Stratos, Nikolaos

Nikolaos Stratos was born in the village of Loutro Aetolia and Akarnania .

He studied law. He was first elected to the parliament in 1902.

In the government of Dimitrios Rallis in 1909 he received the Ministry of the Interior.

After the officer anti-monarchist movement of 1909, he again took over the Ministry of the Interior in the next Rallis government.

In 1910, he joined the Liberal Party and became Minister of the Sea in the government of E. Venizelos ^{[1] [2]} .

In 1911 he was elected chairman of the Hellenic Parliament ^[1]

On October 5 (18), 1912, as the Minister of the Sea, he was part of the Greek government who declared war on the Ottoman Empire ^[3] .

With the end of the Balkan Wars, he moved to the camp of the enemies of Venizelos.

In 1915 he was appointed Minister of the Sea in the government of Dimitrios Gounaris ^[1] .

In 1916 he created the "National Conservative Party" and supported the neutrality of Greece in the First World War , in contrast to Venizelos, whose efforts Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente ^[2] .

In 1919, under the Entente’s mandate, the Greek army occupied the western coast of Asia Minor . Subsequently, the Sevres Peace Treaty of 1920 secured the control of the region over Greece, with a decision on the fate of the region after 5 years, at a referendum of the population ^[4] .

The battles with the Kemalists that began here took on the character of a war that the Greeks were forced to wage alone. Of the allies, Italy, from the very beginning supported the Kemalists, France, solving its tasks, also began to support them. The Greek army held its ground. The geopolitical situation has changed radically and became fatal for the Greek population of Ionia , after the parliamentary elections in Greece, in November 1920. Under the slogan “we will return our guys home” and having received the support of the then significant Muslim population, the monarchists won the election.

On November 3/16, crowds of monarchists, led by Nikolaos Stratos, released the opponents of Venizelos, who were in the Averoff Prison in Athens, including Lieutenant General Anastasios Papulas ^[4] .

Papulas was sent to Asia Minor, where he became commander of an expeditionary army, instead of a supporter of Venizelos, General Leonid Paraskevopoulos . A significant part of the officers, from among the supporters of Venizelos, was forced to leave the army.

The return of the Germanophile King Constantine to Greece freed the Allies from their obligations towards Greece. Winston Churchill , in his Aftermath (pp. 387–388), wrote:

“The return of Konstantin terminated all allied ties with Greece and annulled all obligations except legal ones. With Venizelos, we made many commitments. But with Konstantin, none. Indeed, when the first surprise passed, a sense of relief became apparent in leading circles. There was no more need to follow anti-Turkish policy ”

^[4] .

On January 25 ( February 7 ), 1921, the monarchist government was headed by the exiled francophile N. Kalogeropoulos ^[4] , but his trip to Paris did not provide support.

On February 8 (21), the Allied Conference was held in London . Presiding Lloyd George asked for information about the situation on the Greek front, about the size of the Greek army, about the possibility of an advance deep into Asia, about the possibilities of Greece to contain these forces by its own means. Kalogeropoulos said that he has 120 thousand bayonets and that if Greece receives a mandate to establish order, he will be able to do this within 3 months. French Prime Minister Briand said he does not share this optimism. French General Gouraud said that the Greeks can send to the front no more than 60 thousand soldiers who must pass 600 km from Smyrna . Gouro stated that forcing peace in Asia Minor it was necessary to have 27 divisions, but the Greeks had only 9 divisions ^[4] .

Upon the arrival of the Turkish delegations (Sultan and Kemal), the allies who signed the Sevres Peace turned the confrontation of the Entente-Turkey into a conflict of the Greeks-Turkey. As the Greek historian D. Fotiadis writes, “they were transformed from allies into arbitrators” ^[4] .

On February 28 ( March 10 ), a preliminary Franco-Turkish agreement was signed, which allowed the Turks to transfer forces to the Greek front ^[4] . The Italians left Attalia , leaving Kemal their arsenal and supplies ^[4] .

Unable to find a solution to the issue with the Greek population of Ionia , in a completely different geopolitical setting, the monarchists continued the war. The army launched the Spring Offensive of 1921, gained tactical victories, but did not achieve the complete defeat of the Turks. After that, Kalogeropoulos, resigned on March 22 ( April 4 ), 1921 . Gunaris led the government ^[4] .

The Guanaris government faced the same dilemma. The radical decision was to leave, after negotiations, Ionia in order to save East Thrace . The second decision was to gather troops around Smyrna. But Gunaris' hatred of Venizelos made him more conceited than he really was. If Venizelos was the creator of Great Greece, then Gunaris should remain in history the creator of Great Greece. Gunaris decided to ask the free Greek nation, which then totaled a little more than 4 million people, human and material resources that exceeded its capabilities. In addition to the three appeals that did not manage to take part in the "Spring Offensive", three more old appeals were mobilized ^[4] . The Greek army launched the "Great Summer Offensive" of 1921, defeated the Turks in the biggest battle of the war at Afyonkarahisar-Eskisehir , but the strategic defeat of the Kemalists did not take place. The Turks moved to Ankara and the government of the monarchists again faced a dilemma: what to do next ^[4] .

The government was in a hurry to end the war and, not listening to the voices of supporters of the defensive position, decided to advance further. After a month of preparation, which made it possible for the Turks to prepare the defense, seven Greek divisions crossed the Sakarya River and went east. The Greek army was unable to take Ankara and in order retreated behind Sakarya. As the Greek historian D. Fotiadis wrote, “tactically we won, strategically we lost” ^[4] .

