A conqueror who rose from revolutionary general to emperor
In the coup of 9–10 November 1799 (18 Brumaire), he conspired with Talleyrand and Sieyès and used troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the Council of Five Hundred and overturn the Directory, then took effective power as First Consul.
Born into an Italian-descended Corsican family, he was commissioned in the French royal artillery in 1785, supported the Revolution of 1789, and rose through his victories over royalists at Toulon in 1793 and Vendémiaire in 1795. The Italian campaign of 1796 made him a national hero, and in November 1799 the Brumaire coup overthrew the Directory and made him First Consul; in 1804 he became emperor of the First Empire. He won at Austerlitz in 1805 but was ruined by the Russian campaign of 1812 and Leipzig in 1813, was exiled to Elba in 1814, and after the Hundred Days lost at Waterloo and died on Saint Helena in 1821. His reforms such as the Napoleonic Code and public education endure, while the plunder of occupied lands, suppression of the press and deportation or imprisonment of critics, and the restoration of slavery in the colonies make him a contested figure.
Career timeline
- 1785Commissioned as an artillery second lieutenant in the French royal army.
- 1793Led the recapture of Toulon and was promoted to brigadier general.
- 1795Suppressed the royalist rising of Vendémiaire.
- 1796–1797Commanded the Army of Italy, defeating Austrian forces.
- 1798–1799Commanded the Egyptian and Syrian expedition.
- 1799Overthrew the Directory in the Brumaire coup and became First Consul.
- 1804–1814Ruled as emperor of the French First Empire.
- 1815Returned to power for the Hundred Days and was finally defeated at Waterloo.
A marshal who served Fascism before steering Italy's turn
When the armistice was announced on 8 September 1943, Badoglio's government left Rome and headed south for Allied protection.
Pietro Badoglio was an Italian royal army officer and colonial commander who enforced imperial violence in Libya and Ethiopia. A central military official under Mussolini, he resigned after the failure of the 1940 Greek campaign and later helped the monarchy remove the dictator. As prime minister after Mussolini's fall in 1943, he arranged Italy's armistice with the Allies, but the confused announcement and flight of the royal government left Italian forces unprepared for German disarmament and the collapse of state authority.
Career timeline
- 1890Commissioned as an artillery officer in the Italian Royal Army
- 1916Directed the capture of Monte Sabotino in the First World War
- 1925–1940Chief of the Italian General Staff
- 1929–1933Governor of Libya, directing repression and internment policies
- 1935–1936Commander of the invasion of Ethiopia, capturing Addis Ababa
- 1943–1944Prime minister after Mussolini's fall, signing Italy's armistice with the Allies
- 1944Resigned as prime minister and withdrew from political life
The dictator who turned fascism into state power
On 25 July 1943, the king dismissed Mussolini as prime minister and had him arrested.
A socialist journalist turned nationalist during the First World War, Mussolini founded fascism as a movement claiming to overcome class conflict through the nation. After the March on Rome made him prime minister in 1922, he used political violence and institutional change to transform liberal Italy into a one-party dictatorship. Colonial war, alliance with Nazi Germany, and entry into the Second World War brought military defeat and political collapse. Overthrown in 1943, he headed the German-backed Italian Social Republic in the north until partisans captured and executed him in 1945.
Career timeline
- 1912Editor of the Italian Socialist Party paper Avanti!
- 1919Founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento
- 1921Leader of the National Fascist Party
- 1922–1943Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy
- 1925–1943Fascist dictator, Il Duce
- 1940–1943Directed Italy’s entry into and conduct of the Second World War
- 1943–1945Head of the Italian Social Republic
