Galeazzo Ciano

Galeazzo Ciano , 1903-44, Italian foreign minister and Fascist leader; son of Admiral Costanzo Ciano, conte di Cortellazzo. He entered on a diplomatic career, married (1930) Mussolini's daughter Edda, and became foreign minister in 1936. He helped to create the Rome-Berlin Axis and the military pact with Germany and was in part responsible for the attack on Greece in 1940. In 1943 he was dismissed as foreign minister and made ambassador to the Vatican. At the meeting of the Fascist grand council that preceded Mussolini's dismissal (1943) by the king, Ciano voted against the Duce. He was later arrested by the Germans, transferred to the Fascist authorities in N Italy, and executed for high treason.

Bibliography: See his diary (1946).

Ciano, Count Galeazzo (b. 18 Mar. 1903, d. 11 Jan. 1944). Italian Fascist leader Born in Livorno, he obtained a degree in law from Rome in 1925, and entered the diplomatic service. Not surprisingly, his career was significantly boosted by his marriage to Edda, Mussolini's eldest daughter. In 1933 he became the head of Mussolini's press office, and in 1935 he was promoted to Minister of Press and Propaganda. He left in the same year to join the Abyssinian War, and in 1936 was appointed Foreign Minister. Despite his lack of experience and the absence of a power base within the Fascist movement, he managed to put his own stamp on Mussolini's foreign policy, such as the intervention in the Spanish Civil War and the conquest of Albania. He also managed to persuade Mussolini to remain neutral at the outbreak of World War II, though when Italy did join in 1940 his influence declined rapidly, following the disastrous Italian invasion of Greece 1940–1. He was demoted to ambassador to the Pope in February 1943, and supported the decision of the Fascist Grand Council to depose Mussolini on 25 July 1943. However, he was captured by the Germans and executed in the Republic of Salò. His diaries 1935–43 provide an important insight into the internal workings of Fascist Italy.

Ciano, Count Galeazzo (1903–44) Italian politician. A leading fascist, he married MUSSOLINI's daughter and from 1936 to 1943 was Foreign Minister. He was among those leaders who voted for the deposition of Mussolini and for this he was tried and shot in Verona by the puppet government established by Mussolini in northern Italy.