Galeazzo Ciano | |
|---|---|
 Ciano in 1936 | |
| Ambassador ofItaly toVatican City | |
| In office 5 February 1943 – 25 July 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Raffaele Guariglia |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Babuscio Rizzo |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 9 June 1936 – 6 February 1943 | |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Benito Mussolini |
| Succeeded by | Benito Mussolini |
| Minister of Press and Propaganda | |
| In office 23 June 1935 – 11 June 1936 | |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Dino Alfieri |
| Member of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations | |
| In office 23 March 1939 – 5 August 1943 | |
| Appointed by | Benito Mussolini |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gian Galeazzo Ciano (1903-03-18)18 March 1903 |
| Died | 11 January 1944(1944-01-11) (aged 40) |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Party | National Fascist Party |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Costanzo Ciano (father) Carolina Pini (mother) |
| Profession |
|
| Signature | _-_Signature_of_Galeazzo_Ciano.jpg) |
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (/ˈtʃɑːnoʊ/CHAH-noh,Italian:[ɡaleˈattsoˈtʃaːno]; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944), was an Italian diplomat and politician who served asMinister of Foreign Affairs of theKingdom of Italy under the government of his father-in-law,Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1943. During this period, he was widely seen as Mussolini's most probable successor as head of government.[1][2]
He was the son ofAdmiralCostanzo Ciano, a founding member of theNational Fascist Party; father and son both took part in Mussolini'sMarch on Rome in 1922. Ciano saw action in theItalo-Ethiopian War (1935–36) and was appointed Foreign Minister on his return. Following a series of Axis defeats in theSecond World War, Ciano began pushing for Italy's exit, and he was dismissed from his post as a result. He then served as ambassador to theVatican.
In July 1943, Ciano was among the members of theGrand Council of Fascism that forced Mussolini's ousting and subsequent arrest. Ciano proceeded to flee to Germany but was arrested and handed over to Mussolini's new regime based in Salò, theItalian Social Republic. Mussolini ordered Ciano's death, and in January 1944, he was executed by firing squad.[3]
Ciano wrote and left behind a diary[4] that has been used as a source by several historians, includingWilliam Shirer in his 1960 bookThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich[5] and in the four-hourHBO documentary-dramaMussolini and I (1985).[6]
Gian Galeazzo Ciano was born inLivorno, Italy, in 1903. He was the son ofCostanzo Ciano and his wife Carolina Pini;[7] his father was anAdmiral andWorld War I hero in theRoyal Italian Navy (for which service he was given the aristocratic title ofCount byVictor Emmanuel III).[8] The elder Ciano, nicknamedGanascia ("The Jaw"), was a founding member of theNational Fascist Party and re-organiser of the Italian merchant navy in the 1920s. Costanzo Ciano was not above extracting private profit from his public office.
He would use his influence to depress the stock of a company, after which he would buy a controlling interest, then increase his wealth after its value rebounded. Among other holdings, Costanzo Ciano owned a newspaper, farmland in Tuscany and other properties worth huge sums of money. As a result, his son Galeazzo was accustomed to living a high-profile and glamorous lifestyle, which he maintained almost until the end of his life. Father and son both took part in Mussolini's 1922March on Rome.[9]
After studyingPhilosophy of Law at theUniversity of Rome, Galeazzo Ciano worked briefly as a journalist before choosing a diplomatic career; soon, he served as anattaché in Rio de Janeiro.[10] According to Mrs.Milton E. Miles, in the 1920s in Beijing, Ciano metWallis Simpson, later theDuchess of Windsor, had an affair with her, and left her pregnant, leading to a botched abortion that left her infertile. The rumour was later widespread but never substantiated, and Ciano's wife,Edda Mussolini, denied it.[11]
On 24 April 1930, when he was 27 years old, Ciano marriedBenito Mussolini's daughterEdda Mussolini,[3] and they had three children (Fabrizio, Raimonda and Marzio), though he was known to have had several affairs while married.[12] Soon after their marriage, Ciano left for Shanghai to serve as Italian consul,[13] where his wife had an affair with the Chinese warlordZhang Xueliang.[14]
On his return to Italy in 1935, Ciano became the minister of press and propaganda in the government of his father-in-law.[15][16] He volunteered for action in theItalian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–36) as a bomber squadron commander. He received two silver medals of valour and reached the rank of captain. His future opponentAlessandro Pavolini served in the same squadron as a lieutenant.
