1922 in Greece - Government Crisis

Government Crisis

The Greek debacle in Asia Minor was naturally followed by a government crisis in Greece proper. The cabinet resigned on September 8, and Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos was entrusted by the king with the formation of a new ministry. After two days spent in negotiations he failed in his task, and Nikolaos Triantaphyllakos, the ex-high commissioner of Greece at Constantinople, was summoned, and succeeded with difficulty in forming a makeshift government. In the meantime excitement and dissatisfaction were steadily growing among the population, and strict measures were necessary for the maintenance of order. On September 26 martial law was proclaimed, following the revolt in Salonika of 8,000 troops and their officers, who sent word to Athens demanding the abdication of King Constantine and the imprisonment of the former prime ministers, Gounaris and Stratos. This revolt was followed by that of troops stationed in the islands of Mytilene, Chios, and Crete. The army contingents in Mytilene formed a Revolutionary Committee headed by Colonel Stylianos Gonatas, which despatched by aeroplane the following demands to Athens: the dismissal of the government, the dissolution of the Chamber, the holding of new elections, and the abdication of King Constantine in favour of the Diadoch. The revolutionary movement swiftly spread to other centres of old and new Greece and to the Greek gunboats stationed at Mytilene and in and about the port of Piraeus. The cabinet immediately resigned, and on September 27 King Constantine abdicated for the second time in the course of his career, and the Diadoch succeeded to the throne of Greece as King George II.