The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 3 November 1918 near Vittorio Veneto on the Italian Front during World War I. After having defeated Austro-Hungarian troops during the Second Battle of the Piave River and recognizing the dire internal situation of Austria-Hungary caused by the course of the war and the blockade of the Adriatic at sea, the Royal Italian Army launched a major offensive: the Italian victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and contributed to the end of the First World War just one week later. The battle led to the capture of over 5,000 artillery pieces and 448,000 Austro-Hungarian troops, including Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croatians, Poles, Romanians, Ukrainians, and also a small number of Austro-Hungarian Italians.