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Columbia Encyclopedia: 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.
 
 

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
Rodolfo Graziani
11 August 188211 January 1955 (Age: 72)
Place of birth Filettino, Italy
Place of death Rome, Italy
Allegiance Flag_of_Italy_(1861-1946)_crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy (19151943)
Image:Rsi war war flag nonshadowed.svg‎ Italian Social Republic (19431945)
Years of service 19151945
Rank Governor of Italian Somaliland
Viceroy of Abyssinia
Marshal of Italy
Governor of Libya
Minister of Defense (RSI)
Unit Italian Tenth Army


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

Rise to prominence

Born in Filettino (near Frosinone), he served in World War I, and became the youngest colonel in the Italian Royal Army. In the 1920s, Graziani commanded the Italian forces in Libya, responsible for pacifying the Senussi rebels. During this so-called pacification, he was responsible for the construction of several concentration- and labor camps, where tens of thousands Libyan prisoners died, if not killed directly by hanging, like Omar Mukhtar, or bullets, then indirectly by starvation or disease. In 1935-36 during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Graziani was the commander of the Italian army which invaded Ethiopia. While governor of Ethiopia, he survived an assassination attempt on February 19, 1937, and directed the bloody repression that followed, becoming known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia".[1]

In World War II

During World War II he commanded the Tenth Army, stationed in Libya. He became commander after the death of Italo Balbo killed by Italian "friendly fire" on June 28 1940. After the declaration of war, Mussolini ordered Graziani to use his army in an invasion of Egypt. Graziani expressed doubts about the ability of his largely un-mechanized force could defeat the British, however, he followed orders and the Tenth Army attacked on September 13. He resigned his commission in 1941 after being defeated by the British in Operation Compass, following the defeat of his army.

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

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 of 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.

Military career

Trivia

Notes

  1. ^ 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).


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

 
 

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Copyrights:

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 GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rodolfo Graziani" Read more

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