The monarchist government doubled its territory in Asia, but did not have the potential for a further offensive. At the same time, without resolving the issue with the Greek population of the region, the government did not dare to evacuate the army from Asia. The front froze for a year. The army continued to hold the front of “colossal extent, in relation to available forces,” which, according to the statement of A. Mazarakis , besides political mistakes, became the main cause of the catastrophe that followed ^[4] .

The extended front made it possible for Gunaris to declare in Parliament that “the Sevres Peace awarded us 16 thousand square kilometers, while now we control 100 thousand square kilometers.” But there was no money to continue the war. Immediately after this statement, Gunaris went to the former allies, as D. Fotiadis put it, with a “beggar tray”. Ironically, on the day Gunaris arrived in Paris on October 7 (20), 1921 , signed an agreement in Ankara, which became the "headstone of the Sevres Peace." Brian even denied the right of the Greek fleet to Gunaris to search ships off the coast of Asia Minor ^[4] .

In London, the atmosphere was more friendly. Lloyd George asked Gunaris to continue holding Bursa . D. Fotiadis writes that this was due to the fact that, holding this region, the Greeks covered up the few British forces that controlled the Black Sea straits . But the British government did not provide a loan, allowing only Gunaris to receive a private loan on the London Stock Exchange. The same Fotiadis writes that Lloyd George provided Gunaris with a "basket, but empty." In desperation, Gunaris visited Rome . This trip, as expected, was inconclusive ^[4] .

For 3 months, Gunaris traveled aimlessly in Western European capitals, returned to London again, where he was no longer accepted, and the humble returned on February 21, 1922 to Athens ^[4] .

The international environment was obvious. France and Italy from the allies of Greece officially became allies of Kemal. England began to move away from moral support ^[4] . The financial impasse and the inability to maintain an army could then “lead to disaster, if not for the“ bold initiative of Protopapadakis ”with a forced loan. This gave the government the opportunity to continue the war for several more months ^[4] .

Nikolaos Stratos, at this stage, began to wage an opposition struggle, within the framework of the "People's Party" of the monarchists, against Gunaris. Arguing that Gunaris was leading the nation to disaster, Stratos began to probe the possibility of forming a new government, under his leadership. Among others, he turned to retired staff officer I. Metaksas to support the initiative, promising Metksas a ministry of war. Metaxas was a monarchist, but had great hatred for Gunaris. Metaxas stunned Stratos with his response: "I do not intend to take part in the new government, I want to see the fall of Gunaris, along with the fall of the front." The politician Stratos left in disgust, saying that “if he had the strength, he would personally have torn off the epaulettes that the Fatherland had given him” ^[4] .

On April 29, the Gunaris government was forced to resign. King Constantine instructed Stratos to form a new government. But the government of Stratos on May 3 (16) failed to get a vote of confidence in parliament.

To avoid elections, the warring factions of the monarchists agreed to form a joint government, led by Finance Minister Protopapadakis . The new government was formed on May 4 (17), 1922 . Both supporters of Gunaris and supporters of Nikolaos Stratos were included in the government ^[5] . Stratos assumed the post of Minister of the Interior of Greece ^{[1] [4]} .

In order to get the country out of the political impasse and simultaneously solve the issue with the Greek population of Ionia , the commander of the army of Asia Minor, General Papulas , proposed the withdrawal of the army to the line around Smyrna and the proclamation of the autonomy of Ionia.

Disagreements with the government forced Papulas to resign. In his place were proposed generals Polymenakos , Kondulis , as well as Hadzianestis . The latter was a relative of N. Stratos and the nomination of this odious figure in Greek historiography, referred to by many historians as the “disaster commander,” belongs to N. Stratos. The candidacy of the first two, experienced combat generals, was rejected, as they were considered sympathetic to Venizelos . The only virtue of Hadzianestis was his devotion to the throne. So the commander in Asia Minor became, in the words of the historian T. Gerozisis, “the most hated officer in the army” ^[6] . The general and academician of Alexander Mazarakis describes Khadzianestis "absolutely unsuitable to command in peacetime and in war even a division." Mazarakis writes in his memoirs, “It is strange that considered stupid, N. Stratos could have been so mistaken in knowing his relative and his past, and believed that he was able to command the army of Asia Minor, besides under such difficult conditions.” He writes that “ Gunaris agreed with the appointment, who, as Minister of War in 1916, took the command of the 5th Division from Hadzianestis for inability. ... and now the incapable commander has become the commander of the army ” ^[4] .

The rule of the monarchists ended with the defeat of the army and the massacre and the expulsion of the indigenous population of Ionia . The modern English historian, Douglas Dakin, blames the Greek leadership for the outcome of the war, but not the Greek army, and believes that even under the unfavorable conditions created, “like under Waterloo, the outcome could turn both this way and the other way” ^{[5 ]} .

The antimonarchist uprising of the Greek army followed on September 11, 1922. In October 1922, an extraordinary military tribunal, chaired by A. Otoneos , sentenced six Dimitrios Gunaris , Petros Protopapadakis , Nikolaos Stratos, Georgios Baltadzis , Nikolaos Theotokis and Georgios Hadzianestis to death at the trial ^[5] . The sentence was carried out on November 15, 1922.

Nikolaos Stratos was married to Maria Koromila, daughter of the writer Demetrius Koromilas . The son, Andreas , subsequently became a member of the Greek Parliament. The daughter, Dora (1903-1980), became a choreographer and received worldwide recognition. The open theater of Greek folk dances she created, on the Filopappappu hill, opposite the Acropolis of Athens , is today called the “Dora Stratu Theater”. The grandson of Petros Protopapadakis , with his appeal in 2008 , requested that his grandfather's case be reviewed. Two years later, in 2010, Petros Protopapadakis was legally acquitted. Indirectly, legally (procedurally), all those executed by the judgment of Process six were acquitted ^[7] .