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Galeazzo Ciano[gAlAAt´tsO chA´nO] Pronunciation Key, 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.
See his diary (1946).
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