Cadorna, Luigi (1850–1928)

Abstract One of the Italian army's most controversial generals, Cadorna was the army's chief of staff during the greater part of World War I, from July 20, 1914, until November 9, 1917, when he was relieved of command for his alleged role in Italy's epic defeat at Caporetto. Although born into one of his country's most prominent military families—his father, General Raffaele Cadorna, had brought the Italian wars of unification to a close by seizing what was left of the Papal States in Rome in September 1870—his career was dogged by periodic crises, largely of his own making. Headstrong and convinced of his own rectitude, Cadorna found it hard to conceal his contempt for civilian control of the military. An early partisan of the belief in the superiority of shock over firepower in modern warfare, he kept faith with this view long after the vicissitudes of trench warfare should have shown him the error of his ways. Finally, Cadorna showed aristocratic disdain for the common soldiers under his command, not the best outlook for the head of a mass conscript army and one that contributed to the blame heaped upon him for the disaster at Caporetto.