Panagis Tsaldaris | |
|---|---|
| Παναγής Τσαλδάρης | |
 | |
| Prime Minister of Greece | |
| In office 10 March 1933 – 10 October 1935 | |
| President | Alexandros Zaimis |
| Preceded by | Alexandros Othonaios |
| Succeeded by | Georgios Kondylis |
| In office 4 November 1932 – 16 January 1933 | |
| President | Alexandros Zaimis |
| Preceded by | Eleftherios Venizelos |
| Succeeded by | Eleftherios Venizelos |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Panagiotis Tsaldaris (1868-03-05)5 March 1868 |
| Died | 17 May 1936(1936-05-17) (aged 68) |
| Political party | People's Party |
| Spouse | Lina Tsaldari |
| Education | School of Law,National and Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Signature |  |
Panagis Tsaldaris (alsoPanagiotis Tsaldaris orPanayotis Tsaldaris;Greek:Παναγιώτης (Παναγής) Τσαλδάρης; 5 March 1868[1][2] – 17 May 1936) was a Greek politician who served asPrime Minister of Greece twice. He was a revered conservative politician and leader for many years (1922–1936) of the conservativePeople's Party in the period beforeWorld War II. He was the husband ofLina Tsaldari, a Greek suffragist,member of Parliament, and the Minister for Social Welfare.
Tsaldaris was born in 1868 inKamari, nearCorinth in thePeloponnese. He studied in theLaw School of theUniversity of Athens and, being an excellent student, he continued his studies abroad, among other places inBerlin andParis. After he returned toGreece, he worked as alawyer. Because of his expertise as an advocate, he gained the respect of his colleagues.
In 1919, Tsaldaris married the daughter of the university professor (and later Prime Minister of Greece)Spyridon Lambrou,Lina Tsaldaris, who stood by him during all his life and remained politically active, even after her husband's death.
Tsaldaris entered politics in 1910, when he was elected for the first time to theParliament forCorinth. He would be successively reelected to Parliament until his death in 1936. In 1915, he sided with KingConstantine I in the latter's conflict withEleftherios Venizelos (seenational Schism) and became Minister of Justice inDimitrios Gounaris's government. Nonetheless, after the return of Venizelos and the self-exile of the King in 1917, Panagis Tsaldaris was imprisoned and then exiled in various islands of theAegean Sea.
After thelegislative elections of 1920, which resulted in an unexpected victory for thePeople's Party, Tsaldaris served in the governments ofDimitrios Rallis andNikolaos Kalogeropoulos as Interior Minister and Minister of Public Transport. In the government ofDimitrios Gounaris he served once again as Minister of Public Transport.
After the execution of thePeople's Party's leaderDimitrios Gounaris, Tsaldaris was elected by the party members as their leader in 1922. In theelections of 1923 the party didn't take part and Tsaldaris protested against the persecution of right-wing politicians. In theplebiscite of 1924, he supported KingGeorge II.
During thePangalos dictatorship, Tsaldaris refused to collaborate with the general's regime. After theelections of 1926, Tsaldaris participated in thegovernment of national unity ofAlexandros Zaimis (as minister of National Economy, of Education and of Interior Affairs), but he submitted his resignation in August 1927, because of a disagreement concerning the currency policy of the government.
During the 1928–1932 government of theLiberal Party and of its leader,Eleftherios Venizelos, Panagis Tsaldaris was leader of the Opposition, as the leader of the second biggest party Parliament. In 1932, he turned down Venizelos' proposition to lead a government of national unity.
Panagis Tsaldaris formed his first government in 1932, along withGeorgios Kondylis andIoannis Metaxas, after he had first officially recognized the outcome of theplebiscite of 1924 which established theSecond Hellenic Republic. Nevertheless, his government was overturned and Tsaldaris formed a new government on 10 March 1933 after his victory in theelections of 1933.
