ELEFTHERIOS

VENIZELEOS
Tzeida Belouk
HIST2205
January 21,2022

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Contents
• Who is Eleftherios Venizelos?
• Childhood – Education
• Personal Life – Family
• Political Career
• Venizelos‘ Visit to Ankara ( October 27, 1930)
• Venizelos as Prime Minister of Greece
• How did Venizelos era end?
• Venizelos’ Death – Burial
• Posthumos Fame
• Statues of Venizelos in Greece
• References
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Who is Eleftherios Venizelos?

• Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (23 August 1864 –

18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a
prominent leader of the Greek national liberation
movement. He is noted for his contribution to the
expansion of Greece and promotion of liberal-
democratic policies. Venizelos had such profound
influence on the internal and external affairs of
Greece that he is credited with being "The Maker of
Modern Greece", and is still widely known as the
"Ethnarch".

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Childhood - Education

• He was born in the village of Mournies, near Chania, on August 23,

1864.
• He was the fifth child of Kyriakos Venizelos, a merchant, and of
Styliani Ploumidaki.
• During his childhood he lived in some different places due to the
participation of his father in the Cretan Revolution.
The house of Venizelos in Mournies.
• He graduated from Syros Public High School in Ermoupolis.
• After some years of working in his father’s shop, in 1881 he enrolled in
the Law School of the University of Athens, from where he graduated
with high grades in 1887.
• Throughout his life he maintained a passion for reading and was
constantly improving his skills in English, Italian, German, and French.

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Personal Life – Family
• In December 1891 Venizelos married Maria Katelouzou,
daughter of Eleftherios Katelouzos.
• He had two kids with Maria, Kyriakos (1892) and
Sofoklis (1894). Maria Katelouozou
Venizeleos and his sons
• His first wife Maria, lost her life in 1984. Venizelos was
deeply affected by her death.
• In September 1921, twenty-seven years after the death of
his first wife Maria, he married Helena Schilizzi in
London.
• He also had a grandson, Nikitas Venizelos (1930-2020).
Nikitas Venizelos

Helena Schilizzi
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Political Career
• Venizelos entered into politics in the elections of 2 April 1889 as a member of Crete’s
liberal party.
• As a politician he played an important role in the Cretan Question, as well as in the
political events of Greece.
 On January 23, 1897, Venizelos decided to cooperate with the rebels at Akrotiri in
order to displace Turkish forces from the plains.
 He organized the Therissos Movement on March 10, 1905, starting at the village of
Therisso, Chania and with the desire for union of Crete with Greece. Venizelos and Ataturk (1930 - Ankara)

 He suggested some significant changes in Constitution of Greece and the New

Constitution was published on June 1, 1911.
 On September 30, 1912, Venizelos declared war on Turkey in order to carry out
reforms in Macedonia and Thrace (First Balkan War).
 He represented Greece at the Lausanne Conference where he signed the Lausanne
Treaty with Turkey on July 24, 1923.
 He signed peace treaties with several countries like; Italy (1928), Yugoslavia (1929),
and Turkey (1930).
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Venizelos‘ Visit to Ankara ( October 27, 1930)

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 Venizelos as Prime Minister of Greece
Venizelos served as Prime Minister of Greece seven times, for a total of twelve years and five months.
 6 October 1910 – 25 February 1915
He switched his position from Prime Minister of Crete, to Prime Minister of Greece.

 10 August 1915 – 24 September 1915

From the beginning of World War I, he sided with the Triple Entente, openly disagreeing with the King's neutrality. Due to this disagreement, although he had been elected
prime minister, he resigned, creating the events of the National Divide (Ethnikos Dixasmos) .

 14 June 1917 – 4 November 1920

He returned to the prime ministership in this period but left Greece after his defeat in the elections of November 1920.

 24 January 1924 – 19 February 1924

He returned in 1924 to Greece and into politics for just a few months.

 4 July 1928 – 26 May 1932

He was re-elected Prime Minister in 1928.

 5 June 1932 – 4 November 1932

 16 January 1933 – 6 March 1933
In January 1933 he became Prime Minister for the last time and in March 1935, after a coup attempt, he fled to Paris.

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How did Venizelos’ era end?
• On March 5, 1933, Venizelos lost the title of 'Prime Minister’ when the rival
parties gained the majority of votes in the elections.
• At the beginning of May, Ioannis Metaxas submitted to the Parliament a
proposal to prosecute Venizelos.
• On the evening of June 6 th, anti-Venizilists attempted to kill him and they
injured his wife, Helena.
• After the events, he announced his retirement from political life and went to
Paris.
• A few months later, he was sentenced to death as “a traitor “ in Greece, so
he never returned to his homeland. His associates were also sentenced to
death and executed during the Great Week of Easter.

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Venizelos’ Death - Burial

• He wrote his last letter on March 12, 1936 to Alexandros Zannas.

• He suffered a stroke on the morning of the 13 th of March.
• Eleftherios Venizelos died on 18 th of March, 1936 in his flat in Paris.
• During his transport to the Greece, he was honoured by French and Italian
authorities.
• However, the ship in which his body was carried did not stop in Athens in order
to prevent unrests.
• His body arrived to Chania, Crete on the 27 th of March.
• His burial took place on the 29 th of March in Acrotiri of Crete.
The burial monument of Venizelos and his son, Sofoklis

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 Posthumous Fame
• The name of Eleftherios Venizelos has been given to many avenues, streets and squares, in almost all cities of
Greece.
• A bronze statue of him has stood in Eleftherias Park in Athens since 1971.
• A marble statue of him has been placed in the center of Thessaloniki in 1977.
• Statues of him are also placed in the three biggest cities of Crete; Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno.
• There are sculptures in his form in other Greek places such as Rhodes and Lesvos too.
• The new Athens International Airport, which was inaugurated in 2001, was named in his honor "Eleftherios
Venizelos".
• The station of the "Tavros" area in Athens is also named: "Tavros - Eleftherios Venizelos".
• The Shipping Company of Crete SA (ANEK) has given its name to one of its ships.
• Eleftherios Venizelos is also depicted on the Greek 50 cent euro coin, which was first issued in 2002.
• Finally, his life has been the subject of two Greek films. 11
Statues of Venizelos in Greece

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References
 Kitromilides, P. M. (2006). Eleftherios Venizelos: The Trials of Statesmanship. Edinburgh University
Press.
 Liberty Still Rules. (1924, February 18). Time.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,717746-1,00.html
 Pournaras, D. (2021, August 19). Eleuthérios Venizélos. Encyclopedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleutherios-Venizelos.
 Duffield, J. W. (1921, October 30). Venizelos, Maker of Modern Greece. The New York Times.
 Mitsotaki, Zoi (2008). Venizelos the Cretan. His roots and his family . National Foundation Research.
Archived from the original on 18 May 2007.
 Η ζωή και το έργο ενός μεγάλου Έλληνα. (2021, March 18). Proto Thema (Πρωτο Θέμα)
https://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/1105769/eleutherios-venizelos-san-simera-to-1936-pethane-o-
anamorfotis-tis-sughronis-elladas/
 Zolota, Anastasiou P. (1995). Η Εθνική Τραγωδία. Athens, University of Athens, Department of
Political Science and Public Administration. pp. 3-80.

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