Alexandros Zaimis
Aléxandros Thrasívoulou Zaimis (1855-1936) (Greek Αλέξανδρος Θρασύβουλου Ζαΐμης) was a figure in Greek politics. Along with Eleutherios Venizelos he is considered one of the most influential figures in the politics of Modern Greece.
Beginnings and first governments
He was the son of former Greek Prime Minister Thrasivoulos Zaimis, and entered politics at a very young age. He was a member of the Greek Parliament from 1885, and served as prime minister from 1897 to 1899. He was elected again in 1901, but due to internal problems he left power in 1902. He led the fourth Greek party of the time, a minority but more active than his rivals, from whom he obtained some support during his periods of government. In his first cabinet, the king induced him to propose a reform plan in November 1898 that would try to get the country out of the crisis in which it was immersed. since the military defeat at the hands of the Ottomans in the war of 1897. The elections of 1899, however, once again gave the parliamentary majority to his rival Georgios Theotokis and the reforms were not implemented.
In his second cabinet, again with a minority in the Cortes, he had to face the opposition of Theodoros Deligiannis, who used the street riots over the translation of the Gospel into modern Greek to pressure the king to obtain the presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Commissioner of Crete
After the important differences between Venizelos and Prince George, King George I appointed him High Commissioner of Crete in the autumn of 1906, to the satisfaction of the local population, but he left the position in 1913 when the < i>enosis.
The Cretans took advantage of Zaimis's absence to, three days after the illegal proclamation of Bulgaria's independence from the Ottoman Empire, declare their union with Greece on September 25July/ October 8, 1908greg.. The passivity of the Greek Government, which did not want a military confrontation with the Ottomans, and the opposition of the powers prevented the union.
The period of the Military League and the government of Venizelos
After the coup d'état of the Military League in August 1909, the king considered the possibility of appointing him prime minister given the League's insistence on changing the government at the end of the year.
|
At the beginning of 1910 he participated in the important meeting in which the main Greek politicians advised the monarch to accept the call of a National Assembly to partially modify the constitution in exchange for the dissolution of the Military League, which supervised the country's politics. since the middle of the previous year. He was once again on the verge of being appointed prime minister at the end of January 1910, by preference of the king, but the powers did not want him to abandon his position in Crete. Zaimis was against Venizelos's intervention. in Greek politics, which had caused the League's demand for a National Assembly, although he was also the one who convinced the military of the convenience of dissolving the League after its establishment.
He was one of the traditional politicians defeated by Venizelos in the Assembly elections of August 8July/ August 21, 1910greg. in which the independents, soon organized around Venizelos in their new Liberal Party, defeated the old parties.
The world war and the national schism
After the second resignation of Venizelos as a result of his political disagreements with the king, Zaimis, the most moderate of the anti-Venizelos political leaders, assumed the Presidency of the Government on October 5, 1915. The cabinet was made up of several former former leaders. ministers, also anti-Venicelists. Immediately, the Government agreed with the king not to come to the aid of Serbia and to declare the treaty of alliance that linked the two nations inapplicable at that time. According to the government's interpretation of the treaty, the Bulgarian attack on Serbia in conjunction with the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary was not stipulated and exempted Greece from helping the Serbs. Zaimis was willing to allow the passage of the Allied forces coming to the aid of Serbia through Greek Macedonia. and to continue the mobilization of the Greek army, but not to participate in the operation, as the Triple Entente had hoped. Allied attempts to tempt Greece to change its position by offering to cede Cyprus failed; Zaimis rejected it on October 20. Despite Venizelos' reluctance to overthrow Zaimis and force new elections in which he was no longer sure of being able to win and the moderate attitude of the prime minister, who tried to avoid the clash with that, the government crisis could not be avoided: on November 4 the Government lost a parliamentary vote and had to resign. The Chambers were again dissolved and elections were called for December 19.
After the resignation of Stéfanos Skouloúdis on June 21, 1916, Zaimis agreed to form a new cabinet, which accepted the demands of the Entente that Skouloúdis had rejected, in order to prevent the arrival of an allied fleet to impose them. by force.
He resigned on September 11, 1916, the same day of the Bulgarian occupation of Kavala and the surrender of the IV Army Corps that should have defended it. He had not achieved the king's acquiescence to enter into negotiations with the Allies, with which had significantly increased tension after an assault on the French embassy secretly prepared by the French spy service to trigger a crisis.
Although with great reluctance, he agreed to resume the Presidency of the Government on May 4, 1917, after the resignation of Spirídon Lámpros on April 18. Zaimis feared not having the favor of the Allies and set out to avoid the imminent overthrow of Constantine through generous concessions to those.
In the royal council that decided Constantine's abdication on June 11, he was one of those who advised the king to bow to the demands of the Allies and give the throne to one of his sons. On June 24, After negotiations with the Venizelists to form a coalition government failed, he resigned; The new king, Alexander I, then commissioned the formation of the new cabinet to Venizelos, who quickly declared war on the Central Empires.
Zaimis served as prime minister for the fifth time in 1917 (he did so on an interim basis for one month in 1915 and for three months in 1917). During this period the north of Greece was under the command of the Venizelists, and in June of that year, under the pressure of the Triple Entente and lacking a monarchical power to support (Alexander I ruled), he had to leave his position in favor by Venizelos.
The second republic
Zaimis returned to politics during the Second Hellenic Republic, serving as prime minister for the third time from 1926 to 1928, under the presidency of Pavlos Kunturiotis. After the president had to resign for health reasons, Zaimis succeeded him as president of the republic in 1929, a position he held until a military coup d'état restored the monarchy in 1935 and forced him into exile. He died a year after the king's return (1936), in Vienna (Austria).