Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos was an eminent Greek leader of the Greek national liberation movement and a charismatic statesman of the early 20th century, remembered for his contribution in the expansion of Greece and promotion of liberal-democratic policies. As leader of the Liberal Party, he was elected several times, in total eight, as Prime Minister of Greece, serving from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1933. Venizelos had such profound influence on the internal and external affairs of Greece that he is credited with being "the maker of modern Greece", is still known as the "Ethnarch", his first entry into the international scene was with his significant role in the autonomy of the Cretan State and in the union of Crete with Greece. Soon, he was invited to Greece to resolve the political deadlock and became the country's Prime Minister. Not only did he initiate constitutional and economic reforms that set the basis for the modernization of Greek society, but reorganized both army and navy in preparation of future conflicts.
Before the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, Venizelos' catalytic role helped gain Greece entrance to the Balkan League, an alliance of the Balkan states against the Ottoman Empire. Through his diplomatic acumen, Greece doubled its area and population with the liberation of Macedonia and most of the Aegean islands. In World War I, he brought Greece on the side of the Allies. However, his pro-Allied foreign policy brought him into direct conflict with Constantine I of Greece, causing the National Schism; the Schism polarized the population between the royalists and Venizelists and the struggle for power between the two groups affected the political and social life of Greece for decades. Following the Allied victory, Venizelos secured new territorial gains in Anatolia, coming close to realizing the Megali Idea. Despite his achievements, he was defeated in the 1920 General Election, which contributed to the eventual Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War. Venizelos, in self-imposed exile, represented Greece in the negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the agreement of a mutual exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey.
In his subsequent periods in office, Venizelos succeeded in restoring normal relations with Greece's neighbors and expanded his constitutional and economical reforms. In 1935 he resurfaced from retirement to support a military coup, its failure weakened the Second Hellenic Republic. In the 18th century, the ancestors of Venizelos, named Cravvatas, lived in Mystras, in southern Peloponnese. During the Ottoman raids in the peninsula in 1770, a member of the Cravvatas family, Venizelos Cravvatas, the youngest of several brothers, managed to escape to Crete where he established himself, his sons called themselves Venizelos. The family was of Laconic and Cretan origin. Eleftherios was born in Mournies, near Chania in then-Ottoman Crete to Kyriakos Venizelos, a Cretan merchant and revolutionary, Styliani Ploumidaki; when the Cretan revolution of 1866 broke out, Venizelos' family fled to the island of Syros, due to the participation of his father in the revolution. They were not allowed to return to Crete, stayed in Syros until 1872, when Abdülaziz granted an amnesty.
He spent his final year of secondary education at a school in Ermoupolis in Syros from which he received his Certificate in 1880. In 1881 he enrolled at the University of Athens Law School and got his degree in Law with excellent grades, he worked as a lawyer in Chania. Throughout his life he maintained a passion for reading and was improving his skills in English, Italian and French; the situation in Crete during Venizelos' early years was fluid. The Ottoman empire was undermining the reforms, which were made under international pressure, while the Cretans desired to see the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, abandon "the ungrateful infidels". Under these unstable conditions Venizelos entered into politics in the elections of 2 April 1889 as a member of the island's liberal party; as a deputy he was distinguished for his radical opinions. The numerous revolutions in Crete and after the Greek War of Independence were the result of the Cretans' desire for Enosis — Union with Greece. In the Cretan revolution of 1866, the two sides, under the pressure of the Great Powers, came to an agreement, finalized in the Pact of Chalepa.
The Pact was included in the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin, supplementing previous concessions granted to the Cretans — e.g. the Organic Law Constitution designed by William James Stillman. In summary the Pact was granting a large degree of self-government to Greeks in Crete as a means of limiting their desire to rise up against their Ottoman overlords; however the Muslims of Crete, who identified with Ottoman Empire, were not satisfied with these reforms, as in their view the administration of the island was delivered to the hands of the Christian Greek population. In practice, the Ottoman Empire failed to enforce the provisions of the Pact, thus fueling the existing tensions between the two communities. Throughout that period, the Cretan Question was a major issue of friction in the relations of independent Greece with the Ottoman Empire. In January 1897 violence and disorder were escalating on the island, thus polari
National Schism
The National Schism was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreign policy of Greece in the period of 1910–1922 of which the tipping point was whether Greece should enter World War I. Venizelos was in support of the Allies and wanted Greece to join the war on their side, while the pro-German King wanted Greece to remain neutral, which would favor the plans of the Central Powers; the disagreement had wider implications, since it would affect the character and role of the king in the state. The dismissal of Venizelos by the King resulted in a deep personal rift between the two and in subsequent events their followers divided into two radically opposed political camps affecting the wider Greek society. With the contrary actions of Venizelos permitting the landing of Allied forces in Thessaloniki and the unconditional surrender of a military fort in Macedonia to German-Bulgarian forces by the king, the disagreements of the two men started to take the form of civil war.
