Rodolfo Graziani facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rodolfo Graziani
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Rodolfo Graziani in 1940
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| Minister of National Defence of the Italian Social Republic |
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| In office 23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945 |
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| President | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Governor-General of Italian East Africa | |
| In office 11 June 1936 – 21 December 1937 |
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| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Pietro Badoglio |
| Succeeded by | Amedeo, Duke of Aosta |
| Governor-General of Italian Libya | |
| In office 1 July 1940 – 25 March 1941 |
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| Preceded by | Italo Balbo |
| Succeeded by | Italo Gariboldi |
| Governor of Italian Somaliland | |
| In office 6 March 1935 – 9 May 1936 |
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| Preceded by | Maurizio Rava |
| Succeeded by | Angelo De Ruben |
| Vice-Governor of Italian Cyrenaica | |
| In office 17 March 1930 – 31 May 1934 |
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| Preceded by | Domenico Siciliani |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 August 1882 Filettino, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 11 January 1955 (aged 72) Rome, Italy |
| Resting place | Cemetery of Affile, Italy |
| Political party | National Fascist Party (1924–1943) Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945) Italian Social Movement (1946–1955) |
| Spouses |
Ines Chionetti
(m. 1913–1955) |
| Children | One daughter |
| Alma mater | Military Academy of Modena |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Italy (1900–1943) Italian Social Republic (1943–1945) |
| Branch/service |  Royal Italian Army (1900–1943) National Republican Army (1943–1945) |
| Years of service | 1900–1945 |
| Rank | Marshal of Italy |
| Unit | Italian 10th Army |
| Battles/wars |
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Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli ( 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's Regio Esercito ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during World War II. A dedicated fascist and prominent member of the National Fascist Party, he was a key figure in the Italian military during the reign of Victor Emmanuel III.
Graziani played an important role in the consolidation and expansion of the Italian colonial empire during the 1920s and 1930s, first in Libya and then in Ethiopia. He became infamous for harsh repressive measures, such as the use of concentration camps that caused many civilian deaths, and for extreme measures taken against the native resistance of the countries invaded by the Italian army. Due to his brutal methods used in Libya, he was nicknamed Il macellaio del Fezzan ("the butcher of Fezzan"). In February 1937, after an assassination attempt against him during a ceremony in Addis Ababa, Graziani ordered a period of brutal retribution now known as Yekatit 12. Shortly after the Kingdom of Italy entered World War II, he returned to Libya as the commander of troops in Italian North Africa but resigned after the 1940–41 British offensive routed his forces; this campaign caused him other stress attacks, which he suffered from a snake accident during his military service in Libya that happened a few years before World War I.
Following the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy in 1943, he was the only Marshal of Italy who remained loyal to Benito Mussolini and was named the Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic, commanding its army and returning to active service against the Allies for the rest of the war. Graziani was never prosecuted by the United Nations War Crimes Commission; he was included on its list of Italians eligible to be prosecuted for war crimes but Allied opposition and indifference to the prosecution of Italian war criminals frustrated Ethiopian attempts to bring him to justice. In 1948, an Italian court sentenced Graziani to 19 years of imprisonment for his collaboration with the Nazis; he was released after serving only four months. In the last years of his life, he went into politics, entering in the Italian Social Movement and becoming also Honorary President in 1953, probably for his career during the Fascist period in Italy, and died a few years later in 1955.
Contents
Early life
Rodolfo Graziani was born in Filettino in the province of Frosinone on August 11, 1882. His father, Filippo Graziani, was the village doctor. He was educated in a seminary in the town of Subiaco and then went on to study in the Liceo Torquato Tasso in Rome. Due to economic restraints, Graziani could not apply to the Military Academy of Modena and so decided to study law at university instead, at the urging of the father.
Military career
In 1900, he joined the Royal Italian Army as a reserve officer cadet whilst studying at university. In 1906, he passed a competitive examination for reserve officers to be made regular and became a second lieutenant, stationed at the 1st regiment of Grenadiers in Rome. Graziani's first posting was to Italian Eritrea where he learned Arabic and Tigrinya. In 1911, whilst in the Eritrean countryside, he was bitten by a snake which resulted in him being hospitalized. Because of this, he never served in the Italo-Turkish War. After his convalescence, he was repatriated to Italy where he was promoted to captain. In 1918, during World War I, Graziani in the Regio Esercito became the youngest Colonnello (Colonel) in Italian history.
Libya
In 1930, the Fascist government appointed Graziani Vice-Governor of Cyrenaica and commander of the Italian forces in Libya. He served there until 1934. During those four years, he suppressed the Senussi rebellion. In this so-called "pacification", he was responsible for the construction of several concentration camps and labor camps, where thousands of Libyan prisoners died.
In 1935, Graziani was appointed Governor of Italian Somaliland.
