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Constantine I of Greece
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Constantine I, King of the Hellenes (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος A', Βασιλεύς των Ελλήνων) (2 August 1868 - 11 January 1923) ruled Greece from 1913-1917 and from 1920-1922.
Born 2 August 1868 in Athens, he was the eldest son of George I of Greece and Olga, Queen of Greece.
As Crown Prince, Constantine was instrumental in the organization of the 1896 Summer Olympics, appointing a committee to prepare Athens for the Games and keeping a close watch to ensure that their tasks were completed.
Prior to the start of World War I in 1914, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in which Greece captured Salonika. He succeeded to the throne of Greece on 18 March 1913 following his father's assassination in Salonica by Aleksander Schinas, Greek anarchist (born in Volos, Greece 1870).
Educated at Heidelberg University in Germany, trained in the Prussian army, and married to Kaiser Wilhelm II's sister, Princess Sophie of Prussia, (in 1889), ensured Constantine's sympathies lay more towards the Central Powers than to the Triple Entente once war broke out.
Constantine was faced with the difficulty of determining, officially, where Greece's support lay once war was under way. This was complicated by the fact that his government, led by Eleftherios Venizelos, was pro-Allied and the fact that the Entente Powers were the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean.
Constantine's sympathies emerged during the Allies' disastrous Battle of Gallipoli. Despite popular support of Venizelos amongst the people and his clear majority in Parliament, Constantine dismissed Venizelos as Prime Minister in October 1915 due to his increasing support for the Allies, and in his stead placed a succession of puppet premiers, all swayed by the King.
In July 1916 arsonists set fire to the forest surrounding the royal palaces at Tatoi. Although injured in the escape, the King and his family managed to find refuge. The flames spread quickly in the dry summer heat, and sixteen people were killed.[1]
The Allied Commander in Greece, French General Sarrail, was extremely high-handed and disdainful of King Constantine. By threats and intimidation he forced the Greeks to demobilize their army (in mid-1916) and then forced them to remove all their troops to the south of the country in early 1917. Venizelos went to Thessalonica where, with the support of General Sarrail, he established a provisional revolutionary government. With civil war apparently imminent, Constantine sought from Germany firm promises of naval, military and economic assistance - without success.
Early in 1917, General Sarrail ordered the Greek army to move to the south of the country. He also ordered the Greek fleet to join the Allies and finally, Sarrail ordered the Greek government to adopt a more friendly attitude towards the Allies. In the face of the large Allied army in Greece, King Constantine abdicated the throne in favour of his second son Alexander. The Allied Powers were opposed to Constantine’s first son, George, becoming King as he had served in the German army before the war and was identified with his father’s pro-Central policies.[2] Constantine left Greece for exile in Switzerland on 11 June 1917. General Sarrail was himself removed in November of 1917 and replaced by a more diplomatic French General. Civil war in Greece was avoided.
King Alexander died 25 October 1920 and the following month Venizelos suffered a massive defeat in a general election. Following a plebiscite, in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of his return[3], Constantine returned as king on 19 December 1920.
Within two years his popularity was lost. The Greco-Turkish War of 1920-1922 proved disastrous for the Greeks, as the Turks regained their former territory in Anatolia and Smyrna. He abdicated the throne again on 27 September 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, George II.[4]
He spent the rest of his life in exile in Italy and died in 1923 at Palermo, Sicily.
- ^ John Van der Kiste, Kings of the Hellenes (Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, 1994) ISBN 0-7509-0525-5 p.96-98
- ^ Van der Kiste, p.107
- ^ Van der Kiste, p.128
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 137
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| House of Oldenburg (Glücksburg Branch) Born: 2 August 1868 Died: 11 January 1923 |
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|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George I |
King of Greece 18 March 1913 – 11 June 1917 First Reign |
Succeeded by Alexander |
| Preceded by Alexander |
King of Greece 19 December 1920 – 27 September 1922 Second Reign |
Succeeded by George II |
| Heads of State of Greece |
|---|
|
 First Period of Monarchy (1832–1924): Otto | George I | Constantine I | Alexander | Constantine I | George II
Second Hellenic Republic (1924–1935): Pavlos Kountouriotis | Theodoros Pangalos† | Pavlos Kountouriotis | Alexandros Zaimis
Second Period of Monarchy (1935–1974): George II | Paul | Constantine II
 During the 1967-1974 junta, Greece was de facto led by Georgios Zoitakis† | Georgios Papadopoulos† | Phaedon Gizikis†
Third Hellenic Republic (1974–): Phaedon Gizikis | Michail Stasinopoulos | Konstantinos Tsatsos | Constantine Karamanlis | Ioannis Alevras | Christos Sartzetakis | Constantine Karamanlis | Costis Stephanopoulos | Karolos Papoulias†denotes military dictator |