Vulgaris, Petros

Petros Vulgaris was born on the island of Idra in the family of Georgios Vulgaris and Archonto Vatsaksi. On the paternal side came from a noble family of Vulgaris. His great-grandfather, Nikolaos Vulgaris, was a brother to the ruler of Idra, Georgios Vulgaris (1769-1812) and uncle to the numerous Prime Minister of Greece Dimitrios Vulgaris . After the death of his father, Petros with his mother and brothers moved to Athens , in the house of the Watsaxi clan.

In Athens he graduated from elementary school and gymnasium, after which he entered the School of Naval Cadets, which he graduated with the rank of senior lieutenant of the fleet in 1903. In 1908-1910, he was sent for retraining abroad, and briefly served on the ships of the French Navy in 1912. In the Balkan Wars, the Vulgaris fought aboard the destroyer Pantir , took part in the battle of Elli, victorious for the Greek fleet.

In 1915-1916, Vulgaris served as an adjutant to his fellow countryman, Minister of the Sea, Admiral Pavel Kunturiiotis . When the National Defense Movement erupted in 1916, Vulgaris, being a supporter of Eleftherios Venizelos , as well as his patron and fellow countryman Admiral Kunturiiotis, left Athens and joined the revolutionary government in the Macedonian capital, the city of Thessaloniki . From 1916 to 1919 he commanded the destroyer Velos , taking part in the Entente naval operations in the Aegean during the First World War.

In 1919, he took part in an Allied expedition in support of the White Movement, during which, and on the orders of the Entente, the Greek fleet and army made a trip to the ports of southern Ukraine. In the same year, under the Entente’s mandate, the Greek army landed on the west coast of Asia Minor. Vulgaris commanded one of the ships intended to provide support during the landing. But the landing in general was peaceful in nature. Subsequently, Vulgaris headed the personal office of the Minister of the Sea A.N. Miaulis (1868-1932).

The geopolitical situation changed radically and became fatal for the Greek population of Asia Minor 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 Muslim population, which was significant at that time, the monarchist People’s Party won the election. Vulgaris, being a supporter of Venizelos, was demobilized in March 1921. The return of the Germanophile Constantine to Greece freed the Allies from their obligations towards Greece. Winston Churchill , in his Aftermath (pp. 387–388), wrote: “The return of Constantine 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 ” ^[1] .

Finding no solution to the issue of the Greek population of Ionia , the government of the monarchists decided to resolve the issue by defeating the Kemalists and continued the war. 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 government, but not the Greek army, for the outcome of the war, and believes that even under the unfavorable conditions created, “like under Waterloo, the outcome could turn both this way and the other way” ^[2] . On August 28 / September 10, 1922, King Constantine , in the face of a developing revolution, dissolved the Protopapadakis government, and then left his throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince George II . Vulgaris was recalled to the fleet and was appointed commander of the destroyer Leon . In 1923, he became commander of a naval aviation base in Faler , after which he was again appointed captain of the Pantir destroyer.

After unrest in the navy in June 1924, he resigned but was recalled two months later. He resigned again a year later, after the coup of General Pangalos . After the deposition of Pangalos in August 1926, Vulgaris was recalled to the service, with the rank of captain of the 1st rank , and became commander of naval aviation, a post which he held until 1930. In 1930, the Ministry of Aviation was formed and Vulgaris became commander of the air force. In 1931, he was appointed commander of a fleet base on the island of Salamis , and from 1931-1934 he served as commander of a submarine flotilla.

In 1934, Vulgaris was appointed military attache in Ankara and Belgrade , with a residence in Constantinople. He was in that post when, in March 1935, an unsuccessful coup attempt was made in Greece by supporters of Venizelos . As a supporter of Venizelos, Vulgaris was dismissed. However, in November 1935, with the return of the monarchy and partial amnesty, he was included in the reserve with the rank of rear admiral .

In the following years, before the Greco-Italian war of 1940-1941, Vulgaris worked in the private sector, in the concern of the industrialist Bodosakis (1890-1979). With the outbreak of war, the Greek army repelled the Italian attack and transferred hostilities to the territory of Albania. This was the first victory of the countries of the anti-fascist coalition against the Axis forces . The Italian spring offensive of March 9-15-15, 1941 in Albania showed that the Italian army could not change the course of events, which made German intervention to save its ally inevitable.