In August 1916, followers of Venizelos set up a provisional state in Northern Greece, with Entente support, with the aim of reclaiming the lost regions in Macedonia splitting Greece into two entities. After intense diplomatic negotiations and an armed confrontation in Athens between Allied and royalist forces the king abdicated on 11 June 1917, his second son Alexander took his place. Venizelos returned to Athens on 29 May 1917 and Greece, now unified joined the war on the side of the Allies, emerging victorious and securing new territory by the Treaty of Sèvres; the bitter effects of this division were the main features of Greek political life until the 1940s, contributed to Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War, the collapse of the Second Hellenic Republic and the establishment of the dictatorial Metaxas Regime. The main cause of the conflict was the dispute between Venizelos and King Constantine over power in Greece, in which the development of true representation had been slow since the creation of the state.
Up till the 1870s and the King's acceptance of the principle that the leader of the majority party in Parliament should be given the mandate to form a government, the formation of political groupings around a leader who could govern if this pleased the King meant that the parliamentary government was at the monarch's discretion. Many reformists and liberals viewed meddling by the monarchy in politics as deleterious; the negative public attitude towards the monarchy was strengthened by the defeat of the Greek army, headed by Constantine, in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Many of these hopes for reform were shared by young officers in the Hellenic Army, who felt humiliated by the defeat, who were influenced by republicanism. A "Military League" was formed, on 15 August 1909, they issued a pronunciamiento at the Goudi barracks in Athens; the movement, which demanded reforms in government and military affairs, was supported by the public. He appointed Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis as Prime Minister and accepted the dismissal of the Princes from the military.
However, it soon became apparent that the leadership of the League was not able to govern the country, they looked for an experienced political leader, who would preferably be anti-monarchist and not tainted by the "old-partyism" of the old system. The officers found such a man in the person of Eleftherios Venizelos, a prominent Cretan politician, whose clashes with Prince George, the island's regent, seemed to confirm his anti-monarchist and republican credentials. With Venizelos' arrival, the League was sidelined, the energetic and young politician soon dominated Greek political life, his government carried out a large number of overdue reforms, including the creation of a revised constitution. However, he established a close relationship with the King, resisted calls to transform the revisionary assembly into a constitutional one, reinstated the Princes in their positions in the army, with Crown Prince Constantine as its Inspector-General. With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, Constantine was appointed again as commander-in-chief, the successes of the army in the field in the Second Balkan War against the Bulgarians, helped many forget his record in 1897.
Constantine, now king, was being hailed as "laurel-crowned" and "Bulgar-slayer". It was however during this war that the first tension between Constantine and Venizelos surfaced, in a dispute over the army's course following the victory at Sarantaporo. Constantine wanted to march due north, towards Monastir, while Venizelos was anxious that the army should turn east, towards the strategically important city and harbor of Thessaloniki; the anxiety of Venizelos was doubled by the fact that the Bulgarians had set their eyes on the city, the most important in Macedonia, were sending their own troops towards it. Venizelos prevailed, the Greeks captured the city only a few hours before the arrival of the Bulgarians; this episode was not publicised at the time, in the aftermath of the Wars, the two men and Prime Minister, both wildly popular, were seen as making up a formidable partnership at the helm of the Greek state. However, the antivenizelist opposition in the parliament began rallying around the King.
