CADORNA, LUIGI, COUNT (1850-1928), Italian general, was born at Pallanza, Lake Maggiore, Sept. 4, 1850. His father was Count Raffaele Cadorna, a distinguished soldier of the wars of the Risorgimento and the Crimea. Luigi Cadorna entered the army in 1866, and served in the infantry, in the artillery and on the staff, becoming colonel in 1892. In 1905 he became lieutenant general, and a year later was chosen as an army commander in the event of war. In the manoeuvres of 1911 he opposed Caneva, who as victor was given the command in Tripoli.
In 1914, however, on the death of Gen. Pollio, chief of the gen eral staff, Cadorna was appointed to succeed him (July 10) . He found the army in a deplorable condition, with regard to personnel and material; moreover, within three weeks, the outbreak of the World War forced the problems of army reform to the front. Though handicapped by lack of money and by Italy's low indus trial capacity, in the interval between Aug., 1914 and the entry of Italy into the War Cadorna fashioned a weapon with which it was possible to strike, and to strike hard.
For 29 months, handicapped always by lack of means, Cadorna directed the operations against Austria-Hungary with insight, vig our and determination. Facile critics have found fault with his plan of campaign, but the more carefully and objectively this is studied, the more it justifies itself. For a year Cadorna had the full confidence of his country. The first check came with the initial success of the Austrian offensive in the Trentino-Asiago area in May, 1916. As time went on, and signs of war-weariness became visible among the troops, Cadorna entered the strongest protest against the policy of the Government, which, he said, permitted an anti-war propaganda which was detrimental to the morale of the army. Though these protests were largely justified, it must be admitted that a part of the responsibility for declining morale lay at Cadorna's own door, for he did not seem to have fully realized the strain of modern war upon the troops. The disaster of Capo retto led to the transfer of Cadorna in Nov., 1917, from the com mand of the Italian armies to the newly formed Allied Military Council at Versailles. But before leaving his command he had organized the defences on the Piave-Monte Grappa front, and thus had made a stout resistance possible.
Cadorna came to Versailles under the shadow of defeat, but his personality and military insight soon impressed his colleagues and removed the initial handicap. It was a misfortune for Italy when, in Feb., 1918, consequent upon the appointment of the Caporetto inquiry commission, it was thought necessary to remove him from Versailles. As a result of the inquiry he was placed on half-pay on Aug. 29, 1918, and four days later his definite retirement was gazetted. General Cadorna died on December 21, 1928.
In March 1921 Cadorna published a book dealing with his tenure of the post of chief of staff (La Guerra ally Fronte Italiana), which effectively answered much of the criticism that had been directed against his leadership. This work was followed by Altre Pagine sully Grande Guerra (1925). On the sixth anniversary of the Ital ian victory (Nov. 4, 1924), the newly created rank of marshal was conferred on him. Cadorna has literary gifts and among his writ ings is Il Generale Raffaele Cadorna nel Risorgimento I taliano (1922). (W. K. McC.)