The German invasion of Greece began on April 6, 1941. The Germans could not immediately break through the Greek defenses on the Metaxas Line , which forced Hitler to declare that "of all the opponents that opposed us, the Greek soldier fought with the greatest courage" ^{[3] [4] [5]} . But German divisions came to Thessaloniki through Yugoslav territory. The group of divisions of East Macedonia (4 divisions) was cut off from the main army forces conducting military operations against the Italians in Albania, where 16 of the total number of 22 Greek divisions were located ^[6] . The road to Athens was open to German divisions.

The government and King George decided to leave mainland Greece and move to Crete , and then to British-controlled Cyprus . With the start of the battles for Crete on May 20, the king and Prime Minister Tsuderos Emmanuel left the island and arrived in Alexandria by sea on May 22 ^[7] . Together with the government, the Greek fleet also left for Alexandria.

Vulgaris and his family fled to Egypt and settled in Cairo .

In March 1943, the Prime Minister of the emigration government of Zuderos, Emmanuel, provided Vulgaris with a portfolio of the Minister of Aviation. Preparing post-war plans for the king’s return to the country, Tsuderos organized his small army in exile, encouraging the exodus of Greek officers from occupied Greece to the Middle East ^[6] . On March 18, 1944, the creation, on the territory liberated by the People’s Liberation Army of Greece , of the “Political Committee of National Liberation” (Greek Πολιτική Επιτροπή Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης - ΠΕΕΑ), also known as the “Government of the Mountains”, was announced. When this news reached the Middle East, Republican organizations in the Greek units decided to pressure Tsuderos to recognize призна and form a government of national unity with the “Government of the Mountains”. But a delegation of Republican officers who arrived at Zuderos on March 31 was arrested ^[6] . The event caused unrest in military units and the demand for the resignation of Zuderos. Zuderos, being an anti-communist, but also under pressure from the British, who did not want to see the Greek government outside British control, refused to resign. A rebellion of the fleet and parts of the Greek army in the Middle East in April 1944 followed. Having lost control of the situation, Tsuderos ultimately resigned ^[6] . On April 13, King George, who arrived in Cairo, appointed Sophocles Venizelos as Prime Minister. Meanwhile, 13 officers arrested by Tsuderos were released by the rebels. An uprising in the navy followed. In Alexandria, where there were 6 destroyers and other Greek ships, and in Port Said , where there was a veteran and the glory of the Greek fleet, the battleship Georgios Averof with 6 destroyers and submarines, the uprising was universal. Submarines in Malta or on a campaign in the Mediterranean declared joining the uprising. Fleet commander Admiral Alexandris, Konstantinos joined the rebellion and sent 4 officers to Cairo, in order to put pressure on politicians to form a government of national unity ^[6] . On April 16, British Admiral Cunningham, Andrew Brown, warned Sophocles Venizelos that the British were determined to sink the Greek fleet in Alexandria. Venizelos, worried that the Greek fleet might repeat the fate of the French fleet in Oran in 1940, decided to act on his own. Sophocles Venizelos recalled Vulgaris to the fleet, assigning him the rank of Vice Admiral a, and appointed him fleet commander. Vulgaris, with his loyal officers and sailors, managed to conduct an operation to re-capture the fleet on the night of April 22-23. During the operation, several officers and sailors died ^[6] . Of the 30,000 Greek officers and soldiers in the Middle East, between 20,000 and 22,000 were imprisoned in British concentration camps in Eritrea, Egypt, and Libya. Passed by the filtration, the 3rd Greek mountain brigade and the Holy detachment (1942) , loyal to the king and the British ^[6] manned the Praetorian formations.

After the liberation of Greece, the Vulgaris returned to the country as chief of the general staff and fleet commander.

On April 8, 1945, Vulgaris led the Greek government and remained in this post for 6 months. The government of Vulgaris was the government of the monarchists. In the army, the Vulgaris government fired Democratic officers and called on monarchists and collaborators ^[6] . Amid the terror of the monarchists against the communists and leftist forces, his first step was to call for parliamentary elections in January 1946. However, this violated the agreements reached in January 1945 after military clashes between the People’s Liberation Army of Greece and the British and their allies in Greece: before the parliamentary elections, a referendum should be held on the advisability of returning King George II ^[6] .

A political impasse forced him to resign on October 8, 1945 . Vulgaris returned to quiet privacy and worked until his death in the Bodosakis concern.

Vulgaris died on November 26, 1957 in the Athens Maritime Hospital, at the age of 74, from heart failure. His funeral service was held in the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin , he was given the honors of the current Prime Minister. The funeral took place at the First Athens Cemetery .

Petros Vulgaris and his wife, Italian Ero de Pian, had 2 children, Archonto-Tatiana and Georgios.