168 Annunziaten Orden - Ordenskollane des Marschalls Pietro Badoglio

Order collar with suspended badge. Gold. The breast star in gold, with backplate made of silver. The applied elements reverse-riveted in multiple places. With pin.

In an exceptionally beautiful original case of red velvet with applied gilded cipher “VE” of King Vittorio Emanuele III. Below, an engraved silver shield with the wearer's initials of Marshal Pietro Badoglio “PB” and coronet.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed Knight of the Order of the Annunziata on December 31, 1929.

Important ensemble in fine jeweler's quality circa 1929.

Pietro Badoglio, Duke of Addis Ababa (born September 28, 1871 in Grazzano Monferrato, Piedmont; died November 1, 1956 in the same place) was an Italian general, from 1926 holder of the title “Marshal of Italy.” Badoglio played a key role in the Fascist wars of conquest in Libya (1923-1932) and Abyssinia (1935-36/41) as well as in Italy's switch to the side of the Allies during World War II as the first post-Fascist Prime Minister.

Badoglio, after his training at the Military Academy in Turin, became an artillery officer and participated, among other things, in Italy's campaigns in East Africa and Libya. In World War I, he was promoted to major general after the capture of Monte Sabotino in 1916; he was also ennobled by the King and received the title of Marchese del Sabotino. He bore co-responsibility for the Italian defeat in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo in 1917 as commanding general of the corps responsible for the Tolmin sector (XXVII Corpo d'armata (XXVII Army Corps)). After the retreat from the Isonzo to the Piave, however, as the new Deputy Chief of the General Staff, he played a leading role in the reorganization of the army. He advised the new Chief of the General Staff Armando Diaz in the Piave battles and in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. In early November 1918, Badoglio conducted armistice negotiations with Austria-Hungary and on November 3 concluded the Armistice of Villa Giusti with the representative of Austria-Hungary, General Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau.

First Opponent, Then Comrade-in-Arms of Mussolini

Appointed Senator in 1919, he initially opposed Benito Mussolini and his Fascist movement, for which reason he was shunted off to the ambassadorial post in Brazil after Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922. After he changed his mind, he was allowed to return to Italy in 1924, where he assumed the new office of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and was promoted to Marshal of Italy in 1926. From 1929 to 1933 he was Governor General of the Italian colony of Libya. According to a report by the Rome correspondent of the Times, on June 20, 1929, Badoglio threatened the Sanussiya, who were waging war against Italy, with the greatest possible force if they did not surrender their weapons: “Not a single rebel will ever find peace again, neither he, nor his family, nor his clan, nor his heirs. I will destroy everything, the people and their possessions alike. May God enlighten you so that you make the right choice.[...] This is my first and last word.”

In 1935, during the Abyssinian War, he replaced the hesitant Emilio De Bono as Commander-in-Chief of the Italian invasion forces and, together with Rodolfo Graziani, subjugated the previously uncolonized Empire of Abyssinia in 1936. In doing so, he massively and systematically used poison gas in violation of the Geneva Conventions. He was never held accountable for this war crime by either Italy or the Allies. Italy did not officially admit the use of poison gas until 1995.

For the victory over Ethiopia, Badoglio was elevated by King Victor Emmanuel III to hereditary Duke of Addis Ababa at Mussolini's suggestion. He relinquished the office of Viceroy shortly thereafter to Rodolfo Graziani.

In 1940, Badoglio, like Graziani, Italo Balbo, and Carlo Favagrossa, was a determined opponent of Italian entry into the war on the side of Hitler's Germany. Mussolini, however, participated in the war, but only after France's defeat had become apparent. Badoglio resigned as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces during the disastrous Italian campaign against Greece. His successor was Ugo Cavallero.

After the session of the Grand Council of Fascism on July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned. King Victor Emmanuel III, shortly before vested with supreme command over the army, appointed Badoglio on July 26, 1943 as Prime Minister of a cabinet without Fascist party members. At the first cabinet meeting on July 28, the dissolution of the Fascist party, the disempowerment of the Grand Council and the political courts, as well as a ban on the re-establishment of parties for the duration of the war were decided. He left the Italian racial laws untouched. Badoglio proceeded against unrest accompanied by demands to end the war quickly; to this end, he declared a state of siege and had insurgents brought to internment camps.

The new government assured the German ally, who occupied Northern Italy, of its loyalty, but from August 3, 1943 conducted secret negotiations with the Allies, who had begun with the conquest of Sicily (Operation Husky) on July 10, 1943. Badoglio's idea of neutralizing the country, militarily and domestically, would quickly prove unrealistic: the Allies would not be satisfied with this, and internally the old political parties and trade unions reorganized surprisingly quickly. On September 3, 1943, the Armistice of Cassibile was signed; the announcement was delayed until September 8, 1943.

The German Wehrmacht occupied Northern and Central Italy, surrounded the city of Rome, and captured about 800,000 Italian soldiers; particularly in the Aegean and in Greece, thousands of Italian soldiers were killed by the Germans (Fall Achse). Mussolini was liberated at Gran Sasso by German paratroopers and installed on September 23, 1943 as head of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana (also Repubblica di Salò). The King fled with Badoglio and only two ministers via Pescara to unoccupied Brindisi. Under pressure from the Allies, Italy declared war on the German Reich on October 13, 1943.

German propaganda called Badoglio a “traitor,” his declaration of war against Germany “ridiculous.” The Allies demanded that Badoglio administer the parts of the country they occupied and remove the Fascists from their offices and positions. Badoglio acted only hesitantly; at the same time, he had to include in his cabinet anti-Fascists returning from exile, such as the Communist Palmiro Togliatti.

After the liberation of Rome by Allied troops on June 4, 1944, the anti-Fascists forced Badoglio's resignation on June 8. His successor Ivanoe Bonomi formed a cabinet of returned émigrés and anti-Fascists and had the political purges continue more vigorously.

In 1945, Badoglio was expelled from the Senate for his collaboration with the Fascists, but was rehabilitated two years later. Badoglio then gradually withdrew to his birthplace in Piedmont and into private life.

Highly important museum exhibition object relating to Italian history, particularly the Fascist era.

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