Pietro Badoglio

Born Sept. 28, 1871, in Grazzano Monferrato; died Oct. 31, 1956, in Grazzano Monferrato. Italian military figure and statesman, marshal (1926).

Badoglio participated in World War I. From 1919 to 1921 he was chief of the General Staff. In 1924–25 he served as ambassador to Brazil. After 1925 he was chief of the General Staff, and at the same time from 1928 to 1933 he was governor-general of Libya; in 1935–36 he was commander in chief of the Italian forces in the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935–36. After the seizure of Ethiopia he became viceroy of Ethiopia (1936–37). After the initial Italian defeats on the Italo-Greek front during World War II, he retired from the post of chief of the General Staff (1940). During the crisis of the fascist regime he took part in the government coup (July 25, 1943) which led to the fall of the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini, after which he was appointed prime minister. On Sept. 3, 1943, the Badoglio government signed the armistice with the antifascist coalition and, on Oct. 13, 1943, declared war on fascist Germany. In March 1944 it renewed diplomatic relations between Italy and the USSR. Badoglio followed an antidemocratic policy. Owing to the upsurge of the democratic movement in Italy, he was forced to include members of the antifascist parties, including communists and socialists, in the government in April 1944, and to retire on June 9, 1944.