Constantine I of Greece
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Constantine I, King of the Hellenes (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος A', Βασιλεύς των Ελλήνων) (2 August 1868 - 11 January 1923) ruled Greece from 1913-1917 and from 1920-1922.
Born 2 August 1868 in Athens, he was the eldest son of George I of Greece and Olga, Queen of Greece.
As Crown Prince, Constantine was instrumental in the organization of the 1896 Summer Olympics, appointing a committee to prepare Athens for the Games and keeping a close watch to ensure that their tasks were completed.
Prior to the start of World War I in 1914, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in which Greece captured Salonika. He succeeded to the throne of Greece on 18 March 1913 following his father's assassination in Salonica by Aleksander Schinas, Greek anarchist (born in Volos, Greece 1870).
Educated at Heidelberg University in Germany, trained in the Prussian army, and married to Kaiser Wilhelm II's sister, Princess Sophie of Prussia, (in 1889), ensured Constantine's sympathies lay more towards the Central Powers than to the Triple Entente once war broke out.
Constantine was faced with the difficulty of determining, officially, where Greece's support lay once war was under way. This was complicated by the fact that his government, led by Eleftherios Venizelos, was pro-Allied and the fact that the Entente Powers were the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean.
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Constantine's sympathies emerged during the Allies' disastrous Battle of Gallipoli. Despite popular support of Venizelos amongst the people, Constantine dismissed Venizelos as Prime Minister in October 1915 due to his increasing support for the Allies, and in his stead placed a succession of puppet premiers, all swayed by the King.
The Allied Commander in Greece, French General Sarrail, was extremely high-handed and disdainful of King Constantine. By threats and intimidation he forced the Greeks to demobilize their army (in mid-1916) and then forced them to remove all their troops to the south of the country in early 1917. Venizelos went to Thessalonica where, with the support of General Sarrail, he established a provisional revolutionary government. With civil war apparently imminent, Constantine sought from Germany firm promises of naval, military and economic assistance - without success.
Early in 1917, General Sarrail ordered the Greek army to move to the south of the country. He also ordered the Greek fleet to join the Allies and finally, Sarrail ordered the Greek government to adopt a more friendly attitude towards the Allies. In the face of the large Allied army in Greece, King Constantine, abdicated the throne and left Greece on 11 June 1917. He was succeeded by his second son Alexander as King. Constantine went into exile in Switzerland. General Sarrail was himself removed in November of 1917 and replaced by a more diplomatic French General. Civil war in Greece was avoided.
King Alexander died 25 October 1920 and following a plebiscite, Constantine returned as king on 19 December 1920. He abdicated the throne again on 27 September 1922, following Greek military defeats against the Turks in Anatolia and Smyrna and was succeeded by his eldest son, George II.
He spent the rest of his life in exile in Italy and died in 1923 at Palermo, Sicily.
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He married, on 27 October 1889 in Athens, Princess Sophie of Prussia (1870-1932). They were the parents of:
- George II, King of the Hellenes (1890-1947)
- Alexander I, King of the Hellenes (1893-1920)
- Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark (1896-1982), who married King Carol II of Romania
- Paul I, King of the Hellenes (1901-1964)
- Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark (1904-1974), who married Amadeo of Savoy, the 4th Duke of Aosta.
- Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (born 1913), who married Richard Brandram
Through his mother, Constantine was a direct matrilineal descendant of Empress Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera (1155-1211), wife of Emperor Alexios III (cf Byzantine descent of Danish royals of Greece).
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| House of Oldenburg (Glücksburg Branch) Born: 2 August 1868; Died: 11 January 1923 | ||
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| Preceded by: George I | King of Greece 18 March1913 – 11 June1917 First Reign | Succeeded by: Alexander |
| Preceded by: Alexander | King of Greece 19 December1920 – 27 September1922 Second Reign | Succeeded by: George II |
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