Ethiopia
During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935 and 1936, Graziani was the commander of the southern front. His army invaded Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland and he commanded the Italian forces at the battles of Genale Doria and the Ogaden. However, Graziani's efforts in the south were secondary to the main invasion launched from Eritrea by Generale Emilio De Bono, later continued by Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio. It was Badoglio and not Graziani who entered Addis Ababa in triumph after his "March of the Iron Will". But it was Graziani who said: "The Duce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians."
Addis Ababa fell to Badoglio on 5 May 1936. Graziani had wanted to reach Harar before Badoglio reached Addis Ababa, but failed to do so. Even so, on 9 May, Graziani was rewarded for his role as commander of the southern front with a promotion to the rank of Marshal of Italy. During his tour of an Ethiopian Orthodox church in Dire Dawa, Graziani fell into a pit covered by an ornate carpet, a trap that he believed had been set by the Ethiopian priests to injure or kill him. As a result, he held Ethiopian clerics in deep suspicion.
After the war, Graziani was made Viceroy of Italian East Africa and Governor-General of Shewa / Addis Ababa. After an unsuccessful attempt by two Eritreans to kill him on 19 February 1937, Graziani ordered a bloody and indiscriminate reprisal upon the conquered country, later remembered by Ethiopians as Yekatit 12. Up to thirty thousand civilians of Addis Ababa were killed indiscriminately; another 1,469 were summarily executed by the end of the next month, and over one thousand Ethiopian notables were imprisoned and then exiled from Ethiopia. Graziani became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia". In connection with the attempt on his life, Graziani authorized the massacre of the monks of the ancient monastery of Debre Libanos and a large number of pilgrims, who had traveled there to celebrate the feast day of the founding saint of the monastery. Graziani's suspicion of the Ethiopian Orthodox clergy (and the fact that the wife of one of the assassins had briefly taken sanctuary at the monastery) had convinced him of the monks' complicity in the attempt on his life.
From 1939 to 1941, Graziani was Chief of Staff of the Regio Esercito.
World War II
At the start of World War II, Graziani, now styled 1st Marquis of Neghelli, was still Commander-in-Chief of the Regio Esercito′s General Staff. After the death of Marshal Italo Balbo in a friendly fire incident on 28 June 1940, Graziani took his place as Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa.
The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had given Graziani a deadline of 8 August 1940 to invade Egypt with the 10th Army. Graziani doubted the ability of his largely un-mechanized force to defeat the British and put off the invasion for as long as he could.
However, faced with demotion, Graziani ultimately followed orders, and four divisions of the 10th Army invaded Egypt on 9 September. The Italians achieved only modest gains in Egypt and then prepared a series of fortified camps to defend their positions. In December 1940, the British counterattacked and completely defeated the 10th Army. On 25 March 1941, Graziani was replaced by General Italo Gariboldi. Graziani remained mostly inactive for the next two years. During his time in Italy, he played a role in suppressing the Italian anti-fascist movement.
Graziani was the only Italian Marshal to remain loyal to Mussolini after the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, and joined Mussolini in the north after the Italian surrender (someone say that he choose to adhere to Italian Social Republic for his dislike for Pietro Badoglio, who had signed the Armistice of Cassibile with the allies and because he was his worst enemy during the fascist period). He was appointed Minister of Defense of the Italian Social Republic by Mussolini and oversaw the mixed Italo-German Army Group Liguria (Armee Ligurien). Graziani defeated Allied forces in the December 1944 "Battle of Garfagnana", leading a mixed Italian / German force that included the "Monte Rosa" alpine division and the "San Marco" marine division.
When Mussolini fled northward on 25 April 1945, Graziani was left as the de facto leader of what remained of the RSI. Mussolini was captured and executed on 28 April 1945. The following day, German forces in Italy surrendered, and Graziani's own surrender followed on 1 May 1945.
At the end of World War II, Graziani spent a few days in the San Vittore Prison in Milan before being transferred to Allied control. He was brought back to Africa in Anglo-American custody, staying there until February 1946. Allied forces then felt the danger of his assassination or lynching had passed, and moved Graziani to the Procida prison in Italy.
Death
He died, aged 72, of natural causes in Rome.
Books
Graziani wrote several books, the most important of which are:
- Ho difeso la Patria (una vita per l'Italia)
- Africa settentrionale 1940–41
- Libia redenta
also:
- Verso il Fezzan
- La riconquista del Fezzan
- Cirenaica pacificata
- Pace romana in Libia
Military career
- 1915-1918—Service in World War I
- 1921-1934—Service in Libya
- 1926-1930—Vice Governor-General of Italian Cyrenaica
- 1930-1934—Governor-General of Italian Cyrenaica
- 1935-1936—Governor-General of Italian Somaliland
- 1936-1937—Governor-General and Viceroy of Ethiopia; promoted to Marshal of Italy
- 1940-1941—Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa and Governor-General of Libya
- 1943-1945—Minister of Defense for the Italian Social Republic
See also
In Spanish: Rodolfo Graziani para niños
- Frontier Wire (Libya)
