Famous Italian Military Leaders

Italian general, patriot, and republican Giuseppe Garibaldi is remembered for the role he played in the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland." A highly proficient military general, he also led the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf of Victor Emmanuel II. He died in 1882.

Georg von Trapp, or Captain von Trapp, was an Austrian naval officer who led the Trapp Family Singers, the family that inspired the play and the film The Sound of Music. An able military man, he had also been part of World War II and was knighted by the Austrian government.

Initially an artillery officer, Pietro Badoglio served as a general during the two World Wars. He eventually signed an armistice with the Allies to withdraw Italian forces from World War II. He eventually served as the prime minister of Italy and was also the 1st Duke of Addis Abeba.

Roman general Publius Quinctilius Varus had also been made the governor of Africa. Working under Roman emperor Augustus, he lost three Roman legions to the Germanic tribes of Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest and eventually committed suicide by falling upon his sword.

Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse. He was the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by the Rhine, and his wife, Countess Julia von Hauke. He married Queen Victoria's youngest child, Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, and became a member of the British Royal Family. 

Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, son of Emperor Leopold II, was a major force behind strengthening the Austrian army in early 19th century. He is remembered for his exploits in the French Revolutionary Wars. Though initially successful in the Napoleonic Wars, he was defeated in the Battle of Wagram.

Seventeenth-century soldier Raimondo Montecuccoli, who served the Habsburg Monarchy, is remembered for redefining the art of warfare with his techniques of fortification and siege. He made a significant contribution to the Thirty Years’ War and penned Dell’arte militare, or The Military Art, which remains his most important work.