Alexandros Papanastasiou

From Phantis
Revision as of 19:05, January 25, 2006 by Irlandos (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Alexandros Papanastasiou was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister.

Papanastasiou was born on July 8, 1876 in Levidi, Arcadia, the son of Member of Parliament, Panagiotis Papanastasiou. He studied in law in Athens and Sosial Science, law and philosophy in Berlin and Heidelberg.

In 1910, Papanastasiou was elected for the first time to Parliament. He fought for agrarian reform in Thessaly seeking to break up the big farms that existed there since Turkish rule and redistibute them to the local farmers. In 1916, he joined the "National Defence" movement of Eleftherios Venizelos in Thessaloniki which sought to bring Greece into the First World War on the side of the Entente Allies. He was rewarded with the governorship of the Ionian Islands.

After WW I, Papanastasiou took part in several Venizelos governments as Minister of Transportation, Minister of National Health and Interior Minister. When Venizelos lost the elections of 1920, he remained in Greece and criticised the Laiko Komma government for their mishandling of the Asia Minor affair. Along with others, he published a document entitled "The Democratic Manifesto" which criticised the Monarchy, stating that Greece "...is the creation of the spirit, labour and struggles of her children. It is not the property of Royalty and no part of Greece can be sacrificed for the sake of personal interests of her monarch". For the publication of this manifesto, Papanastasiou was imprisoned along with the other signatories.

When the Laiko Komma government collapsed, following the Asia Minor disaster, Papanastasiou formed a government which, at his insistance, on March 25, 1924, proclaimed a Republic. The issue was submitted to a plebiscite with the voters approving the abolition of the monarchy on April 13, 1924. During his term of office, Papanastasiou also made proposals for the establishment of the University of Thessaloniki, the recognition of the common, demotic Greek language, the establishment of adult education centres, etc.

From 1926 until 1928, he was Minister of Agriculture and was instrumental in the establishment of the Agrarian Bank of Greece.

Papanastasiou briefly served as Prime Minister once more between May and June of 1932. In 1936, he was placed under house arrest by the government of Ioannis Metaxas.

Papanastasiou died of a heart attack on November 17, 1936.


Preceded by:
Georgios Kaphantaris
Prime Minister of Greece
March 12, 1924 - July 24, 1924
Succeeded by:
Themistoklis Sofoulis
Preceded by:
Eleftherios Venizelos
Prime Minister of Greece
May 26, 1932 - June 5, 1932
Succeeded by:
Eleftherios Venizelos