During the negotiations of the Treaty of Bucharest, Venizelos was criticised for being too compliant against Bulgaria. Bulgaria took the lands of Western Thrace though it had been captured by the Greek army during the war; as the Great War began, the Greek authorities had to ch
Greek Orthodox Church
The name Greek Orthodox Church, or Greek Orthodoxy, is a term referring to the body of several Churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the Septuagint and the New Testament, whose history and theology are rooted in the early Church Fathers and the culture of the Byzantine Empire. Greek Orthodox Christianity has traditionally placed heavy emphasis and awarded high prestige to traditions of Eastern Orthodox monasticism and asceticism, with origins in Early Christianity in the Near East and in Byzantine Anatolia; the term "Greek Orthodox" has been used to describe all Eastern Orthodox Churches in general, since "Greek" in "Greek Orthodox" can refer to the heritage of the Byzantine Empire. During the first eight centuries of Christian history, most major intellectual and social developments in the Christian Church took place within the Empire or in the sphere of its influence, where the Greek language was spoken and used for most theological writings.
Over time, most parts of the liturgy and practices of the church of Constantinople were adopted by all, still provide the basic patterns of contemporary Orthodoxy. Thus, the Eastern Church came to be called "Greek" Orthodox in the same way that the Western Church is called "Roman" Catholic. However, the appellation "Greek" was abandoned by the Slavic and other Eastern Orthodox churches in connection with their peoples' national awakenings, from as early as the 10th century A. D. Thus, today it is only those churches that are most tied to Greek or Byzantine culture that are called "Greek Orthodox"; the Greek Orthodox churches are descended from churches which the Apostles founded in the Balkans and the Middle East during the first century A. D. and they maintain many traditions practiced in the ancient Church. Orthodox Churches, unlike the Catholic Church, have no single Supreme Pontiff, or Bishop, hold the belief that Christ is the head of the Church. However, they are each governed by a committee of Bishops, called the Holy Synod, with one central Bishop holding the honorary title of "first among equals".
Greek Orthodox Churches are united in communion with each other, as well as with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Orthodox hold a common doctrine and a common form of worship, they see themselves not as separate Churches but as administrative units of one single Church, they are notable for their extensive tradition of iconography, for their veneration of the Mother of God and the Saints, for their use of the Divine Liturgy on Sundays, a standardized worship service dating back to the fourth century A. D. in its current form. The most used Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church was written by Saint John Chrysostom. Others are attributed to St. Basil the Great, St. James, the Brother of God and St. Gregory the Dialogist; the current territory of the Greek Orthodox Churches more or less covers the areas in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean that used to be a part of the Byzantine Empire. The majority of Greek Orthodox Christians live within Greece and elsewhere in the southern Balkans, but in Jordan, the Occupied Palestinian territories, Syria, Cyprus, European Turkey, the South Caucasus.
In addition, due to the large Greek diaspora, there are many Greek Orthodox Christians who live in North America and Australia. Orthodox Christians in Finland, who compose about 1% of the population, are under the jurisdiction of a Greek Orthodox Church. There are many Greek Orthodox Christians, with origins dating back to the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, who are of Arabic-speaking or mixed Greek and Arabic-speaking ancestry and live in southern Turkey, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, they attend churches which conduct their services in Arabic, the common language of most Greek Orthodox believers in the Levant, while at the same time maintaining elements of the Byzantine Greek cultural tradition. Ethnic Greeks in Russia and Greeks in Ukraine, as well as Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks from the former Russian Transcaucasus consider themselves both Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox, consistent with the Orthodox faith. Thus, they may attend services held in Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic, without this in any way undermining their Orthodox faith or distinct Greek ethnic identity.
Over the centuries, these Pontic Greek-speaking Greek Orthodox communities have mixed through intermarriage in varying degrees with ethnic Russians and other Orthodox Christians from Southern Russia, where most of them settled between the Middle Ages and early 19th century. The churches where the Greek Orthodox term is applicable are: The four ancient Patriarchates: The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, headed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the "first among equals" of the Eastern Orthodox Communion The semi-autonomous Archdiocese of Crete The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia The Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Church of JerusalemThe autonomous Church of Mount Sinai Three autocephalous churches: The Church of Greece The Church of Cyprus The Albanian Orthodox Church known as "Greek Orthodox Church of Alb
Battle of Dumlupınar
The Battle of Dumlupınar was the last battle in the Greco-Turkish War. The battle was fought from 26 to 30 August 1922 near Kütahya in Turkey. Following the attrition battle on the Sakarya River in August–September 1921, the Greek Army of Asia Minor under General Anastasios Papoulas retreated to a defensive line extending from the town of İzmit to the towns of Eskişehir and Kara Hisâr-ı Sahib; the Greek line formed a 700 km arc stretching in a north–south direction along difficult hilly ground with high hills, called tepes, rising out of broken terrain and was considered to be defensible. A single-track railway line ran from Kara Hisâr to Dumlupınar, a fortified valley town some 30 miles west of Kara Hisâr surrounded by the mountains Murat Dağı and Ahır Dağı, thence to Smyrna on the coast; this railway was the main supply route of the Greeks. The Greek headquarters at Smyrna was incapable of communicating with the front or exercising operational control. Following the unsuccessful outcome of the Battle of Sakarya, the Greek command structure underwent many changes.
