Giuseppe Garibaldi II

Who was Giuseppe Garibaldi II?

Brigadier-General Giuseppe Garibaldi II was an Italian soldier, patriot and revolutionary, grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Garibaldi was born in Melbourne, Australia, the son of Ricciotti Garibaldi and Harriet Constance Hopcraft.

Together with his father, he took part in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 alongside the Greeks and afterwards fought with the liberals against Cipriano Castro in Venezuela, and in other conflicts in South America. He volunteered and served with great distinction with the British Army in the Boer War, carrying with him a sword given to his grandfather by the working men of Tyneside, England, in 1854.

He served as a lieutenant colonel in the army of Francisco Madero during the initial victories of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City was named in honor of his actions in the battle of Nuevo Casas Grandes. Lt Col Garibaldi was sacked by Pancho Villa because of a bitter controversy over the credit for the victory at first battle of Ciudad Juárez in 1911, but the name of the plaza stuck nonetheless despite the way he left the Army of the Revolution.

Garibaldi again served with the Greek Army during the First Balkan War in 1912.