Product Code Database
Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino ( , ; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956), was an Italian general during both and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, he became Prime Minister of Italy.
After completing his studies, he served with the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army) from 1892, at first as a lieutenant ( tenente) in artillery. Badoglio was involved in the First Italo-Ethiopian War and the Italo-Turkish War.
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. In the years after the First World War, in which he held several high posts in the Regio Esercito, Badoglio exerted a constant effort in modifying official documents in order to hide his role in the defeat.
Badoglio was the first sole governor of Tripolitania and CyrenaicaGiovanni Ameglio and Vincenzo Garioni were also unique governors of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but this seemed to be a temporary, not permanent, policy. (later amalgamated as Italian Libya) from 1929 to 1933. During his governorship, he played a critical part (with Rodolfo Graziani, deputy governor of Cyrenaica) in the genocide of Libyan Arabs, which was intended to quell all Libyan resistance to Italian colonial rule. On 20 June 1930, Badoglio wrote to 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."Grand, Alexander de "Mussolini's Follies: Fascism in Its Imperial and Racist Phase, 1935–1940" pp. 127–147 from Contemporary European History, Volume 13, No. 2 May 2004 p. 131. By 1931, well over half of the population of Cyrenaica were confined to 15 concentration camps where many died as a result of overcrowding (and lack of water, food and medicine) while Badoglio's air force used chemical weapons against the Bedouin rebels in the desert.Grand, Alexander de "Mussolini's Follies: Fascism in Its Imperial and Racist Phase, 1935–1940" pp. 127–147 from Contemporary European History, Volume 13, No. 2 May 2004 p. 131. On 24 January 1932 (the third anniversary of his appointment), Badoglio proclaimed the end of Libyan resistance for the first time since the Italian invasion in 1911.
Badoglio employed mustard gas to effectively destroy the Ethiopian armies confronting him on the northern front. He commanded the Italian forces 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 King Victor Emmanuel to be the Emperor of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia became part of the Italian Empire. On this occasion, Badoglio was appointed the first viceroy and governor general of Ethiopia and ennobled with the victory title of Duke of Addis Ababa ad personam.
On 11 June 1936, Rodolfo Graziani replaced Badoglio as viceroy and governor-general of Ethiopia. Badoglio returned to his duties as supreme chief of the Italian general staff. According to Time magazine, Badoglio even joined the Fascist Party in early June.
By early 1943, there was a widely held belief among the military elite that Italy needed to sign an armistice in order to exit the war. Mussolini needed to be removed, as he was not 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.Mack Smith, Denis. Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989, p. 304. 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 Mussolini for making him the scapegoat for the failed invasion of Greece in 1940.Mack Smith, Denis. Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989, p. 304. 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 for he knew that Badoglio would do anything to have power, whereas Caviglia had a reputation as a man of principle and honour.Mack Smith, Denis. Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989, p. 304. In a secret meeting on 15 July 1943, Victor Emmanuel told Badoglio that he would soon be sworn in as Italy's new prime minister, and that the king wanted no "ghosts" (i.e. liberal politicians from the pre-fascist era) in his cabinet.Mack Smith, Denis. Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Press 1989, p. 304.
On 24 July 1943, as Italy had suffered several setbacks following the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War II, Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council, which voted no confidence in Mussolini. The following day, Mussolini was removed from government by King Victor Emmanuel III and arrested. On 3 September 1943, General Giuseppe Castellano signed the Italian armistice with the Allies in Cassibile on behalf of Badoglio, who was named Prime Minister of Italy. Wary of the potentially hostile German response to the Armistice, Badoglio hesitated to formally announce the treaty.Atkinson, Rick. The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944. New York: Henry Holt and Co: 2007, pp. 192–197.
On 8 September 1943, the armistice document was published by the Allies in the Badoglio Proclamation, and Badoglio had not informed the Italian armed forces. The units of the Italian Royal Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force were generally surprised by the change 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.
On 29 September 1943, the longer version of the armistice was signed in Malta by both Badoglio and Eisenhower. On 13 October, Badoglio and the Kingdom of Italy officially declared war on
/ref>
Badoglio died in the comune of his birth, Grazzano Badoglio, on 1 November 1956.
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
See also
Bibliography
Notes
Further reading
External links
|-
Categories: 1871 Births, 1956 Deaths, Colonial Officials For Italy, Military History Of Italy, Prime Ministers Of Italy, Field Marshals Of Italy, Ministers Of Foreign Affairs Of Italy, Italian Military Personnel Of World War I, Italian Military Personnel Of World War Ii, People Of Former Italian Colonies, Military History Of Addis Ababa, Dukes In Italy, Members Of The Senate Of The Kingdom Of Italy, Chiefs Of Italian General Staff, 20th-century Italian Politicians, Recipients Of The Order Of Saints Maurice And Lazarus, Italian War Crimes In Ethiopia, People From Grazzano Badoglio, Italian Anti-communists, Italian Fascists, Libyan Genocide Perpetrators, Italian Military Personnel Of The Italo-turkish War, Italian Military Personnel Of The Second Italo-ethiopian War, Members Of The Order Of The Holy Sepulchre, Second Italo-senussi War, Recipients Of The Maurician Medal, Royal Italian Army Personnel Of World War Ii, World War Ii Political Leaders
|
|
