Rodolfo Graziani

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Rodolfo Graziani
11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955

Place of birth Filettino, Italy
Place of death Rome, Italy (age 72)
Allegiance Kingdom of Italy (1915 – 1943)
Italian Social Republic (1943 – 1945)
Years of service 1915 – 1945
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, 1882—January 11, 1955), was an Italian military officer who led expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.

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[edit] 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. His deeds earned him the nickname "The butcher of Libya".

From 1935 to 1936 during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Graziani was the commander of the southern Italian army which invaded Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland.

Addis Ababa fell on May 5, 1936 and on May 9 Graziani was awarded with the rank of Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia). After the war, while he was Viceroy and Governor-General of Ethiopia, Graziani survived an assassination attempt on February 19, 1937, and directed the bloody repression that followed, becoming known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia".[1]

[edit] 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 in a friendly fire incident 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.

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 a few years later.

[edit] Military career

[edit] Trivia

[edit] 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
v • d • e
Marshals of Italy