Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος [little dark age edit]
Eleftherios Venizelos "ο ἐθνάρχης" 1864 - 1936

Eleftherios was born in Chania, Crete. During his formative years he was leader of the Cretan independence movement and enosis or "union" with Greece.

Venizelos' concept of the Megali Idea or the "Great Idea" for Greek re-incorporation of traditionally Greek lands began here.

He was Prime Minister at the onset of the Balkan Wars (1912-13), and oversaw the liberation of Epirus, Macedonia, the Islands of the North Aegean, as well as the official union of Crete with Greece.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Venizelos was again Prime Minister, to whom promises were made by British and French governments, that if Greece were to side with them, they would support Greek territorial objectives.

Unfortunately, differences between pro-German King Constantine and Venizelos led to a "National Schism" in Greece. Venizelos was compelled to resign as Prime Minister in 1915, after which Greece was split between two rival governments in 1916.

In Thessaloniki, Venizelos headed a pro-Entente government, and another in Athens under the King. Conflict broke out between the two, known as the Noemvriana.

By 1917, Venizelos returned as the sole Prime Minister of Greece and formally declared Greece's entry to the War on the side of the Entente, with promises of Cypriot Enosis with Greece a key incentive.

After an unlikely struggle, Greece emerged triumphant and signed the Treaty of Sevres (1920). Under Venizelos, it seemed that Eastern Thrace, Ionia and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos would return to Greek control. Even union with the Dardanelles, Cyprus and Constantinople seemed possible.

While in Paris Venizelos survived a royalist assassination attempt, returned to Greece he lost the elections of November 1920, which lead to a series of unfortunate events, culminating in the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the Treaty of Sevres in 1922.

After the Catastrophe, Venizelos returned to stabilise the situation in 1923, but was forced to leave for Paris once more. Back in Greece again he was elected PM in 1928 - 1932. In 1935 he left for Paris again and suffered a fatal stroke in 1936.

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