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The Republicanism of Eleftherios Venizelos: Ideology or Tactics?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

S. Victor Papacosma
S. Victor Papacosma*
Affiliation:
Kent State University
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Extract

‘Venizelos himself is as you know the most orderly and conservative of revolutionaries but many of his followers are not.’ This statement, included in a June 1917 telegram to the Foreign Office by Lord Granville, Britain’s diplomatic representative to the Greek Provisional Government in Thessaloniki, provides an important guide for understanding much of Eleftherios Venizelos’ political career. Loyal to the basic principles of turn-of-the-century European liberalism, Venizelos nonetheless committed himself to extremist initiatives and authoritarian methods on several occasions. And despite pressures for more radical action by supporters, Venizelos generally tried to contain the extent of his campaigns for political change. Bearing these broader points in mind, along with his constant attention to Greece’s relations with the European powers, it is also possible to understand Venizelos’ attitudes towards the establishment of a republic in Greece. His controversial role regarding this question, at times seemingly erratic, becomes clearer with a close examination of his private statements, many of which are recorded in his correspondence with trusted friends and colleagues and in the dispatches of foreign diplomats to whom he expressed his thoughts.

Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 7 , 1981 , pp. 169 - 202
Copyright
Copyright ©The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1981

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References

1. In the December 1862 plebiscite to determine a successor to Othon, England’s Prince Alfred received 230,016 out of 240,702 votes. Ninety-three people voted for a republic.

2. For details on Venizelos and the republican question for the 1916–1920 period, refer to: S. V. Papacosma, (1916–1920). , eds. O. Dimitrakopoulos and T. Veremis (Athens, 1980), pp. 485–503.

3. The abbreviation ‘A.E.’ will be used for references to documents in the Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Paris, France. Ormesson to Leygues, Athens, 9 October 1920, A.E./10, No. 146. The French chargé d’affaires in Athens summed up Alexander’s role in 1920: ‘Si jamais la formule “le Roi règne et ne gouverne pas” est la circonstance, c’est bien ici actuellement. Je dirais même que “le Roi ne règne pas et ne gouverne pas”; il existe, et c’est son seul rôle!’

4. The abbreviation ‘FO’ will be used for references to documents in the Foreign Office Archives of Great Britain found in the Public Record Office, London, England. Granville to Curzon, Athens 21 July 1921, FO 371/6096, No. 319, Annual Report, 1920, p. 9.

5. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 4 April 1923, FO 371/8832, No. 231, Annual Report, 1922, p. 18. This British report stated: ‘There can be no doubt that M. Venizelos could have prevented the execution at any time before the civil government resigned’. Poincaré to French Delegation in Lausanne, Paris, 29 November 1922, A.E./57, Tel. no. 46. Poincaré stated: ‘Je sais d’ailleurs de source secrète et sûre que M. Venizelos, contrairement à ses affirmations publiques, avait conseillé l’exécution de trois d’entre eux’.

6. Lindley to Curzon, Athens, 10 February 1922, FO 371/7603, No. 80, Annual Report, 1921, p. 13.

7. Lindley to Curzon, Athens, 21 October 1922, FO 371/7586, No. 593.

8. Poincaré to Marcilly, Paris, 6 October 1922, A.E./57, Tel. No. 582 (very confidential).

9. Saint-Aulaire to Poincaré, London, 23 October 1922, A.E./57, unnumbered.

10. Politis to Venizelos, Athens, 30 October 1922, Venizelos Archives, Benaki Museum, Folder 318; Venizelos to Politis, Lausanne, 3 November 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 268; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 25 October 1922, A.E./57, No. 180; Poincaré, Paris, 7 November 1922, A.E./57, Minute, unnumbered; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 20 November 1922, A.E./57, No. 200.

11. Michalakopoulos to Venizelos, Badgastein, 19 August 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 317. Michalakopoulos stated in the weeks immediately before the fall of Smyrna: ‘Today many Venizelists in Greece - and many conservatives among others - are for the republic. Unfortunately, this is not out of conviction but out of feelings of hatred towards Constantine and his family’.

12. Alexandris to Venizelos, Athens, 22 November 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 319; Skoulas to Venizelos, Athens, 26 December 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 319; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 20 November 1922, A.E./57, No. 200; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 7 December 1922, A.E./58, No. 216.

13. Curzon to Bentinck, Foreign Office, 29 December 1922, FO 371/7590, No. 904; Venizelos to Pangalos, Lausanne, 20 November 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 268.

14. Plastiras to Venizelos, Athens, 13 December 1922, Venizelos Archives, Folder 319; Plastiras to Venizelos, Athens, 12 January 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 319; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 8 February 1923, FO 371/8826, No. 93.

15. Bentinck to MacDonald, Athens, 30 August 1924, FO 371/9896, No. 555. Annual Report, 1923, pp. 11–12; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 7 June 1923, FO 371/8827, No. 452.

16. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 7 June 1923, FO 371/8827, No. 452; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 13 June 1923, FO 371/8827, No. 463.

17. FO Annual Report, 1923, pp. 12–13.

18. FO Annual Report, 1923, p. 14; 8 August 1923.

19. FO Annual Report, 1923, p. 15; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 20 October 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 831.

20. Venizelos to Hadjikyriakos, Paris, 20 October 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 322; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 6 October 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 789; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 20 October 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 831; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 12 October 1923, A.E./58, Tel. No. 223 (urgent).

