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THE ELECTIONS OF 1^IS NOVEMBER 1920

Miltiadis V. Parlantzas, MSc, MA

The elections of 1^th November 1920 is considered, by a large number of historians and political scientists, to be the greatest electoral surprise in modern and contemporary political history. The defeat of the Liberal Party by the United Opposition, despite the diplomatic successes of Eleftherios Venizelos with the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres, was to be seen as the beginning of the Asia Minor Catastrophe which occurred just two years later.

These elections were of particular importance as the two rival factions would face off after the elections of 31^th May 1915, in which the Liberals prevailed with 186 seats out of a total of 316. Earlier, Venizelos submitted his resignation to King Constantine I due to the latter's refusal to the prime minister's proposal for the country to enter World War I on the side of the Entente. This was followed by the Cretan politician's resignation again for the same reason and the holding of new elections on December 6, 1915, with the Venizelos faction abstaining, however.[1]

The disagreement between the head of state and the democratically elected prime minister regarding the country's participation in the Great War began as a foreign policy issue, continued as a constitutional crisis and culminated in a National Schism. The Greek nation was divided into two factions: the Venizelists, who supported the Entente, and the anti-Venizelists, who supported neutrality. Venizelos' resignation in February 1915 was followed by the assignment of the prime ministership by the king to Dimitrios Gounaris, founder of the Nationalist Party. The same party was subsequently joined by cadres of the Rallis and Theotokis parties (old-party members), thus creating a conservative faction, which came to the fore after five years of absolute dominance by the Liberals.[2]

The crisis that followed was unprecedented for Greek standards. Constantine's steadfast refusal to include Greece on the side of the Entente, despite the participation of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers, as well as the landing of the Anglo-French forces in Thessaloniki in September 1915, can be traced to the following reasons: a) the Greek monarch did not want to clash with his wife's brother, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, due to family solidarity, b) at the beginning of the War and in collaboration with Venizelos, he had given his word to Wilhelm not to declare war, c) the Entente's decision to cede Constantinople to Russia and not to Greece after the end of the War resulted in Constantine's bitterness, as his greatest desire was to enter Constantinople as head of the Greek Army.[3]

Venizelos's dynamic reaction took place after the surrender of Eastern Macedonia to the German and Bulgarian forces in August 1916. Initially, on 14 August he spoke at a mass rally in Athens, accusing Constantine of violating the regime and anathematizing the General Staff for the dissolution of the Army. He then went to Chania and from there to Thessaloniki where he assumed leadership of the National Defense Movement, which broke out on 17 August by Venizelos' officers. Finally, on 12 September he formed the Provisional Government with Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis and General Panagiotis Daglis as the Triad.[4]

The victory of Venizelos and the "state of Thessaloniki" over the "state of Athens" was based on the help of the British and the French and mainly on the actions of their representative in Greece, Zonard. In November 1916, an allied detachment landed in Piraeus, the clash of the "Novemberites" with the pro-royalist Epistratoi took place, a naval blockade was imposed by the Franco-British fleet and Constantine was forced to resign in favor of his second-born son Alexander. Venizelos assumed the prime ministership of the now united state, "resurrected" the Parliament of May 1915, which was nicknamed the "Parliament of Lazarus", and Greece officially entered the War on the side of the Entente.[5]

In order to satisfy the national claims from the victorious outcome of the War, Venizelos decided to send an expeditionary force to the Ukraine in January 1919, as Greece participated at the end of World War I and did not contribute much on the battlefield. In May 1919, the XNUMXst Division landed in Smyrna and a year later the famous Treaty of Sèvres was signed with the creation of Greater Greece of the two continents and the five seas for a short-lived, as it turned out, period. In this celebratory climate, the Liberal Party and its leader led the country to elections, more than a year after the end of the term of the “Parliament of Lazarus”.

Already in the early 1920s, the anti-Venizelists began their reorganization. Through the organization of the Popular Political Associations, they acquired a strong mass organization. During the election campaign, the cadres of the United Opposition spoke of the need to overthrow the Venizelist tyranny, expressed pride in the achievements of the Army, while emphasizing the strong ties between the Greek and the English people.[6] In other words, they declared their commitment to the implementation of the Treaty of Sèvres and to good relations with the Entente powers. Furthermore, with the unexpected death of King Alexander, the anti-Venizelists proposed as a solution to the dynastic issue the holding of a referendum for the return of Constantine.[7]

For their part, the Venizelists were confident of their victory in the upcoming elections. In order to further secure the result, they proceeded to amend the electoral law, so that the army on the campaign trail and the population of Thrace could vote. In fact, for these two parts of the electorate, the ballot was introduced instead of the ball, which made it easier for the government faction to manipulate the vote. However, the election result overturned the Liberals' predictions, with the Opposition securing 249 out of 369 seats, Venizelos not even being elected as an MP, and the formation of a government by the anti-Venizelist faction.[8]

The reasons why the Liberals lost the elections are related to the stance they have taken since their return to power in June 1917: they accused the king and his governments of treason, exiled prominent figures of the anti-Venizelian faction to Corsica, proceeded to repeal specific provisions of the Constitution, and purged the Armed Forces, the Security Forces, the judiciary, and the Church of followers of their political opponents.[9] As General George Kondylis characteristically wrote, "the governor's policy [dating from 1917-1920] was not a policy of love and solidarity, but rather a policy of division, hatred and persecution."[10] Furthermore, the people's fatigue from the country's long-term war involvement played a serious role in the outcome of the elections.[11]

However, the most important reason why the Opposition won the elections was the promise of King Constantine's return to the throne: going to the polls in November 1920, someone was essentially between the dilemma of "Venizelos or Constantine". After all, the way in which Venizelos returned to power, the brutal intervention of the Powers and the dethronement of Constantine at their request, damaged the prestige of the Liberals and of the Cretan politician himself. The prestige that Constantine had acquired during the Balkan Wars as a Warrior King did not fade completely despite his conflict with the popular prime minister, his insistence on maintaining strict neutrality (meaningless after a while) and the surrender of Eastern Macedonia to enemy forces. The result of the elections was the trigger for developments in the Asia Minor Question: the Allies found the opportunity they were looking for to disengage from their alliance commitments, suspended their financial aid and gradually supported Kemal in his effort to expel the Greek forces from Ionia. Diplomatically and militarily isolated, Greece soon collapsed on the Asia Minor Front with enormous losses during the massacres and looting caused by the Turks.