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Presidential Guard (Greece)
The Presidential Guard () is a ceremonial infantry unit that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Mansion in Athens, Greece. The unit is distinguished as the last unit of Evzones in the Hellenic Army, and is closely associated with the traditional Evzone's uniform, which evolved from the clothes worn by the klephts in the Greek War of Independence. The most visible item of this uniform is the fustanella, a kilt-like garment. In 1868–1914 and 1937–1973 (with interruptions), the guard also included a cavalry company. History The present Presidential Guard was first established by Royal Decree on , as an independent battalion-sized unit, called the '' Agema'' (, "escort"), and comprising a staff, two Evzone infantry companies, and one cavalry company.Royal Decree of 12 December 1868, published iΦΕΚ 63/1868, pp. 438–440/ref> The commander was to be a colonel or general officer, with a major as his deputy; the staff was further complemented by five ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the United States Army, U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War. The rifle is chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge and is named after its Canadian Americans, Canadian-American designer, John Garand. It was the first standard-issue autoloading rifle for the United States. By most accounts, the M1 rifle performed well. General George S. Patton called it "the greatest battle implement ever devised". The M1 replaced the (bolt-action) M1903 Springfield as the U.S. service rifle in 1936, and was itself replaced by the (selective fire, selective-fire) M14 rifle on 26 March 1958. Pronunciation Sources differ on the pronunciation of the M1 Garand. Some, such as General Julian Hatcher, Julian Hatcher's ''The Book of the Garand'' (1948), give , identical to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major (rank)
Major is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer military rank, rank used in many countries. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank above Captain (land), captain in armies and air forces, and one rank below lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the senior officer ranks. Background Etymologically, the word stems from the Latin word meaning "greater". The rank can be traced back to the rank of sergeant major general, which was shortened to sergeant major, and subsequently shortened to ''major''. When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including major general, denoting a low-level general officer, and sergeant major, denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in Pipe-Major, pipe-major or drum-major. Links to major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1946 Greek Referendum
A referendum on maintaining the monarchy was held in Greece on 1 September 1946.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p830 The proposal was approved by 68.4% of voters with a turnout of 88.6%. Background The referendum was the fourth since 1920 on the country's monarchy. The 1946 parliamentary elections, in which the right-wing parties achieved a landslide, had just taken place. The new conservative government of Konstantinos Tsaldaris was favorable to George II, but what influenced the result more was the atmosphere of imminent civil war. The civil war convulsed Greece during two main periods: first between 1943 and 1944 between the KKE-dominated EAM/ ELAS partisans and the right-wing resistance groups and the internationally recognized Greek government-in-exile which had returned to the country in November 1944 and later in 1946–1949. The collaborationist government collapsed after the Germans had left, and all of its leade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Government-in-exile
The Greek government-in-exile was formed in 1941, in the aftermath of the Battle of Greece and the subsequent occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The government-in-exile was based first in South Africa, then London, then, finally, from mid-1943, in Cairo, Egypt. There it came to be referred to as the "Cairo Government" (). It was the internationally recognised government during the years of the Axis occupation of Greece. It was headed by King George II, who evacuated Athens in April 1941 after the German invasion of the country, first to the island of Crete and then to Cairo, then to South Africa and London before returning to Cairo. He remained there until the German occupying forces withdrew from the country on 17 October 1944. The British wielded a significant amount of influence over the government-in-exile. Until 1944 it was also recognized as the legal Greek government by all Greek Resistance forces. In the occupied Greece, alongside the Axis-cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Occupation Of Greece
The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of Greece, invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, in their Greco-Italian War, ongoing war that was initiated in October 1940, having encountered major strategical difficulties. Following Battle of Crete, the conquest of Crete, the entirety of Greece was occupied starting in June 1941. The occupation of the mainland lasted until Germany and its ally Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria withdrew under Allies of World War II, Allied pressure in early October 1944, with Crete and some other Aegean Islands being surrendered to the Allies by German garrisons in May and June 1945, after the end of World War II VE Day, in Europe. The term Katochi in Greek means ''to possess'' or ''to have control over goods''. It is used to refer to the occupation of Greece by Germany and the Axis Powers. This terminology reflects not only the military occupation b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Greece
