Eleftherios Venizelos

Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (Greek: Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, romanized: Eleuthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, pronounced [elefˈθeri.os cirˈʝaku veniˈzelos]; 23 August [O.S. 11 August] 1864 – 18 March 1936) was a Cretan Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party, Venizelos served as prime minister of Greece for over 12 years, spanning eight terms from 1910 to 1933.

A prominent figure of the 1897 Cretan Revolt, Venizelos first made his mark on the international stage with his leading role in securing the autonomy of the Cretan State, and later in the island's union with Greece. He led the Theriso revolt in 1905 and the declaration of union with Greece following the Young Turk Revolution. In 1909, he was invited to Athens to resolve the political deadlock and became Prime Minister. He initiated constitutional and economic reforms that set the basis for the modernization of Greek society, culminating in the transformative 1911 Constitution, and of the Greek Army and the Greek Navy in preparation for future conflicts. Before the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, Venizelos' catalytic role helped Greece to gain entrance to the Balkan League, an alliance of the Balkan states against the Ottoman Empire. Through his diplomatic acumen with the Great Powers and with the other Balkan countries, Greece doubled its area and population with the liberation of Macedonia, Epirus, and most of the Aegean islands.

In World War I (1914–1918), he brought Greece on the side of the Allies, further expanding the Greek borders. However, his pro-Allied foreign policy brought him into conflict with the nonaligned faction of Constantine I of Greece, causing the National Schism of the 1910s. The Schism became an unofficial civil war of the pro-Venizelos northern provisional government and the pro-royal government of Athens, with the struggle for power between them polarizing the population between the royalists and Venizelists for decades. Following the Allied victory, Venizelos secured new territorial concessions in Western Anatolia and Thrace in an attempt to accomplish the Megali Idea, which would have united all Greek-speaking people along the Aegean Sea under the banner of Greece. He was, however, defeated in the 1920 General Election, which contributed to the eventual Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22). Venizelos, in self-imposed exile, represented Greece in the negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne and the agreement of a mutual population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

As a leading figure of the Second Republic, Venizelos returned to active politics with a landslide victory in the 1928 elections. His final tenure focused on improving relations with Turkey, resettlement policies for refugees from Asia Minor, anti-communism and responding to the Great Depression. After electoral defeats in 1932 and 1933, In January of that year, Venizelos became prime minister for the last time, before a failed coup attempt tried to keep him in power. In March 1935, after a second coup attempt, he was sentenced to death in absentia, after having fled to Paris, where he died.

Under his leadership, Greece underwent profound modernization through liberal-democratic policies. His diplomatic and military efforts expanded Greece's territory, marking a shift in the country's orientation from East to West. Venizelos achieved international fame in his lifetime, and is often called "The Maker of Modern Greece" for his transformative role. His legacy as the "Ethnarch" continues to endure.