Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo (1896 to 1940) was an Italian fascist politician and Blackshirt leader who served as Marshal of the Air Force, Governor-General of Italian Libya and Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa. After service in the First World War he became the leading Fascist organizer in Ferrara and was one of the four Quadrumvirs, with Michele Bianchi, Emilio De Bono and Cesare Maria De Vecchi, who directed the March on Rome of 1922 that brought Mussolini to power. From 1926 he built the Italian Royal Air Force and promoted aviation in Italy and abroad. In 1933 he was sent to govern Italian Libya, where he lived for the rest of his life. Because of his relative youth he was sometimes seen as a possible successor to Mussolini. Hostile to antisemitism, he was among the minority of leading Fascists who opposed the alliance with Nazi Germany. Early in the Second World War he was killed when Italian anti-aircraft guns shot down his plane over Tobruk by mistake. He is placed here for his military and paramilitary role rather than as a head of government.