The National Schism (Greek: Εθνικός Διχασμός, Ethnikos Dikhasmos, sometimes called The Great Division) was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreign policy of Greece in the period of 1910-22 of which the tipping point was whether Greece should enter World War I. Venizelos was in support of the Allies and wanted Greece to join the war on their side, while the pro-German King wanted Greece to remain neutral, which would favor the plans of the Central Powers. The disagreement had wider implications, since it would also affect the character and role of the king in the state. The unconstitutional dismissal of Venizelos by the King resulted in a deep personal rift between the two and in subsequent events their followers divided into two radically opposed political camps affecting the wider Greek society.

With the landing of Allied forces in Thessaloniki with Venizelos' permission and the unconditional surrender by the King of a military fort in Macedonia to German-Bulgarian forces, the disagreement of the two men started to take the form of civil war. In August 1916, followers of Venizelos set up a provisional state in Northern Greece with Entente support with the aim of reclaiming the lost regions in Macedonia, effectively splitting Greece into two entities. After intense diplomatic negotiations and an armed confrontation in Athens between Entente and royalist forces (an incident known as Noemvriana) the king abdicated, and his second son Alexander took his place. Venizelos returned to Athens on 29 May 1917 and Greece, now unified, officially joined the war on the side of the Allies, emerging victorious and securing new territory by the Treaty of Sèvres. The bitter effects of this division were the main features of Greek political life until the 1940s, and contributed to Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War, the collapse of the Second Hellenic Republic and the establishment of the dictatorial Metaxas Regime.

Source of the conflict[link]

The protagonists of the National Schism: King Constantine (second from left) and Prime Minister Venizelos (back turned to camera) at the Greek GHQ, during the halcyon days of the Balkan Wars. At the time, their relationship seemed to be cordial, and nothing presaged the deep rift that would split the country in two.

The main cause of the conflict was the dispute between Venizelos and King Constantine over power in Greece, in which the development of true representation was slow since the creation of the state. Up till the 1870s and the King's acceptance of the principle that the leader of the majority party in Parliament should be given the mandate to form a government, the formation of political groupings around a leader who could govern if it so pleased the King was really at the monarch's discretion too.^[1] Many reformists and liberals viewed meddling by the monarchy in politics as deleterious. The negative public attitude towards the monarchy was strengthened by the defeat of the Greek army, headed by Constantine (then the Crown Prince), in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Many of these hopes for reform were also shared by young officers in the Hellenic Army, who felt humiliated by the defeat, and who were influenced by republicanism. A "Military League" was formed, and on 15 August 1909, they issued a pronunciamiento at the Goudi barracks in Athens. The movement, which demanded reforms in government and military affairs, was widely supported by the public; King George was forced to give in to the military's demands. He appointed Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis as Prime Minister and accepted the dismissal of the Princes from the military.

However, it soon became apparent that the leadership of the League was not able to govern the country, and they looked for an experienced political leader, who would also preferably be anti-monarchist and not tainted by the "old-partyism" of the old system. The officers found such a man in the person of Eleftherios Venizelos, a prominent Cretan politician, whose clashes with Prince George, the island's regent, seemed to confirm his anti-monarchist and republican credentials. With Venizelos' arrival, the League was sidelined, and the energetic and relatively young politician soon dominated Greek political life. His government carried out a large number of overdue reforms, including the creation of a revised constitution. However, he also established a close relationship with the King, resisted calls to transform the revisionary assembly into a constitutional one, and even reinstated the Princes in their positions in the army, with Crown Prince Constantine as its Inspector-General.

With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, Constantine was immediately appointed again as commander in-chief, and the successes of the army in the field, especially in the Second Balkan War against the Bulgarians, helped many forget his record in 1897. Constantine, now king, was being hailed as "laurel-crowned" and "Bulgar-slayer". It was however during this war that the first tension between Constantine and Venizelos surfaced, in a dispute over the army's course following the victory at Sarantaporo. Constantine wanted to march due north, towards Monastir, while Venizelos was anxious that the army should turn east, towards the strategically important city and harbor of Thessaloniki. The anxiety of Venizelos was doubled by the fact that the Bulgarians had also set their eyes on the city, the most important in Macedonia, and were sending their own troops towards it. Eventually Venizelos prevailed, and the Greeks captured the city only a few hours before the arrival of the Bulgarians. This episode was not made public at the time, and in the aftermath of the Wars, the two men, King and Prime Minister, both wildly popular, were seen as making up a formidable partnership at the helm of the Greek state.

