By Vasilios Giavris - Lawyer and Political Scientist
Eleftherios Venizelos is a towering figure in the modern Greek political pantheon. Whilst not immune from errors, the great Cretan is rightly considered by most Greek and international leaders, diplomats and historians as the greatest Greek politician since the inception of the modern Greek state in 1829. He lived in the most turbulent times and was associated with some of the most significant events in Greek and European history.
Born in 1864 in Ottoman ruled Crete, Venizelos took part in the Cretan revolution and at a very young age became its leader demanding union with Greece. Once arriving in Athens Venizelos created the Liberal Party which was a centrist, progressive, liberal, republican movement. He was first elected Prime Minister of Greece in 1910. In total, he was elected Prime Minister seven times. Under his leadership and insistence Greece participated in two Balkan wars and the First World War. Under his leadership in all three wars Greece was victorious.
Venizelos is credited with being “the maker of modern Greece” and its liberal, western European orientation. It is Venizelos that is responsible for the liberation of Thessaloniki and Macedonia, of Ioannina and Southern Ipeiros, of Thrace, Crete, the Eastern Aegean islands and the Dodecanese. It is through his diplomatic acumen that, within a ten-year period, Greece was able to double its land and population size.
International Acclaim
Venizelos was a supreme diplomat, a strategist and a humanist. He was a grand European leader who was at his best when courting global leaders mesmerized by his articulations. Margaret MacMillan in her book, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, states that Venizelos held European dinner parties “..spellbound with stories of life as a guerrilla in the Cretan mountains, of how he had taught himself English by reading The Times with a rifle resting on his knees. And always the conversation included references to the glorious past and great future of Greece.”
David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom considered Venizelos ..“the greatest Greek since Pericles” and claimed that disaster always followed when the Greek people refused to follow him. Unites States President Woodrow Wilson wrote “… there is no other statesman in Europe more capable for leadership during these difficult times for the political future of the world …” then Venizelos.
UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote that Venizelos's “personal skills, his prestige and the invaluable services he offered to the allies have given him a place which is almost equal to that of the leaders of the major victorious countries; with him, his country has ascended breathtaking heights and glanced at bedazzling horizons”. Others, like German historian Emil Loudvich viewed Venizelos comparable to Bismarck and Metternich, whilst German Ambassador Baron Von Wangenheim held the view that Venizelos was the greatest amongst all European leaders.Finally, famed Danish philosopher and scholar James Brandes thought "Venizelos was too big for a small state like Greece."
First Balkan War – Liberation of Macedonia and Ipeiros
In 1912 Serbia and Bulgaria signed an alliance agreement against the Ottoman Empire which still occupied large territories in the Balkan peninsula. Both countries agreed to attack the Turks and divide amongst them all newly acquired land, including Macedonia. Venizelos immediately took the view that Serb-Bulgarian success against the Turks will forever signal the end of Greece’s ability to liberate Macedonia and Thrace and the large Greek populations that lived therein.
The view held by Venizelos was opposed by the opposition parties and influential figures like Ion Dragoumis. They were horrified with the idea that Greece would be aligned with Slavs, given the recent Macedonian struggle, and contended that Greece must align itself with the Turks in the war against the Slavic nations. But Venizelos was a supreme diplomat who was excellent in understanding international relations and regional power plays. He insisted that it was in Greece’s best interest to enter this war on the side of the Bulgarians and the Serbs.
Venizelos was able to convince the Bulgarians to sign a defensive alliance which allowed Greece to enter the war on the pretext that each country was entitled to territories it liberated from the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians, who at the time considered themselves a regional military superpower, believed that they would defeat the Turks and acquire Macedonia and Thrace. They perceived the Greek army to be weak and unable to acquire much territory especially since Greece had been recently defeated by the Turks in 1897.
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| Venizelos inspecting the Macedonian war front |
However, to their surprise the Greek army was able to defeat the Turks. As such, on 26 October 1913 Thessaloniki was liberated by the Greek armed forces - only a few minutes prior to the arrival Bulgarian army. By the end of the First Balkan War, as a result of Venizelos’s foresight, Greece was able to liberate the biggest part of Macedonia, Ipeiros, the whole of Thessaly, Crete and the Eastern Aegean islands including Mytilene, Xios, Samos, Limnos, Thasos, Samothrace and Psara.
Second Balkan War - 16 June 1913
The end of the First Balkan War found Bulgaria aggrieved with its inability the obtain the territories it desired in the Balkans – Thessaloniki and the largest part of Macedonia. In the summer of 1913 Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece sparking the Second Balkan War which lasted a little over one month. Under the leadership of Venizelos, Greece defeated the Bulgars and liberated the cities of Serres and Kavala.
