mix of

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

and

phosgene Phosgene is the organic chemical compound with the formula COCl2. It is a toxic, colorless gas; in low concentrations, its musty odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass. Phosgene is a valued and important industrial building block, espe ...

which killed 2,700 Italian troops and poisoned another 4,000 (additionally, some 250 Austro-Hungarians were killed, and 1,500 poisoned, due to a change in the wind that blew some of the gas back towards the Austro-Hungarian lines). The San Michele was finally secured by the Italian

XI Corps 11 Corps, 11th Corps, Eleventh Corps, or XI Corps may refer to: * 11th Army Corps (France) * XI Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * XI Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army * ...

(General Giorgio Cigliana) in August 1916, during the

Sixth Battle of the Isonzo The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, better known as the Battle of Gorizia, was the most successful Italian offensive along the Soča (Isonzo) River during World War I. Background Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had reduced the Austro-Hungarian fo ...

. Poet

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

fought on the San Michele, which he mentioned in some of the poems collected in ''Allegria di naufragi''. In 1922 the San Michele was declared a "monumental area", and turned into an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

. A World War I museum is located near Cima Tre.Museo all’aperto del Monte San Michele e San Martino del Carso
/ref>

References

{{reflist Landforms of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Karst Mountains of the Alps Hills of Italy Military history of Italy during World War I