| “ | That's unfair, of course, I want peace, of course. I want to win that peace. But sometimes, Prince, when you are strong, … peace takes on the nature of 'conquest is enough'. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to Prince Amedeo. |
Rodolfo Graziani is the main antagonist in the 1981 Libyan historical epic war film Lion of the Desert. He was one of the most influential leader of the Italian army. He is an extremely loyal and obedient follower of Benito Mussolini. A fascist general who is strict and does not tolerate failure.
He was portrayed by the late Oliver Reed.
Biography[]
| “ | Gentlemen, I will repeat one simple fact to you. We’re not merely fighting Mukhtar and... 200 of his men here or 50 of his men there.We are fighting a population. We have Rome to answer to. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to his officers. |
Mussolini wants to defeat the uprising in Libya, where four of his governors have already failed. He therefore sends one of his most important men, General Rodolfo Graziani, to defeat the rebels and capture their leader, Omar Mukhtar. Graziani is greeted on arrival in Libya by a serious and great party, the officers are very enthusiastic. However, the general will immediately show his true personality when he receives a report of a failure. He tells his officers, a little anxiously, that "there is no peace" and he suppresses the uprising by all means. A battalion led by Major Tomelli begins to terrorize the population of a village. The crops of the village are set on fire, a wounded rebel is publicly executed, and his wife is taken with them. Those who try to resist are shot with machine guns. However, this did not intimidate the Bedouins, but had the opposite effect. Several then joined Mukhtar's rebels to fight against the Italians. Tomelli and his soldiers chase Mukhtar's group, but the rebels trap them. Almost the entire battalion is destroyed, Tomelli is shot in the head by a rebel. What was left was a young lieutenant Sandrini, an Italian soldier and a car. Mukhtar handed over the flag of the fighting force to the lieutenant and told him that this was not Graziani's land. After the report, Graziani warns his officers that they are fighting not just a few people, but an entire nation. His officers decimate the population of the villages, buried the wells with sand and burned the crops and the lands. Most of the population is taken to concentration camps. Graziani sent Colonel Diodiece to negotiate about peace and surrender with Omar Mukhtar. However, this is just a ruse so that the general gain time and even more troops arrive to Libya without the rebels knowed of his plan. In addition to many soldiers, Graziani also brought tanks and planes. When Omar and his companions ended the failed "peace talks," Graziani set out with his army to capture the city of Kufra. Omar did not support defending Kufra because he knew there was no chance against an army of this size in the city, but many rebels defended the city. They were successful in the beginning, but Graziani ordered a full attack. The machine guns of the tanks shot the riders and the artillery and mortars also kill many rebels. The tanks drove mercilessly through the rebels damaged or lying in the sand. and the buildings in which the rebels were hiding were simply devastated. The remaining rebels were executed with machine guns.
Graziani, Prince Amedeo and his officers in Kufra.
Graziani triumphantly marched with his huge army into the ruined Kufra. His soldiers hoisted the Italian flag. After the siege, people who supported the rebels were executed in the concentration camps. They also blew up many vehicles, the losses of the Italians were great. Graziani then decided to attack the rebels hiding in the mountains, but this time he had a serious plan, not a simple attack. First, the Italians used poison gas, which killed many the rebels. As the gas spread, the Italians fired a machine gun. The machine gunners were killed by a friend of Omar, who was shot by an Italian soldier. Omar shot the soldier, but he had to flee because the gas kept spreading. Graziani then bombed the mountains with artillery for five days, but Omar and the rebels were safe inside the mountains. Graziani believed the rebels could no longer escape. There was a bridge in the mountains that allowed the armored vehicles to cross, but Graziani knew the rebels could raid at his troops. Graziani sent a smaller group to check the area. The bridge was also checked for a bomb beneath it. Then, as expected, the rebels attacked the Italians. Graziani then ordered the artillery to destroy the attacking rebels. The cannons shot them apart, no one survived. Graziani was very pleased because he believed he had destroyed the most important forces of the rebels. He then ordered his army to cross the bridge with the armored vehicles and the tanks. However, Omar expected this and the raid was just a ruse. After the Italian army crossed the bridge, they approached an empty field. Suddenly rebellious horsemen showed up, and the armored vehicles and the tanks immediately began to chase them. But it was a trap. Under the tanks and vehicles, the rebels blew up the dynamites. Many Bedouin cavalry attacked the Italian army from several directions, the field was full of burning, destroyed vehicles. Graziani was very surprised and then nervous. The Italian soldiers clashed with the cavalry and the rebels. He was defeated, his army completely destroyed. After that, Omar and the rebels retreated. However, Graziani did not give up the fight.
