Luigi Cadorna

Italy state institutions 1850–1928 ○ Natural death

Italian chief of staff who repeated frontal assaults on the Isonzo, ruled by harsh discipline and was dismissed after Caporetto

Born in Piedmont, the son of a general, he became an artillery officer known for strict discipline and the doctrine of the offensive. As chief of staff of the Italian Army in 1914–1917 he launched offensive after offensive along the Isonzo. There were gains such as Gorizia, but he accepted huge losses, holding that the war could only end through the exhaustion of men and resources. He dismissed 217 officers and ordered the summary execution of officers whose units retreated; about 750 soldiers were executed under him, the most of any army in the war. After the disaster at Caporetto in October 1917, where 275,000 soldiers were captured, he was dismissed on 7 November. He was made a Marshal of Italy in 1924 under Mussolini and died in 1928.