Beginning of the conflict[link]

King Constantine I in German Field Marshal's uniform. His pro-German sympathies caused him to favour a course of neutrality in the First World War.

As the war began the Greek authorities had to choose between neutrality and aligning themselves with the Allied forces. Outright participation in the war on the side of the Central Powers was not an option, both because of Greece's vulnerability to the Royal Navy and because, from early on (October 1914), Greece's traditional enemy, the Ottoman Empire, had joined in on Germany's side. Hence, neutrality was the course favored by most pro-German Greeks, including the senior, German-educated, leadership of the General Staff, who had great influence over the King. The situation was complicated by several other factors. King Constantine's wife Queen Sofia was the sister of the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, while Constantine himself had been educated in Germany and admired German culture. In contrast, Greece had an ongoing mutual defense pact with Serbia, a member of the Allied forces, who were asking for support after they were invaded by Austria-Hungary (see Serbian Campaign (World War I)).

The King's personal links gave him an obvious bias towards supporting the Central Powers. However, he believed it was in the greater interests of Greece to remain neutral – especially as long as there was no obvious victor in the war. On the other hand the Prime Minister Venizelos was in favor of joining the Entente, as he believed that Greece would gain new lands and fulfill the Megali Idea.

In January 1915, in an attempt to convince the Greeks to side with them, Britain offered Greece post-war concessions in Asia Minor (currently part of Turkey). Venizelos felt this was a good deal and attempted to force a bill through the Greek parliament to join the Allies. Staunch opposition by the King, Army generals and their supporters forced Venizelos to resign shortly afterwards.

The clash and schism of Greece[link]

Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister, believed that Greece's interests were best served by entering the war on the side of the Allies.

The resignation caused political dissension in Greece, a diplomatic battle between the King and Venizelos' supporters forced a general election in June 1915. These elections were won by Venizelos' Liberal Party and he resumed his post as Prime Minister, however Constantine refused to ratify the appointment of the new government until August.

During this time the Serbian-Bulgarian conflict deepened until Bulgaria declared war on Serbia, which posed an immediate threat to the newly gained province of Macedonia, including the strategically important port of Thessaloniki. Venizelos asked Constantine for permission to formalize a defense treaty with Serbia in the interests of protecting the Greek border from direct Bulgarian attack. Constantine agreed but only on the condition that Greece was actually attacked. After his inability to sway Constantine to act against Bulgaria, Venizelos took a new route by allowing British and French troops to land in Macedonia in preparation for their attack on Gallipoli, Turkey. This caused disarray in the Greek government and Venizelos took advantage of this by forcing through a parliamentary motion (with a 37 vote margin) to declare war on Bulgaria.

The dispute between the Greek Prime Minister and the King reached its height shortly after and the King invoked the Greek constitutional right that gave the monarch the right to dismiss a government unilaterally. In December 1915 Constantine forced Venizelos to resign for a second time and dissolved the Liberal-dominated parliament, calling a new election. Venizelos left Athens and moved back to his native Crete.

The Liberals boycotted this second election, which undermined the new Royalist government's position, as it was seen as a government directly appointed by the King, disregarding popular opinion. The tension between the 2 parties grew gradually over the course of the following year with both sides taking a more radical and divisive approach to the situation. Public opinion was not nearly as clearly divided during this period. When French and British forces landed in Thessaloniki (as invited by Venizelos earlier) against Constantine's wishes the Greek people supported the King's view that the Allies had violated the country's sovereignty. However, later on, when the Central Powers took control of eastern Macedonia in May 1916, the public took similar outrage at the King's inability to defend Greek territory.

