Pietro Badoglio
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|
Vittorio Emanuele III | |
---|---|
Duce | Benito Mussolini |
Preceded by | Offices established |
Succeeded by | Rodolfo Graziani |
Commissary of the Italian East Africa | |
In office 28 November 1935 – 9 May 1936 | |
Preceded by | Emilio De Bono |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Governor of Eritrea | |
In office 22 November 1935 – 9 May 1936 | |
Preceded by | Emilio De Bono |
Succeeded by | Alfredo Guzzoni |
Governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica | |
In office 24 January 1929 – 31 December 1933 | |
Preceded by | Emilio De Bono (Tripolitania) Attilio Teruzzi (Cyrenaica) |
Succeeded by | Italo Balbo (Governor of Libia) |
Personal details | |
Born | Grazzano Monferrato, Piedmont, Kingdom of Italy | 28 September 1871
Died | 1 November 1956 Grazzano Badoglio, Piedmont, Italy | (aged 85)
Political party | Independent |
Spouse |
Sofia Valania
(m. 1904; died 1942) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Second Italo–Ethiopian War World War II |
Pietro Badoglio, 1st
Early life and career
Badoglio was born in 1871. His father, Mario Badoglio, was a modest landowner, and his mother, Antonietta Pittarelli, was of middle-class background. On 5 October 1888 he was admitted to the Royal Military Academy in Turin. He received the rank of second lieutenant in 1890. In 1892, he finished his studies and was promoted to first lieutenant.
After completing his studies, he served with the
First World War
At the beginning of Italian participation in the
With regard to the Battle of Caporetto, although he was blamed in various quarters for his disposition of the forces under his command before the battle, a commission of inquiry rejected most of the criticisms made upon him.
Genocide in Libya
Post-war, Badoglio was named as a Senator, but also remained in the army with special assignments to Romania and the U.S. in 1920 and 1921. At first, he opposed Benito Mussolini and after 1922 was side-lined as ambassador to Brazil. A political change of heart soon returned him to Italy and a senior role in the army as Chief of Staff from 4 May 1925. On 25 June 1926, Badoglio was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia).
Badoglio was the first unique governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica[5] (later amalgamated as Italian Libya) from 1929 to 1933. During his governorship, he played a vital part (with Rodolfo Graziani, deputy governor of Cyrenaica) in defeating the Libyan Resistance by waging a near-genocidal campaign. On 20 June 1930, Badoglio wrote to General Graziani: "As for overall strategy, it is necessary to create a significant and clear separation between the controlled population and the rebel formations. I do not hide the significance and seriousness of this measure, which might be the ruin of the subdued population ... But now the course has been set, and we must carry it out to the end, even if the entire population of Cyrenaica must perish".[6] By 1931, well over half of the population of Cyrenaica were confined to 15 concentration camps where many died as a result of overcrowding together with a lack of water, food and medicine while Badoglio had the Air Force use chemical warfare against the Bedouin rebels in the desert.[7] On 24 January 1932 (third anniversary of his appointment), Badoglio proclaimed the end of Libyan resistance for the first time since the Italian invasion in 1911.
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
On 3 October 1935, because the progress of
Badoglio employed mustard gas to effectively destroy the Ethiopian armies confronting him on the northern front. He commanded the Italian invasion army at the First Battle of Tembien, the Battle of Amba Aradam, the Second Battle of Tembien, and the Battle of Shire. On 31 March 1936, Badoglio defeated Emperor Haile Selassie commanding the last Ethiopian army on the northern front at the Battle of Maychew. On 26 April, with no Ethiopian resistance left between his forces and Addis Ababa, Badoglio launched his "March of the Iron Will" to take the Ethiopian capital city and end the war. By 2 May, Haile Selassie had fled the country.
