Alexandros Zaimis ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΖΑΙΜΙΣ
Born 1856, Athens Died 1936, Austria
Alexandros Zaimis was a true rara avis, a Greek politician able to navigate the sharp political divides that characterized the Greek political scene during
his 39 year career and somehow be respected (even if grudgingly) by all sides.
Plaza B/70Γ
The Zaimis family tower
in Kerpini
They were
big landowners – ‘archondes’ as the Greeks say. In fact, the surname 'Zaimis' was adopted by the family from the Turkish word for large feudal fiefs: Zaimets.
An elderly neighbor of ours once described how, when there was work to
be done in the fields around his village of Kalamia, a Zaimis would enter the
local café to curtly announce, Σκάβω αύριο! ( I cultivate tomorrow ), and the men of the village would line up,
hoping to be chosen to either earn a pittance or a chance to work off money
they already owed to the ‘big’ boss. This system of dependence on large landowners
was common in many parts of rural Greece, and persisted well into the 20th
century.
As a fellow
Achaian, I decided to do a little digging myself and find out more about this particular Zaimis
buried in such a modest plot in an area of the cemetery reserved for the distinguished
or the very wealthy. It is a complicated story because he lived through so many changes and because, although he was so frequently on the political stage, he was never the star. Bear with me...
His Life
Alexandros was born in 1856, studied law in Athens, then Liepzig, Paris, and
Berlin. He wore an astonishing number of hats during his long career and that makes any synopsis of his life very difficult. He first entered parliament
in the mid 1880s as the member for Kalavryta, taking over the
seat left absent by his father’s death.(1)
During his career, he served in several ministries,
as High Commissioner to Crete, a
director of the National Bank, a leader
of the senate (when we had one) and 6
times as prime minister (1897, 1901, three times between 1915 and 17, and once
between 1926-28). Six might seem a lot but it is not a record. Alexandros Koumoundouros, another Peloponnesian, was prime minister 10 times!
Zaimis as President of
the Greek Republic
He started out
as a moderate conservative and an independent during the heyday of the famous
rivalry between liberal Harilaos Trikoupis and conservative Theodoros Deligiannis. Zaimis did a fair job as
prime minister during his two brief stints in 1897 and in 1901. During his first term he
managed to secure a significant loan from
the Great Powers,(2) something the bankrupt
country desperately needed. During this second term he was able to maintain order in the capital (no small task) after the infamous ‘gospel
riots’ (3) when the educated, pro-katharevousa ruling elite rioted because the book of
Mathew in the New Testament had been printed in demotic Greek, a form of the
language easily understood by the ‘oi polloi’. Language was a big issue back then.
Eight people were killed during these riots
Zaimis as Cretan High
Commissioner
1906 saw
Zaimis appointed to a five year term as the High Commissioner to Crete. It had been granted a tenuous semi-autonomous status by the Big Powers in 1898 in the hope of maintaining a balance of power in the Mediterranean. Many Cretans (including rebel Eleftherios Venizelos) had been happy enough with this partial win against the Ottomans in 1898, but were
increasingly concerned about future Ottoman designs on the island. King George's son, Prince George, had been chosen as High Commissioner. His rule did not suit the Cretans' long term plans for union with Greece. Moreover, the
prince, had become increasingly autocratic during his tenures and
indicated in many ways that a status
quo on the island suited him just fine; he rather liked ruling Crete as a
princedom. For Venizelos, the great unionist, this
was anathema. In 1906 Venizlos led
a revolt (4) which lasted 8 months. At the very
least he wanted any future High Commissioner to be a Greek national, and
preferably a former Prime Minister.
The Powers
and the Greek king needed a compromise solution. Enter Alexandros Zaimis.
Prince George
was brought home and Zaimis appointed with a clear writ to
sooth troubled Cretan waters.
As High Commissioner in
1906
Zaimis Moves the Plot a Little But Then Exits
on Cue
He may have
been a royalist at heart but Zaimis did admire Venizelos and prophesied even then that he would prove to be the 'maker of Greece'. In fact, he worked so well with
Venizelos as first minister that he allowed him to pretty much run the
show in Crete while he travelled throughout Europe acting as a kind of Cretan
good will ambassador. Under his gentle
auspices, amnesty was granted to the rebels, squabbling Cretan political
factions were rendered somewhat less fractious, and a more liberal Cretan
constitution came into being.
