The Republicanism of Eleftherios Venizelos: Ideology or Tactics?

‘Venizelos himself is as you know the most orderly and conservative of revolutionaries but many of his followers are not.’ This statement, included in a June 1917 telegram to the Foreign Office by Lord Granville, Britain’s diplomatic representative to the Greek Provisional Government in Thessaloniki, provides an important guide for understanding much of Eleftherios Venizelos’ political career. Loyal to the basic principles of turn-of-the-century European liberalism, Venizelos nonetheless committed himself to extremist initiatives and authoritarian methods on several occasions. And despite pressures for more radical action by supporters, Venizelos generally tried to contain the extent of his campaigns for political change. Bearing these broader points in mind, along with his constant attention to Greece’s relations with the European powers, it is also possible to understand Venizelos’ attitudes towards the establishment of a republic in Greece. His controversial role regarding this question, at times seemingly erratic, becomes clearer with a close examination of his private statements, many of which are recorded in his correspondence with trusted friends and colleagues and in the dispatches of foreign diplomats to whom he expressed his thoughts.