Name that historical figure!

[Søren]

Giovanni Messe? Not too familiar with his face though, so I'm guessing that based on your complimentary description, which is more positivity than most Italian generals of the period usually get....

[skh1]

Correct! Giovanni Messe (1883-1968), Maresciallo d'Italia, considered the best general of the Regio Esercito during WWII. Joining the Royal Army in 1901, he served during the conquest of Libya in 1911 and in WWI when he was involved in the formation of the elite Arditi. He next saw action in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36 and commanded the Corpo d'Armata Speciale during the invasion of Greece in 1940. He commanded the Corpo di Spedizione Italiano, the CSIR, sent to Russia in 1941 until finally being sent to command the Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee in Tunisia in 1943. Captured there, he, being a royalist and never a Fascist, was deemed suitable to serve as the Chief of Staff of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army (now there's an interesting story) in September of that year. In this capacity he fought on the Allied side against the Axis until the conclusion of the war. He retired from the army in 1947 and went on to serve in the Italian Senate from 1953 to 1955.


As an aside, there seems to be a re-appraisal of the historiography of the Italian Army in WWII going on recently. The contempt and condescension toward the Italian soldier, lingering from war-time Allied propaganda, is being replaced by a far more accurate portrayal of his service. (Mussolini is still a rotter though.)

[Søren]

As an aside, there seems to be a re-appraisal of the historiography of the Italian Army in WWII going on recently. The contempt and condescension toward the Italian soldier, lingering from war-time Allied propaganda, is being replaced by a far more accurate portrayal of his service. (Mussolini is still a rotter though.)

That's inline with what I've read as well, although its senior leadership still seem indifferent.

[Abdülmecid I]

It must be von Tresckow, a key figure in the assassination attempt against Hitler. I suspected him to be a "good guy", so I looked up at the 20 July plot of Wikipedia, because the German generals in World War II are innumerable!

By the way, feel free to also check the warship thread, where an answer is still missing for the latest riddle.

[Søren]

Yeah very good! Think I had him as my avatar here for a while back in 2010 or something. And yeah I think on balance does deserve to be considered a 'good guy', not least because his opposition to the Nazis was heavily based on their atrocities and persecutions, rather than just disillusionment with Hitler's military failures which was more the case for some.

I had a look at your warship but while I'm quite into naval history, my knowledge definitely doesn't stretch to identifying most ships beyond a few of the most well known without looking stuff up....

[Abdülmecid I]

I just remember the badger avatar and even for that I'm not perfectly sure... Anyway, thanks and off to the next one:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Please identify the gentleman inside the green square. Who knows, there might be a hint for the battleship right there!

[Søren]

The cleric has an Iberian feel to me, but I could be entirely off and it's Neapolitan or something.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Hmmm the fellow next to him has an Argentine(?) sash. While the man in question is a ginger I think. Logic dictates that this might be Bernardo O'Higgins but I honestly wouldn't know.

[Abdülmecid I]

Not a Latin American event. You're right that ginger is of a different nationality to those wearing the white-blue ribbon, but that's an order associated with a king and not with a newly independent nation. The two protagonists have very characteristic facial features. They both became rulers, although our guy just for a few seconds.

[skh1]

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, evanescently the King of France and Navarre, regnant August 2, 1830, to August 2, 1830. He was the last Dauphin of France. At the importunate urging of the July Revolution, he, no doubt heaving many a sigh and lamenting his cruel fate, abdicated in favor of his nephew the Duke of Bordeaux though this expedient was to prove of no avail. He effed off to exile in England, never to return to France.

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême - Wikipedia

The painting is by José Aparacio and is entitled the Landing of Ferdinand VII in El Puerto de Santa María. After the Trienio Liberal suggested he seek his living elsewhere, Ferdinand VII demurred and, calling upon assistance from abroad (always a sure sign of one's popularity among one's own people), was restored to the throne of Spain by the One Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis, a French intervention commanded by our hero. In the scene depicted, Ferdinand graciously acknowledges his dette.

(Ferdinand seemed somewhat familiar of aspect and provided the clue.)

[Abdülmecid I]

Absolutely correct in all aspects! Similarly to Ferdinand, Louis wasn't particularly popular, mainly due to his obsolete ideas about politics, probably taken by his reactionary father, Charles X. He's also known for an embarrassing altercation with Marshal Marmont during the July Revolution. He's sometimes recognised as Louis XIX, but only by pedantic royalists (just the Legitimists, not the Bonapartists nor the more powerful, relatively speaking, Orleanists). I chose that image from the French intervention in Spain, because it's one of the most obscure episodes of the Restoration. The white -blue ribbon, by the way, marks the order of Charles III and is worn by the members of the Spanish elite, like Philip VI, even today.

[skh1]

Who was this?



As a hint, he, quite inadvertently, was the cause of a war which, alas, provided the casus belli for another war which, woe betide, led inexorably to yet another war. Thankfully, as of this writing, we're all friends now.

As a hinty-hint, the above process of which our hero was the unwitting instigator, involved a provocatively worded telegram.

As a hinty-hint-hint, the wars to which allusion has been made are, respectively, the Franco-Prussian War (ಠ_ಠ), WWI, and WWII. (Is this really that hard or am I exercising my well-known ability to stop all conversation upon entering a room?)