Significant forces were withdrawn from the line and redeployed in Thrace for an offensive against Istanbul, which never materialised. The remaining Greek forces were under the overall command of Lieutenant General Georgios Hatzianestis, who had replaced General Papoulas in May 1922, was regarded as mentally unstable; the morale of the Greek troops was low, as many had been under arms for several years, there was no prospect for a quick resolution of the war. Political dissent and the fact that they were occupying unfriendly territories further depressed their morale. Despite pressure to attack building up at Ankara, Mustafa Kemal, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the TBMM government and utilized the breathing space to strengthen his forces and split the Allies through adroit diplomatic moves, ensuring that French and Italian sympathies lay with Turks rather than the Greeks; this diplomatically isolated the pro-Greek British. He decided to strike the Greeks in August 1922. Knowing that Turkish forces were only adequate to mount one major offensive, he strengthened the Turkish First Army under "Sakallı" Nureddin Pasha, deployed against the southern flank of the Greek salient jutting out to Kara Hisâr.
It was a risky gamble, because if the Greek Army counter-attacked on his weakened right flank and pivoted south, his forces would be cut off. The Greek forces were organized in the "Army of Asia Minor", under Lieutenant General Georgios Hatzianestis, with a total of 220,000 men in 12 infantry and 1 cavalry division; the Army HQ was located in Smyrna. The Army of Asia Minor comprised three Corps, under Major General Nikolaos Trikoupis, Major General Kimon Digenis and Major General Petros Soumilas, it included an independent Cavalry division and smaller regiment-sized Military Commands for interior protection and anti-guerrilla operations. The total Greek front spanned for 713 km; each Greek corps had 4 divisions. Ι Corps consisted of the 4th, 5th and 12th divisions. II Corps consisted of the 7th, 9th and 13th divisions. III Corps consisted of 10th, 11th and the "Independent" divisions; each Greek division had 2 -- 8 -- 42 artillery pieces. Although numerically strong, the Greeks were deficient on heavy artillery and cavalry.
The Turkish forces were organized in the Western Front, under Mustafa Kemal Pasha, with a total of 208,000 men in 18 infantry and 5 cavalry divisions. For the purposes of the offensive the Western Front HQ was located on Koca Tepe hill, some 15 km south of Kara Hisâr close to the battle lines; the Western Front consisted of the First Army under Mirliva Nureddin Pasha, based on Kocatepe hill, the Second Army under Mirliva Yakub Shevki Pasha based in Doğlat, the Kocaeli Group under Colonel Halid Bey and the V Cavalry Corps under Mirliva Fahreddin Pasha. For the purpose of the offensive, the Turkish command redistributed its forces, reinforcing the First Army; the First Army consisted of the II Corps and the IV Corps. The Second Army consisted of the III Corps, the VI Corps and the independent 1st and 61st infantry divisions; the Kocaeli Group consisted of the 18th infantry division plus additional infantry and cavalry units. The V Cavalry Corps consisted of the 2nd and 14th cavalry divisions; each Turkish infantry division consisted of one assault infantry battalion, 3 three-battalion infantry regiments and 12 artillery pieces, with an average total strength of 7,500 men.