August 30, 1916, saw a coup against the Royalist government by Ethniki Amyna (Εθνική Άμυνα, National Defence), a secret pro-Venizelist military organization based in Thessaloniki. The coup succeeded to the extent that a second provisional government of Greece was formed by the group in Thessaloniki. With the backing of the Entente, Venizelos returned to the Greek mainland from Crete to lead the new provisional government at the head of a triumvirate. He declared: "we are not against the King, but against the Bulgarians". Towards the end of 1916 France and Britain, after failing to persuade the royalist government to enter the war too, officially recognized the Ethniki Amyna government as the lawful government of Greece.

In retaliation against Ethniki Amyna a royalist paramilitary unit called the "Reservists" (Επίστρατοι) was formed. Led by Colonel Ioannis Metaxas (one of Constantine's closest aides and a future dictator of Greece) the group targeted Venizelist people in Athens and nearby areas, culminating in the Noemvriana, the "November events", which were ignited by an armed confrontation between Greek reservists and French marines. Ιn retaliation, the Venizelos National Defence Government and the Entente instituted a naval blockade, seized the royalist fleet and demanded the partial disarmament of the royalist forces and their withdrawal to the Peloponnese. The blockade lasted 106 days in total, during which time no goods were allowed to enter or leave royalist-controlled ports that were under the control of the Athens government. This was to set a precedent for much of the future conflict in Greece.

Greece joins the war[link]

The Venizelist-Entente blockade eventually succeeded in its aim. In June 1917, after threats to bombard Athens if the King remained, Constantine left Greece leaving the Crown to his second son Alexander. Venizelos took control of the government and pledged Greek support to the Entente. In July the country officially declared war on the Central Powers. During the remaining 18 months of the war 10 divisions of the Greek army fought alongside the Allied forces against Bulgarian and German forces in Macedonia and Bulgaria. During the conflict Greek forces participated in many victorious battles losing approximately 5,000 troops.

Consequences[link]

The act of entering the war and the preceding events resulted in a deep political and social division in post-World War I Greece. The country's foremost political formations, the Venizelist Liberals and the Royalists, already involved in a long and bitter rivalry over pre-war politics, reached a state of outright hatred towards each other. Both parties viewed the other's actions during the First World War as politically illegitimate and treasonous. This enmity inevitably spread throughout Greek society, creating a deep rift that contributed decisively to the Asia Minor Disaster and resulted in continued political and military unrest in the interwar years during the troubled Second Hellenic Republic. The National Schism was also one of the principal causes that led to the collapse of the Republic and the institution of the dictatorial 4th of August Regime in 1936.

The division between Royalists and Venizelists even came to the United States and elsewhere with the Greek immigrants of that generation: immigrants favouring the two political camps would settle in nearby but carefully separated communities in American cities, often centred around competing Greek Orthodox parishes. In some cases, the animosity and mistrust between such parishes has survived into the 21st Century, long after the original political disagreement was forgotten.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Ioannis Metaxas Greek: Ιωάννης Μεταξάς
Prime Minister of Greece
In office 13 April 1936 – 29 January 1941
Monarch	George II
Preceded by	Konstantinos Demertzis
Succeeded by	Alexandros Koryzis
Personal details
Born	(1871-04-12)April 12, 1871 Ithaca, Greece
Died	January 29, 1941(1941-01-29) (aged 69) Athens, Greece
Political party	Freethinkers' Party (1922-1936) Independent (1936-1941)
Religion	Orthodox Christian

Ioannis Metaxas (Greek: Ιωάννης Μεταξάς) (April 12, 1871 – January 29, 1941) was a Greek general, politician, and dictator, serving as Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as a dictator at the helm of the 4th of August Regime.

Military career[link]

Born in Ithaca, Metaxas was a career military officer, first seeing action in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Following studies in the German Empire, he returned to join the General Staff and was part of the modernizing process of the Greek Army before the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), in which he actively participated. He was appointed as Chief of the Greek General Staff in 1913 and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1916. He prepared the military attack plans and conducted the diplomacy in the First and Second Balkan Wars that led to the annexation of what today forms the northern provinces of Greece of Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace.

