Rodolfo Graziani | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic | |
| In office 23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945 | |
| President | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Army | |
| In office 3 November 1939 – 24 March 1941 | |
| Preceded by | Alberto Pariani |
| Succeeded by | Mario Roatta |
| Governor-General of Italian Libya | |
| In office 1 July 1940 – 25 March 1941 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Italo Balbo |
| Succeeded by | Italo Gariboldi |
| Governor-General ofItalian East Africa | |
| In office 11 June 1936 – 21 December 1937 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Pietro Badoglio |
| Succeeded by | Amedeo, Duke of Aosta |
| Governor of Italian Somaliland | |
| In office 6 March 1935 – 9 May 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Maurizio Rava |
| Succeeded by | Angelo De Ruben |
| Vice-Governor of Italian Cyrenaica | |
| In office 17 March 1930 – 31 May 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Domenico Siciliani |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1882-08-11)11 August 1882 |
| Died | 11 January 1955(1955-01-11) (aged 72) Rome, Italy |
| Resting place | Cemetery ofAffile, Italy |
| Political party | National Fascist Party (1924–1943) Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945) Italian Social Movement (1946–1955) |
| Spouse(s) | ; his death |
| Children | One daughter |
| Alma mater | Military Academy of Modena |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Italy (1903–1943) Italian Social Republic (1943–1945) |
| Branch/service |  Royal Italian Army (1903–1943) National Republican Army (1943–1945) |
| Years of service | 1903–1945 |
| Rank | Marshal of Italy |
| Unit | Italian 10th Army Army Group Liguria |
| Battles/wars | |
Rodolfo Graziani, 1stMarquis of Neghelli (US:/ˌɡrɑːtsiˈɑːni/GRAHT-see-AH-nee,[1]Italian:[roˈdɔlfoɡratˈtsjaːni]; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was an Italian military officer in theKingdom of Italy'sRoyal Army, primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and duringWorld War II. A dedicatedfascist as prominent member of theNational Fascist Party, he was a key figure in the Italian military during the regime ofBenito Mussolini.
Graziani played an important role in the consolidation and expansion of theItalian colonial empire during the 1920s and 1930s, firstin Libya and thenin Ethiopia. He became infamous for harsh repressive measures, such as the use ofconcentration camps that caused many civilian deaths, and for extreme measures taken against the native resistance of the countries invaded by the Italian army, such as the hanging ofOmar Mukhtar. Due to his brutal methods used in Libya, he was nicknamedIl macellaio del Fezzan ("the butcher ofFezzan").[2] In February 1937, after an assassination attempt against him during a ceremony inAddis Ababa, Graziani ordered a period of brutal retribution now known asYekatit 12. Shortly afterItaly entered World War II, he returned to Libya as the commander of troops inItalian North Africa but resigned after the 1940–41British offensive routed his forces; this campaign caused him other stress attacks, which he suffered from a snake accident during his military service in Libya a few years beforeWorld War I.
Following thefall of the Fascist regime in Italy in 1943, he was the onlyMarshal of Italy who remained loyal toBenito Mussolini and was named the Minister of Defence of theItalian Social Republic, commandingits army and returning to active service against theAllies for the rest of the war. Graziani was never prosecuted by theUnited Nations War Crimes Commission; he was included onits 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 1950, an Italian court sentenced Graziani to 19 years of imprisonment for hiscollaboration with the Nazis; he was released after serving only four months. In the last years of his life, he went into politics, entering in theItalian Social Movement and becoming its Honorary President in 1953, probably for his career during the Fascist period in Italy, and died a few years later in 1955.
Rodolfo Graziani was born inFilettino in theprovince of Frosinone on August 11, 1882.[3] 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.[4]
In 1903, he joined theRoyal 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.[5]Graziani's first posting was toItalian Eritrea where he learned Arabic andTigrinya. In 1911, whilst in the Eritrean countryside, he was bitten by a snake which resulted in him being hospitalized.[6] Because of this, he never served in theItalo-Turkish War. After his convalescence, he was repatriated to Italy where he was promoted to captain. In 1918, duringWorld War I, Graziani in theRegio Esercito became the youngestColonnello (Colonel) in Italian history.
In 1930, the Fascist government appointed Graziani Vice-Governor of Cyrenaica and commander of the Italian forces inLibya. He served there until 1934. During those four years, hesuppressed the Senussi rebellion. In this so-called "pacification", he was responsible for the construction ofseveral concentration camps andlabor camps, where thousands of Libyan prisoners died. Some prisoners were hanged, such asOmar Mukhtar, or shot, but most prisoners died of starvation or disease.[7] His deeds earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Fezzan" among the Arabs.[8] Fascist propaganda, however, called himthe Pacifier of Libya (Pacificatore della Libia).
