A BORN SOLDIER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9692, 21 June 1917, Page 4

A BORN SOLDIER

BRAINS OF BALKAN WARS EX-KING CONSTANTINE AS A GENERAL. Constantine, King of Greece, was born on July 21st, 1868, and his career was a peculiar mixture of popularity and disfavour. At periods ho was proclaimed, from one end of tho nation’s boundaries to the other, as saviour. At others he was almost despised, and once he was driven from his adopted country. During the present great crisis he endeavoured to run with the hare and hunt with tho hounds—a difficult policy for even tho head of a mighty nation to attempt to follow. In addition, the geographical position of Greece rendered it an easy mark for whichever party it offended, the Central Powers (for a time) on land and the Allies (always) from tho sea. Usually a man of decisive action, as witness his military career in the last Balkan wars, it must have been an unhappy experience for him to have played the weathercock. Constantine’s career as a soldier was brilliant, even when the failures of tho war with Turkey in 1809 are taken into account. It must not be forgotten that in that crisis Greece was not ready to fight, and was badly outnumbered, so that Constantine, who foresaw the consequences, was at a hopeless disadvantage. He was a born soldier, and the usual boyish amusements did not appeal to him. The war game was tho only one he could bo induced to play. He was never so happy as when, having recruited an army from tho sons of servants in his father’s palace and grounds, he could occupy a strategical position in the garden, and repulse an attack made bv a nondescript army, led by one of his playmates. His education was that of a soldier, and he had an excellent training in Prussia after which ho returned to Greece, and was promoted to be Inspector-General of tho Army. CONSTANTINE’S FIRST WAR.. i Constantine’s first war—that against Turkey in 1897—was disastrous. He was appointed commander-in-chief of all the land forces, but it was recognised that it. was a forlorn post, from which his friends and admirers would gladly have seen him spared. Necessary and inevitable as the war was on national and humane grounds, the preparations for it were scarcely half completed when the frontier fighting began. The course of tho war —a series of retreats, interspersed with stubborn fights and a few successes —was a period of fearful trial to him. it has been admitted since, however, that the Crown Prince could hardly have made more judicious dispositions or followed better tactical principles. He stood under fire like a man—not only tho fire of Turkish guns and rifles, but the fire of the world’s press, and his countrymen’s desperate and unreflecting outbursts of anger and disappointment. “Not many men have had to go through a worse form of purgatory," says Captain, Walter Christmas in his book “King George of Greece," “and it has marked him for life." Constantine, angered the Greek people deeply in 1909, when tho Turkish Government, backed by a mandate of the Powers, gave Greece the choice of declaring war, or of renouncing its purpose to proclaim the annexation of the island of Crete. King George and Constantine realised that Turkey was itching for war, and that an outbreak of hostilities would expose Greece to a fresh humiliation by the Asiatic hordes. So they gave it to be understood that under no circumstances would they consent to the act of annexation for which the Greek nation was clamouring. The peril was averted, but Constantino had to resign his command of tho army and to leave the country. At that moment it seemed that never would he be able to rehabilitate himself, in public esteem. ’But after three months the wind of popular sentiment veered back in his direction, and he was summoned to return. With Venizelos ho entered upon tho task of reorganising the army. “Democratic to an astonishing degree," as one writer describes him, the Crown Prince—tt© ©on of a Danish, father and a Russian mother (Queen Olga)—soon lived down the prejudice engendered by his alien parentage, and he worked as seldom am, heir to a throne had worked before. The Premier and the Crown Prince performed wonders, and when in 1913 war broke out between the Balkan allies and Turkey, the _ military efficiency of Athens was working with tho smooth precision of perfection. IN DISGRACE. Despite that tho advancement of the King's sons was unpopular amongst other officers, and that there was dissatisfaction in the army, after the 1897 campaign, because Constantine was . in supreme command, yet ho was was again commanding tho Greek forces in the Balkan conflict. Then he made his military name. His were perhaps the brains of the Balkan wars. Greece was an uncertain, if not a contemptuous, quantity in the calculations of statesmen when hostilities commenced. When they ended the nation was regarded as a revivified force, capable of rising to a dominating position. To Constantine was the credit due, for his army not onlv performed its full share' in the campaign, but did' so much that Greece might almost be said to have wrested the lion’s share of the glory from her three allies. His army, from the frontier to Salonika, in two months from the outbreak of hostilities, marched 370 miles, fought 30 battles or minor engagements, crossed three great rivers and countless small ones took 45,000 prisoners and captured 120 guns, 75,000 rifles and a vast quantity, of war material. He completed the Grecian success by routing the enemy before Yanina, where his ‘tactics, jafter the failure of General Sapoundzakis, were loudly applauded hy military critics. When, on the assassination of his father. King George, Constantine succeeded “to the throne, it was stated hy a biographer that "a cool-headed and victorious warrior had succeeded a cool,beaded and experienced diplomatist. Happy was Greece to find the verv king she needed in the difficult and dangeron r time of her re-birth." In the second Balkan war Constantine, now king, led his army with great dash and tireless energy, and added to his laurels. He returned, beloved by his people, and the outlook for Greece was brighter than for centuries. One biographer said that “after 11. Venizelos King Constantine is the most popular man the Greeks have known for many centuries. He is a soldier first of all—a man of simple tastes and democratic manner of life." He always manifested great friendliness for the press, and he made it a special point to get into personal contact with as many representatives of the world’s leading newspapers as ho possibly could. His famous telegrams to the press concerning Bulgar atrocities against defenceless Greeks—men. women, and children— created an immense sensation in Europe. There was one thing about Constan. tine that should have acted to his advantage. and that was that the people regarded him as Heaven-sent. The Greeks are. superstitions, and an old prophecy had been banded down for generation’s that the alliance of a Constantine and a Sophie would mark the beginning of the regeneration of the Greek empire. When Constantine became engaged to Princess Sophie, daughter of the Emperor Frederick, and sister of the Kaiser, there was rejoicing throughout the coun-