A STORMY LIFE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 115, 16 May 1936, Page 25

A STORMY LIFE

CAREER OF VENIZELOS

LED THREE REVOLUTIONS

EIGHT TIMES PREMIER

■By the death of M. EleutheriosVenizelos, at the age of 71, there has vanished from the European scene one of the most remarkable political figures of modern times, says a writer in the "Daily Telegraph." . Prime Minister of Greece eight times, and three times the'leader of a revolution, M. Venizelos made his last dramatic- stroke a year ago, when he attempted from Crete to foment a revolt against ths pending ■ restoration, of King George II.: .; • ■■> , ■■_■ Born in Crete, then a Turkish possession, on August 23,; 1864, Eleutherios Venizelos was the son of a Greek merchant who had himself been.exiled from Crete for a time because he refused to acknowledge' allegiance'to the S-iltari. ' . ' . . After qualifying as a lawyer in Athens, where he studied French and German? at the University, the young Venizelos practised as an advocate at Canea in Crete. At the age of twentythree he took part in the . Akrotiri insurrection, which brought the battle- j ships of the Powers to Crete. It is t said that it was during this'revolt of 1897 that he began the study, of English and Italian, in ""order to read the diplomatic • reports and the views of foreign- newspapers upon the Cretan rising. . . The headquarters of'Venizelos were bombarded and after the disorders had subsided his political opponents on the island demonstrated so fiercely that he and1 his fellows-leaders were in grave danger .of. their lives. M.. Clem nceau, visiting Crete in 1699, reported on his return that- the most interesting ,discovery he; had made there had'not been the excavations, iiut^ a;young' advocate of whom all -Europe would.-. soon . hear—a M. Venizelos. The prophecy.was not long in fulfilment. '.. ' . ' T UNION WITH GREECE. By 1,893,,;. the Turks,,, having overreached themselves, had been supplanted in Crete by a semi-autonomous Government, and a High Commissioner of the Protecting Powers, in trie person of Prince George,' brother of the future King Constantine and uncle of the present King of the Hellenes. :-. The Prince's high-handed actions resulted in Venizelos r forming an; army against, him . and again defying the Powers in the Therisso revolt. The sequel came in 1906, when the Prince fled. .Shortly afterwards the Cretan assembly voted for union with Greece thpugh it was' not until 1913 that Turkey ..formally ceded it. -^Venizelos was invited by' the socalled Military League, responsible for a bloodless revolution in Greece during the, preceding summer, to come'to Athens early im 1910. He became Prime Minister for the first time in October of that year. v The Constitution was revised, reforms in the public services were introduced, and .the Premier was indirectly, if not directly, responsible for the formation of.the Balkan League, which defeated Turkey and ultimately led. to Greece becoming practically doubled in.size. ' ,-■-.. . ■,-•■-. -.;. , : King George I was:; certainly 'not eager to meet-the man-who had been largely-responsible for his; son being packed off home from Crete in disgrace 'T hope," : he; had; remarked,' "that M. Venizelos will soon hang from the mast of a battleship."- "'; - .