Venizelos around 1900
One
historian has labeled him the ‘emollient Mr Zaimis’, not a term which normally applies to any Greek politician then
or now.(5) It was not really intended as a
compliment, but it was apt and his gentle skills were in demand. Zaimis had a knack for knowing which way the wind was
blowing and gracefully bowing in the correct direction.
In 1908 he
obligingly absented himself from the island so that a group, led by Venizelos,
could declare a de facto union with the Kingdom of Greece. Zaimis had to have
known what was planned but his discreet absence lessened the embarrassment of
his boss King George during the diplomatic fallout that followed .(6) (Crete did
join Greece in 1912, but that is another story.)
Zaimis Becomes a Banker
In the early
1900s, the divide between liberals and conservative leaning royalists continued
to plague Greek politics. Liberal-republican sentiment coalesced behind Cretan Eleftherios
Venizelos (who, through a series of adventures and a coup, had left Crete in
1910 to become prime minister of Greece) and the Conservatives rallied behind the monarchy.
Meanwhile, our 'emollient' Zaimis became a
director of the National Bank, a post he would continue to hold on and off between 1914 and 1920.
(His directorship would be interrupted on three different occasions (see below) between 1915 and 1917 when the king called upon him to become prime minister during the turbulent period leading up to and during the famous political schism of 1917. The king had the constitutional right to change his prime ministers pretty much at will.)
The Schism of 1917
King Constantine 1 became king after his father’s
assassination in Thessaloniki in 1913. (6) Venizelos, as his Prime Minister, had
successfully led the country through two Balkan wars which greatly increased the
area of the kingdom. These successes kept Venizelos' star in the ascendant, but trouble was brewing as World War 1 raged in Europe. The Greek military was becomeing dangerously polarized between republican minded officers who backed Venizelos and
the royalists who had thrown in their chances of advancement with the royal house.
Constantine 1
The war made it
impossible for even someone as adroit as Venizelos to steer the ship of state. The German Kaiser was Constantine 1’s brother-in-law and the Greek heir apparent had been trained in the Kaiser’s army. The stated position of
the king was ‘neutrality’ whereas Venizelos believed that success for farther
Greek expansion into Asia minor (always his ultimate goal) lay in an alliance with the Entente (Britain,
France, and Russia) against the central powers (Austro-Hungary and Germany with
Bulgaria and Turkey ready to join in) (7)
Differences
over policy between Venizelos and the king grew, with Venizelos offering his
resignation on more than one occasion. Meanwhile Bulgaria was mobilizing and
the king was reluctant to do the same. (Bulgaria was gearing up to join Germany
and was promised Kavalla – and outlet to the Aegean - if it did). Greece had already signed a treaty to aid
Serbia in case of Bulgarian aggression but the king was very reluctant to support
it.
Venizelos then ‘pushed the envelope’ by allowing British and French troops to
land in Salonika, ostensibly to aid Serbia if needed. That was a step too far
for the king. Venizelos was forced to resign on October 7, 1915 and the king
chose the steady and dependable Zaimis as prime minister in his stead.
In
office, Zaimis dutifully questioned the Greek obligation to Serbia before
losing a vote of confidence and handing the reins over to Stephanos Skouloudis.
Venizelos condemned Zaimis’ stand on Serbia, liked him personally
and did not go so far as to accuse him of duplicity. On June 16, 1916, During Skouloudis’ tenure, Bulgaria attacked Fort
Rupel on Greek Territory. Skouloudis, with the king’s approval, ordered the
Greek troops to surrender. This prompted the French to declare martial law in
Salonika and that prompted Skouloudis
to resign. Again Zaimis took over the premiership for three
months in what had become a thankless task. During his short tenure, Kavalla fell to Bulgaria. The center could not hold…
At an
Athenian mass rally on August 17, 1916, Venizelos, (who still had a majority in
parliament), made a final attempt to persuade the king to join the entente. Instead
the king clamped down on Venizelists. Shortly
after, on September 25, Venizelos left Athens on a French ship to lead a rival
government in Thessaloniki.
Venizelos (center) with
Daglis and Koundouriotis, as head of the
‘Provisional
Government of National Defense”
Both governments
claimed legitimacy. The entente supported Venizelos by harassing Greek shipping
and by condemning the king in the press. The king was left fulminating and the
Church, ever royalists, excommunicated Venizelos and his effigy (a bull’s head) was stoned in a
public park in Athens.
