Page 9 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

FRANCESCO SAVERIO GRAZIOLI *

THE AMERICAN CAMPAIGNS
1836 – 1848

In the dark years for Italy that followed the tragic political uprising start-
ed in Romagna in 1831, several Italian patriots who miraculously escaped
imprisonment or the gallows as a result of the strong reaction, sought safety,
work and food in foreign lands (as in the1821 uprisings).
Some, maybe because they were more attracted by a life of adventure,
went outside of Europe. Having crossed the ocean, they sought political asy-
lum in South American countries, that recently and courageously had liber-
ated themselves from the yoke of old Spanish or Portuguese masters, but were
still dealing with a succession of civil wars and ongoing armed revolts. This
was an environment that due to the nature of the vast geographic area of
action and the mixed and mostly still semi-savage character of the popula-
tion, often offered the possibility for the most fantastic and desperate ven-
tures; and, therefore, appropriate and suggestive indeed for heroic spirits, like
those of ours exiled brothers, intolerant of peace and tranquillity, in the ever-
lasting torment of a forced inactivity to which they were condemned by the
cruel destiny weighting on our poor and unhappy homeland.

* Francesco Saverio Grazioli (Rome, 1869 - Florence, 1915), after attending the Military Academy, was appointed
artillery second lieutenant in 1889. After attending the War College, he served in Eritrea and took part in the Libya
campaign, where he received a silver medal for military bravery. At the beginning of the 1915-1918 war he was a
Lieutenant Colonel and was promoted to progressively higher ranks throughout the conflict. Promoted to Major
General for war merits in 1916, during the Vittorio Veneto battle he commanded the Army Corps and was appoint-
ed as Knight of the Savoy Military Order. In the post-war period, he commanded the allied forces in Fiume, he was
Senior Director of the military schools and Army Deputy Chief of Staff. He concluded his service with the rank of
Lieutenant General and in 1928 was appointed as Senator of the Kingdom. Writer, free-lance journalist and lectur-
er, he is the author of many volumes of arts and military history. Among the most important ones: Saggio sul-
l'evoluzione della dottrina tattica nella Guerra europea (Essay on the evolution of tactical doctrine in the European
war) Modena, 1920, La battaglia di Rivoli (The Battle of Rivoli), Florence, 1925; I grandi capitani italiani (The
Great Italian Captains), Rome, 1928; Scipione l'Africano (Scipio the African), Turin, 1941.