Nikolaos Zorbas

Nikolaos Zorbas

Nikolaos Zorbas ( Greek Νικόλαος Ζορμπάς , born September 27, 1844 in Athens , † June 12, 1920 ibid) was a Greek officer. He was the leader of the Military League in the Goudi uprising in 1909.

Zorbas attended the military academy and completed his training in France and Belgium. He took part in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 as a lieutenant and chief of an artillery unit . 1905/06 he was director of the military academy and in 1907 commander of the artillery.

Zorbas was an opponent of the Commander-in-Chief, Crown Prince Constantine , who had passed him over when he was promoted.

When in 1909 mostly young officers conspired to join the opposition military league and demanded the replacement of the heir to the throne as commander-in-chief and a military reform, Zorbas joined them. He became their leader at the beginning of August 1909, at that time already almost 65 years old and high-ranking and respected as a colonel. Under his leadership, an 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. A few hundred officers, followed by around 2,000 soldiers, police 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 and 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.

The uprising resulted in the resignation of the government of Georgios Rallis . The new Prime Minister Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis accepted the demands of the Military League, but as a result, their implementation led to disputes with Parliament, on which the Military League exerted heavy pressure. With the mediation of Eleftherios Venizelos , the formation of a transitional government under Stephanos Dragoumis was agreed in early 1910 , to which Zorbas belonged as Minister of the Army. The military league disbanded at his instigation. The Dragoumi government was in office from January 31, 1910 to October 18, 1910. After that, Venizelos took power.

Zorbas retired with the rank of major general and wrote down his memories of the events of the Goudi uprising in 1911. They were not published until after his death.

Works

Απομνημονεύματα ή πληροφορίαι περί των συμβάντων κατά την διάρκεια της Επαναστάσεως της 15ης Αυγούστου 1909 Apomnemonevmata ke pliroforie peri ton symvanton kata tin diarkian tis epanastaseos tis 15Es Avgoustou 1909 memories and information about the events during the revolution of August 15 1909, Athens 1925

literature

• Walter Puchner : Zorbas, Nikolaos . In: Mathias Bernath, Karl Nehring (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-42421-1 , pp. 502-504.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1] The Military Council of 1908 and its members (Greek)
2. ↑ Απομνημονεύματα .eta πληροφορίαι περί των συμβάντων κατά την διάρκεια της Επαναστάσεως της 15ης Αυγούστου 1909 Apomnemonevmata ke pliroforie peri ton symvanton kata tin diarkian tis epanastaseos tis 15Es Avgoustou 1909, memories and information about the events during the revolution of August 15 1909, Athens 1925