Goudi uprising
The revolt of Goudi ( Greek επανάσταση στο Γουδί ) or movement of Goudi ( Greek κίνημα στο Γουδί ) is a revolt initiated by Greek officers in August 1909; it is seen partly as a military coup and partly as a bourgeois revolution . It led to far-reaching reforms and paved the way for long-time Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos to power.
initial situation
At the beginning of the 20th century, Greece faced enormous problems. The defeat in the Turkish-Greek War of 1897 was perceived as a national humiliation, the unification of Macedonia and Crete with the Greek nation-state, which was pursued despite the defeat, seemed to be making no progress.
Domestically, too, there was a widespread feeling of stagnation. After the national bankruptcy in 1893 , state revenues were placed under international financial control , the economic problems intensified the social question and led to general dissatisfaction with state institutions, with the government, the crown, parties and the judiciary.
The military league
Inspired by the Young Turkish Revolution in 1908 , 10 young officers joined together in October 1908 to form a conspiratorial group, who , in addition to the generally prevailing dissatisfaction, were displeased with the promotion policy, which was primarily directed against Crown Prince Konstantinos as Commander-in-Chief. Military League “( Greek Στρατιωτικός Σύνδεσμος ) called. The then lieutenant Theodoros Pangalos was one of them .
The military league, whose existence became known in June 1909, quickly gained support from all branches of the armed forces . In July 1909, in a secret meeting, the officers called for Konstantinos to resign from his military post, to increase the military budget and to carry out military reform. The new Prime Minister Dimitrios Rallis , who replaced Georgios Theotokis at the end of July 1909 , had initially taken on the demands, but after taking office he concentrated on persecuting the officers responsible for the revolt.
The riot
After arrests and Rallis' refusal to see representatives of the military , the uprising broke out on the night of August 15, 1909: the supporters of the Military League gathered at the barracks of Goudi, a district in eastern Athens. Several hundred officers, led by Colonel Nikolaos Zorbas , followed by around 2,000 soldiers, police officers and civilians, threatened to march into the city center if their ultimate demands were not met. In addition to the replacement of the Crown Prince as commander-in-chief and all princes from their military positions as well as an amnesty for the participants in the revolt, this included the reassignment of the officers who had been dismissed in recent months, the dismissal of certain officers such as Ioannis Metaxas , who were considered to be the Crown Prince's followers Military reform, but also general political populist reforms such as tax relief.
Rallis then resigned, the king commissioned Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis to form a government. The new government promised to meet all the conditions of the insurgents and to carry out further reforms: the improvement of the administration, an efficient and impartial judiciary, an education system which should be adapted to the financial, military and national needs, the security of life, honor and the Citizens' wealth, the reorganization of the economy and tax relief for the citizens, as well as the cessation of aimless expenditure of the state budget and the improvement of the armed forces.
In order to emphasize their demands, the military league called for a mass rally on September 14, 1909; Professional associations and other organizations joined in, making the rally a powerful demonstration in which thousands - in contemporary reports there are 70,000 participants - moved from the military school at Pedio tou Areos in Athens to the Royal Palace.
Implementation of the demands
The implementation of the demands in law met with political resistance in parliament , led by Theotokis and Stephanos Dragoumis . However, under threat of a coup and the dissolution of parliament, the Military League managed to have 160 bills voted by the end of 1909. The demands for a substantial increase in the military budget , removal of the members of the royal family from military positions, removal of the transport backlog and the dismissal of royalist officers were accepted.
However, many other demands, particularly those of economic policy, turned out to be immature and unrealistic. The required tax relief could not be reconciled with the expansion of the military budget. After enforcing its professional-political demands, the military league lost its assertiveness. Their supporters also increasingly had different political ideas. When naval officers with their radical demands for the dismissal of almost all senior officers failed to get through, they occupied the military port of Salamina ; however, their revolt was put down.
In early 1910 the Military Council, disappointed in the Mavromichali's government, demanded its resignation.
The call to Venizelos
In the difficult political situation, members of the military league turned to Eleftherios Venizelos , who had been Prime Minister of Crete since May 1909 and who was said to have a distant relationship with the crown. Venizelos had shown his sympathy for the insurgents' demands. He arrived in Athens at the end of 1909 and tried to mediate between the king, parties and the military league. It was finally agreed on the election of a constituent assembly and the formation of a transitional government with Dragoumis as Prime Minister and Finance Minister and Zorbas as Minister of the Army. Only after the elections for the constituent assembly had also been decided by parliament did the military league disband in March 1910.
The progress-oriented Liberal Party founded by Venizelos won the elections in August. In October 1910 Venizelos became Prime Minister. He initiated a reform policy. In 1911 a new constitution was promulgated and over 100 laws passed.
Despite the anti-monarchist tendencies of his followers, Venizelos was initially concerned with a conciliatory attitude towards the royal family; so he immediately reinstated the heir to the throne and the other princes in their military positions. In terms of foreign policy, Venizelos pursued a war policy focused on expansion. He shaped Greek politics for many years.
Web links
- Kyriaki Doukelli, History of Macedonia and Thrace up to the First World War, PhD thesis Mannheim 2008 (PDF; 2.26 MB)
- Ioannis Zelepos : The Ethnicization of Greek Identity, 1870-1912
- Susanne-Sophia Spiliotis, Transterritoriality and National Demarcation p. 65 ff.
Individual evidence
- ^ Pavlos Tzermias, Neugriechische Geschichte, Tübingen 1986, p. 107