Gennaios Kolokotronis

Gennaios Kolokotronis

Gennaios (Ioannis) Kolokotronis ( Greek : Γενναίος Κολοκοτρώνης) (* 1803 in Zakynthos ; † May 23, 1868 ) was a Greek politician and prime minister .

Family and independence fighters

He was born the son of the hero of the War of Independence of 1821 , Theodoros Kolokotronis , and was baptized under the given name Ioannis.

Together with his father he fought during the War of Independence and was temporarily imprisoned with it. During the war he was given the name "Gennaios" ("the brave").

Professional and political career

After the international recognition of independence in 1830 he was promoted to colonel , but shortly afterwards arrested again with his father as the leader of the so-called Russian party.

After Otto I's coronation as the first king of Greece on February 6, 1833, he was promoted to his adjutant and major general. Later he also became a senator . In 1852 he successfully suppressed the uprising of the monk Christophoros Papoylakos on the Mani peninsula and in 1862 the mutiny in Nafplion .

From June 7, 1862 until the overthrow of King Otto I on October 23, 1862 he was his (last) Prime Minister. After the king was deposed, he went into exile in Italy . In 1863 he returned to Greece, but withdrew from active political life. During the uprising in Crete in 1866, at the request of the new king, George I , he once again played a role as a mediator.

Biographical sources and background information

Commons : Gennaios Kolokotronis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biographical data in rulers.org
• Douglas Dakin: The Greek Struggle For Independence 1821-1833. Berkeley 1973 (PDF file; 281 kB)
• Evi Koukouraki: From the Greek Wars of Liberation to the Present: History of Young Greece. 2003.
• The Greek Economy 1833-1897
• Court Gouvernments II 1857–1862

predecessor	Office	successor
Athanasios Miaoulis	Prime Minister of Greece 1862	Dimitrios Voulgaris