On 5 May 1936, Marshal Badoglio led the victorious Italian troops into Addis Ababa. Mussolini declared
On 11 June 1936,
World War II
Badoglio was Chief of Staff from 1925 to 1940, and it was he who had the final say on the entire structure of the Armed Forces, including doctrine, selection of officers, armaments, during that period, influencing the whole military environment. He did not oppose the decision of Mussolini and the
By early 1943, there was a wide held belief by the military elite that Italy needed to sign an armistice in order to exit the war. Mussolini needed to go, as he was neither willing to sign an armistice nor were the Allies willing to sign an armistice with him. The two men considered to replace Mussolini were Marshal Badoglio and Marshal Enrico Caviglia.[10] As Marshal Caviglia was one of the few Royal Army officers who was known to dislike Fascism, the king was unwilling to have him as prime minister. Victor Emmanuel wanted an officer who was committed to continuing the Fascist system, which led him to choose Badoglio who had faithfully served Mussolini and committed an array of atrocities in Ethiopia, but who had a grudge against Il Duce for making him the scapegoat for the failed invasion of Greece in 1940.[11] Moreover, Badoglio was an opportunist well known for his sycophancy towards those in power, which led the king to choose him as Mussolini's successor as he knew that Badoglio would do anything to have power whereas Caviglia had a reputation as a man of principle and honor.[12] On 15 July 1943, in a secret meeting Victor Emmanuel told Badoglio that he would soon be sworn in as Italy's new prime minister and the king wanted no "ghosts" (i.e. liberal politicians from the pre-fascist era) in his cabinet.[13]
On 24 July 1943, as Italy had suffered several setbacks following the
On 8 September 1943, the armistice document was published by the Allies in the Badoglio Proclamation, before Badoglio could communicate news of the switch to the Italian armed forces. The units of the Italian Royal Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force were generally surprised by the switch and unprepared for German actions to disarm them. In the early hours of the following day, 9 September 1943, Badoglio, King Victor Emmanuel, some military ministers, and the Chief of the General Staff escaped to Pescara and Brindisi seeking Allied protection.[4]
On 23 September 1943, the longer version of the armistice was signed in Malta. On 13 October, Badoglio and the Kingdom of Italy officially declared war on Nazi Germany. Badoglio continued to head the government for another nine months.[citation needed]
On 9 June 1944, following the German rescue of Mussolini, the capture of Rome by the allies, and increasingly strong opposition to his government, Badoglio was replaced by Ivanoe Bonomi of the Labour Democratic Party.[citation needed]
Final years
Due to
Badoglio died in the comune of his birth, Grazzano Badoglio, on 1 November 1956.[2]
See also
- Royal Italian Army
- Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)
- Italian Co-Belligerent Army
Bibliography
- Pietro Badoglio: Italy in the Second World War, memories and documents. (Transl.: Muriel Currey). Oxford University Press, 1948. Repr. 1976, Greenwood Press: ISBN 0-8371-8485-1
- Pietro Badoglio: The war in Abyssinia. (Foreword: Benito Mussolini). London, Methuen Publishers, 1937.
References
- ^ "Badoglio". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Pietro Badoglio". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 28 October 2023.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
- ^ a b Quirico, Domenico (2006). "I vinti". Generali. Mondadori.
- ^ Giovanni Ameglio and Vincenzo Garioni were also unique governors of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but this seemed to be a temporary, not permanent, policy.
- ^ Grand, Alexander de "Mussolini's Follies: Fascism in Its Imperial and Racist Phase, 1935-1940" pages 127-147 from Contemporary European History, Volume 13, No. 2 May 2004 page 131.
- ^ Grand, Alexander de "Mussolini's Follies: Fascism in Its Imperial and Racist Phase, 1935-1940" pages 127-147 from Contemporary European History, Volume 13, No. 2 May 2004 page 131.
- ^ "Guard Changed". Time. June 22, 1936.
- ^ Denis Mack Smith, 1983, Mussolini, London: Paladin, p 306
- ^ Mack Smith, Denis Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989 p.304.
- ^ Mack Smith, Denis Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989 p.304.
- ^ Mack Smith, Denis Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989 p. 304.
- ^ Mack Smith, Denis Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989 p. 304.
- ^ Atkinson, Rick. The Day of Battle:The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944. (New York: Henry Holt and Co: 2007), pp. 192-197.
- S2CID 159985182. Special Issue: Collective Memory.
- ^ Conti, Davide (2011). "Criminali di guerra Italiani". Odradek Edizioni. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ^ Di Sante, Costantino (2005) Italiani senza onore: I crimini in Jugoslavia e i processi negati (1941–1951), Ombre Corte, Milano. (Archived by WebCite®)
Further reading
- Italian Defence Minister website official biography of Pietro Badoglio as Chief of the General Staff
- Armellini, Quirino, and Pietro Badoglio. Con Badoglio in Etiopia, Etc. 1937. OCLC 556812967
- Bertoldi, Silvio. Badoglio. Milano: Rizzoli, 1982. OCLC 9862086
- De Luna, Giovanni. Badoglio: Un Militaire al Potere. Milan: Bompiani, 1974. For English translation, see OCLC 883962565.
- Whittam, John. The Politics of the Italian Army, 1861–1918. London: Croom Helm, 1977. OCLC 2373034
- Del Boca, Angelo. La guerra d'Etiopia. L'ultima impresa del colonialismo. Milan: Longanesi, 2010. ISBN 978-88304-2716-7.