The Turkish plan was to launch converging attacks with the 1st and 2nd Armies against the Greek positions around Kara Hisâr. The First Army would attack northwards, on the Greek positions southwest of Kara Hisâr, held by the Greek A' Corps; the V Cavalry Corps would assist the First Army by infiltrating through less guarded Greek positions in Kirka valley, coming behind the Greek front lines. The Second Army would attack westwards, on the Gree
Sofoklis Venizelos
Sofoklis Venizelos was a Greek politician, who three times served as Prime Minister of Greece – in 1944, 1950 and 1950–1951. Venizelos was born on 3 November 1894 in Crete, he was the second-born son of the politician Eleftherios Venizelos. During World War I he served with distinction in the Greek Army and in the initial phases of the Asia Minor campaign, reaching the rank of Captain of Artillery, he resigned from the Army and was elected as a MP with his father's Liberal Party in the 1920 elections. In 1941, after the Axis occupation of Greece, he became ambassador to the United States, representing the Greek government in exile based in Cairo, he became a minister of that government in 1943 under Prime Minister Emmanuel Tsuderos, its Prime Minister in 1944. After the end of the war, he returned to Greece. In 1948 he assumed the leadership of the party and became a minister in a number of short-lived liberal governments led by Papandreou and Nikolaos Plastiras. In 1954 his longtime friendship with Georgios Papandreou was shaken, he formed the rival Liberal Democratic Union coalition.
The rift was bridged in 1958, in 1961 he became a founding member of Papandreou's Center Union party, which he served until his death in 1964. Venizelos died on the passenger ship Hellas in the Aegean Sea, en route from Chania to Piraeus, his grave lies next to his father's on the island of Crete. His wife Kathleen died in 1983 aged 86. Venizelos was a contract bridge player "of international stature" during the 1930s, as a voluntary exile in France, he played for France in the European IBL Championships. France won the 1935 tournament and a version of the team traveled to New York City late that year for a match against the Four Aces, "an unofficial world championship match" that the Aces won. Venizelos was second in skill to Pierre Albarran among contemporary French players, according to Alan Truscott. Beside the national teams at contract bridge, they both played on a 1933 team that hosted an American foursome led by Ely Culbertson in a long match at "plafond, the French parent of contract bridge, which differed only in the scoring details."
The two teams played 102 deals to a draw. "International record for Sofoklis Venizelos". World Bridge Federation. Sophocles Venizelos at Library of Congress Authorities, with 1 catalogue records
Themistoklis Sofoulis
Themistoklis Sofoulis or Sophoulis was a prominent centrist Greek politician from Samos Island, who served three times as Prime Minister of Greece, belonging to the centre-left wing of the Liberal Party, which he led for many years. Sofoulis was born in 1860 in Vathy of Samos an autonomous principality under Ottoman suzerainty, his father was Panagiotis Sofoulis. Sofoulis studied in the faculty of philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and in Germany, where he specialised in archaeology; as an archaeologist he published certain insightful surveys and he participated in various excavations around Greece. In 1900 he abandoned archaeological excavations and he was elected a deputy for Samos, being the leader of his own radical faction, fighting for the political freedoms of Samos, as stipulated by the Treaty of Autonomy of 1832. Soon, Sofoulis established himself as the head of the Progressives, who favoured reforms and union with the Kingdom of Greece. In 1902, he was elected president of the Samian parliament Prime Minister of the island.
Pro-Greek agitation and the reaction of the pro-autonomy faction led to increased tensions, in May 1908 the Prince, Andreas Kopasis Omoudopoulos, asked for the intervention of the Turkish military. The ensuing riots left Sofoulis was forced to flee to Greece. With the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Sofoulis landed on the island with a group of exiled Samians and swiftly took control: the Ottoman garrison withdrew to Anatolia, on 11/24 November 1912, the island's parliament declared union with Greece; the unification took place on 2 March 1913. Sofoulis remained for a while as the president of the interim government of Samos until April 1914, when he was appointed Governor General of Macedonia, he remained in Thessaloniki until February 1915 when he resigned following the resignation of Eleftherios Venizelos as Prime Minister after a bitter dispute with King Constantine I. Sofoulis was first elected a deputy to the Hellenic Parliament in the elections of May 1915, he served as Interior Minister in Venizelos' National Defence government in Thessaloniki, during the National Schism.
After the exile of Constantine I, Eleftherios Venizelos and his government returned to Athens, where Sofoulis was elected speaker of the Parliament. He held his post until 1920. After Venizelos fled from Greece, Sofoulis became the new leader of the Liberal Party, he served as prime minister, for the first time, from the 25 July 1924 to the 27 November 1924. In 1926, after the overthrow of Theodoros Pangalos' dictatorship, he served as Speaker of the Parliament, until 1928, when Venizelos achieved a landslide victory in the elections of 1928, he served as Minister of Military Affairs until 1930, when he was re-elected as Speaker of the Parliament. During all these years he was recognised as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, although such post did not exist. Sophoulis remained Speaker of the Parliament until the elections of 1933, when the Liberal Party suffered a defeat and the People's Party formed a government under the leadership of Panagis Tsaldaris. During the dramatic events, which led to the resignation of Panagis Tsaldaris and the restoration of the constitutional monarchy, Themistoklis Sofoulis kept a moderate stance, appreciated by King George II.