A staunch monarchist, he supported Constantine I and opposed Greek entry into World War I. Eleftherios Venizelos, the prime minister, resigned over the refusal of Metaxas to aid the Allies' unsuccessful Dardanelles campaign and used the war as the major issue in the elections. When Venizelos won the May 1915 elections, he mobilised the army to aid Serbia, but was dismissed by the king. This dismissal solidified the rift between monarchists and Venizelists, creating the "National Schism" that would plague Greek politics for decades. In August 1916, Venizelist officers launched a revolt in Greece's northern city of Thessaloniki, which resulted in the establishment of a separate "Government of National Defence" under Venizelos. The new government, with the Allies' support, expanded its control over half the country, and entered the war on the Allies' side. In June 1917, with Allied support, King Constantine was deposed and Venizelos came to power, declaring war on behalf of the whole country on 29 June 1917.

Exile and interwar political career[link]

Metaxas followed the king into exile in Corsica, neither returning until 1920 and the electoral defeat of Eleftherios Venizelos. Metaxas was one of the few who publicly opposed the ongoing Asia Minor Campaign, citing military considerations, and refused to assume any military office in the war. Following the defeat of Greek forces in Asia Minor, King Constantine was again forced into exile by a revolution led by Colonel Nikolaos Plastiras. Metaxas moved into politics and founded the Freethinkers' Party on 12 October 1922. However, his association with the failed royalist Leonardopoulos-Gargalidis coup attempt in October 1923, forced him to flee the country. Soon after, King George II (son of Constantine I) was also forced into exile. The monarchy was abolished, and the Second Hellenic Republic proclaimed, in March 1924.

Metaxas returned to Greece soon after, publicly stating his acceptance of the regime change. Despite his being one of the most prominent royalist politicians, and a promising start, Metaxas' foray into politics was not very successful. In the 1926 elections, his Freethinkers' Party claimed 15.78% of the vote and 52 seats in Parliament, putting it almost on a par with the other main royalist party, the People's Party. As a result, he became Communications Minister in the "ecumenical government" formed under Alexandros Zaimis.

However, infighting within the party and the departure of many members plunged the party to 5.3% and a single seat in the 1928 elections. The 1932 and 1933 elections saw the percentage drop to 1.59%, although the party still returned three MPs, and Metaxas became Interior Minister in the Panagis Tsaldaris cabinet. In the 1935 elections, he cooperated in a union with other small royalist parties, returning 7 MPs, repeating the performance in the 1936 elections.

Prime Minister and the 4th of August Regime[link]

EON's emblem.

After a disputed plebiscite, George II returned to take the throne in 1935. The elections of 1936 produced a deadlock between Panagis Tsaldaris and Themistoklis Sophoulis. The political situation was further polarized by the gains made by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Disliking the Communists and fearing a coup, George II appointed Metaxas, then minister of war, to be interim prime minister on 13 April 1936, and the appointment was confirmed by the Greek parliament.

Widespread industrial unrest gave Metaxas justification to declare a state of emergency on August 4, 1936. With the king's support, he suspended the parliament indefinitely and suspended various articles of the constitution. In a national radio address, Metaxas declared that for the duration of the state of emergency, he would hold "all the power I need for saving Greece from the catastrophes which threaten her." The regime created as a result of this self-coup became known as "the 4th of August" after the date of its proclamation.

The regime's propaganda presented Metaxas as "the First Peasant", "the First Worker" and "the National Father" of the Greeks. Metaxas adopted the title of Arkhigos, Greek for "leader" or "chieftain", and claimed a "Third Hellenic Civilization", following ancient Greece and the Greek Byzantine Empire of the Middle Ages. State propaganda portrayed Metaxas as a "Saviour of the Nation" bringing unity to a divided nation.^[1]

Internal policies[link]

Members of the Greek National Organisation of Youth (EON) salute Ioannis Metaxas.