<; . However, these feelings were changed when Venizelos staved off an impending revolution, brought* back' to Greece the Crown Prince Constantine whom the Military. League had dismissed, vand him as In-spector-General i. of the Army. The popularity- which Constantine (who ? u"ceded to the.Throne in March. ;n!™);n game'd Balkan wars of 1912-13 was : ;largely of Venizelos's making.i ■'. ■> : ,v:»r : ;'::;1 ■ .-■ ■..-.■ VjpArt in world war. \. The/AVorldV^Var and the two years which followed;.it. were undoubtedly the most important and dramatic part of his life. ; Venizelos was the big man who represented;the .wider interests of-Hellenism and;who believed in temporary, S acrifices}:iike]y to secure ulti-mate-gams for hisxountry. King Constantine, on'the> other hand, though entirely -was parochial in his outlook^and; he vj always. represented and worked ;fort W hat: he believed to be local and.more immediate interests of his, people.;:.v^ ■■.'. v./. ■. ' , Whereas Venizelos was believed will■"■^u- °^. slnk ■ his.' Personal differences >yith,his sovereign, that ruler hated and. feared the man. 'whom he felt to be .the enemy; of:' his family. Lastly whilst Constantine, believed in even if. he did not hope for, a German victory, and whilst the Greeks, no doubt favoured neutrality, the Aprime Minister was convinced that the Allies would win - the .war, and he thought the proper thing was at once to -help them to do so.' '' : . ■ After a struggle, lasting about fifteen months,, during which Venizelos was constantly trying to come' to arrangements with the Western Powers he was got rid of as Premier because of his invitation (for which he', had:-se-cured Gonstantine's .consent) to' the A']ies'tpundertake:a.laridihg in.Greek Macedonia 'and to inaugurate the 'Salonika campaign.;l \ ■-.-* :,^ *. -'V JFor;many years past there have been ciscussichs as-^to the nature'of. the obstables that had to be surmounted.and the real attitude of King Constantine. In the Kmg's favour it ' has been l Ca°w tn ?h thaV althoUgh a brother-in-T to. the ex-Kaiser, he was not unduly friendly to Germany, and that ahV? ?Sf- si?^ ed himlobe fcurable to the Allies at the very outset. of M Vw Mi not:acce Bted by friends «r* \* Yl* ZGlos> who; have always refor bHn CT - lm S? ttt: ma "V re.sponsibl e of th? A§ir g h- COuntry Onto «c side of the Allies, in spite of his King. COMPLICATED. cJ}lfJ hole. lposiUon was a complia;;d °"c owing to the: attitude, for or sfaes ,hhe Al"es' of other Balkan IHp rr- t f admess °f otherwise of Geek'Jorces to embark on a suPri Sgh e> R"dthe ""certain policy purM*ny Bntlsh war Naders. wW Were PreciPitated when, by KionaT a!p ed, to be obvious' Greek colti? \ I Bulgarians were allowed to seize Fort Rupel in 1915. M. Venizelos certainly did not have any doubt at this period that the duty of Greece wi° g° With< the Allies. but for A? ho uoUntry was so divided that in attack S WaS the subJect of bitter .. He survived it, as did his followers in the reign of terror to which theY were subjected. The strong position he., subsequently attained was clearly • °A VIJ ,_when' Journeying from Crete m October ,1916, he landed at Salonika to take charge of the Provisional Government which had already been established. • ..- ■ It was not until June, 1917, however, when the King was forced to leave the country, that Venizelos was able to go forward with the plans which led to his country definitely becoming an ally. Under his leadership the youthful King Alexander was merely an instrument. _ ■ After, the Armistice Venizelos played an all-important role at the Peace Con-

