Alexandros Koumoundouros
Alexandros Koumoundouros | |
---|---|
Αλέξανδρος Κουμουνδούρος | |
Thrasivoulos Zaimis | |
In office 18 December 1866 – 20 December 1867 | |
Preceded by | Dimitrios Voulgaris |
Succeeded by | Aristeidis Moraitinis |
In office 6 November 1865 – 13 November 1865 | |
Preceded by | Dimitrios Voulgaris |
Succeeded by | Epameinondas Deligeorgis |
In office 2 March 1865 – 20 October 1865 | |
Preceded by | Konstantinos Kanaris |
Succeeded by | Epameinondas Deligeorgis |
Personal details | |
Born | 4 February 1815 Nationalist Party |
Spouse(s) | Aikaterini Konstantinou G. Mavromichali Efthimia Georgiou Peroti |
Children | Konstantinos, Maria, Spyridonas, Olga |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Signature | |
Alexandros Koumoundouros (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Κουμουνδούρος, 4 February 1815 – 26 February 1883) was a Greek politician. Born in Kampos, on the Messenian side of the Mani Peninsula, he was the son of Spyridon-Galanis Koumoundouros, the bey of the area during the last period of the administration of the region by the Ottoman Empire.
He was a political personality famous for his work towards national progress, his patriotism and unselfishness, despite him having been in office during a very unsettled period of Greek history.
Biography
After the
Koumoundouros’ long career encompassed many facets of political life, including serving in parliament, authoring of legislation, promotion of a democratic regime, restoration of the army, distribution of national farms to landless farmers, and the approval of major construction work (such as the Isthmus of Corinth).
During his 50-year-long period of political involvement he tried to remain neutral, and to avoid confrontation both with the three
Early political career
He was appointed as Public Prosecutor in the Tribunal of
He kept the same ministry in the new governments both of 1857 and 1859. After the overthrow of King Otto in 1862 he became Minister of Justice of the temporary government.
The first elections for a proper government after the fall of King Otto took place in 1863 and Koumoundouros remained as Minister of Justice, however, the extremely poor political stability lead to new elections the following year.
In the succeeding government of 1864, Koumoundouros was moved to the Ministry of Religion and Education and later to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Tenure as Prime Minister
On 25 March 1865, he became Prime Minister of Greece for the first time and won the elections of 1866, too. Four years later, he retained the position of the Minister of Army and Internal Affairs, in addition to being Prime Minister. In 1875, Koumoundouros was successful in uniting all other parliamentary parties against Charilaos Trikoupis.[2] In August 1875, he became President of the Parliament once again and in the elections of the same year he was made Prime Minister of the country once more.
Elections took place three times in 1876 and Koumoundouros was victorious in two of them. He also won the elections of 1878.
Koumoundouros’ greatest achievement came in 1881, during his last (tenth) premiership, when after the Congress of Berlin and after diplomatic contacts with the Ottomans, he managed to bring about the annexation of the areas of Thessaly and Arta to the Greek mainland (with the Convention of Constantinople).
Right after this achievement he called for new elections so that representatives of the newly annexed regions could enter Parliament. Despite this concession, the new candidates elected the representative of the opposition party as President of Parliament. As a result, Koumoundouros resigned on 3 March 1882. He died some months later on 26 February 1883, in his home on Ludwig Square (now known as Koumoundourou Square), in Athens, and was buried at public expense in the First Cemetery of Athens.
Personal life
After the end of the unsuccessful Cretan revolution, he married Ekaterìni Konstantinou G. Mavromichàli of the famed Maniot family. They had two children. His first son Konstantìnos, was born in Kalamata 1846, and daughter Marìa, was born in Kalamata 1845. Ekaterìni died young and Koumoundouros married Efthimìa Perotì who presented him with his second son in 1858, Spirìdonas and in 1867 a daughter, Olga.
See also
References
- Old Style.
- ^ Woodhouse, "The Story of Modern Greece", "The Emergence of the Greek Kingdom (1833-1908)", p. 173, Faber and Faber (1968).
Notes
- Other spellings of his name are: Kumunduros and Komunduros. Consult Bikélas, Coumoundouros, (Montpelier, 1884).