Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Prime Minister of greece (1910–15, 1917–20, 1924, 1928–32, 1933). As these dates suggest, Venizelos was the leading figure in national politics during the early twentieth century. He first became premier after a successful campaign to unite his native Crete with Greece by throwing off Ottoman control. He then masterminded the alliance that won more territory from Turkey (see turkey and europe ) during the balkan wars of 1912–13. Constantine I frustrated his efforts to enter world war i against Germany and her allies so as to register further gains. Venizelos resigned over this in 1915, but finally prevailed when he returned to power after the royal abdication of 1917. At the paris peace settlement he negotiated the favorable sèvres treaty . When post-Ottoman Turkey managed to repudiate this, Venizelos salvaged what little he could through the lausanne treaty of 1923. His final administrations foundered amidst the pressures of the great depression [2]. In 1935 he failed in a coup, directed against the rise of the authoritarian monarchist General metaxas . Venizelos fled to France, where he died the following year. ... log in or subscribe to read full text