First World War – July 1914 to November 1918.
The dawn of World War 1 saw Greece facing imminent external threats from Bulgaria, Turkey and Italy whilst also having to deal with Austro-Hungarian imperialist interests in the region. Venizelos was no longer the Prime Minister, having been forced to resign, and Greece was ruled by King Constantine and his appointed government. The King was a German sympathizer married to the sister of German Emperor [Kaizer] Wilhelm II. He advocated Greek neutrality at all expenses which served the interest of the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungaria, Turkey and Bulgaria) whilst Venizelos and his supporters maintained that Greece must as early as possible enter the war on the side of the triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia). Venizelos desire to support the Entente was based mainly on four dictums:
- He was a strong believer in the naval abilities of Britain and France holding the view that they will ultimately be victorious in WW1. As famously quoted by Winston Churchill in his 1942 speech in London “The late Mr. Venizelos observed that in all her wars England—he should have said Britain, of course—always wins one battle—the last”.
- He believed that the survival and growth of Greece was inextricably linked with it being allied with the "sea-keeping powers". He maintained that if Greece had become Germany's ally, it would have seen the coastal cities, its shipping and its capital destroyed.
- That Greece should take advantage of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire siding with Germany since this will result in Great Britain and France supporting Greece’s claims in Macedonia, Ipeiros and Minor Asia allowing for the liberation of millions of Greeks and annexation of historical Greek territories.
- He was a centrist liberal democrat that opposed dictatorial regimes and was an ardent believer that the place of Greece was on the side of the Western parliamentary democracies. Venizelos was the architect of Greece’s accession to the Western world stating, “Greece must take part in the struggle of free Europe against a barbaric, totalitarian militarism that will cause the destruction of both Greece and the whole of Europe”.
It should be noted that on October 1915 Britain offered Cyprus to Greece on the condition that Greece entered the war against Germany. Venizelos was not in government and King Constantine refused the offer which later lapsed and was never repeated. The ramifications of such refusal are still witnessed today.
Bulgarian invasion and Greek army surrender
In October 1915 Bulgaria entered WW1 on the side of Germany following in the footsteps of the Ottoman Empire which entered the war on the side of Germany in October 1915. In the spring of 1916 Bulgaria advanced and recaptured certain parts of Greek held Macedonia causing many atrocities to the Greek inhabitants. In order to remain “neutral” and maintain Germany happy the Greek royalist government had ordered the Greek army to retreat and provide no resistance to any foreign army. In 26 May 1916, without offering any resistance, the Rupel fortress was surrendered by Ioannis Metaxas and King Constantine to the Bulgarians.
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| Greek IV Corps marching in Gorlitz |
Similarly, in one of the darkest pages of Greek military history approximately 464 officers and 6373 soldiers of the Greek Army IV Corps stationed in Kavala were ordered by King Constantine to avoid confrontation with the Bulgarian army. The army fled and on their request, were transported to the German city of Gorlitz where they remained until WW1 ended. Kavala was occupied by Bulgarian forces for approximately two years. It has been reported that during this two-year period 42,000 Greeks were taken to prison camps in Bulgaria of which 12,000 died.
National Schism and the creation of two Greek governments
The surrender of Macedonian territory to Bulgarians was the tipping point for Venizelos and his supporters. Venizelos was worried that Greek neutrality could result in Bulgaria being enticed to switch sides and align itself with Britain in exchange of her being allowed to retain the biggest part of Macedonia. With the assistance of Great Britain and France, Venizelos launched a coup which resulted in Greece for a period having two governments: the "official" royal government at Athens, which maintained Greek neutrality, and the "revolutionary" Venizelist "Provisional Government of National Defence" at Thessaloniki which declared war on Germany and the Central Powers. Not long after the initial coup Venizelos, dethroned King Constantine and united Greece.
Triumph and Paris Peace Conference
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Greek military units in the World War I
Victory Parade in Arc de Triomphe, Paris. July 1919 |
The participation of Greece in the war brought a momentous shift of power. Greece’s military victories against the Bulgarians and the subsequent collapse of the Balkan front brought euphoria to the British and French governments and public. Venizelos was deemed a hero and a genius that once again was vindicated. Not long after the war ended - Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire had been defeated and Greece found itself on the side of the victors.
