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Galeazzo Ciano was Mussolini’s son in law, and for many years the Foreign Secretary of Italy, but he is best known for his diaries, which survived and fell into Allied hands, and for being executed after turning against Mussolini.
The focus of this book is on the eight years in which Ciano was a major political figure in Italy, from his rise to power in 1936 to his execution in 1943. Its fair to say he was rarely seen as a serious political figure, and his diaries certainly suggest that was an accurate view, at least at first. He seems to take several years to realise how serious events were across Europe, and even then was still prone to take long breaks or focus on trivial gossip.
The subtitle is a little misleading – we don’t get a great deal on Mussolini’s motives for allowing the execution, and indeed the author admits that we don’t really know what his motives actually were. The basic reason for the execution is of course pretty obvious – Ciano was a leading figure in the coup within the Fascist party that led to the fall of Mussolini. What we can’t be sure of is why Mussolini decided to go through with the execution.
The more one learns about Ciano, the less sympathetic a figure he becomes. He normally appears on the edge of events, as the author of diaries that express increasingly anti-German opinions, and as a figure in the coup that overthrew Mussolini. As such he gains a certain amount of sympathy simply for appearing to be anti-Nazi. His diaries show that he was indeed anti-German, and was opposed to Italy joining the wider European war in 1939-40. However he was also largely responsible for the decision to invade Greece, showing that he wasn’t actually anti-war, just against the war he didn’t think would aid Italy.
His behaviour after taking part in the events that led to Mussolini’s downfall is particularly unimpressive. He later claimed that he hadn’t expected the Fascist Council’s resolution against Mussolini to actually lead to his fall, and was clearly surprised to find himself unpopular and in real danger in post-Mussolini Italy. His decision to turn to the Germans for help shows an impressive lack of judgement – he had hardly hidden his anti-German views as the war had dragged on,
This is a worthwhile biography. Ciano might have been a bit of a light-weight, but he was a well placed one, who had to be taken by other countries. He was also at the heart of the Italian Fascist Regime, so we get insights into how Mussolini’s government worked, and the failings of the Italian military leadership, as well as how support for Mussolini collapsed within his own regime.
Chapters
1 – The Young Ciano
2 – 1936 – rise to power
3 – 1937 – diplomatic dancing
4 – 1938 – tempo rising
5 – 1939 – crisis
6 – 1940 – the critical year
7 – 1941 – total war
8 – 1942 – dissent
9 – 1943 – the end days
Concluding Remarks
Author: Andrew Sangster
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 256
Publisher: Whittles
Year: 2023