Greece~crete : Eleutherios Venizelos.

64 Years ago there passed away one of the most dynamic personalities of modern Greece—Eleutherios
Venizelos, patriot, revolutionary and statesman. His country issued two stamps upon which is portrayed his
bearded likeness.

Venizelos was born, in 1864 and took a leading part in the revolution in Crete (1897) and was made head of the
Cretan government.
At this particular time Crete was a province of the Turkish Empire, although most of the inhabitants were of the
Greek race.

Turkish stamps were in use prior to 1880, but during 1881-82 Greece established several post offices on the
island, these being rendered necessary by the outbreak of an earlier revolution and the impossibility of Greek
nationals having their mails despatched.

The second revolution, in which Venizelos was a leading figure, occurred in 1897 and Greece sent a fleet to assist
the insurgents. Later, the island was formally annexed by Greece.
However, this plan did not then meet with the approval of the powers and after much bickering the island was
apportioned between Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia.
Each of these powers issued special stamps for their respected areas of control.

Italy held Canea, France obtained
the province of Lasithion, British forces occupied Candia, and the Russian sphere comprised Rethymo.

ITALIAN OCCUP CRETE


Venizelos was naturally against this partition of the island, although he was nominal head of the Cretan-Greek
government and succeeded in obtaining a withdrawal of most of the occupying forces. Crete then issued distinctive
stamps (1900), but any plans for Cretan independence was quashed by the appointment of Prince George of Greece
as, High Commissioner when the island was formally annexed by Greece in 1908.

Venizelos stirred up revolution again, but following agreement with the Athens government he proceeded to
Greece when in 190'9 he became Prime Minister.
Venizelos showed his statesmanlike qualities by a revival of constitutional government. He
brought about many reforms and upon the outbreak of the World War in 1914 leaned heavily on the side of the
Allies.

King Constantine was a supporter of the Central Powers, and in the national crisis which resulted, the country was
split into two factions, Venizelos set up a separate provisional government with headquarters in Salonica, which
government issued its own stamps.

The king was dethroned in 1917, and Venizelos became the real leader of all Greece. The king returned in 1920,
and for a time the Royal party held power. Two- years later, however, Venizelos was swept back into power by the
popular resolution of the people. The king was forced to flee the country.

Provisional stamps provided for the first few months of the new administration consisted of various earlier issues
of Greece and Crete overprinted with an inscription signifying "Revolution of 1922,""
The stormy petrel of Greek politics died in 1936 after a full and vigorous life. He saw Greece develop again into a
fully independent nation, and his vigorous leadership did much to unite the different provinces into one country
with one united outlook.

THE ERROR STAMPS

Many stamp issues of Crete and Greece are intimately associated with Eleutherios Venizelos, yet he was also
responsible, as one of the members of the Executive Council of Crete (1908), for the destruction of all papers and
documents connected with an interesting "error" oni the first general issue of 1909, the substitution of the British
"St. George and Dragon" design for the Cretan design of Bellerophon, mounted upon Pegasus, battling with
Chimaera.
Somehow, the designs became confused in London, but, unfortunately, we shall never learn exactly how this
happened, but it would seem that the Executive Council of Crete knew sufficient to have all records destroyed.





Author: "K.E" June 1st 1946

Rod,

Thanks for posting this. Venizelos was a fascinating character and had a huge impact on Cretan and Greek political life for decades.

I've visited his grave site at Akrotiri on Crete looking out over the sea.

The period of Cretan autonomy and eventual union with Greece is quite a complex one and I think the writer has got confused with what was going on and the sequence of events, for example:




I'm not aware of there ever being plans for Cretan independence. The creation of an autonomous Cretan state in 1898 in practice ended Ottoman control and political debates on the island were then about how and when Crete could become united with Greece while avoiding a war with Turkey.

There were two High Commissioners in Crete appointed by the Great Powers (when technically the island was still part of the Ottoman Empire):

Prince George of Greece from 1898 to 1906

Alexandros Zaimis (former Greek prime minister) from 1906 to 1908. Zaimis was appointed by the Greek government with the agreement of the Great Powers.

Venizelos served as Justice Minister of Crete under Prince George from 1899 to 1901, when they fell out and he was replaced. He then became a strong opponent of the Prince, eventually calling the Revolutionary Assembly in Theriso in 1905 (which created the famous stamps including some with Prince George's head on them). This is turn led to an international inquiry after which Prince George was replaced.

Venizelos became Cretan Justice and Foreign Minister in 1908 and then Prime Minister of Crete in 1910 (until he became Prime Minister of Greece in October that year).

The Crete parliament unilaterally declared union with Greece in 1908 while Zaimis was away on holiday (and this is the reason that so many Crete stamps were overprinted ELLAS from this date onwards). Zaimis was asked not to return and he was not replaced as High Commissioner.

Essentially there was a gradual drift towards union with Greece throughout this period but both the Greek government (even with Venizelos now leading it) and the Great Powers were very cautious to avoid a war with Turkey.

Greece formally took control of Crete in 1913 after the Treaty of London and a separate treaty with the Ottoman Empire.

Thanks Nigel,
It was important to me in piecing the jigsaw together regarding
the Russian sphere of influence stamps. I original thought
the Russians were there with commercial interests including tobacco
On reading this commentary, I always think it good to post old text,
to attract others point of view, and further understanding.

I must say I am surprised though, it is not common for a divorced
state <not> to seek independence, it must have been through a strong sense of being Grecian, or important commercial and political ties.

I am not surprised there is a differing take, we are blessed today
with an abundance of information, and years of study by interested parties.

great story, Rod!

just a question, if he died in 1936, shouldn't it be 74 years ago??

I dated from the magazine (1946)
I am not very often right, but I am wrong this time.

It is rare in history that you get someone who by their actions causes their name to become eponymous. Eleutherios means freedom in Greek. Thanks for the great story, Rod.

Goodness,
now there's something. Thanks Smauggie.
I was going to look the name up, but laziness took over.

I have a visiting card from Mr Venizelos.

I'd like to think it's his handwriting but I've no idea if it is or not.

Can anyone here read Greek? It would be great to know what the note says.

What a strange hobby this is,
It's kinda like Rowland Hill was there at "The Big Bang"
and we collectors, are all little planets, gathering the
asteroids and shards of information flying about the world.

We collect, we sort, we die,
the collection goes to auction, and Bang!
it's sold, and the stamps fly off in another thousand directions.

(I've really got to give up eating those mushrooms)