Galeazzo Ciano

On his return to Italy in 1935, Ciano became the minister of press and propaganda in the government of his father-in-law.[14][15] He volunteered for action in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–36) as a bomber squadron commander. He received two silver medals of valor and reached the rank of captain. His future opponent Alessandro Pavolini served in the same squadron as a lieutenant.

Upon his highly trumpeted return from the war as a "hero" in 1936, he was appointed by Mussolini as replacement Foreign Minister. Ciano began to keep a diary a short time after his appointment and kept it active up to his 1943 dismissal as foreign minister. In 1937, he was allegedly involved in planning the murder of the brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, two exiled anti-fascist activists killed in the French spa town of Bagnoles-de-l'Orne on 9 June. Also in 1937, prior to the Italian annexation in 1939, Gian Galeazzo Ciano was named an Honorary Citizen of Tirana, Albania.[16]

Ciano arriving in Albania in April 1939.

Before World War II, Mussolini may have been preparing Ciano to succeed him as Duce.[17] (In 1938, he sought treatment for his throat ailment, by the famed Jewish professor Heinrich Neumann. As treatment required lengthy time, the Anschluss interrupted and Neumann was jailed[18] as a Jew). At the start of the war in 1939, Ciano did not agree with Mussolini's plans and knew that Italy's armed forces were ill-prepared for a major war. When Mussolini formally declared war on France in 1940, he wrote in his diary, "I am sad, very sad. The adventure begins. May God help Italy!"[19][20] Ciano became increasingly disenchanted with Nazi Germany and the course of World War II, although when the Italian regime embarked on an ill-advised "parallel war" alongside Germany, he went along, despite the terribly-executed Italian invasion of Greece and its subsequent setbacks. Prior to the German campaign in France in 1940, Ciano leaked a warning of imminent invasion to neutral Belgium.[21]

Throughout 1941 and thereafter, Ciano made derogatory and sarcastic comments about Mussolini behind his back and was surprised that these comments were reported to the Duce, who did not take them lightly; for his part, Ciano ignored well meaning friends who advised moderation.[15] On top of that, friends and acquaintances sought his protection and aid on various matters not having to do with his official position, which in turn resulted in further caustic remarks. In addition, two relatively minor incidents wounded his overblown self-importance and vanity. One was his being excluded from a projected meeting between Mussolini and Franco. The other involved him being reprimanded for a rowdy celebration of an aviator in Bari; he wrote a letter to Mussolini stating that the Duce had "opened a wound in him which can never be closed." His own self-worth seemed to cloud his judgement, forgetting that he had acquired his position by marrying Mussolini's daughter.[22]

In late 1942 and early 1943, following the Axis defeat in North Africa, other major setbacks on the Eastern Front, and with an Anglo-American assault on Sicily looming, Ciano turned against the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy's exit from the conflict. He was silenced by being removed from his post as foreign minister. The rest of the cabinet was removed as well on 5 February 1943.[23]

Ciano was offered the post of ambassador to the Holy See, and presented his credentials to Pope Pius XII on 1 March.[23] In this role he remained in Rome, watched closely by Mussolini. The regime's position had become even more unstable by the coming summer, however, and court circles were already probing the Allied commands for some sort of agreement.[20][24]

Ciano (far right) standing alongside (right to left) Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Édouard Daladier, and Neville Chamberlain prior to the signing of the Munich Agreement.

On the afternoon of 24 July 1943, Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council to its first meeting since 1939, prompted by the Allied invasion of Sicily. At that meeting, Mussolini announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south. This led Dino Grandi to launch a blistering attack on his longtime comrade. Grandi put on the table a resolution asking King Victor Emmanuel III to resume his full constitutional powers – in effect, a vote leading to Mussolini's ousting from leadership. The motion won by an unexpectedly large margin, 19–8, with Ciano voting in favor. Mussolini's replacement was Pietro Badoglio, an Italian general in both World Wars.[25] Mussolini did not expect the vote to have substantive effect, and showed up for work the next morning as usual. That afternoon, the king summoned him to Villa Savoia and dismissed him from office. Upon leaving the villa, Mussolini was arrested.[26]

