First marshal of the empire (Italian: primo maresciallo dell'impero) was a military rank established by the Italian Parliament on March 30, 1938. The highest rank in the Italian Military, it was only granted to Benito Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III. The rank was abolished following World War II.
The decision of Mussolini to create for himself and for the King of Italy a new military rank created a crisis between himself and the king Victor Emmanuel III because for the first time in the history of the House of Savoy, the Prime minister of Italy bore an equal rank with the head of royal house giving to the prime minister a mortgage to the high command of the Italian armed forces that was a power of the king under the provisions of Statuto Albertino.