ference. President -Wilson is said to have declared him the ablest personality of all the delegates.. His country seemed likely to secure entirely unexpected advantages and concessions, and she was permitted or encouraged to embark upon her fatal campaign against Turkey in Anatolia. HOUR OF DEFEAT. But the Prime Minister never recovered his original prestige; his long - absence in Paris resulted in a loss of touch with his people, and in November, 1920, after the death of King - Alexander from the effects of a mon- . key's bite, he met with his overwhelm- . ing, defeat at the polls. Earlier that year two Greek army officers attempt■- ■ ed to assassiriate him at a. Paris rail- : way station. Venizelos left Greece three days after the election, a plebis- • cite was held to settle the dynastic 1 question, and King Constantine returned to. Athens on December 19, 1920. Until the final defeat of the Greeks in Anatolia and the second departure of King Constantine in September, I 1922, Venizelos took no active c r official part in Greek affairs. Subsequently he was the chief Hellenic delegate a"t .- the Conference of Lausanne, but whilst his tact and diplomacy helped to mitigate the consequences of the Greek disaster, the late statesman's reputation received a severe and lasting blow because he failed sufficiently-early to intervene on behalf of his political opponents so brutally' executed in Athens in November, 1922. : RETURN TO GREECE. Nevertheless, a year later, after his .party had secured a majority at the elections of December, 1923, he accepted an invitation to return to Greece He remained in Athens for a little over two months; he was Prime Minister for almost exactly three weeks, and he again left the country, partly on account of the state of his health and partly because the situation was not yet ripe for his prolonged stay in the political arena. ( . . But King George II was already on leave of absence. Venizelos confirmed the existing impression that he was in favour of a republic, and a plebiscite vote in favour of that constitutional change was given in the following April. / Venizelos spent most of his spare time in France, but he visited Crete and Greece in 1927 and again in 1928. This time he remained, and in July he became Prime Minister for the fifth time. .- . ■ , i . This readvent to power and the enormous electoral victory won in the following August depended very largely upon a Greek desire'for national stability and for the establishment of a Government Capable of adopting a definite home and foreign policy. ... M. Venizelos fell a victim to dengue: fever, which ravaged the country during the summer of 1928, but he signed a Pact of Friendship and arbitration with Italy in September. On March 27, 1929, a treaty between Greece and Yugoslavia, dealing with the -.use of Salonika by the latter country, was signed. From the summer of 1929 till the spring of 1933 M. Venizelos again held the Premiership, except for two brief intervals. " . \ A, man of unusually impressive appearance and great personal magnetism, vivacious, but extremely gentle in manner, he was singularly successful in dealing with statesmen abroad, but at home he aroused passions. which it would be difficult to parallel in Western Europe. After General Plastiras's one-day. dictatorship in March, 1933. there was a demand that M. Venizelos should be put on 'trial for complicity. ~..- BODYGUARD KILLED. ■'■''The:trial did not.take place, but in June the same year an attempt was made to assassinate him on the road between Kiphissia and Athens. He was unwounded, but his bodyguard was killed .and Madame; Venizelos sustained four bullet wounds: Madame Venizelos .fortunately recovered. A "member of the Anglo-Greek family of Schilizzi, she had married the statesman as; his second wife in 1921, and it was to her wealth that M. Venizelos, hitherto a poor man, owed 'the comfort in which he was to spend his last years of power and of exile. Characteristically, when out of power, he opposed the conclusion" of the Balkan Pact, which really followed upon the lines he had himself laid down. He objected, however, to: the exclusion of Bulgaria from the agreement.- :; \- ■■■ ■■'. :,,■■; -■' • Early in 1935 it became evident, that a movement was afoot to restore King George 11. M. Venizelos had retired to Crete and-a sensation was caused in February when the Premier, M. Tsaldaris. and the War' Minister, General Kondylis, declared that two machineguns had arrived at the Canea Customhouse addressed to M. Venizelos by his son. ..''.-■-./• ','■-.-. :■•"-■ .-■., ■.-■■-■■. Whether the. suspicion that fell on him then was true or false," M. Venizelos. made it clear, the next month that he was prepared to lead a last revolt with the excuse that the Republic . was threatened. ,; Rebellion broke out, in both navy ana) army, and the insurgents for a time'held Crete and Macedonia. After eleven days the revolt collapsed and M. Venizelos escaped in ' the rebel cruiser Ayeroff to the Italian Dodecanese.' \; : . ,In exile he learnt that he had been sentenced; to death and his property sequestrated.; : Those \vho were accused of his "attempted.'assassination in 1933 —and they included the then.ichief ;of the Athens police—were acquitted. tHe wrote from Paris ' protesting against the way in which the elections were held under General Kondylis, and he threatened to return and "take an active interest in, Greece'-''unless freedom were restored. The reply made by a Greek 'deputy was to suggest the offer of a reward for anyone who carried out the death" sentence on the exPremier. ' ■ ;.:;.:-' -'■'; " ' .; Meanwhile approaches were made to him by King George of Greece not yet restored to the throne. ,The restoration, when it took- place last November, was accepted without protest by M. Venizelos. He welcomed the firm stand 'taken by the King against General Kondylis and the proclamation,:,'of ah which on the King's insistence included the name of Venizelos himself. From'toleration M. Venizelos passed to' open sympathy with the restoration. He-said he would not return to Greece until after a real General Election, but would in any case never go back to politics. The ex-Republican and the constitutional King exchanged cordial New Year messages. ".' The election early in 1936 gave the Venizelists and their allies a little less than half the seats in the Greek Parliament, and the last move of the statesman, made only a few days before his death, was to recommend a National Government in face of the difficult situation which confronts Europe today.