The Paris Peace Conference (also referred to as the Versailles Peace Conference) held between 1919 and 1920, convened to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Venizelos proposed that Greece acquired Eastern Thrace, Asia Minor (Smyrni and surrounding areas), Northern Epirus, Imvros, Tenedos and the Dodecanese islands. He advocated the internationalization of Constantinople away from Turkish mandate.
The Paris Peace Conference was an apotheosis for Venizelos. The major powers had not forgotten that it was he who had proposed the participation of Greece in the war at its most crucial moment in August 1914, when the Germans were outside Paris. American foreign correspondent H.A. Gibbons who attended the conference remarked, “The Greek Premier secured a place in the conference, not only in the heart of the public, but also among his counterparts, that was disproportional to his country’s size and importance”. The London Times wrote, “it [the Conference] was the occasion of his personal triumph”.
Minor Asia – Treaty of Sèvres
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the victorious nations of WW1 and the Ottoman Empire executing the Treaty of Sèvres on 28 July 1920. This Treaty provided that:
- Smyrna, Aivali and surrounding areas would be under Greek military control and administration; a local parliament would be created; a referendum was to be held after five years to vote on whether the majority of Smyrna's citizens wished to join Greece or remain in the Ottoman Empire; and the referendum would be overseen by the League of Nations; and
- Greece was provided with Eastern Thrace (just outside Constantinople), the islands of Imvros and Tenedos and the islands of the Sea of Marmara; and
- Constantinople and the surrounding seas whilst technically remaining under Ottoman sovereignty were internationalised and brought under the control of an international commission. Article 36 of the Treaty provided that if Turkey breached any terms of the Treaty then the parties to the Treaty (including Greece) expressly reserved the right to modify the provisions relating to Constantinople and the surrounding seas – potentially leading to future Greek annexation of the area.
Finally, Greece reached a separate agreement with Italy (the “Venizelos–Tittoni agreement”) that ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece. However, after much protest by Italy Greece was not permitted to annex Northern Ipeiros.
1920 Electoral Defeat
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When Venizelos first came to power the borders of Greece
were those depicted in the various forms of blue (up to Thessaly).
Upon his electoral defeat in 1920 Venizelos had increased the Greek
borders to those as shown in all other colours. |
After having achieved so many military victories against the Turks and Bulgaria, executing the Sèvres Agreement and nearly tripling the size of the Greek State Venizelos called for an election on November 1, 1920. The result was a surprising defeat. Venizelos in utter disappointment fled to Paris in self-exile. King Constantine returned to the throne and his supporters to government. The result of these elections was catastrophic for Greece. The London Times wrote on November 17, 1920 that “the voters […] expelled from power the great politician and patriot who had raised them from the state of weakness and disintegration in which he had found them almost to the position of a Great Power. We are unable to recall a more characteristic example of a people’s ingratitude or folly than this one since the times of Aristides”.
Minor Asia Catastrophe
Unfortunately for Greece the defeat of Venizelos and the return of the Germanophile King and his affiliated government caused a predictable revision of policy by Britain, France and Italy. Constantine was deemed a German agent. Winston Churchill expressing British sentiment wrote: “There was a pro-Allied Greece of Venizelos and a pro-German one of Constantine. All the faith of the allies began and ended with the Greece of Venizelos; all the discontent was concentrated on the Greece of Constantine”. The Times newspaper in London wrote that the Allies “did not sanction the creation of a Greater Greece for a benefit of a brother-in-law or a nephew of the ex-Keiser.” The newspaper ominously noted: “If the Greeks ratify the course they have chosen at the polls, they must take the consequence on their own shoulders.”
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| The Minor Asia catastrophe |
In the meantime, in Turkey, Kemal Ataturk ascended to power abolishing the Ottoman Empire in favour of a secular, liberal democratic and westernised Turkey. He quickly modernized and reorganised the Turkish army and was attaining international support. In Greece, although the new royalist government - led by Prime Minister Dimitrios Gounaris - had campaigned on a pacifist platform stating they will end all wars they did the exact opposite. Instead of retaining the Greek army on the outskirts of Smyrna they chose to march all the way to the outskirts of Ankara. Disorganised, far away from its supply lines and abandoned by its allies the Greek army was soundly defeated. This caused a catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands of Greek people dying and 1,500,000 Greek refugees from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace forced to leave their ancestral homes and come to Greece.
