He was born in Grazzano Monferrato (later
Grazzano Badoglio) in the
province of Asti (
Piedmont).
After studying at the military academy in
Turin, he served with the
Italian Army from 1892, at first as a Lieutenant in
artillery, taking part in the campaigns in
Eritrea (1896) and
Libya (1912), where he distinguished himself at the
Battle of Zanzur. At the beginning of Italian participation in
World War I, he was a Lieutenant Colonel; he rose to the rank of General following his handling of the capture of
Monte Sabotino in May 1916 and by 1918 was the senior aide to the Commander-in-Chief despite being partially responsible in the disaster at
Caporetto (
October 24, 1917).
Post-war, he 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 change of political heart soon returned him to Italy and a senior role in the army as Chief of Staff from
May 4, 1924. He was governor of Libya from 1929 to 1933. While
Emilio de Bono began the
invasion of Abyssinia in 1935, he was replaced by Badoglio in 1936. He approved the use of
mustard gas and finally captured
Addis Ababa and won the conflict.
Marshal Badoglio led the Italian troops into Addis Ababa on
May 5, and
Mussolini declared King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy Emperor of Ethiopia and Ethiopia an Italian
province. On this occasion, Badoglio was declared the first Viceroy of Ethiopia and received the title of "Duke of Addis Abeba". He was not in favour of the Italian-German
Pact of Steel and was pessimistic about the chances of Italian success in any European war. He resigned in December 1940, following the Italian army's poor display in the
invasion of Greece.
Following the
Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, there was a meeting of the
Fascist Grand Council on
July 24 and the following day, in a technical
coup d'etat, King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy dismissed Mussolini and appointed Badoglio to head the government.
Martial law was declared, Mussolini was arrested and negotiations were opened with the Allies.
Badoglio signed the
Italian armistice with the Allies on
September 3 in
Cassibile; the document was published by the Allies on
September 8, when Badoglio had not yet communicated this decision to the Italian forces, which were surprised by the switch; after that, the Italian government escaped to
Pescara and
Brindisi, seeking Allied protection. The longer version of the armistice was signed on
September 23 in
Malta and the Badoglio government officially declared war on
Germany on
October 13. Badoglio did not head the government for long: following the rescue of Mussolini, the liberation of
Rome and increasingly strong opposition, he was replaced by
Ivanoe Bonomi and other committed anti-Fascists.