21. A copy of the proclamation is in: G. Daphnes, , 1923–1940 (Athens, 1955), I, p. 118.

22. Ibid., I, pp. 116–150; T. Veremis, , 1916–1936 (Athens, 1977), pp. 133–5; I. Metaxas, (Athens, 1964), III, pp. 221–2, 275–9.

23. Veremis, op. cit., I, pp. 136–8; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 196–7; Manetas to Plastiras, Patras, 30 October 1923, Plastiras Archives, Benaki Museum, Folder 7. In this letter the head of the Second Army demanded the dismissal without pension of all officers involved in the counter-revolt. If Plastiras did not comply, he and other officers threatened to resign.

24. Daphnes, op. cit., I, p. 160; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 3 November 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 870; S. Gonatas, (Athens, 1958), pp. 283–6.

25. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 168–9 Google Scholar; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 3 November 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 870.

26. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 173–4 Google Scholar; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 3 November 1923, FO 371/8828, No. 870; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 2 November 1923, FO 371/8829, Tel. No. 520.

27. FO Annual Report, 1923, pp. 18–19; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 3 November 1923, FO 371/8829, No. 870; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 2 November 1923, FO 371/8829, Tel. No. 517 (very urgent); Dering to Curzon, Bucharest, 31 October 1923, FO 371/8828, Tel. No. 107; Japy to Poincaré, Bucharest, 31 October 1923, A.E./58, Tel. No. 100; Poincaré to Marcilly, Paris, 3 November 1923, A.E./58, Tel. No. 328; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 5 November 1923, A.E./58, No. 194.

28. Plastiras to Venizelos, Lykovrisi, 9 November 1923, Venizeios Archives, Folder 323.

29. Harold Nicolson, Foreign Office, 6 November 1923, FO 371/8829, Minute, unnumbered.

30. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 17 November 1923, FO 371/8829, Tel. No. 555; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 19 November 1923, FO 371/8830, No. 921; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 177–8.

31. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 24 November 1923, FO 371/8830, No. 930; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 5 December 1923, A.E./59, No. 210; Danglis to Venizelos, Athens, 18 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Venizelos to Danglis, Paris, 18 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Plastiras to Venizelos, Athens, 19 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Danglis to Venizelos, Athens, 20 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Simos, Vourloumis, Averoff, Manetas to Venizelos, Athens, 21 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Venizelos to Simos, Vourloumis, Averoff, Manetas, Paris, 22 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.

32. X. Leflcoparidis, ed., (Athens, 1965), II, pp. 461–3; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 24 November 1923, FO 371/8830, No. 930; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 28 November 1923, A.E./58, No. 206.

33. Othonaios to Venizelos, Athens, 26 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 30 November 1923, FO 371/8830, No. 944; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 28 November 1923, A.E./58, No. 206.

34. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, p. 191 Google Scholar; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 14 December 1923, FO 371/8831, No. 979.

35. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 191–4 Google Scholar; FO Annual Report, 1923, pp. 21–2; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 13 December 1923, A.E./58, 13 December 1923.

36. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 194–5 Google Scholar; FO Annual Report, 1923, p. 22.

37. P. N. Pipinelis, (Athens, 1951), p. 160; FO Annual Report, 1923, pp. 22–3; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 21 December 1923, FO 371/9878, No. 995; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 20 December 1923, A.E./59, No. 224; George II to Venizelos, Athens, 16 November 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Daphnes, op. cit., pp. 196–9; Gonatas, op. cit., pp. 288–90.

38. Gonatas, , op. cit., p. 292 Google Scholar; Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 202–5 Google Scholar; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 27 December 1923, A.E./59, No. 232; Lambrakis to Venizelos, Athens, 21 December 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel.; Plastiras to Venizelos, Athens, 22 December 1923, Venizelos Archives, Folder 323, Tel. (confidential). Alexandris and Romanos to Plastiras, Paris, 18 December 1923, Plastiras Archives, Folder 7, Tel. This telegram suggested that Venizelos would be willing to return to Greece in response to a formal invitation from the ‘Revolution’.

39. Talbot to Curzon, Paris, 23 December 1923, FO 371/8831, Memorandum; Peretti, Paris, 24 December 1923, A.E./59, Memorandum.

40. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 10 January 1924, FO 371/9898, No. 25; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 27 December 1923, A.E./59, No. 232.

41. Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 10 January 1924, FO 371/9878, No. 25; Bentinck to Curzon, Athens, 14 January 1924, FO 371/9878, No. 32.

42. Cheetham to Chamberlain, Athens, 15 May 1925, FO 371/10771, No. 103, Annual Report, 1924, pp. 3–4.

43. Ibid., p. 4; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 215–18.

44. FO Annual Report, 1924, p. 5; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 218–23.

45. Bentinck to MacDonald, Athens, 9 February 1924, FO 371/9879, No. 101; Bentinck to MacDonald, Athens, 23 February 1924, FO 371/9879, No. 136; FO Annual Report, 1924, pp. 5–6; Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 21 February 1924, A.E./59, No. 47; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 223–4.

46. Marcilly to Poincaré, Athens, 14 March 1923, A.E./59, No. 62; FO Annual Report, 1924, p. 6; Daphnes, op. cit., I, pp. 225–30.

47. Daphnes, , op. cit., I, pp. 231–9 Google Scholar; Metaxas, , op. cit., III, pp. 317–8.Google Scholar

48. FO Annual Report, 1924, pp. 7–8.