Georgios Kondylis
Γεώργιος Κονδύλης
Georgios Kondylis c. 1919
Regent of Greece
In office
10 October – 25 November 1935
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byAlexandros Zaimis
(as President of Greece)
Succeeded byGeorge II
(as King of the Hellenes)
Prime Minister of Greece
In office
10 October – 30 November 1935
MonarchGeorge II (Nov 1935)
RegentHimself (Oct - Nov 1935)
Preceded byPanagis Tsaldaris
Succeeded byKonstantinos Demertzis
In office
23 August – 4 December 1926
PresidentPavlos Kountouriotis
Preceded byAthanasios Eftaxias
Succeeded byAlexandros Zaimis
Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
In office
5 April – 10 October 1935
PresidentAlexandros Zaimis
Prime MinisterPanagis Tsaldaris
Preceded byAndreas Michalakopoulos
Succeeded byIoannis Theotokis
Minister of Naval Affairs
In office
10 – 16 October 1935
MonarchGeorge II
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded bySofoklis Dousmanis
Succeeded byGeorgios Rallis
In office
26 August – 4 December 1926
PresidentPavlos Kountouriotis
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byIoannis Leonidas
Succeeded byAlexandros Kanaris
Minister of Military Affairs
In office
10 March 1933 – 10 October 1935
PresidentAlexandros Zaimis
Prime MinisterPanagis Tsaldaris
Preceded byAlexandros Othonaios
Succeeded byAlexandros Papagos
In office
4 November 1932 – 16 January 1933
PresidentAlexandros Zaimis
Prime MinisterPanagis Tsaldaris
Preceded byTheodoros Chavinis
Succeeded byGeorgios Katechakis
In office
26 August – 4 December 1926
PresidentPavlos Kountouriotis
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byCharalambos Tseroulis
Succeeded byAlexandros Mazarakis-Ainian
In office
12 March – 9 June 1924
PresidentPavlos Kountouriotis
Prime MinisterAlexandros Papanastasiou
Preceded byKonstantinos Gondikas
Succeeded byTheodoros Pangalos
Minister of the Interior
In office
7 October 1924 – 15 June 1925
PresidentPavlos Kountouriotis
Prime MinisterAndreas Michalakopoulos
Preceded byGeorgios Roussos
Succeeded byGeorgios Maris
Personal details
Born14 August 1878
Proussos, Kingdom of Greece
Died1 February 1936 (aged 57)
Athens, Kingdom of Greece
NationalityGreece Greek
Political partyNational Democratic Party
Awards Order of the Redeemer
Order of George I
War Cross
Medal of Military Merit
Legion of Honour
Croix de Guerre
Distinguished Service Order
Order of the White Eagle
Medal for Bravery
Nickname(s)Thunder
Κεραυνός
Military service
AllegianceGreece Kingdom of Greece
Branch/service Hellenic Army
Years of service1896–1923
Rank Lieutenant General
Battles/wars

Georgios Kondylis (Greek: Γεώργιος Κονδύλης; 14 August 1878 – 1 February 1936) was a Greek general, politician and prime minister of Greece. He was nicknamed Keravnos, Greek for "thunder" or "thunderbolt".

Military career

Georgios Kondylis during the Macedonian Struggle

Kondylis was born in Proussós. He enlisted in the army as a volunteer in 1896, and fought with the Greek expeditionary corps in Crete. He was later commissioned and participated in the Macedonian Struggle (1904–1908) leading his own guerrilla band, and was promoted to captain during the Balkan Wars (1912–1913). He supported the Movement of National Defence of Eleftherios Venizelos during the First World War. He was notorious for his cruel oppression of a loyalist revolt in Chalkidiki (Sept 1916),[1] rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. A firm Venizelist, he opposed the restoration of King Constantine I in 1920, fleeing to Constantinople together with other Venizelist officers and organizing there the "Democratic Defence" (Δημοκρατική Άμυνα). He returned after the 1922 Revolution as a major general, suppressed the royalist revolt of 1923, retired from the army, and became involved in politics.

Political career

He was elected to Parliament at the 1923 elections for the constituency of Rodope, initially for the Democratic Union, and later founded the National Republican Party (Εθνικό Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα), renamed in 1928 National Radical Party (Εθνικό Ριζοσπαστικό Κόμμα). He was war minister from March to June 1924. On 24 August 1926, he overthrew the dictatorship of Theodoros Pangalos in a bloodless coup and formed a government, proclaiming elections for November. Notably, his party did not participate in these. In the elections of August 1928, voters elected nine of his party's candidates as MPs, and he was elected in Kavala.

Kondylis c. 1932

During this time, Kondylis began moving rightward. In 1932 he became war minister again in return for his support of the Populist government, a post he retained after the Populists were reelected in 1933. From this post he was instrumental in crushing the March 1935 Venizelist revolt. In the period immediately following the revolt, Kondylis became the real power in the country. He sacked numerous pro-republican soldiers and civil servants, and condemned Venizelos to death in absentia.

By now, Kondylis was one of the strongest proponents of restoring the monarchy. However, he opposed Prime Minister Panagis Tsaldaris' call for a referendum. On 10 October 1935, Kondylis and several other officers called on Tsaldaris and forced him to resign. Kondylis forced President Alexandros Zaimis to name him the new premier. Later that day, Kondylis forced Zaimis to resign, declared himself Regent, abolished the Republic and staged a plebiscite on 3 November for the return of the monarchy.

The official tally showed that 98 percent of the voters supported the return of George II—an suspiciously high total that was likely obtained through fraud. Indeed, the vote took place under less-than-secret conditions. Voters were given the choice of dropping a blue piece of paper in the ballot box if they supported the monarchy, and a red one if they supported the republic. Those who supported the republic risked being beaten up. Under those circumstances, it took a brave Greek to vote "no". By this time, Kondylis had turned so far to the right that he now openly sympathized with fascism. He hoped to echo Benito Mussolini's example in Italy, in which Victor Emmanuel III had been reduced to a puppet.[2]

George returned to Greece on 25 November, and retained Kondylis as prime minister. Kondylis soon quarreled with the king, who was not content to be a mere puppet, and resigned five days later. In the January 1936 elections, he cooperated with Ioannis Rallis and managed to have fifteen MPs elected. Soon after, however, he died of a heart attack on 1 February 1936, in Athens. His nephew, Georgios Kondylis Jr., became a general in the Hellenic army and later fought against the Axis during the German invasion of Greece.

He was awarded Serbian Order of the White Eagle.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Μαυρογορδάτος, Γεώργιος (2015). 1915, Ο ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΔΙΧΑΣΜΟΣ (in Greek). Αθηνα: Παττάκη. p. 287. ISBN 978-960-16-6498-9.
  2. ↑ "By the Grace of God". Time, 18 November 1935.
  3. ↑ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 601.


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