Amoveatur ut promoveatur: The careers of military judges in Italy and the colonies

This chapter focuses on the career trajectories of Italian military magistrates in the first half of the 20th century. Very little is known about this distinct group of high “civil” servants, their social origins, educational backgrounds and career patterns. Most of them served in the colonies and on the war frontlines; a few volunteered for the Spanish Civil War or worked in occupied territories such as Albania. After the Armistice was signed in September 1943, some were deported to Germany, while others joined the Italian Partisan Resistance. Using a wide range of mainly unpublished archival materials and a prosopographical database, the research offers insight into the different scenarios in which those magistrates performed their duties. We employ an interdisciplinary approach between history and geography, and blend the methods of political and social history with those of the history of military justice.