World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePietro Badoglio was born in Grazzano Monferrato (later renamed Grazzano Badoglio for him) in the province of Asti in Italy. He studied in the military academy in Turin and joined the Italian Army in 1892. He served in Africa early on in his career, and was promoted to the rank of general in May 1916, during WW1. During the inter-war years he became active in politics while holding military positions, a combination that would follow him for many years. In the 1920s, he was a leader in the Italian Army, a senator, and later the ambassador to Brazil. From 4 May 1924 through the next five years, he was the Army Chief of Staff. From 1929 to 1933 he was the governor of Libya. In 1936, he headed up the Italian forces during the invasion of Ethiopia, and was made the Duke of Addis Ababa after being credited for the capture of that city. He was a war hero, but he voiced against the signing of the Pact of Steel with Germany. In Dec 1940, after Italy's near failure in the campaign against Greece, he resigned. In 1943, Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III appointed Badoglio to head up the Italian government as Prime Minister after removing Benito Mussolini. In Wilhelm Keitel's personal correspondence to his wife dated 3 Aug 1943, Keitel noted that Badoglio initially "reassured [Germany] that [Italy] will go on fighting, and that it was only on this condition that he accepted office." However, Badoglio soon declared martial law, ordered the arrest of Mussolini, and opened negotiations with the Allies. German forces were quick to realize this, and moved in to occupy Italy, forcing Badoglio's government to flee for southern Italy. On 3 Sep 1943, Badoglio signed the armistice with the Allies in Cassibile, and on 13 Oct Italy declared war on Germany. He was removed as Prime Minister in 1944.

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Pietro Badoglio Timeline

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