In 1930 he returned to Rome to Mussolini. The Duce was very pleased with the general that, unlike the other governors, he had returned to report and also believed he had defeated the rebels. Graziani said it was too difficult to defeat the rebels in the mountains, but he came up with a solution to the problem. "A new Hadrian's Wall," which covered so much that they completely closed the border between Libya and Egypt with a barbed wire fence, so that the rebels could not get any supplies and could not escape to Egypt. Mussolini agreed to the plan, the Italians builded hundreds of kilometers of barbed wire fences between Libya and Egypt. After that, the situation of the rebels became completely hopeless, because after several months there was no supply or help. Graziani checked the effectiveness of his wall with a few officers. There were some corpses on the barbed wire fences. He believed the time had finally come to crush the rebellion once and for all. The rebels ’fighting spirit was also greatly diminished, but Omar tried to inspire them to remain persistent and strong. The next day, Omar and the remaining rebels left their hiding places and set off. However, the Italians raid them. Some rebels confronted them, covering Omar and the others who had retreated. However, the Italians made an unstoppable breakthrough. The fighting rebels were killed after a short battle and the retreating riders were chased by armored vehicles equipped with machine guns. Very few rebels managed to escape, but Omar Mukhtar's horse was shot and he was captured. He was taken to Graziani, who was trying to manipulate and lead him to stand by him and be his man. He tried to put him on his own side as politely and promisingly as possible, but Omar refused to serve him. Graziani then handed him over to the court, who sentenced Omar Mukhtar to death by hanging. 16th of September, 1931, year 9 of the fascist era Omar was executed with which Graziani successfully crushed the rebellion once and for all.
Personality[]
| “ | No, I don't want any pity for them. They have brought it on themselves. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to his officers. |
| “ | Do not dispute with me!! The state has needs that outweigh the conscious of the individual. Demands that go beyond individual intelligence, don't you agree? | „ |
| ~ Graziani to Lieutenant Sandrini. |
Graziani was a very ruthless, strict, iron-handed, rigid military leader. His most common trait is that he hates extremely the failure. He also spoke to the other officers and military leaders quite irritably, sometimes shouting when a failure occurred. He liked to deceive, manipulate, mislead people. In addition, he often liked to "shape" people the way he wanted. Especially in the case of the young lieutenant, he really wanted to make the boy the way he wanted it to be, his own masterpiece.
In addition to these, Graziani was also a little power hungry. He regarded almost everyone as a tools of his ascension. He even tried to manipulate Omar Mukhtar to become a kind of "Glorious Caesar." Although he fully enjoyed the Duce's unconditional trust, he still seemed to want more than that.
Quotes[]
| “ | Look… the mice, they could never resist the cheese, could they? Never. | „ |
| ~ Graziani when the rebels fall into his ruse. |
| “ | An Italian innovation. The first to use aircraft in combat, ... the first to put tanks in the desert. History will mark that, gentlemen. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to his officers before the siege of Kufra. |
| “ | It is ridiculous to think that we can fight this war kindly. We cannot. We have to fight with authority. To place half a million people behind barb wire... it is a promotable and majestic undertaking. And we will do it. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to his officers. |
| “ | Have him a photograph. I wish my enemies to be recorded. | „ |
| ~ Graziani to one of his officer after Omar Mukhtar refused to serve him, |
Gallery[]
