Nikolaos Plastiras

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Nikolaos Plastiras
Νικόλαος Πλαστήρας
George Papandreou
Succeeded byPetros Voulgaris
Personal details
Born(1883-11-04)4 November 1883
Lieutenant General
UnitArchipelago Division
Commands5/42 Evzone Regiment
Battles/wars

Nikolaos Plastiras (

interwar period, Plastiras remained a devoted Venizelist and republican. Trying to avert the rise of the royalist People's Party and the restoration of the monarchy, he led two coup attempts in 1933 and 1935, both of which failed, forcing him to exile in France
.

During the

Second World War he was the nominal leader of the EDES resistance group, although he remained in exile in Marseilles. After the occupation, he returned to Greece and served as a centrist Prime Minister three times, often in coalition with the Liberal Party. In his last two governments, he tried to heal the rift caused in Greek society by the Greek Civil War
, but was unsuccessful.

Early life

He was born in 1883, in

Karditsa, Greece. Plastiras' parents were originally from Morfovouni (formerly Vounesi), a village in the Agrafa mountains of southwestern Thessaly. The municipality was renamed for General Plastiras and Morfovouni is the present capital of Plastiras
Municipality. The family moved to Karditsa before Plastiras was born.

Military career

Nikolaos Plastiras as colonel, painting by Georgios Prokopiou (1921).

After finishing school in Karditsa, he joined the 5th Infantry Regiment as a volunteer in 1904. He fought in the

Asia Minor via Romania. After the change in power in Greece (November 1920) and the return of king Constantine
, he was the only officer, who had participated in the National Defence movement, who was not dismissed from the army. The men of his Regiment warned that they wouldn't fight under another commander.

During the

battle of Sakarya
, the Greeks were forced to begin their retreat.

Nikolaos Plastiras on horseback with two Evzones. Asia Minor, 1922.

After the Turkish breakthrough in August 1922, his unit have been ordered to counterattack at Kamelar mountain to regain Greek's positions. He didn't try on 13 August, but he did try and failed the following day. For this failure he was accused to be responsible for the 4th Greek Infantry Division destruction, supposed to get accusations on a court marshal.[3] His unit, 5/42 Evzones Regiment, was among others withdrawing orderly to the coast, fighting off superior Turkish forces and having serious casualties. The remnants of the Hellenic Army made their way to the islands of the Eastern Aegean.

September 1922 Revolution

The Army's resentment at the political leadership in

11 September 1922 Revolution, led by Plastiras, Colonel Stylianos Gonatas
and Commander Phokas.

In Athens after the 1922 revolution.

Having the support of the Army and much of the people, the revolutionary officers quickly entered Athens and assumed control of the country. He is reported by Penelope Delta, witness of the events, to have said to the crowd: "Why do you cheer? We lost, we came destroyed".

Plastiras forced

Asia Minor Disaster, in the infamous "Trial of the Six
".

Plastiras faced multiple challenges in governing Greece. The 1.3 million refugees from the population exchange had to be catered for in a country with a ruined economy, internationally isolated and internally divided. The

botched Royalist coup in October 1923 were evidence of this. After the failed royalist coup, King George II was forced to leave the country. Nonetheless, he managed to restore some order to the state and to lay the groundwork for the Second Hellenic Republic
. After the elections of December 1923 for the new National Assembly, he resigned from the army on 2 January 1924, retiring to private life. In recognition of his services to the country, the National Assembly declared him "worthy of the fatherland" and conferred to him the rank of lieutenant general in retirement.

Plastiras was even admired by his greatest enemy, Mustafa Kemal. At the end of the war, during the negotiations that took place regarding the exchange of populations between Greece and the newly formed Republic of Turkey, Atatürk is quoted telling Plastiras, "I gave gold and you gave me copper."[4]

A statue in Karditsa

Political career

The Republic that he had helped found proved an unstable one. Coups, counter-coups, the conflict between Venizelists/Republicans and Royalists, and constant economic problems plagued Greece. Plastiras, persecuted during the

Venizelist revolt of 1935
, although still abroad, he was condemned in absentia to death. Nonetheless he maintained a high prestige as a war hero and because of his integrity and staunch Republicanism.

He played a role in the creation of the

EDES resistance group, whose titular leadership he had despite his will, after discussions with Komninos Pyromaglou
.

He returned to Greece in 1945, after his selection as

Varkiza Agreement
was signed. His moderate policies and republican sympathies earned the distrust of the British, and he was dismissed after only three months in office, when the Press published a letter of him during the war, proposing the German intervention to stop the Greco-Italian war.

Nikolaos Plastiras with Georgios Papandreou and Gendarmerie officers, 1950.

In 1949, after the end of the

Nikos Belogiannis
in March 1952 despite international protest. After losing the elections of November 1952, his political career, and with it the liberal 'Centrist Intermission', came to an end. He died in poverty in 1953 in Athens.

References

  1. Old Style
    .
  2. ^ Kalaitzis, georgios, Infantry Colonel (1965). The Minor Asia Campaign, Operation Angora, volume 5, part 1. Athens: Army History Directorate, Greek Army General Staff. p. 160.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Greek Army General Stuff, History Directorate, The Minor Asia Campaign, author Aristidis Skylitsis, Colonel of the Artillery 7th volume, page 107
  4. ^ Boinodiris, Stavros. "Google Books" Andros Odyssey: Liberation: (1900–1940). iUniverse, 2010, p. 146.
  5. .

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
George Papandreou
Prime Minister of Greece
3 January 1945 – 9 April 1945
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Greece
15 April 1950 – 21 August 1950
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Greece
1 November 1951 – 11 October 1952
Succeeded by