• Ciano, Galeazzo (1947) [1943]. Muggeridge, Malcolm (ed.). Ciano's Diary, 1939–1943. Translated by V. Umberto Coletti-Perucca (3rd ed.). London: William Heinemann Ltd.
• Ciano, Galeazzo (1948) [1943]. Muggeridge, Malcolm (ed.). Ciano's diplomatic papers: being a record of nearly 200 conversations held during the years 1936–42 with Hitler, Mussolini, Franco; together with important memoranda, letters, telegrams etc. Translated by Stuart Hood (1st ed.). London: Odhams Press. LCCN 49019765. OCLC 1085348.
• Ciano, Galeazzo (2002) [1943]. Pugliese, Stanislao G.; Miller, Robert Lawrence; Gibson, Hugh (eds.). Diary 1937–1943. Translated by Miller, Robert Lawrence; Coletti-Perucca, V. Umberto (2nd ed.). New York: Enigma Books. ISBN 9781929631025. LCCN 2004-266790. OCLC 49545875.
• Hof, Tobias (2021). Alford, Larry P.; Yates, John (eds.). Galeazzo Ciano: The Fascist Pretender. Toronto Italian studies (1st ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press/Gerda Henkel Foundation. ISBN 9781487507985 – via Google Books.
• Ciano, Galeazzo (2000) [1946]. Gibson, Hugh (ed.). The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943: The Complete, Unabridged Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1936-1943. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 1-931313-74-1.
• Guerri, Giordano Bruno (2006) [2005]. Berlusconi, Marina (ed.). Un amore fascista. Benito, Edda e Galeazzo. Le scie (in Italian) (2nd ed.). Segrate, Italy: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A.). ISBN 9788804534679.
• Ciano, Galeazzo (2010). Дневник фашиста. 1939–1943 [The diary of a fascist. 1939–1943]. Primary sources of recent history (in Russian). Moscow: Platz. p. 676. ISBN 978-5-903514-02-1.
• Moseley, Ray (18 March 2014) [2000]. Berk, Adina Popescu (ed.). Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano (2nd ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300209563. OCLC 41497106.
• Bosworth, Richard J.B. (2010) [2002]. Newton, Nigel; Lambert, Richard (eds.). Mussolini (2nd ed.). London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781849660242. OCLC 731060695 – via Google Books.
• Salter, Michael; Charlesworth, Lorie (1 March 2006). Cassese, Antonio; Dé, Urmila (eds.). "Ribbentrop and the Ciano Diaries at the Nuremberg Trial". Journal of International Criminal Justice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 4 (1): 103–127. doi:10.1093/jicj/mqi095. ISSN 1478-1387. OCLC 52158126. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
• Ciano, Fabrizio (1992) [1991]. Cimagalli, Dino; Mondadori, Leonardo (eds.). Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà [When grandpa had daddy shot] (in Italian) (5th ed.). Segrate, Italy: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A.). ISBN 9788804349945. OCLC 797756689.
• "Galeazzo Ciano's Last Reflections before Execution." World War II Today RSS. Accessed 25 March 2015.
• "Galeazzo Ciano – a Summary – History in an Hour." History in an Hour. 10 January 2014. Accessed 25 March 2015.
• "Gian Galeazzo Ciano – Comando Supremo." Comando Supremo. 14 February 2010. Accessed 25 March 2015.
• Smyth, Howard McGaw; Ciano, Galeazzo (22 September 1993) [1969]. Smyth, Howard McGaw (ed.). The Ciano Papers: Rose Garden (PDF). CIA Historical Review Program (Center for the Study of Intelligence) (Report). Vol. 13. Langley, VA: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). pp. 1–50. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
• Caprioli, Fulvia Maria (23 March 2012). Cristofanelli, Pacifico (ed.). Scritture di gerarchi fascisti: Dal personaggio alla personalità (Thesis) (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta (LUMSA). Retrieved 27 July 2021 – via Tesionline.