Lausanne Treaty – 24 July 1923
These cataclysmic events caused a new revolutionary government to seize power in Greece. The new government court-martialed and executed six officials, including royalist Prime Minister Gounaris, whom it found guilty of treason and responsible for the Minor Asia catastrophe. The revolutionary government pleaded with Venizelos to immediately attend Lausanne and represent Greece at the negotiating table with Turkey. Venizelos complied but had the extreme difficult task of containing the Turkish delegation that, as victor, was pressing Greece to make great territorial concessions. Venizelos asked the revolutionary government to assemble a Greek battalion and send it to Thrace. Venizelos then proceeded to threaten Turkey to go back to war if a viable agreement could not be reached.
On 24 July 1923 The Lausanne Treaty was entered. Greece was forced to abandon Minor Asia, Eastern Thrace and the islands of Imvros and Tenedos. However, Greece was able to maintain Western Thrace and the Aegean Sea islands which Turkey expressly abandoned. The treaty signalled the permanent borders between Greece and Turkey and established the foundations of a Greek-Turkish friendship. This was a major achievement by Venizelos especially when one has in mind that today, nearly 100 years after this treaty was entered into, Turkish President Erdogan stated “..They [threatened] us with Sèvres in 1920 and persuaded us to [accept] Lausanne in 1923. Some tried to deceive us by presenting Lausanne as victory. In Lausanne, we gave away the [now-Greek] islands that you could shout across to,..”. Erdogan further stated: “..We are still struggling about what the continental shelf will be, and what will be in the air and the land. The reason for this is those who sat at the table for that treaty. Those who sat there did not do [us] justice, and we are reaping those troubles right now...”.
Venizelos and Kemal Ataturk
After the Minor Asia catastrophe Venizelos advocated the need for peace with Turkey. Greece had to rebuild itself and cater for its population that had more than doubled over a 10-year period. The 1,5 million Greek refugees that entered Greece lived in impoverished conditions. Greece could not afford another war or Turkish territorial claims in the Aegean Sea islands and Thrace. In 1930, after having returned to government, he signed in Ankara a Greek-Turkish Treaty of Friendship. Moreover, he nominated Ataturk for a Nobel peace prize, which was never awarded. This nomination was used by Venizelos to try to cement Greek-Turkish rapprochement, consolidate peace and overcome old nationalisms.
Death & Legacy
Venizelos died in self-imposed exile in Paris, on 18 March 1936. Despite his many achievements, Greek politics at the first half of the 20th century where politics of extreme division and polarisation. The country was divided amongst royalist and republican forces. Half the Greek population adored him whilst the other half detested him.
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Assassination attempt
against Venizelos in Paris 1920 |
Prior to his death he had survived numerous attempted assassinations against him. On 12 August 1920, just a few hours after having signed the Treaty of Sèvres, recognised by most scholars as the greatest treaty signed by a Greek politician, he was shot ten times by two royalist soldiers at the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris. In Athens, on 6 June 1933 his car was riddled with bullets from machine guns causing the death of his driver and the injury of his wife.
However, today in almost every Greek city there is a boulevard, a street or a plateia named after Venizelos. His statutes are in numerous places including the entrance of the Greek Parliament. When the new international airport in Athens opened its doors to the world in 2001 it adopted the name “Athens International Airport - Eleftherios Venizelos”.
Eighty four years after his death Greece has produced some very important leaders but, arguably, no one was Venizelos. He turned problems into opportunities, mistakes into innovations and failures to successes. His modernising vision was long lasting.
Today, Greece remains a country that is confronted with two doors. It has a front door on the Mediterranean Sea, where it has traditionally achieved greatness when open minded, liberal and realistic attitudes have dominated its politics and a back door that opens on the Balkan mountains, where Balkan attitudes, divisions, populism, gross lies and problems have engrossed its politics. Eleftherios Venizelos always looked to the sea.
Vasilios Giavris - Lawyer & Political Scientist
Major Sources
1. "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World" Margaret Macmillan;
2. "Life of Venizelos", S.B Chester;
3."Eleuftherios Venizelos, British Public Opinion and the Climax of Anglo-Hellenism (1915-1920)" Slobodan G. Markovich;
4. Eleftherios Venizelos: The Trials of Statemanship", Paschalis Kitromilides (ed.);
5. Eleftherios Venizelos - The Visionary of the Attainable", Thanos Veremis;
6 "Eleftherios Venizelos" Nikolaos Papadakis;
7. Eleftherios Venizelos, The Formulation of His Political Thinking", Hellenic Parliament Foundation & National Research Foundation Eleftherios Venizelos;
8. "Venizelos in the Revolution and in Politics", Georgios Panagiotakis;
9."Eleftherios Venizelos: The man, the leader" Nikolaos Papadakis; and
10. "The Great Greeks: Eleftherios Venizelos", Skai Vivlio.
