Ottaviano Castello
Ottaviano Castello | |
|---|---|
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| Il Duce of the Sotirian State of Marirana | |
| In office 15th March 1922 – 1st March 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Giovanni Lombardi (as President) |
| Succeeded by | Enzo Sanmartino |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 13, 1871 Turania, San Marco, Marirana |
| Died | January 3, 1934 (aged 62) Aquinas, Vittico, Marirana |
| Political party | PC UIdDT |
| Spouse | Margherita Guidi (1890-1934) |
| Children | Benito Castello Maria Castello |
| Alma mater | San Marco Military Academy |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Marirana |
| Branch/service | Army (1889-1934) |
| Rank | Generalissimo |
| Battles/wars | Cocoa War, Great War |
Generalissimo Ottaviao Castello (13 January 1859-1 March 1940, aged 95) was a Mariranan military officer and statesmen who was the Duce of the Sotirian State of Marirana from when he took power in 1905 to his self-imposed exile in 1935 during the Great War. He is the longest serving Mariranan head of state and one of the longest serving non-royal heads of state in history.
Born in a military family in 1859 Castello studied and graduated from the San Marco Military Academy in 1877 becoming a member of the Mariranan army. During the Frontier War between Roeselle and Marirana broke out Castello, then a lieutenant, was appointed to lead the 17th Platoon of the 3rd Army on the Roessen-Mariranan border in order to defend Marirana. Soon becoming aligned with conservative politicians within the government in opposition to president Joaquim Durão de Azevedo, Castello in 1892 became Commandant of the 14th Battalion of the 3rd Army. When the Cocoa War broke out between the Federation of Asteria and Marirana Castello acquired fame by defending Fort di Maria from Federation forces being one of the few Mariranan commanders to boast of a victory in that conflict which ultimately resulted in a defeat for Marirana. In 1901 at the age of 42 Castello became Marirana's youngest lieutenant general commanding the 2nd Corps of the 3rd Army.
In 1904 Castello's fame rose again when peasant unrest engulfed the country especially within the foreign cocoa plantations. The first mass movement by peasants, Castello was appointed as the military governor of the Ritaldi province where he and the 2nd Corps were ordered by president Giovanni Lombardi to suppress the unrest. Castello did so with impunity deploying right-wing militia groups such as the Front for the Defence of Marirana to massacre leftist groups, burning down villages and torturing those who attempted to resist. Castello's draconian actions won him applause on the right meaning when the 1905 presidential election was held, right-wing groups flocked to support him for president.
Castello's supporters were a diverse coalition of military powerbrokers, conservative landowners, reactionary clergymen and the burgeoning industrial class who were united only in their opposition of the liberal political establishment. Castello united the groups into a centralised political movement, the Integrated Union of the Traditionalist Right, which quickly engaged in political violence with its opponents. The 1905 election saw Castello's liberal opponent Ettore Carozza win a victory both in the popular and electoral vote; the military however were unwilling to allow Carozza to take power launching a coup d'état and installing Castello as president.
Castello and the military moved quickly to centralise power in their hands. Castello initially seemed to defer to other conservative factions appointing moderate rightists to cabinet, giving the impression his government would implement traditional, centre-right policies. However he had already created his own paramilitary force, the Department for the Repression of Banditry (DRB) which began purging elements of the left and sections of the radical right hostile to Castello. Castello reformed the judicial system replacing members of the constitutional court with his own appointees, banned left-wing parties and held a parliamentary election where his party through intimidation and vote rigging achieved a supermajority. Castello subsequently swept away the liberal constitution of 1885 and declared the Sotirian State of Marirana, a one-party state with himself as the self-proclaimed Il Duce, an autocrat with monarchical trappings. Castello merged state, party and the army together drawing his authority from his status as head of state, head of party and generalissimo of the army. With his authority secure Castello, long politically heterogeneous, declared the principles of his new state - integralism, corporatism, national Catholicism and authoritarianism.
In his early years as Duce, the government largely focused on political oppression of internal opponents launching the "White Terror". Collectivists, liberals and socialists were arrested, tortured and executed by the DRB whilst censorship was imposed in the relatively complaint press and civic groups - such as political parties and trade unions - were banned. Around 100,000 people were either arrested or killed as part of the White Terror, at the time the worst political repression in Marirana. State-owned media started to construct a cult of personality around Castello as a god-like figure awarding himself the monarchical title of Defender of the Faith.
Castello's political repression was accompanied with massive economic reform with many foreign businesses being nationalised, small private enterprise merged into corporations and corporate-employee boards established to realise the economic policy of corporatism. Autarky was also embraced with Castello declaring Marirana need not rely on "foreign saboteurs" to trade with other nations. The policy of autarky however was economically disastrous - in 1908 food shortages in central Marirana snowballed into a famine as the government refused food imports, instead hoarding grain. Between 1908-1931 around a million peasants in Marirana died of starvation in the "Great Hardship", the majority of whom were of native descent.