In 1935, Graziani was appointed Governor ofItalian Somaliland.
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During theSecond Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935 and 1936, Graziani was the commander of the southern front. His army invadedEthiopia fromItalian Somaliland and he commanded the Italian forces at the battles ofGenale Doria and theOgaden. However, Graziani's efforts in the south were secondary to the main invasion launched fromEritrea byGeneraleEmilio De Bono, later continued byMarshal of ItalyPietro Badoglio. It was Badoglio and not Graziani who enteredAddis Ababa in triumph after his "March of the Iron Will". But it was Graziani who said: "TheDuce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians."
Addis Ababa fell to Badoglio on 5 May 1936. Graziani had wanted to reachHarar 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 anEthiopian 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 madeViceroy of Italian East Africa andGovernor-General of Shewa / Addis Ababa. After an unsuccessful attempt by two Eritreans to kill him on 19 February 1937 (and after murders of other Italians in occupied Ethiopia), Graziani ordered a bloody and indiscriminate reprisal upon the conquered country, later remembered by Ethiopians asYekatit 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".[9] In connection with the attempt on his life, Graziani authorized the massacre of the monks of the ancient monastery ofDebre 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 wasChief of Staff of theRegio Esercito.
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At the start ofWorld War II, Graziani, now styled 1st Marquis of Neghelli, was still Commander-in-Chief of theRegio Esercito's General Staff. Graziani oversaw the Italian forces during theItalian invasion of France in June 1940. After the death of MarshalItalo Balbo in afriendly fire incident on 28 June 1940, Graziani took his place asGovernor General and Commander-in-Chief ofItalian North Africa.
The Italian dictatorBenito Mussolini had given Graziani a deadline of 8 August 1940 to invade Egypt with the10th Army. Graziani doubted the ability of his largely-unmechanized 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 against the British screening forces. The Italians capturedSidi Barrani and then prepared a series of fortified camps to defend their positions. In December 1940, inOperation Compass the British counterattacked and completely defeated the 10th Army. On 25 March 1941, Graziani was replaced by GeneralItalo 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.[10]
Graziani was the only Italian Marshal to remain loyal to Mussolini after thefall of the Fascist regime in Italy, and he joined Mussolini in the north after theItalian surrender (some say that he chose to adhere to theItalian Social Republic for his dislike forPietro 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 Defence of the Italian Social Republic by Mussolini[11][better source needed] and oversaw the mixed Italo-GermanArmy Group Liguria (Armee Ligurien). Graziani defeated Allied forces in the December 1944 "Battle of Garfagnana" and led a joint Italian-German force that included the Italian 2nd Grenadier Division 'Littorio', 3rd Marine Division 'San Marco' and the 4th Alpine Division 'Monte Rosa' , the ENR divisions that trained are from Germany.
When Mussolini fled northward on 25 April 1945, Graziani was left as thede facto leader of what remained of the Italian Social Republic.Mussolini was captured and executed on 28 April 1945. In the following dayAxis troops in northern Italy surrendered. Graziani sent a delegation to surrender all RSI troops. On 30 April, he surrendered to theUS IV Corps, and on 1 May, he ordered the Army Group Liguria under his command to surrender.
At the end of World War II, Graziani spent a few days in theSan Vittore Prison inMilan before he was transferred to Allied control. He was brought back to Africa in Anglo-American custody and stayed there until February 1946. Allied forces then felt the danger of his assassination or lynching had passed (many thousands of fascists were murdered in Italy in the summer and autumn of 1945) and so moved Graziani to theProcida prison in Italy.
