Nikolaos Plastiras

Nikolaos Plastiras

Nikolaos Plastiras ( Greek Νικόλαος Πλαστήρας , born November 4, 1883 in Karditsa ; † July 26, 1953 ) was a Greek general, politician and prime minister.

Military career

Balkan Wars and World War I

After attending school in 1904, Plastiras began a military career as a volunteer in the 5th Infantry Regiment. From 1904 to 1908 he took part in the battles against Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire in occupied Macedonia . In 1910 he graduated from the NCO School and then took part in the Balkan Wars as a sub-lieutenant from 1912 to 1913 . There he distinguished himself through bravery, which earned him the nickname "The Black Rider".

During the First World War , as a major , he supported the achievement of a Megali Idea of the then Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos . This idea envisaged the formation of a Greater Greece, which came within reach thanks to the victory of the First World War by the Entente states over the Central Powers ( German Empire , Austria-Hungary , Ottoman Empire , Bulgaria ). During the fighting on the Salonika Front , he rose to lieutenant colonel after the battle of Skra-di-Legen on May 16, 1918 .

Greco-Turkish War and Revolution of 1922

After the First World War he was in 1919 as colonel in command of the 42nd Evzones Regiment in the Ukraine , ultimately fighting the Red Army there without success . In the subsequent Greco-Turkish War from 1919 to 1923, the Greek troops ultimately suffered a painful defeat, which on the Greek side is described as a catastrophe in Asia Minor , on the Turkish side as a victory in the Turkish Liberation War . Nonetheless, Colonel Plastiras and the 42nd Evzones Regiment were one of the successful troops who rescued thousands of Anatolian Greeks , among others , which gave him great popularity on the Greek side, the nickname "The Black Pepper" (Kara Biber) on the Turkish side and his regiment the nickname " The Army of Satan ”(Seytan Askeri) brought in.

After the eventual defeat by Turkey , the remaining Greek troops returned to Athens , where Colonel Plastiras led a revolution with several other officers on September 11, 1922 . With the support of the army and the navy , which was largely close to the former Prime Minister Venizelos, as well as the great support from the population, Plastiras quickly took control of the country, forced King Constantine I to abdicate on September 27, 1922 and set King George II. as a king. In the following period, Plastiras reorganized the Greek troops on the border with Turkey in western Thrace . On November 28, 1922 there was the controversial execution of the former Prime Ministers Dimitrios Gounaris and Petros Protopapadakis as well as four high-ranking generals for high treason due to the defeat in the Greco-Turkish War.

Soon afterwards, Venizelos returned from exile and headed the Greek delegation to sign the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. In the following period, Plastiras saw itself undergoing extensive political changes because of the necessary care for 1.3 million refugees, an enormous economic crisis, the current international isolation and internal division. After preventing a royalist coup, he forced King George II to leave the country and instead installed Pavlos Koundouriotis as regent on December 19, 1923 , who a short time later became President of the Republic .

After the elections to the National Assembly (Voulí ton Ellínon) in December 1923, he retired on January 2, 1924 from active military service and retired into private life. The National Assembly awarded him the title “Venerable of the Fatherland” and promoted him to Lieutenant General of the Reserve.

Period of the Greek Republic and World War II

The Hellenic Republic, which he co-founded, proved to be politically unstable and was marked by government crises, coup attempts and conflicts between the republicans under Venizelos and the royalists. In addition, constant economic problems plagued the country. He was persecuted during the dictatorship of General Theodoros Pangalos .

It was not until March 1933 that he initiated another attempted coup after the royalists had won the elections to the National Assembly and Alexandros Othoneos had become prime minister. But when even Venizelos protested against this coup attempt, Plastiras fled the country. After the unsuccessful revolution by supporters of Venizelos in 1935, he was sentenced to death in absentia.

Nevertheless, he was honored for his services as a war hero and a loyal Republican. After troops of the German Wehrmacht marched into Greece in mid-1941, he organized the resistance of the National Republican League ( EDES ) from his exile in France , of which he was the nominal chairman.

Political career

Prime Minister January to April 1945

After returning to Greece, he became Prime Minister for the first time on January 3, 1945. During his three-month government, which lasted until April 9, 1945, he tried to mediate between the royalists, who demanded the return of King George II , and the left-wing democratic guerrillas of the National Liberation Front (EAM) and the People's Liberation Army ( ELAS ). Ultimately, through the Varkiza Agreement of February 12, 1945, he succeeded in achieving an armistice between the government and EAM / ELAS. Nevertheless, his moderate policies and the Republican sympathies led to distrust on the part of the British control power and his early loss of office. Subsequently, tensions with EAM / ELAS increased again and ultimately culminated in the civil war from June 1946 to October 1949.

Prime Minister April to August 1950

After the civil war, Plastiras founded the National Progressive Center Union (Εθνική Προοδευτική Ένωση Κέντρου EPEK) in 1949, which was joined in particular by disappointed members of the Liberal Party and left-wing democrats. His program of national reconciliation was rejected by right-wing society. On April 15, 1950, he formed a coalition government with the Liberal Party of the son of Eleftherios Venizelos, Sophoklis Venizelos , and the Democratic Socialist Party (DSKE) of Georgios Papandreou . After his coalition partners refused to support him, he had to resign on August 21, 1950 and was replaced by Venizelos.

Prime Minister 1951 to 1952

From the elections to the National Assembly of August 1951, his EPEK emerged as the strongest party in the center. On September 1, 1951, together with the Liberal Party under Venizelos, he formed his third cabinet to solve the country's great problems. In the following period, the economic boom, the reconstruction and large projects such as the Plastiras reservoir or the reconstruction of the railway lines destroyed by the war were pushed. However, his national reconciliation program continued to be opposed by the right-wing political camp, viewed with suspicion by the left-wing camp and even undermined by members of his cabinet. A telling moment of his failure was the condemnation and execution of the communist and resistance fighter Nikos Belogiannis on March 30, 1952. In October 1952 he finally lost the elections and on October 11, 1952 resigned as prime minister.

He then withdrew from politics and died impoverished in Athens nine months later . However, his death caused deep sadness in the Greek people.

Biographical sources and background information

• Cabinet list of ministers 1951–1952
• Lists of government ministers 1946–1951 ( Memento from July 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Nikolaos Plastiras in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Newspaper article about Nikolaos Plastiras in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
Georgios Papandreou Sophoklis Venizelos Sophoklis Venizelos	Prime Minister of Greece 1945 1950 1951–1952	Petros Voulgaris Sophoklis Venizelos Dimitrios Kiousopoulos