CADORNA, LUIGI

(1850–1928)

   Born in Verbania (Piedmont), Luigi Cadorna was commander in chief of Italian forces on the Isonzo River from May 1915 to November 1917, when he was replaced by General Armando Diaz after the disastrous battle of Caporetto. Only Allied reinforcements and a stiffened Italian resistance at the Piave River averted disaster. Determined counterattacks culminated in Austria suing for peace.

   The Italian Commission of Inquiry on the Caporetto disaster, which reported in 1919, assigned much of the responsibility to Cadorna for having used his position to undermine the prestige of rivals among other senior officers rather than in properly caring for his troops. Certainly, he was a harsh disciplinarian who had no qualms about executing troops for insubordination or other infractions of the military code. Cadorna egregiously attributed the losses at Caporetto to his men’s cowardice. He became field marshal in 1924.