Before the Second World War, theLeague of Nations did not prosecute Graziani and the Italian authorities for war crimes in Ethiopia. In one case, Graziani had ordered his troops to use chemical weapons againstNasibu Zeamanuel's troops inGorrahei on 10 October 1935.[12] Although the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs gave the League of Nations irrefutable evidence of what the Italian military had done from within a few hours of its invasion on 3 October 1935 to 10 April of the following year, no action was taken. Incidents included the use of poison gas and the bombing of Red Cross hospitals and ambulances.[13]
In 1943, the United States proposed to the Allies replacing theLeague of Nations with a new body, theUnited Nations. TheUnited Nations War Crimes Commission was created to investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Axis powers inWorld War II. On 31 December 1946,Ambaye Wolde Mariam from The Ethiopian War Crimes Commission presented to the UN War Crimes Commission its preliminary findings against Graziani. This related, however, to the period before WWII. The Ethiopian government felt it would have no difficulty from the sufficient amount of evidence it had to justify a trial against Graziani, especially for the massacres he ordered in February 1937.[13] On 4 March 1948, charges against Graziani were presented to the United Nations War Crimes Commission. The commission was presented with evidence of the Italian policy of systematic terrorism and Graziani's self-admitted intention to execute all local authorities and cited a telegram from Graziani to General Nasi, in which Graziani had written, "Keep in mind also that I have already aimed at the total destruction of Abyssinian chiefs and notables and that this should be carried out completely in your territories".[13] The UN Commission agreed that there was aprima facie case against eight Italians, including Graziani.[13]
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However, the Allies questioned the veracity of Ethiopia's claim against the Italians on the grounds that it was impossible to identify which individuals in the Italian military hierarchy had actually issued the criminal orders. The British government was the firmest supporter of that stance, and the United States pursued a policy "largely characterized by ambivalence towards Italian aggression". The Ethiopian government made a direct request to the "Four Policemen", but that was immediately rejected on technical grounds. In addition, many in the Italian press firmly opposed any Italian officer being put on trial for war crimes. Faced with such resistance and indifference, Ethiopia had no choice but to back down from their requests, to the consternation of many Ethiopians.[14][15]
On 2 May 1950, an Italian military tribunal sentenced Graziani to 19 years in jail for collaborating with the Nazis, but he was released after only four months because his lawyers demonstrated that his actions had been only after he "received orders". He never faced any further prosecutions for any other specific war crimes.[16] Unlike the Germans and the Japanese, the Italians did not have their commanders subjected to prosecutions by Allied tribunals.
In the early 1950s, Graziani had some involvement with theneo-fascistItalian Social Movement (MSI), and he became the "Honorary President" of the party in 1953. Though the MSI saw Graziani as afigurehead, they also believed politically he could not be trusted as he had too often refused to obey the party’s directives. He would later explain his motivations for joining the group:
I joined the MSI because it mirrors my beliefs and convictions. However, it would be absurd to think that a new Fascist dictatorship could be set up today. History teaches us that dictatorships don’t spring up like mushrooms.
During the summer of 1954, Graziani resigned from the MSI.[17]
By autumn 1954, Graziani was losing strength and he began experiencing mounting health issues. His mental health had deteriorated to the point that he sometimes woke up thinking he was still imperialviceroy inAddis Ababa. By years end he was suffering from acute pain and on 26 December 1954, he underwent surgery. It went well and he began recovering during the first week of January 1955. On 10 January, his health suddenly rapidly declined. At midnight he went into a coma, briefly regaining consciousness at 4 am and stated his later words, ‘If my time has come, I'll go calmly to be judged by God’. He died in Rome at 6 am on 11 January 1955 at the age of 72.[17]
More than 100,000 people came to his funeral in front of thechurch of Saint Bellarmino in Rome. Crowds holding banners, singing hymns and givingfascist salutes packed the streets.[17]
In August 2012, $160,000 of public money was used to help finance the building of a large monument atop Graziani's tomb inAffile. The subscription was supplemented by private funding from the mayor of Affile, Ercole Viri. The new mausoleum was engraved with the words "Fatherland" and "Honor". Local left-wing politicians and national commentators harshly criticized the monument whereas the town's "mostly conservative" population approved.[18] Public funding for the Graziani monument was suspended by the newly elected Lazio administration after the 2013 regional elections.[19] A statement fromEthiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Graziani did not deserve to be memorialized but instead be condemned in history for his war crimes, genocidal behavior andcrimes against humanity.[19] In 2017, Viri and two other Affile town councillors were convicted of the crime of "fascism apology" for building the monument and were given jail sentences, although the court did not order the removal of the monument.[20][21]
Graziani wrote several books,[22] the most important of which are:
also:
Graziani was portrayed by British actorOliver Reed in the 1981war filmLion of the Desert. On its release, it was banned by the Italian government because, in the words of Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti, it was "damaging to the honor of the army".[23]
Graziani was also portrayed byRodolfo Dal Pra in the Italian filmLast Days of Mussolini.
The Italian singer and composerFranco Battiato included a reference to Graziani in his song "Lettera al Governatore della Libia" (Letter to the governor of Libya) with the phrase "Lo sai che quell'idiota di Graziani farà una brutta fine" (You know that the idiotic Graziani will have a bad end).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)draft version of a paper selected by Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law, and presented on 25.11.2016 at the "Debacles" Conference.
Media related toRodolfo Graziani at Wikimedia Commons
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Viceroy andGovernor-General ofItalian East Africa 11 June 1936 – 21 December 1937 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief ofItalian North Africa andGovernor-General ofItalian Libya 28 June 1940 – 25 March 1941 | Succeeded by |
