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Constantine I | |
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![]() Constantine I in 1921 | |
King of the Hellenes | |
First reign | 18 March 1913 – 11 June 1917 |
Inauguration | 21 March 1913 |
Predecessor | George I |
Successor | Alexander |
Prime ministers | |
Second reign | 19 December 1920 – 27 September 1922 |
Predecessor | Alexander |
Successor | George II |
Prime ministers | |
Born | Athens, Greece | 2 August 1868
Died | 11 January 1923 Palermo, Italy | (aged 54)
Burial | 14 January 1923 |
Spouse | |
Issue | |
Greek | Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ (Konstantínos I) |
House | Glücksburg |
Father | George I of Greece |
Mother | Olga Constantinovna of Russia |
Signature | ![]() |
Military career | |
Allegiance | |
Service/ | |
Rank | Field marshal |
Unit | German Imperial Guard |
Commands |
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Battles/wars |
Constantine I (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ, romanized: Konstantínos I; 2 August [O.S. 21 July] 1868 – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece expanded to include Thessaloniki, doubling in area and population. The eldest son of George I of Greece, he succeeded to the throne following his father's assassination in 1913.
Constantine's disagreement with Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over whether Greece should enter World War I led to the National Schism. Under Allied duress, the country was essentially split between the pro-Venizelos North and the royalist South, ushering in a protracted civil war.[1] He forced Venizelos to resign twice, but in 1917 Constantine left Greece, after threats by the Entente forces to bombard Athens; his second son, Alexander, became king. After Alexander's death, Venizelos' defeat in the 1920 legislative elections, and a plebiscite in favor of his return, Constantine was reinstated. He abdicated the throne for the second and last time in 1922, when Greece lost the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and this time was succeeded by his eldest son, George II. Constantine died on 11 January 1923 in exile in Sicily, Italy, from heart failure and brain haemorrhage.
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