Dino Grandi (4 June 1895 – 21 May 1988), 1st
Conte
Conte may refer to:
* Conte (literature), a literary genre
* Conte (surname)
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* Conte, Jura, town in France
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* Conte, the title of Count in Italy ...
di
Mordano, was an Italian
Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of
parliament.
Early life
Born at
Mordano,
province of Bologna, Grandi was a graduate in law and economics at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...
in 1919 (after serving in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
). Grandi started a career as a lawyer in
Imola. Attracted to the
political left, he nonetheless became impressed with
Benito Mussolini after the two met in 1914, and became a staunch advocate of Italy's entry into the World War.
He joined the
Blackshirts at age 25, and was one of 35 Fascist delegates elected, along with Mussolini, in May 1921 to the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
. Grandi survived an
ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...
carried out by leftist militants in 1920, and had his studio devastated on one occasion.
Fascist statesman
After the
March on Rome
The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 192 ...
on 28 October 1922, in which the Fascists took power in Italy, Grandi became part of the new government; first as the undersecretary of the interior (1923), then as the
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1929) and then as Italy's ambassador to the United Kingdom (1932 to 1939). Grandi was an ally to the most radical and violent groups of fascists, always surrounding himself with members of the Blackshirts. He used his power base to voice criticism of Mussolini's attempt to reach an
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
with left-wingers and was at one point under suspicion for having attempted to replace the latter with the skeptical alleged Mussolini forerunner
Gabriele D'Annunzio.
In 1939, he was recalled to Italy after attempting a pact between his country and Britain to prevent Italy from entering World War II. Under pressure from Hitler, Mussolini removed him from the post of ambassador and appointed him Minister of Justice. As a diplomat, Grandi created a net of connections that were rivaled only by Mussolini's son-in-law,
Galeazzo Ciano, and he attempted to use it for his own gains. Thus, he persuaded
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
Victor Emmanuel III to grant him a title in 1937, and he managed to retain a comfortable position until he was sent by Mussolini to the
Greek Front with the other ''
Gerarchi'' in 1941. As Mussolini's ambassador to London, he had affairs with some of the most influential noblewomen of the time—including
Lady Alexandra Curzon
Lady Alexandra Naldera Metcalfe, CBE (née Curzon; 20 March 1904 – 7 August 1995) was the third daughter of George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Viceroy of India, and Lord Curzon's first wife, the American mercantile heiress, ...
, daughter of the Viceroy of India,
George Curzon.
Grandi opposed the antisemitic
Italian racial laws of 1938,
and the country's entry into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He was dropped from the Cabinet in February 1943 for his increasing criticism of the war effort.
Fall of Mussolini and aftermath
As the war began to have its devastating effect on Italy after the
Allied invasion of Sicily, Grandi and other members of the
Fascist Grand Council
The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy, that held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of the ...
met on 24 July 1943. When Mussolini said that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south, Grandi launched a blistering attack on his former comrade-in-arms. He then made a motion (''Ordine del giorno Grandi'') asking King
Victor Emmanuel III to resume his full constitutional authority. The resolution, voted at 2:00 on 25 July, passed by a vote of 19 to 8, with one abstention, effectively removing Mussolini from office. Those leading government figures who had voted for the resolution included
Giuseppe Bottai and
Emilio De Bono
Emilio De Bono (19 March 1866 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian general, fascist activist, marshal, and member of the Fascist Grand Council (''Gran Consiglio del Fascismo''). De Bono fought in the Italo-Turkish War, the First World War and ...
as well as Grandi. The King had Mussolini arrested the same day. Grandi also negotiated a truce with the left-wing movements, notably with the trade unions (grouped in the
Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro
The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christ ...
), which gave way to the
Italian resistance movement against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
While the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
occupied the south, an alternate Fascist government was established in Northern Italy as the
Italian Social Republic. It sentenced Grandi to death ''in absentia'' for treason in the
Verona trial that took place on 8 to 10 January 1944. Grandi, however, had made sure to flee to
Francisco Franco's Spain in August 1943. He lived there, then in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
(1943–1948),
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, and then
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
, Brazil, until he returned to Italy in the 1960s; he died in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...
. Coincidentally, Grandi died on the same weekend as two postwar Italian Fascist leaders. Like Grandi,
Pino Romualdi
Giuseppe "Pino" Romualdi' (24 July 1913 – 21 May 1988) was an Italian right-wing politician who served both the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) and the Italian Social Movement (MSI). He was the subject of frequent rumours that he was the biologi ...
died on 21 May 1988, and
Giorgio Almirante died the following day.
["Obituaries Dino Grandi, 92; rival of Mussolini's," ''Syracuse Post-Standard'', 24 May 1988, p.48]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandi, Dino
1895 births
1988 deaths
People from the Province of Bologna
Counts of Italy
Members of the Grand Council of Fascism
Foreign ministers of Italy
Mussolini Cabinet
Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy
Members of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations
Ambassadors of Italy to the United Kingdom
20th-century Italian lawyers
Italian military personnel of World War I
Italian people of World War II
People sentenced to death in absentia
Recipients of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Exiled Italian politicians
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)