The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion in April 1941. German landings on the island of Crete (May 1941) came after Allied forces had been defeated in mainland Greece. These battles were part of the greater Balkans Campaign of the Axis powers and their associates. Following the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940, Greece, with British air and material support, repelled the initial Italian attack and a counter-attack in March 1941. When the German invasion, known as Operation Marita, began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek Army was on the Greek border with Albania, then a vassal of Italy, from which the Italian troops had attacked. German troops invaded from Bulgaria, creating a second front. Greece received a small reinforcement from British, Australian and New Zealand fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Hellenic Republic
The Second Hellenic Republic is a modern Historiography, historiographical term used to refer to the Greece, Greek state during a period of republican governance between 1924 and 1935. To its contemporaries it was known officially as the Hellenic Republic ( ) or more commonly as Greece ( , ''Hellas''). It occupied virtually the coterminous territory of modern Greece (with the exception of the Dodecanese) and bordered Albanian Republic, Albania, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Turkey and the Italian Aegean Islands. The term ''Second Republic'' is used to differentiate it from the First Hellenic Republic, First and Third Hellenic Republic, Third republics. The fall of Kingdom of Greece, the monarchy was proclaimed by the country's parliament on 25 March 1924. A relatively small country with a population of 6.2 million in 1928, it covered a total area of . Over its eleven-year history, the Second Republic saw some of the most important historical eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George II Of Greece
George II (; 19 July [Old Style and New Style dates, Old Style: 7 July] 1890 – 1 April 1947) was King of Greece from 27 September 1922 until 25 March 1924, and again from 25 November 1935 until his death on 1 April 1947. The eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophia of Prussia, George followed his father into exile in 1917 following the National Schism, while his younger brother Alexander of Greece, Alexander was installed as king. Constantine was restored to the throne in 1920 after Alexander's death, but was forced to abdicate two years later in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), Greco-Turkish War. George acceded to the Greek throne, but after a Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt, failed royalist coup in October 1923 he was exiled to Romania. Greece was proclaimed a republic in March 1924 and George was formally deposed and stripped of Greek nationality. He remained in exile until the Greek monarchy was restored in 1935, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Cretan State, Cretan Greeks, Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party (Greece), Liberal Party, Venizelos served as prime minister of Greece for over 12 years, spanning eight terms from 1910 to 1933. He first made his mark on the international stage with his leading role in securing the autonomy of the Cretan State, and later in the island's Enosis, union with Kingdom of Greece, Greece. In 1909, he was invited to Athens to resolve the Goudi coup, political deadlock and became Prime Minister. He initiated constitutional and economic reforms that set the basis for the modernization of Greek society and reorganized both the Greek Army and the Greek Navy in preparation for future conflicts. Before the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, Venizelos' catalytic role helped Greece to gain entrance to the Balkan League, an alliance of the Balkan states against th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Schism
The National Schism (), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between Constantine I of Greece, King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over Kingdom of Greece, Greece's foreign policy from 1910 to 1922. The central issue was whether Greece should join World War I, with Venizelos advocating for alignment with the Allies of World War I, Allies, while the king supported neutrality that favored the Central Powers. This personal conflict between the two men had far-reaching consequences, as it raised questions about the king's constitutional role in the state and eventually led to a deep division within Greek society. After Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria had entered the war against Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia (already besieged by German Empire, Germany's and Austria-Hungary's combined attack), in September 1915, Venizelos achieved a vote on October 4 in the parliament for a call to conscription, honoring the Greek–Serbian Alliance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine I Of Greece
Constantine I (, Romanization, romanized: ''Konstantínos I''; – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and again from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War (1897), 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. He forced Venizelos to resign twice, but in 1917 Constantine left Greece, after threats by the Allies of World War I, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George I Of Greece
George I ( Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, romanized: ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination on 18 March 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for a career in the Royal Danish Navy. He was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular King Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and the Russian Empire. He married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia in 1867, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British and Russian royal families. Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexander III of Russia were his brothers-in-law, and George V of the United Kingdom, Christian X of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, and Ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
