Alberto Pollio

He wrote an essay on Napoleon and his Waterloo campaign, and one on the Battle of Custoza (1866), which drew praise even from abroad.

He wrote a number of books on previous European campaigns, which have been translated into several languages.

Due to the Italian obligations in the Triple Alliance and the simultaneous tensions with Austria-Hungary in the wake of irredentism and the opposing Balkan policies of both states, Pollio was forced to plan a war on the side of Germany and Austria against France, as well as a war against Austria in the Alps.

Under Pollio, in cooperation with the German General Staff, plans were drawn up according to which, in the event of a war with France, several Italian divisions would be transferred by rail through Austrian territory to southern Baden, in order to advance towards Besançon from there.

He died on 1 July 1914, just as World War I was about to begin; the circumstances of his death have led some authors to claim that the apparently austrophile general was actually murdered, to make way for Cadorna, who succeeded him as Chief of Staff.