Rodolfo Graziani | |
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![]() Rodolfo Graziani in 1940 | |
Minister of National 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 |
Governor-General of Italian 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-General of Italian Libya | |
In office 1 July 1940 – 25 March 1941 | |
Preceded by | Italo Balbo |
Succeeded by | Italo Gariboldi |
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 | Filettino, Kingdom of Italy | 11 August 1882
Died | 11 January 1955 Rome, Italy | (aged 72)
Resting place | Cemetery of Affile, Italy |
Political party | National Fascist Party (1924–1943) Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945) Italian Social Movement (1946–1955) |
Spouse(s) |
Ines Chionetti (m. 1913–1955) |
Children | One daughter |
Alma mater | Military Academy of Modena |
Profession | Military officer |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() ![]() |
Years of service | 1900–1945 |
Rank | Marshal of Italy |
Unit | Italian 10th Army Army Group Liguria |
Battles/wars | |
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (Italian pronunciation: [roˈdɔlfo ɡratˈtsjaːni]; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's Royal Army, primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during World War II. A dedicated fascist and prominent member of the National Fascist Party, he was a key figure in the Italian military during the reign of Victor Emmanuel III.
Graziani played an important role in the consolidation and expansion of the Italian colonial empire during the 1920s and 1930s, first in Libya and then in Ethiopia. He became infamous for harsh repressive measures, such as the use of concentration 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 of Omar Mukhtar. Due to his brutal methods used in Libya, he was nicknamed Il macellaio del Fezzan ("the butcher of Fezzan").[1] In February 1937, after an assassination attempt against him during a ceremony in Addis Ababa, Graziani ordered a period of brutal retribution now known as Yekatit 12. Shortly after the Kingdom of Italy entered World War II, he returned to Libya as the commander of troops in Italian North Africa but resigned after the 1940–41 British 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 before World War I.
Following the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy in 1943, he was the only Marshal of Italy who remained loyal to Benito Mussolini and was named the Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic, commanding its army and returning to active service against the Allies for the rest of the war. Graziani was never prosecuted by the United Nations War Crimes Commission; he was included on its 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 his collaboration with the Nazis; he was released after serving only four months. In the last years of his life, he went into politics, entering in the Italian Social Movement and becoming also Honorary President in 1953, probably for his career during the Fascist period in Italy, and died a few years later in 1955.