New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-20
By GORDON GORDON-SMTTH.

Rome, June 3.-If you asked an Ital-
ian schoolboy who is the greatest man
in Italy to-day he probably would re-
ply General Cadorna.
The Chief of the General Staff occu-
pies, in the estimation Of his country
men, the same position as General
Joffre in France or Lord Kitchener IN
England. They have in him a conf
dence without limit, coupled with the
affection due to a soldier sans peur
ct sans reproche."
He is a soldier TO his finger tips. he
has the tall, elegant, 1.-the figure so
common among Italian officers, with the
ease of movement that indicates the
rracticed horseman and the quick eye
Of the soldier born TO command. He IS
an aristocrat (Which does a man no
harm in a country with great aristo-
cratic traditions), being the son OF
General Conte Raffsele Cadorna.
His mother was Contessa Clementina
Zoppi, whose brother was project Of
Brescia in the stormy days of 1865.
The names CadOrna and Zoppi have
left their mark on the history of new
Italy and give o good augury for the
son of their race who to-day holds the
military destinies Of Italy in his hand.
In Uniform at Ten Years.
| doubt if General Cadorna can re-
member the day when he did not wear
uniform. At ten years he was already
h cadet in military school at Milan,
where even at that early age he at
tracted attention by his intelligence
and the vivacity of his character. After
five years of hard work as one of the
most brilliant pupils of the school, at
the age of fifteen he entered the Mill
tsry Academy at Turin, which he left
three years later at the head Of his
promotion"
So brilliant were his studies that, as
ar eighteen-year-old sub-lieutenant, he
e. once entered the great General Staff.
During his period of service with the
staff he attended the Academy of War
and did two Stages" with a regiment
of infantry and regiment of artillery.
Soon afterward he became aide-de-
camp of his father, General RafaeIe
Cadorna, then commanding the division
at Florence, at that time the capital of
Italy. When his father was appointed
broke the power OF the Papal States,
his duties to the admiration of every
one.
But he failed to obtain the reward
which would have fallen to any other
officer. His father, one of the most
scrupulously honest as well as one of
the most brilliant officers of the Italian
army, considered that brilliant service
on the part of his son was but bare
duty and refused him the promotion
he would probably have accorded to a
stranger
Author of War History.
It was in 1875 that Luigi Cardona
became captain. Soon afterward he
published series of topographic
studies of Italian territory, which can
still be advantageously consulted and
are models of clear and lucid military
description. But what first made his
reputation as military writer of the
first order was his history of the
Italian national war, which was pub
lished by the "Rivista Militare." The
graphic style OF this work was only
equalled BY the precision and accuracy
of the military details.
In December, 1888, he was promoted
to be major. 1t was in this rank that
had the first opportunity of putting
into actual practice his ideas on in
fantry tactics and three years later he
was again called to the Great General
Staff Here his high qualities at
tracted the attention of General
Pianelli, commanding the division at
Verona, who appointed him to his staff,
and he was still at Verona when he was
promoted TO be colonel in 1892.
Il was during the time he passed az
Verona that General Cadorna had the
opportunity Of making a profound and
thorough study OF the Italo-Austrian
frontier, which now stands him in good
stead. During the great man1uvres, in
which the Verona division took part,
Colonel Cadorna had many opportuni-
ties of showing his talents as stan
officer.
Made Lieutenant General
When he was forty-two years Of age
he was appointed TO the command of
the 10th Regiment Of Bersaglieri. He
again showed his brilliant qualities as
q regimenta. commander, and six years
later was made general of brigade.
When in this rank he drew up and
nublished for the use OF the officers
OF his brigade a small brochure on in
fantry tactics. This soon attracted so
much attention that the commanders
of other brigades sent for copies of it,
and II later became the groundwork
of the official textbook on infantry
tactics Of the Italian army.
In 1895 Luigi Cadorna quit his bril-
gade to take over, with the rank Of