The Bull’s head under
thousands of ‘curse’ stones in the center of Athens
Subsequent events favoured Venizelos and the Entente. After a 10 month
stalemate, a triumphant Venizlos was
returned to Athens on a French gunship and
Zaimis who was the king's prime minister (yet again and ever accommodating) immediately resigned
so Venizelos could resume his old premiership without having to call elections.(8).
Before he left office, Zaimis had the unenviable task
of telling King Constantine that he must cede the throne – not to the heir
apparent Prince george (considered too pro German), but to his younger son Alexander who was
deemed more pliable (9)
A fancy inauguration
for a puppet prince
Venizelos
now had a biddable king, a writ to enter the war on the side of the entente,
and a list of some 30 royalist enemies he wanted expelled along with the king.
Zaimis was not among them. Skouloudis was tried for treason and sent to jail; Mr Zaimis was not. Apparently Venizelos thought
that Zaimis, ‘meant well.’
Then:
The victory
of the allies led to more Greek expansion, this time into Asia Minor.
Meanwhile, Venizelos lost the elections of 1920, and the debacle that was
Smyrna in 1922 ended their foothold in Asia Minor and the Great Idea of farther expansion
forever.
And yet…
As so often in modern Greek history, certain principle
actors keep reappearing, as seemingly indestructible as puppets in the shadow theatre or a Punch and
Judy show. King Constantine reappeared
only to be vanquished yet again as Greece became a republic from 1924 to 1935. Venizelos
rose to the premiership yet again and for 2 years worked together with Zaimis
as prime minister in a coalition government in a republican parliament. Not only that, former royalist Alexandros Zaimis became President of Republican
Greece from 1929 until 1935, - until the
pendulum swung yet again and the royalists (with their own list of Venizelists
to root out) placed a king on the throne
of Greece once more.
As for Zaimis, He died a year later in 1936 in Vienna where he was seeking medical treatment for his failing sight. His body was brought back to the First cemetery.
A Man for all Seasons, or Just Fifth
Business?
History has
not been kind to Alexandros Zaimis. Historian G.F. Abbot in Greece and the Allies 1914-22 gives him a left-handed compliment by calling him
an unambitious man in a country where
ambition is an endemic disease and as a man who was reluctantly called upon
to adjudicate thankless tasks that he performed
several times - to everybody’s temporary
satisfaction.
Faint praise
indeed.
It is true
that among the political giants of his day, he may have been ‘fifth business’, a
Prufrock to Venizelos’ Hamlet, an attendant
lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two, advise the
prince… But he was trusted by all sides in an era when political enemies routinely
suffered exile, incarceration or execution. King George 11 of Greece once famously
remarked that the most important tool in the arsenal of a Greek king was a
suitcase. The same could be said of Greek politicians during this era when
ascendancy meant eliminating political enemies as a prelude to power and loss
meant exile or worse. I suspect that if a conciliatory figure like Zaimis had
not actually existed, he would have had to be invented.
The Grave
He is in the
‘distinguished section’ of the First Cemetery, although his grave is now weed
choked and tucked away between the more imposing monument to George Averoff and Athens’
archbishops with their splendid marble pillowed crowns.
Plaza B/70Γ
Footnotes
(1) There was a time when I considered hereditary
political careers as suspect but I have been in Greece far too long to find it
at all unusual.
(2) Modern Greece has never been free of the
influence of “The Powers” even if the composition of that group has altered
somewhat over time. Nothing happened if they did not want it to happen.
(3) It is remarkable how many
demonstrations and riots have occurred in Greece when the object was not so
much ‘change’ as to preserve the status quo.
(4) At Theriso
(5) Passionate intensity has always been
the preferred norm in parliamentary debates.
(6) After ruling for 50 years, King George was
assassinated by an apparent nonentity while walking in Thessaloniki.
(7) The Powers again. These were the
countries which held the keys to the Greek future in 1914.
(8) Venizelos would later say that he would not
have won an election in 1917 if it had been held, so he felt fortunate that a
formula was devised for him to ‘resume’ power. His loss in 1920, proves that he
was correct.
(9) King Alexander was pretty much
immured in the Palace. He did anger Venizelos by marrying a commoner and not a
British princess. His rather sad few years in the throne was ended in 1920 when
a pet monkey bite became septic and he died.
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