Upon his highly trumpeted return from the war as a "hero" in 1936, he was appointed by Mussolini as the replacementForeign Minister. Ciano began to keep a diary a short time after his appointment and kept it active up to his 1943 dismissal as foreign minister. In 1937, he was allegedly involved in planning the murder of the brothersCarlo andNello Rosselli, two exiled anti-fascist activists killed in the Frenchspa town ofBagnoles-de-l'Orne on 9 June. Also in 1937, prior to theItalian annexation in 1939, Gian Galeazzo Ciano was named an Honorary Citizen ofTirana, Albania.[17]
BeforeWorld War II, Mussolini may have been preparing Ciano to succeed him asDuce.[18] At the start of the war in 1939, Ciano did not agree with Mussolini's plans and knew that Italy's armed forces were ill-prepared for a major war. When Mussolini formally declared war on France in 1940, he wrote in his diary,"I am sad, very sad. The adventure begins. May God help Italy!"[19][20] Ciano became increasingly disenchanted with Nazi Germany and the course of World War II, although when the Italian regime embarked on an ill-advised "parallel war" alongside Germany, he went along, despite the terribly-executed Italian invasion of Greece and its subsequent setbacks. Prior to the German campaign in France in 1940, Ciano leaked a warning of imminent invasion to neutralBelgium.[21]
Throughout 1941 and thereafter, Ciano made derogatory and sarcastic comments about Mussolini behind his back and was surprised that these comments were reported to the Duce, who did not take them lightly; for his part, Ciano ignored well-meaning friends who advised moderation.[16] On top of that, friends and acquaintances sought his protection and aid on various matters not having to do with his official position, which in turn resulted in further caustic remarks. In addition, two relatively minor incidents wounded his overblown self-importance and vanity. One was his being excluded from a projected meeting between Mussolini and Franco. The other involved him being reprimanded for a rowdy celebration of an aviator in Bari; he wrote a letter to Mussolini stating that the Duce had "opened a wound in him which can never be closed." His own self-worth seemed to cloud his judgement, forgetting that he had acquired his position by marrying Mussolini's daughter.[22]
In late 1942 and early 1943, following the Axis defeat in North Africa, other major setbacks on theEastern Front, and with an Anglo-American assault on Sicily looming, Ciano turned against the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy's exit from the conflict. He was silenced by being removed from his post as foreign minister. The rest of the cabinet was removed as well on 5 February 1943.[23]
Ciano was offered the post of ambassador to theHoly See, and presented his credentials toPope Pius XII on 1 March.[23] In this role, he remained in Rome, watched closely by Mussolini. The regime's position had become even more unstable by the coming summer, however, and court circles were already probing the Allied commands for some sort of agreement.[20][24]
On the afternoon of 24 July 1943, Mussolini summoned theFascist Grand Council to its first meeting since 1939, prompted by theAllied invasion of Sicily. At that meeting, Mussolini announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south. This ledDino Grandi to launch a blistering attack on his longtime comrade. Grandi put on the table a resolution asking King Victor Emmanuel III to resume his full constitutional powers – in effect, a vote leading toMussolini's ousting from leadership. The motion won by an unexpectedly large margin, 19–8, with Ciano voting in favour. Mussolini's replacement wasPietro Badoglio, an Italian general in both World Wars.[25] Mussolini did not expect the vote to have substantive effect, and showed up for work the next morning as usual. That afternoon, the king summoned him toVilla Savoia and dismissed him from office. Upon leaving the villa, Mussolini was arrested.[26]
Ciano was dismissed from his ambassador's post by the new government of Italy, put in place after his father-in-law was overthrown. Later, he and Edda were put under home arrest. Fearing further prosecution by the new Italian government, Ciano and Edda secretly turned to the Germans for help, and after covertly fleeing their villa with their three children on 27 August 1943, were evacuated on a German military plane from Ciampino airport to Munich.
