Pietro Badoglio (Grazzano Monferrato 1871 – Grazzano Badoglio 1956) was an Italian general and field marshal. In 1936, he served as the first viceroy of Italian Ethiopia and later, from 1943 to 1944, as the prime minister of Italy.

Badoglio pursued a military career from an early age. He entered the Turin Academy of Artillery and Engineering and enlisted in the army in 1890 as second lieutenant of artillery. In 1895, he volunteered for service in the first Italo-Ethiopian war. After the war remained in Eritrea for more than two years, overseeing troop exercises and fortification work. Upon his return to Italy, he attended the Military Academy and graduated with honors in 1902, earning a promotion to the rank of captain the following year. In 1911, he was dispatched to Libya for the Italo-Turkish war, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1915. During the First World War, Badoglio served on the Austro-Hungarian front, and he would later as Chief of Staff attempt to downplay his role in the Italian army’s failure.

Initially unenthusiastic about the Fascist movement, Badoglio accepted his appointment as Benito Mussolini’s Chief of Staff in 1925 and was made Marshal of Italy in the following year. Between 1929 and 1933 he served as the governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, directing the subjugation of Libya. In this capacity, he implemented harsh punitive measures against the Libyan population, making him one of the main architects of the Libyan genocide.

Badoglio played a key role in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1936). He was sent to Ethiopia to replace Emilio de Bono, a general favoured by Mussolini, under whose command the Italian offensive had stalled. Badoglio successfully reinvigorated the Italian advance and defeated the Ethiopian armies. After Ethiopia’s annexation, King Vittorio Emanuele II appoined him as Viceroy of Abyssinia and Duke of Addis Abeba. Upon his return to Italy, Badoglio received honorary membership in the Fascist party.

Badoglio was responsible for the organization of the Italian army in the years leading up to the Second World War. Though not an enthusiastic supporter of Italy’s entry into the war, he did not protest the 1940 declaration of war against the Allies. As Mussolini assumed increasing direct control over military operations, Badoglio was sidelined and had little involvement in the Second World War itself. He officially resigned his post in December 1940 during the disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.

Upon Mussolini’s ousting in 1943, Badoglio was chosen to lead the new government. He was selected because he was perceived neither as an unquestioning follower of Mussolini nor a staunch opponent of Fascism. Moreover, he had a good relationship with King Vittorio Emanuele II. Badoglio conducted the armistice negotiations with the Allied forces and signed the declaration of war against Nazi Germany on the 13 October. After stepping down as prime minister in 1944, he retired to private life. He never faced trial for any war crimes committed under his command and died in Grazzano in 1956.

In 1936, Badoglio published an account of the Ethiopian campaign, La guerra d’Etiopia, which included a preface authored by Benito Mussolini (Badoglio 1936). Part of this work was translated into Latin by Piero Donnini and published in 1938 as De Bello Aethiopico (Donnini 1938).

Bibliography

Badoglio, Pietro. 1936. La Guerra d’Etiopia. Con prefazione del Duce. Milan: A. Mondadori

Donnini, Piero. 1938. De Bello Aethiopico. Naples. Supergrafica.

Pieri, Piero. 1963. ‘Badoglio, Pietro’. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Vol. 5. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 127–137.

Bil Johan Simon Olsson