In the early years of his rule, Castello kept a balanced foreign policy. Although expressing sympathy for the Confederation of Independent States during the Asterian Civil War in private correspondence following the mass nationalisation of Asterian companies in Marirana Castello was able to negotiate a reduced compensation package for such companies in return for providing the Asterian federal government with military assistance in the civil war. He promoted revanchism regarding Roeselle with relations between the two states deteriorating under his rule. Following the rise of functionalist and other right-wing leaders in the Asteria's - such as Moreira's Augusto Octavio Assunção, Satucin's Henri Masson and Nimear's Laurens Wispel - and the growing influence of pro-Gaullican politicians in his government such as Foreign Minister Alessandro Fico Castello began to become more pro-Gaullican. In 1924 alongside Assunção, Masson and Wispel he signed the Treaty of Découverte formally inducting Marirana into the Entente.
From the mid-1910's Castello had approved of a wide-reaching programme of military modernisation spearheaded by Inspector-General of the army Enzo Sanmartino which included the importation of foreign military weapons and amendments to Mariranan military doctrine. In 1926 Castello personally approved the invasion of Roeselle, appointing himself Supreme Commander of Mariranan forces - however his advanced age led to him appointing Sanmartino Chief of Staff, who would oversaw successful military campaigns with Satucinais assistance in both Roeselle and Duquesne. Castello approved during this time period many military practices commonly seen as war crimes, including the use of scorched earth strategy and chemical weapons. The over-aggressive campaigns led by Castello into Roeselle and Duquesne led to Asteria to enter the war in 1929 wherein Mariranan and Satucinais forces initially made significant gains against Asterian forces. The dismissal of Sanmartino as Chief of Staff in 1931 by Castello and his replacement with Giancarlo Castello as well as a rebellion by peasant leader Palmiro Lanza in 1932 led to military failures by the Mariranan army and increased dependence on Satucin and Gaullica; this state of affairs worsened by 1934 when Asteria led a full-blown invasion of Marirana. This resulted in a coup attempt by several lower ranking officers such as Niccolò Pellegrini and Jordi i Teixidor which whilst unsuccessful led to a significant portion of the army to defect to the Alliance. When Asterian troops started to occupy Marirana in 1935 Castello and his wife Margherita Guidi fled the country to Satucin under a pseudonym, evading capture.
Castello lived in exile in Claudeville for the rest of his life, being at first sheltered by a religious order then living in secret under the protection of President of Satucin and his former ally Henri Masson. During his exile Castello was sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes in 1938 by Asterian authorities. In 1940 he died of a stroke still living in exile.
Castello is considered one of the most controversial figures in Mariranan history, being accused of the deaths of well over a million people through state-led oppression, famine and ethnic cleansing. The Great Hardship in particular has often been named as a genocide due to its attempt to seemingly wipe out the native population of Marirana. His legacy continue to affect the Mariranan political discourse which according to historians has "struggled to come to terms with the Castello dictatorship and what it represented".
Early life
Ottaviano Castello was born on the 13th January 1859 in the city of Soriano as the second son to a wealthy family. His father Major General Alfonso Castello hailed from a long line of landowners and military bosses centred around the city of Turania who originally came to Marirana as Poveglian conquistador's whilst his mother Roberta hailed from the Fontanini family, a Poveglian noble family that had emigrated to Marirana in colonial times and subsequently came to own large estates across the country. Castello was considered within the Mariranan racial caste system to be "purebred" - that was a person with complete or almost full white ancestry,
The Castello family were devout Catholics whilst his father was a political conservative and close associate to the then-strongman Italo Agostino Saragat, being the Governor of the San Marco and as such a key regional boss within the Saragat regime. Alfonso a strict disciplinarian would often beat his children.
Castello was sent to a church school at primary education, where he excelled in athletics and mathematics classes. Despite his family's initial desire for Castello to enter the priesthood and his older brother Enrico to enter the military after his father the death of Enrico from malaria in 1868 meant that against his mother's wishes Castello was ordained by his father to pursue a career in the military. At the age of 11 he was pulled out of his church school and enrolled into a military school in Santa Maria. Castello's schoolmate Luigi Pagliuzzi commented that "during his time at military school Castello used his intelligence and thuggish nature to coerce and bully others into submission.".
Castello attained high grades whilst in military school, eventually studying at the San Marco Military Academy in 1877 at the age of 18, an institution that had traditionally trained high ranking members of the Mariranan Army. In 1880 he graduated with the rank of second lieutenant (ranked 10th of 285 cadets) being promoted to first lieutenant in 1882.