After they were evacuated to Germany and placed in a secluded villa near Munich, Ciano and Edda applied for permission to be transferred to neutral Spain where they hoped to wait till the war's end. The application was denied, and as the Germans were furious at Ciano for his anti-Mussolini vote at the 24 July Fascist Grand Council meeting, they turned Ciano over to Mussolini's new government, theItalian Social Republic formed on 23 September, agreeing with Mussolini that Ciano would be viewed as a traitor. Ciano was then formally arrested on charges of treason. Under German and Fascist pressure, Mussolini kept Ciano imprisoned before he was tried at court and found guilty.[26] After theVerona trial and sentence, on 11 January 1944, Ciano was executed by afiring squad along with four others (Emilio De Bono,Luciano Gottardi,Giovanni Marinelli andCarlo Pareschi) who had voted for Mussolini's ousting. As a further humiliation, the condemned men were tied to chairs and shot in the back, though, allegedly, Ciano managed to twist his chair around at the last minute to face the firing squad before uttering his final words, "Long live Italy!"[27]
Ciano is remembered for hisDiaries 1937–1943,[28] a revealing daily record of his meetings with Mussolini,Hitler,Ribbentrop, foreign ambassadors and other political figures. Edda tried to barter his papers to the Germans in return for his life; Gestapo agents helped her confidantEmilio Pucci rescue some of them from Rome. Pucci was then a lieutenant in the Italian Air Force, but would find fame after the war as a fashion designer. When Hitler vetoed the plan, she hid the bulk of the papers at a clinic inRamiola, nearMedesano and on 9 January 1944, Pucci helped Edda escape to Switzerland with five diaries covering the war years which were then buried beneath a rose garden.[29] The diary was first published in English inLondon in 1946, edited byMalcolm Muggeridge, covering 1939 to 1943.[30] The complete English version was published in 2002.[4]
Gian Galeazzo and Edda Ciano had three children:
| Italian nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari 1939–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Gaetano Polverelli | Head of the Government Press Office 1933–1934 | Succeeded by None (Office abolished) Himself as Undersecretary for Press and Propaganda |
| Preceded by None (Office established) | Undersecretary for Press and Propaganda 1934–1935 | Succeeded by None (Office abolished) Himself as Minister for Press and Propaganda |
| Preceded by None (Office established) | Minister of Press and Propaganda 1935 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1936–1943 | Succeeded by |
Media from Commons
Quotations from WikiquoteMembers of theMussolini Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Head of government andduce of Fascism |  | |
| Minister of Aeronautics (since 1925) | ||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | ||
| Minister of Agriculture (abolished in 1923) | ||
| Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (since 1929) | ||
| Minister of the Colonies (abolished in 1937) | ||
| Minister of Italian Africa (since 1937) | ||
| Minister of Communications (since 1924) | ||
| Minister of Corporations (since 1926) | ||
| Ministry of Popular Culture (since 1937) | ||
| Minister of the Interior | ||
| Minister of Domestic Economy | ||
| Minister of Domestic Education | ||
| Minister of Finance | ||
| Minister of Justice and Affairs of Religion | ||
| Minister of Industry and Commerce | ||
| Minister of Public Works | ||
| Minister of War | ||
| Minister of Labour and Social Security | ||
| Minister of Posts and Telegraphs | ||
| Minister of War Production (since 6 February 1943) | ||
| Minister of Public Education | ||
| Minister of Trades and Currencies | ||
| Minister of Press and Propaganda | ||
| Minister of Freed Territories from Enemies (abolished on 5 February 1923) | ||
| Minister of Treasure (merged into Ministry of Finance on 31 December 1922) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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