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Rodolfo Graziani

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Rodolfo Graziani
Graziani, Rodolfo (rōdôl'fō grätsēä'), 1882-1955, Italian soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in World War I and in Libya (1921-33), he was made (1935) governor of Italian Somaliland. For his part in the Italo-Ethiopian War, he was promoted to marshal and served (1936-37) as viceroy of Ethiopia. Graziani was made chief of staff of the Italian army (1939) and became governor of Libya (1940). In World War II, Graziani's army was completely routed (winter 1940-41) by the British in the Libyan campaign, and he resigned his command. Arrested in 1945, Graziani was indicted for high treason for his collaboration with the Germans in N Italy after the Italian armistice with the Allies in 1943. After two trials he was convicted (1950) by a military court and sentenced to 19 years in prison. However, he was released from custody a few months later and became active in the neofascist party.
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Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Rodolfo Graziani
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1882 - 1955

Italian military officer.

Rodolfo Graziani first came to prominence as the conqueror of Tripolitania in 1925, during the second Italo - Sanusi War. In 1929, under the direction of the new governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, he completed the conquest of the Fezzan. In 1930, General Graziani was made vice-governor of Libya and military governor of Cyrenaica, and during the next year, he completed its pacification using brutal and ruthless tactics. The nomadic population of northern Cyrenaica was herded into detention camps; a wire fence was constructed along the northern Cyrenaican - Egyptian border and the Sanusi zawiyas (Islamic religious centers) were destroyed. Graziani's tactics reached their peak with the public execution of the veteran resistance leader, Umar alMukhtar, at Soluk on 16 September 1930. Graziani went on to succeed Marshal Balbo as governor of Libya on the latter's death in action in Tobruk in June 1940.

Bibliography

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. The Sanusi of Cyrenaica. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1947.

GEORGE JOFFE

Wikipedia: Rodolfo Graziani
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Rodolfo Graziani
August 11, 1882 - January 11, 1955
Rodolfo Graziani.jpg
Place of birth Filettino, Italy
Place of death Rome, Italy (aged 72)
Allegiance Italy Kingdom of Italy (1915 - 1943)
Flag of RSI.svg Italian Social Republic (1943 - 1945)
Service/branch Regio Esercito (Royal Italian Army) (1915 - 1943)
Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano (1943 - 1945)
Years of service 1915 - 1945
Rank General
Vice Governor of Italian Cyrenaica
Governor of Italian Cyrenaica
Governor of Italian Somaliland
Marshal of Italy
Governor of Italian East Africa
Viceroy of Italian East Africa
Governor of Italian Libya
Minister of Defense (RSI)
Unit Italian Tenth Army
Battles/wars Second Italo-Abyssinian War
World War II

Rodolfo Graziani, Marchese di Neghelli (August 11, 1882 - January 11, 1955), was an officer in the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) who led military expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.

Contents

Rise to prominence

Rodolfo Graziani was born in Filettino (near the town of Frosinone) in the Province of Frosinone in the Kingdom of Italy. He served in World War I and became the youngest colonel in the Italian Royal Army.

In Libya

In the 1920s, Graziani commanded the Italian forces in Libya. He was responsible for pacifying the Senussi rebels. During this so-called "pacification," he was responsible for the construction of several concentration camps and labor camps, where tens of thousands Libyan prisoners died, if not killed[1] directly by hanging, like Omar Mukhtar, or bullets, then indirectly by starvation or disease. His deeds earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Fezzan"[2] among the Arabs, but was called by the Italians the Pacifier of Libya ("Pacificatore della Libia").

From 1926 to 1930, Graziani was the Vice Governor of Italian Cyrenaica in Libya. In 1930, he became Governor of Cyrenaica and held this position until 1934 when it was determined that he was needed elsewhere. In 1935, Graziani was made the Governor of Italian Somaliland.

In Ethiopia

From 1935 to 1936 during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Graziani was the commander of the southern front. His army invaded Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland and he commanded Italian forces in the Battle of Genale Doria and the Battle of the Ogaden. However, Graziani's efforts in the south were secondary to the main invasion launched from Eritrea by General Emilio De Bono and 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 the ruthless Graziani who said: "The Duce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians."

Addis Ababa fell to Badoglio on May 5, 1936. Graziani had wanted to reach Harar before Badoglio reached Addis Ababa, but failed to do so. Even so, on May 9, Graziani was awarded for his role as commander of the southern front with a promotion to the rank of Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia).

After the war, Graziani was made Viceroy and Governor-General of Ethiopia. Graziani survived an assassination attempt on February 19, 1937 a bloody and indiscriminate repression followed. He became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia".[3]

From 1939 to 1941, Graziani was the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Army's General Staff.

In World War II

At the start of World War II, Graziani was still the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Army's General Staff. After the death of Marshal Italo Balbo, he took his place as the Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa and as the Governor General of Libya. Balbo was killed in a friendly fire incident on 28 June 1940.

Initially giving Graziani a deadline of 8 August, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered Graziani to invade Egypt with the Tenth Army. Graziani expressed doubts about 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 elements of the Tenth Army invaded Egypt on 9 September. The Italians made modest gains into Egypt and then prepared a series of fortified camps to defend their positions. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated by them during Operation Compass.

On 25 March 1941, Graziani was replaced by General Italo Gariboldi.

Graziani was the only Italian marshal to remain loyal to Mussolini after Dino Grandi's Grand Council of Fascism coup. He was appointed Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic and oversaw the mixed Italo-German LXXXXVII "Liguria" Army (Armee Ligurien) commanded by General Alfredo Guzzoni.

At the end of the war, Graziani spent a few days in 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 assassination or lynching had passed and returned him to Procida prison in Italy.

In 1950, a military tribunal sentenced Graziani to prison for a term of 19 years as punishment for his collaboration with the Nazis, but he was released after serving only a few months of the sentence. He died in Rome in 1955.

Military career

Trivia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Italian atrocities in world war two | Education | The Guardian:# Rory Carroll # The Guardian, # Monday June 25 2001
  2. ^ Hart, David M.: Muslim Tribesmen and the Colonial Encounter in Fiction and on Film: The Image of the Muslim Tribes in Film and Fiction. Het Spinhuis, 2001. Page 121. ISBN 905589205X
  3. ^ An account of this event, known in Ethiopia as "Yekatit 12", is chapter 14 of Anthony Mockler's Haile Selassie's War (New York: Olive Branch, 2003).
Government offices
Preceded by
Pietro Badoglio
Viceroy and Governor-General of Italian East Africa
11 June 1936 to 21 December 1937
Succeeded by
Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta
Military offices
Preceded by
Italo Balbo
Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa and Governor-General of Italian Libya
28 June 1940 to 25 March 1941
Succeeded by
Italo Gariboldi

 
 

 

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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rodolfo Graziani" Read more