Giuseppe Ettore Viganò

Giuseppe Ettore Viganò (Tradate, 27 April 1843- Florence 8 August 8 1933) was an officer in the Royal Army and politician in the Kingdom of Italy, member of the Senate from 1906 and minister of war from 1906 to 1907.

Early military career Giuseppe Ettore was the son of Francesco Viganò and his Rachele Pancera. He joined Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860 and then began officer training at the Military Academy of Modena, which he completed on September 26, 1861. In the following years he found various positions in the Royal Italian Army as an officer in the artillery and infantry and took part in the Third Italian War of Independence. In 1871 he graduated from the :it:Scuola di guerra dell'esercito.

He took part in the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889 which led to the annexation of Eritrea. Between November 6, 1887 and May 23, 1888 he was Chief of Staff of the High Command in Africa and was promoted to Colonel on April 8, 1888. At the same time, between May 14, 1891 and May 27, 1894, he served as the War Ministry's representative to the Supreme Council for Geodetic Works (Consiglio superiore dei lavori geodetici). He then held the post of deputy commander of the non-commissioned officer school (:it: Scuola sottufficiali dell'Esercito Italiano) between December 24, 1893 and October 2, 1895. On December 22, 1895, he was promoted to major general, after which he took part in the First Italo-Ethiopian War and became vice-governor of Eritrea on August 28, 1896 and acting governor between April 18 and November 30, 1897, during the absence of Antonio Baldissera. In that capacity he had to manage the attack of approximately 10,000 Sudanese Mahdists under the command of Ahmed Fadil, Emir of Gedaref. In January 1897, he marshalled a large force on Agordat, the Dervishes’ objective, convincing the emir to give up and retreat towards Sudan.

After returning to Italy, Viganò was appointed director of the Istituto Geografico Militare Military from December 9, 1897 to January 26, 1902 and held this position until December 29, 1907. On June 5, 1906, he was appointed a member of the Senate.

Honours