Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos (, 1854–1941) was a Greek military officer and athlete . He was an amateur swordsman, competing in the 1896 Athens Olympics, and served in the Organizing Committee for the

1906 Intercalated Games The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games (), held from 22 April 1906 to 2 May 1906, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Kingdom of Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were re ...

. He also served as the aide-de-camp to

King George I of Greece George I (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, Romanization, romanized: ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until Assassination of George I of Greece, his assassination on 18 March ...

Life and military career

Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos was born in

Ermoupolis Ermoupoli (), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( < "Town of Hermes"), is a town and former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

in the island of

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

in 1854, and enlisted in the

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

on 11 April 1877 as a volunteer, serving in the cavalry. He fought in the

Greco-Turkish War of 1897 The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War (), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the O ...

. In 1905, as a major, he was aide de camp to King

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 Copenhage ...

, and was appointed an honorary

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

. During the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

, he held the rank of Colonel and commanded the

6th Infantry Division 6th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *6th Division (Australia) * 6th Division (Austria) *6th (United Kingdom) Division *Finnish 6th Division (Winter War) *Finnish 6th Division (Continuation War) *6th Division (Reichswehr) *6th Division ( ...

. During the

First World War 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 supported the

Venizelist Venizelism () was one of the major political movements in Greece beginning from the 1910s. The movement first formed under Eleftherios Venizelos in the 1910s and saw a resurgence of support in the 1960s when Georgios Papandreou united a coaliti ...

Movement of National Defence The Provisional Government of National Defence (), also known as the State of Thessaloniki (Κράτος της Θεσσαλονίκης), was a parallel administration, set up in the city of Thessaloniki by former Prime Minister Eleftherios Ven ...

, and became Minister of War in the provisional government on 6 December 1916. After the entry of Greece into the World War and the mobilization of the Greek Army, Konstantinos was appointed commander of Army Corps "B" (3 infantry divisions), which he commanded until the end of hostilities on the

Thessaloniki Front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germa ...

. In 1919, as a Lieutenant General, he became the first head of the

Army of Asia Minor The Army of Asia Minor () was a field army of the Hellenic Army which was stationed in Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. History 1919 Following the Greek landing at Smyrna by the 1st Infa ...

in the

Smyrna Zone The city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir) and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna () during negotiations re ...

allocated to Greece by the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

, until the arrival of Lt. Gen.

Leonidas Paraskevopoulos Leonidas Paraskevopoulos (; 7 October 1860 – 16 May 1936) was a Greek military officer and politician. He played a major role in Greece's war effort during the First World War, and was the commander-in-chief of the Army of Asia Minor during the ...

. He was dismissed from the Army on 29 November 1920, following the Venizelist defeat in the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

of the same month. He was killed on 12 June 1941, shortly after the

German occupation of Greece The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Italy, in their ongoing war that was initiated in October 1940, having encountered major strategic ...

. He was mortally wounded in the head in a scuffle with a German sentry, who tried to prohibit his entrance in the Athens Club, which had been shut down by the German authorities due to its members' demonstrations of solidarity with British prisoners of war.

Athletic career

He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Komninos-Miliotis competed in the amateur foil event. He placed third of four in his preliminary group after winning one bout, against Georgios Balakakis, and losing the other two, to

Eugène-Henri Gravelotte Eugène-Henri Gravelotte (6 February 1876 – 23 August 1939) was a French fencing (sport), fencer. He was the first modern Olympic Games, Olympic champion in foil and first French gold medalist, winning the event at the 1896 Summer Olympics ...

and

Athanasios Vouros Athanasios Vouros () (1871 – 14 May 1959) was a Greece, Greek fencing, fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. He was born in Athens. Vouros competed in the Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's foil, foil ...

. This put him in a tie for fifth overall, with Henri Delaborde who was third in the other preliminary group. He was also a member of the Olympic Games Commission in 1901–1916 and of the Organizing Committee for the

1906 Summer Olympics The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games (), held from 22 April 1906 to 2 May 1906, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Kingdom of Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were re ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miliotis-Komninos, Konstantinos 1854 births 1941 deaths Hellenic Army lieutenant generals Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Greek military personnel of World War I Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Fencers at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century Greek sportsmen Olympic fencers for Greece Greek male fencers People from Ermoupoli Honorary commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Sportspeople from the South Aegean