Pietro Badoglio

The Italian general and statesman Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956) played a large part in the Italian victories in World War I and in Ethiopia in 1936. He shared the responsibility for the Italian disaster in World War II.

Pietro Badoglio was born in Grazzano Monferrato. He graduated from military academy in 1890, served his first campaign in Africa from 1895 to 1898, and was attached to the general staff in Rome as a captain in 1906. An intelligent, though tough and taciturn, officer, he gained battlefield promotion to major in the Libyan campaign in 1911-1912. With the outbreak of World War I, he became a lieutenant colonel of the general staff. Defying the stationary warfare that ensued, Badoglio brilliantly broke through the Austrian lines in 1916, conquered Mount Sabotino (Gorizia), and brought a much-needed victory to Italy. Battle promotions to the top military hierarchy followed. As major general and assistant chief of general staff, he distinguished himself further, both in Italy's recovery from disaster in 1917 and in the crushing of Austria in 1918. Badoglio then headed the armistice commission and negotiated the Austrian surrender.

A senator and chief of army staff in 1919, Badoglio was appointed successively ambassador to Brazil in 1924, chief of general staff in 1925, field marshal in 1926, and governor of Libya in 1928. In 1929 he was ennobled as the Marchese of Sabotino and was awarded the highest Italian honor, the Collar of the Annunziata.

When the Fascist government bungled the early Ethiopian campaign in 1935, Mussolini hastily appointed Badoglio supreme commissar, and he achieved a rapid, total victory in 1936. Although promptly named viceroy of Ethiopia and titled the Duke of Addis Ababa, Badoglio preferred to return to Rome, the center of activity, rather than remain isolated in Africa. A Royalist rather than a Fascist soldier, a suspicious, calculating politician as much as a military professional, he remained aloof from Benito Mussolini and reserved his loyalties for King Victor Emmanuel III.

In 1936 Badoglio resumed the position of chief of staff, but his star had already begun to decline. When World War II broke out, he was aware of, as well as inherently responsible for, Italy's military unpreparedness, and he opposed Italian entry timidly and without conviction. He was forced to resign in 1940 after the first military defeats.

When the King deposed Mussolini in 1943, he appointed the 72-year-old Badoglio prime minister with a mandate to end the war. But Badoglio, no longer resolute or capable, brought Italy to the worst possible armistice in 1943: German occupation, Allied invasion, and civil war. He disgraced himself further by abandoning Rome to the Nazis and fleeing south with his government. He held power precariously and only through Allied support, which ceased with Rome's liberation in 1944. Futilely defending his record in his last years, he died in Grazzano Monferrato in 1956.

Further Reading

There is a good summary of Badoglio's life in Italian, A. Mosti, Pietro Badoglio (1956). Studies in English concentrate on Badoglio's war government. The best military narrative is C. R. S. Harris, Allied Military Administration of Italy, 1943-45 (1957); the best general account is F. W. Deakin, The Brutal Friendship: Mussolini, Hitler, and the Fall of Italian Fascism (1962).

Additional Sources

Bertoldi, Silvio, Badoglio, Milano: Rizzoli, 1982. □

Badoglio, Pietro (b. 28 Sept. 1871, d. 1 Nov. 1956). Italian general A professional soldier, he fought at Adowa (1896) and in Libya (1911). He led the successful assault on the Austrian stronghold of Monte Sabotino in 1916, but was subsequently at least partly responsible for the disastrous defeat at Caporetto (1917). Nevertheless, he finished World War I as deputy Chief of Staff, and served as army Chief of Staff 1919–21. Assured by his loyalty to the new Fascist state, Mussolini made him chief of the general staff of the armed forces in 1925, and marshal of Italy in 1926. He was made governor of Libya in 1929, and in 1935 he took charge from De Bono of the struggling army in the Abyssinian War. In realistic appreciation of the current strength of the Italian army he opposed its participation in the Spanish Civil War, and even more so its entry into World War II. He resigned following Italy's invasion of Greece in 1940. After Mussolini's deposition by the Fascist Grand Council he was invited to form a new government on 26 July 1943. He concluded an armistice with the Allies on 3 September 1943, and declared war on Germany the following month. Nevertheless, his government lacked authority because of the CLN's refusal to cooperate with him until April 1944. Unable to overcome its distrust, he resigned in June 1944, following the liberation of Rome, and was replaced by Bonomi.

Pietro Badoglio , 1871–1956, Italian soldier and public official. After serving in World War I, he was governor of Libya (1929–33) and succeeded Gen. Emilio de Bono as commander in chief in the Ethiopian conquest, which he brought (1936) to a victorious end. Created duke of Addis Ababa, he was briefly viceroy of Ethiopia, then chief of the Italian general staff until 1940. After the fall of Mussolini, he was made (1943) premier by King Victor Emmanuel III. He negotiated an armistice with the Allies, whom he joined in the war against Germany. Meeting with much opposition in Italy, he resigned in 1944. He wrote Italy in the Second World War (tr. 1948).

Badoglio, Pietro (1871–1956) Italian general and Prime Minister. By 1925 he was chief of staff; Mussolini appointed him governor of Libya (1929) and sent him (1935) to rescue the faltering Italian campaign in ETHIOPA. He captured Addis Ababa and became governor. When Mussolini was deposed in 1943, he was chosen to head the new non-fascist government. He made peace with the advancing Allies, declared war against Germany, but resigned soon afterwards.