In his second premiership, Tsaldaris cooperated once again withGeorgios Kondylis andIoannis Metaxas. He confronted with success the military movement ofNikolaos Plastiras, but because of this crisis an interim government under the leadership of Lieutenant GeneralAlexandros Othonaios was appointed.The reputation of his government was, nevertheless, tarnished, because of the assassination attempt againstEleftherios Venizelos. Tsaldaris had no involvement and condemned the criminal attack, but members of his party and close supporters were deemed responsible for the assault. At the same time, three prominent members of the People's Party expressed their support for themonarchy and the exiledGeorge II. Tsaldaris denounced such statements, which caused the outrage of the Liberals. However, these statements alarmed the Venizelist camp, which launched anabortive coup in March 1935. After the successful suppression of the revolt, Tsaldaris dissolved theParliament and proclaimed early elections, asking for the election of aConstitutional Assembly.
In one of the noteworthy acts of his second premiership, Tsaldaris signed aquadripartite pact withTurkey,Romania andYugoslavia as well as a separate agreement with Turkey, guaranteeing the common borders of the two countries.
The parties of the Opposition, including theLiberal Party, did not participate in theelections of 1935, protesting theelectoral law, passed by Tsaldaris' government, and for the special courts, which had already, sentenced to death two prominent Liberal army officers, the GeneralsAnastasios Papoulas andMiltiadis Koimisis. As a result, thePeople's Party won a landslide victory. Tsaldaris and his allies won all but six seats in parliament.
By nearly all accounts, the 1935 elections all but assured the restoration of the monarchy. Tsaldaris himself strongly favoured the return ofGeorge II, but he wanted to ensure legitimacy by conducting aplebiscite first. However, several right-wing elements, including a significant faction of Tsaldaris' own party, demanded the return the monarchy without the formality of a referendum. During the electoral campaign, theUnion of Royalists, an ephemeral alliance formed byIoannis Metaxas,Ioannis Rallis andGeorgios Stratos, had already expressly demanded the immediate return of the former King.
In the National Assembly, Tsaldaris insisted on a referendum. This angered those who wanted to dispense with such formalities, most importantly his own War Minister,Georgios Kondylis, a formerVenizelist.
On October 10, 1935, Kondylis and the commanders of the Armed Forces (Alexandros Papagos was among them) called on Tsaldaris and demanded his resignation. With no other choice, Tsaldaris complied. Kondylis took over the premiership, and later that day forced PresidentAlexandros Zaimis to resign. Kondylis abolished the republic, declared himself Regent and staged aplebiscite on November 11 for the return of the monarchy. Official results showed 98 percent of the voters supported the restoration of the monarchy—an implausibly high total that could have only been obtained through fraud.
After these dramatic events, the People's Party split andIoannis Theotokis formed theNational People's Party. In theelections of 1935 thePeople's Party and theLiberal Party had been almost evenly matched. During the post-election era, Tsaldaris participated with passion in the Parliament and held some of the best and most important speeches of his political career. Nevertheless, his bad health betrayed him and he did not manage to fulfill his political dreams.
He died inAthens on 17 May 1936. Before his death, he had voted against the first government ofIoannis Metaxas, the forerunner of the followingdictatorship.
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Panagis Tsaldaris was revered for his moderation as a royalist and right-wing politician. It is characteristic, that, when Kondylis, Papagos and other royalists of hisparataxis demanded the immediate enforcement of the constitutional monarchy, Tsaldaris opposed these plans, asking for the conducting of a referendum. When he saw the burden of political instability, Tsaldaris preferred to step down instead of exacerbating the turmoil. At the same time, he remained firm to his democratic values.
After all, this was his main problem and his political torture: the balance between his democratic principles and his royalist affiliations. Tsaldaris had once said: "I was always anti-Venizelist and royalist but, at the same time, I always remained lawful (Nea online)", a combination difficult to be achieved, as the dramatic events of 1935 proved. And, although Tsaldaris portrayed himself as anti-Venizelist, the truth is that he had some common traits with Venizelos: They were both anti-popularist and anti-extremist. The problem was that Tsaldaris lacked Venizelos' charisma and the popular appeal of his main political opponent. Venizelos marked a whole era and provoked intense passions; Tsaldaris' passing through history was much more quiet.
Certainly, Tsaldaris may be accused for one thing: During the last years of his political career, he did not foresee Metaxas' dictatorship and he did not react in order to prevent the advent of the dictatorial regime. But this was a failing he shared with most other politicians of his time.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Greece November 3, 1932 – January 16, 1933 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Greece March 10, 1933 – October 10, 1935 | Succeeded by |
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