On 16 March 1936 Sofoulis was re-elected Speaker of the Parliament. The same year he signed the notorious Sofoulis-Sklavainas Pact with the KKE. During Ioannis Metaxas' dictatorship, Sofoulis remained aloof from developments, although the regime's increasing tendency towards Fascism caused him to send a warning letter to King George II in April 1939. During the Axis Occupation of Greece, like most of the established politicians, remained rather passive, although he maintained contacts to the Allies in the Middle East, he refused an offer to cooperate with the National Liberation Front, accused it of plotting to seize power and install a Communist regime after Liberation. On 19 May 1944, the Germans arrested him along with other politicians and imprisoned him in the Haidari concentration camp, where he remained until Liberation in October. Themistoklis Sofoulis served as head of the Greek government from 1945 to 4 April 1946, but in the legislative elections of 1946 he suffered defeat at the hands of the People's Party of Konstantinos Tsaldaris.
His efforts to prevent the outbreak of the Greek Civil War by reaching out to the Communists and offering amnesty were rebuffed by the People's Party, leading Sofoulis to abstain from the government of Dimitrios Maximos. However, on 7 September 1947 he became prime minister once again in a government of both the Liberal Party and the People's Party. Sofoulis undertook further efforts to end the conflict, negotiating with EAM for a general amnesty and a possible coalition government between it and the Liberals, provided that EAM's new armed force, known as the "Democratic Army of Greece", disarmed. Under intense US pressure, these proposals were abandoned, the war took its course, he died, before the end of the civil conflicts, in Kifissia, on the 24 June 1949, at the age of 88. Although he belonged to the center-left, Sofoulis led the government and the royal army during the civil war, he was admired for his lucidity and his courage despite his age and he was revered by all the politicians of the center-left, the center and the right.
The main characteristic of his political career was his ability to balance. That is; this ability of his allowed him to lead the country during the Civil War and to convince Gener
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a Greek author and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. Kanellopoulos studied law in Athens and Munich. Kanellopoulos was an intellectual and author of books about politics, sociology and history, his book "I was born in 1402" received a literary award from the Academy of Athens. He married Theano Poulikakos. After the start of the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941 he founded the Omiros resistance group, in 1942 he fled to the Middle East, where he served as Minister of Defence under the Tsouderos government in exile during World War II. In November 1945, he served as Prime Minister for a short period of time. After the war he became Minister for Reconstruction under Georgios Papandreou in a national unity government, he served in other ministerial posts under Alexandros Diomidis, Constantine Karamanlis and others till 1967 when he became Prime Minister. On 9 July 1961 Panagiotis Kanellopoulos as Deputy Prime Minister in Konstantinos Karamanlis' government and German Vice-Chancellor Ludwig Erhard signed the protocols of Greece's Treaty of Association with the European Economic Community.
The signing ceremony in Athens was attended by top government officials from the six-member group consisting of Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. The six member group was the early precursor of today's 25 member European Union. Economy Minister Aristidis Protopapadakis and Foreign Minister Evangelos Averoff were present at the ceremony as well as Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, his niece, Amalia married Karamanlis. In 1963 he succeeded Karamanlis as leader of the National Radical Union party, he was the last Prime Minister prior to the coup d'état of 21 April 1967. He was placed under house arrest for the next seven years. During the events leading to the metapolitefsi, Phaedon Gizikis considered giving Kanellopoulos the mandate to form a transitional government. After the metapolitefsi Kanellopoulos resumed his parliamentary career as a member of the New Democracy party, he declined offers to become President of Greece when the post was offered to him during the metapolitefsi.
Kanellopoulos was the nephew of Dimitrios Gounaris
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Denmark: Knight with Collar of the Order of the Elephant[19]
House of Savoy: Knight Collar with Star of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation[20]
Norway: Recipient of the War Cross Medal[21]
Romania: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Carol I[22]
United Kingdom: Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St John[23]
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). .svg)
