Alexandros Zaimis (,

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ''Aléxandros Zaímis''; 28 October 1855 – 15 September 1936Presseartikel 00009
/ref>) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

politician who served as Greece's

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, and High Commissioner of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. He served as prime minister six times. Although he was a leader of the

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

faction, Zaimis was the third and last

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

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 ...

Early life and family

Zaimis was born in Athens, a son of Thrasyvoulos Zaimis, a former

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

, and Eleni Mourouzi. His brother was Asimakis Zaimis. On his father's side he was the grandson of Andreas Zaimis, another former prime minister of Greece, and related to the great Kalavrytan

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

with notable participation in the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

from 1821. From his mother's side he was a descendant of an important Fanariote family of the Mourozidon. His family lived in Kerpini, Kalavryta in the Achaia prefecture. He studied law at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

and at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. He also attended the universities of

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and

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Political career

Alexandros became involved in politics after the death of his father who was the elected member of parliament for Kalavryta. He became a Member of Parliament in 1885. He served as Minister of the Interior and Justice Minister in

Theodoros Deligiannis Theodoros Diligiannis (also transliterated as Deligiannis;Konstantinos Apostolou Vakalopoulos, ''Modern History of Macedonia (1830-1912)'', Barbounakis, 1988, p. 95. ; 1826–1905) was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parlia ...

' government (1890–92) and

Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament The President of the Hellenic Parliament is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Greece. The president's term coincides with the term of the assembly,and is chosen by a vote during the opening session, after each legislative election. Fol ...

(1895-97). He became prime minister for the first time in 1897.

Appointment as High Commissioner

In 1906, he was appointed as High Commissioner of

Svolopoulos, ''The Period of Autonomy'', p. 479. and presided over a critical period of the island's history up to the '' de facto'' union of Crete with Greece in 1908.

Re-election as Prime Minister

Alexandros Zaimis was re-elected as prime minister a further five times. He was appointed prime minister under King

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

to succeed Venizelos in October 1915, but resigned a month later when his government failed to receive a vote of confidence. In 1917, Zaimis served again as prime minister under King Constantine I, while

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 ser ...

led a rival government controlling northern Greece. Under Entente pressure, he resigned in favor of Venizelos in June of the same year. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was generally supposed to favor neutrality for Greece, but to be personally in favor of the Allies. A moderate conservative, he served again as prime minister in the

, from 1926 to 1928, in a coalition government of Venizelist and moderate

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

s. Zaimis was elected the third and last President of the Second Hellenic Republic in 1929. He was reelected in 1934. However, only one year into his second term, he was thrown out of office by Georgios Kondylis, who abolished the Republic and proclaimed himself regent pending the results of a referendum on restoring the monarchy. This referendum resulted in George II being recalled to the throne by almost 98 percent of the vote, a high total that was obtained because no-monarchist supported the abstension to vote for protest (there was no secrecy of vote).

Death and legacy

He died on 15 September 1936 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

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and was buried in the

First Cemetery of Athens The First Cemetery of Athens (, ''Próto Nekrotafeío Athinón'') is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a prestigious cemetery for Greeks and foreigners. The cemetery is lo ...

. He was married without children. The political legacy of his family was continued by his siblings and cousins.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaimis, Alexandros 1855 births 1936 deaths 20th-century presidents of Greece 19th-century prime ministers of Greece 20th-century prime ministers of Greece Politicians from Athens Greek MPs 1885–1887 Foreign ministers of Greece Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament People from the Cretan State High commissioners of Crete Greek people of the Greco-Turkish War (1897) Burials in Athens Greek monarchists Children of prime ministers of Greece Zaimis family