Luigi Cadorna

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Luigi Cadorna(September 4, 1850 - December 21, 1928) was an Italian Field Marshal, most famous for being the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian army during the first part of World War I.

[edit] Biography

Born to General Raffaele Cadorna in Verbania Pallanza, Piedmont, after joining the Italian Army in 1866 Cadorna was offered the post of chief of staff for the first time in 1908, which he rejected due to the issue of political control during the war. He was again offered the position in July 1914. This time he accepted and began building up an army despite Italy’s declaration of neutrality. Cadorna expected war and so decided to concentrate the armed forces along the borders with Austria-Hungary. By the spring of 1915, Cadorna had four cavalry divisions and 25 infantry, and although there were only 120 heavy artillery pieces and 700 machine guns in the four armies, Cadorna launched mass attacks on Austria-Hungary in May 1915, in order to comply with the requirements of the London Pact.

He continued to launch attacks despite the massive number of Italian casualties. In addition he authorized the execution of his own soldiers to eradicate “cowardice”. Cadorna was sacked after the disastrous Battle of Caporetto. Here Germany decided to attack the Italians with Austria in October 1917. The Italians were caught by surprise and a combination of misty conditions and poison gas resulted in over 300,000 casualties.

After the war, there was an enquiry held by the Italian government to investigate the defeat at Caporetto. It was published in 1919 and was highly critical of Cardorna. Nevertheless, he was made a Field Marshal in 1924 when Mussolini gained power.

Britain appointed him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1915.

Field Marshal Cadorna died in Bordighera in 1928.

[edit] Trivia

Italian residents in Buenos Aires presumably added Cadorna's name to the already rich Buenos Aires' jargon: the "Lunfardo". Dismayed by the italian defeat at Caporetto, Italian residents in Buenos Aires used the word "Cadorna" to denote something that is "of bad quality" or "crappy". The word "Cadorna" [with variations such as "Cardorcha", a combination of "Cadorna" and "Garcha"(fallus)] are still used in "Lunfardo".