Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi
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Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi (born May 18, 1856 in Borgo San Lorenzo , † February 15, 1941 in Florence ) was an Italian marshal and senator . From November 1918 to July 1919 he was the first Italian governor in South Tyrol after the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War .
Life
Pecori Giraldi completed an officer training course at the Military Academy in Turin . In 1877 he was promoted to lieutenant and then served in various artillery units . He served in Italian East Africa and took part in the Italian-Turkish War as a division commander. Then he retired from active service.
When the First World War broke out, Pecori Giraldi was reactivated. From May 1915 he commanded the 27th Division (Brigades "Benevento" and "Campania") and from autumn the VII Army Corps on the lower Isonzo . On May 8, 1916 he took over the 1st Italian Army in Trentino , at whose head he shortly afterwards fought off the Austrian offensive on the seven municipalities . This offensive represented the most important operation in his entire military career and made him widely known. His troops held positions on the heights of Asiago for two years and entered Trento on November 3, 1918, following the battle of Vittorio Veneto .
First governor of South Tyrol
On November 3, 1918, he was appointed military and civil governor of Trento . With the advance of the Italian troops northwards to the armistice line on the Brenner , his area of responsibility subsequently extended to the entire Trentino , South Tyrol and the areas around Cortina d'Ampezzo, which also belong to Austria-Hungary .
As early as November 18, 1918, a manifesto signed by Pecori Giraldi was distributed in South Tyrol, from which his further policy as governor became apparent. It said:
"By insisting on the assertion of its own rights and creativity in this part of the country, Italy abandons any thought of rape of its subjects of other races or other tongues, with whom it rather wants to establish mutual brotherly relations."
His policy as governor was shaped by the peaceful penetration of the South Tyrolean population. Although he refused to completely renounce Italianization, at the same time he opposed the violent Italianization of South Tyrol. He was also influenced by the international climate at the time in the run-up to the peace negotiations in Saint-Germain . As ordered from Rome, Pecori Giraldi proceeded with sensitivity and moderation towards the German language group. With his stance, he was only able to assert himself with difficulty against the nationalist Ettore Tolomei , who wanted to make the German language and culture disappear and whose draft of the manifesto signed by Pecori Giraldi had been partially rejected by the latter. At the same time, however, the appointment of Tolomei as Commissioner for the Language and Culture of South Tyrol by the Italian government showed which different positions were represented in Rome.
His tenure was marked by a guerrilla war with Tolomei. Although he was able to reverse the Italianization of German place names that Tolomei had started on his own initiative, he was unable to remove Tolomei from his office due to the resistance in Rome. In the end there was a compromise, Tolomei remained in his office, but lost his independence and was placed directly under the administration of Pecori Giraldi.
In April 1919, Pecori Giraldi had in the meantime been appointed General of the Army ( Italian Generale d'esercito ), the highest rank of the Royal Italian Army at the time, and Senator of the Kingdom on February 22, 1919, it seemed as if whether Tolomei could get the upper hand in the dispute with Pecori Giraldi in view of the advanced peace negotiations. With the fall of the Orlando government in June 1919, however, the end of his term as governor was finally ushered in. In July 1919 he was replaced by the civil commissioner Luigi Credaro from the successor government of Nitti .
In 1926, Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi was the fascist regime for his service in World War to Marshal of Italy raised. In 1930 he was awarded the Order of Annunciations , the highest order of merit in the Kingdom of Italy. His grave is now in the Pasubio ossuary built for the fallen of the First World War at Passo Pian delle Fugazze below Monte Pasubio , where he was transferred in 1953 and the construction of which he himself suggested.
literature
- Marion Dotter, Stefan Wedrac: The high price of peace: The history of the division of Tyrol 1918–1922 . Tyrolia-Athesia, Innsbruck-Vienna-Bozen 2018, ISBN 978-3-7022-3711-0 .
- Mauro Passarin: Pecori Giraldi, Guglielmo. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 82: Pazzi-Pia. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2015.
- South Tyrolean Provincial Government Agency for Press and Communication (Ed.): 100 Years Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain 1919–2019 . Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol, Bozen no year
Web links
- Biographical summary on the website of the Italian Senate
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mauro Passarin: Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
- ^ South Tyrolean government agency for press and communication (ed.): 100 Years Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain 1919–2019 p. 12.
- ↑ Marion yolk, Stefan Wedrac: The high price of peace: the story of the division of Tyrol 1918-1922 pp 76-92.
- ^ A b Marion Dotter, Stefan Wedrac: The high price of peace: The history of the division of Tyrol 1918–1922 pp. 84–85.
- ^ South Tyrolean government agency for press and communication (ed.): 100 Years Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain 1919–2019 pp. 24–25.
- ↑ Storia. In: ossariodelpasubio.it. Retrieved July 26, 2020 (Italian).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Giraldi, Guglielmo Pecori |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian Marshal and Senator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Borgo San Lorenzo |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 15, 1941 |
| Place of death | Florence |