Patterning his regime on other authoritarian European governments (most notably Fascist Italy), Metaxas banned political parties, prohibited strikes and introduced widespread censorship of the media. National unity was to be achieved by the abolition of the previous political parliamentary system, which was seen as having left the country in chaos (see National Schism).^[2] Metaxas disliked the old parties of the political landscape, including traditional conservatives.^[2] Along with anti-parliamentarism, anti-communism formed the second major political agenda of the 4th of August regime.^[3] Minister of Security Konstantinos Maniadakis quickly infiltrated and practically dissolved the Communist Party of Greece by seizing its archives and arresting Communist leader Nikos Zachariadis.^[4] Suppressing Communism was followed by a campaign against 'Anti-Greek' literature viewed as dangerous to the national interest.^[5] Book burnings targeted authors such as Goethe, Shaw, and Freud, and several Greek writers.^[5] Metaxas himself became Minister of Education in 1938, and had all school texts re-written to fit the regime's ideology.^[5]

Trying to build a corporatist state and secure popular support, Metaxas adopted or adapted many of Fascist Italy's institutions: a National Labour Service, the eight-hour workday, mandatory improvements to working conditions, and the Social Insurance Institute (Greek: Ίδρυμα Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων, IKA), still the biggest social security institution in Greece. In terms of symbolism, the Roman salute and the Minoan double-axe, the labrys were introduced. Unlike Mussolini and other authoritarian regimes, however, Metaxas lacked the support provided by a political mass party. The regime's only mass organization was the National Organisation of Youth (EON), whose literature and magazines were promoted in schools.^[5] Throughout his rule, Metaxas' power rested primarily upon the army and the support of King George II.

Foreign policy and the war with Italy[link]

Ioannis Metaxas with George II of Greece and Alexandros Papagos during a meeting of the Anglo-Greek War Council.

In foreign policy Metaxas followed a neutral stance, trying to balance between the UK and Germany. In the late 1930s, as with the other Balkan countries, Germany became Greece's largest trading partner. Metaxas himself had a reputation as a Germanophile dating back to his studies in Germany and his role in the National Schism; King George however and most of the country's elites were staunchly anglophile, and the predominance of the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean could not be ignored by a maritime country like Greece. Furthermore, the expansionist goals of Mussolini's Italy drove Greece to lean towards the Franco-British alliance. The regime's literature gave praise to fellow European authoritarian states, especially those of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler.^[6]

The policy of Metaxas to keep Greece out of World War II was decisively broken when Mussolini demanded occupation rights to strategic Greek sites. When the Italian envoy presented these demands on 28 October 1940, he was met with a curt reply by Metaxas: "Alors, c'est la guerre" ("then it is war"). However, according to popular legend, Metaxas simply told the Italian envoy, "Ohi!" ("No!")--an incident that has become encapsulated in Greek popular feeling. "Ohi Day" is still celebrated in Greece each year. A few hours later, Italy invaded Greece from Albania and started the Greco-Italian War.

Thanks to preparations and an inspired defence the Greeks were able to mount a successful defense and counter offensive, forcing the Italians back into Albania and occupying large parts of Northern Epirus (Southern Albania). Metaxas never saw the German invasion of Greece during the Battle of Greece because he died in Athens on January 29, 1941. Metaxas died of a phlegmon of the pharynx which subsequently led to incurable toxaemia. He was succeeded by Alexandros Koryzis. After the death of Metaxas, the German invasion of Greece had to take into account the fortifications constructed by Metaxas in Northern Greece. These fortifications were constructed along the Bulgarian border and were known as the Metaxas Line.

To this day, Metaxas remains a highly controversial figure in Greek history. He is reviled by some for his dictatorial state, and admired by others for his popular policies, patriotism, defiance to aggression, and his military victory against Italy.

See also[link]

• 4th of August Regime
• National Youth Organisation (Greece)
• Metaxism
• Metaxas Line
• Greco-Italian War

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Pelt, Mogens (Winter 2001). "The Establishment and Development of the Metaxas Dictatorship in the Context of Fascism and Nazism, 1936-41". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 2 (3): 143–172. DOI:10.1080/714005461. 
• Joachim G. Joachim, Ioannis Metaxas. The Formative Years 1871-1922, Verlag Franz Philipp Rutzen, ISBN 978-3-941336-03-2

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ioannis Metaxas

• Metaxas Project - Inside Fascist Greece A website dedicated to all aspects of the 4th of August regime.
• ioannismetaxas.gr - A website dedicated to the life and deeds of Ioannis Metaxas, made by his granddaughter, Ioanna Phoca-Metaxa

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