Georgios Theotokis
Georgios Theotokis was a Greek politician and Prime Minister.
Theotokis was born in Kerkyra in 1844. He studied law at Sorbonne University in France and returned upon graduation to Kerkyra. In 1879, he was elected mayor of the city of Kerkyra with nearly two-thirds of the vote. He was re-elected in 1883 and modernised the city with new roads, new lights, etc.
Theotokis' second term in office was cut short by Charilaos Trikoupis' request that he stand for Parliament as a Trikoupis candidate. Theotokis was elected in 1885 and the following year became Minister of the Navy. In his new capacity he modernised the Greek Navy by purchasing three new war ships. Impressed, PM Trikoupis also assigned him the Ministry of Religion and Education.
Theotokis attempted to reform the Greek school system by allowing the first two grades of Primary school to be taught in the modern Demotic version of the Greek language. His reforms failed to get through Parliament but were passed much later by Education Minister (later PM) Georgios Papandreou.
Theotokis also served four times as Prime Minister of Greece. During his terms of office he acted with moderation in such matters as: The Macedonian Struggle, avoiding a repeat of the 1897 disaster while covertly supporting the struggle and the Evangelika controversy, avoiding as much as possible the use of force against the demonstrators.
Theotokis died on January 12, 1916. He was the father of Nikolaos and Ioannis Theotokis.
Preceded by: Alexandros Zaimis |
Prime Minister of Greece April 14, 1899 - November 25, 1901 |
Succeeded by: Alexandros Zaimis |
Preceded by: Theodoros Deligiannis |
Prime Minister of Greece June 27, 1903 - July 11, 1903 |
Succeeded by: Dimitrios Rallis |
Preceded by: Dimitrios Rallis |
Prime Minister of Greece December 19, 1903 - December 29, 1904 |
Succeeded by: Theodoros Deligiannis |
Preceded by: Dimitrios Rallis |
Prime Minister of Greece December 21, 1905 - July 29, 1909 |
Succeeded by: Dimitrios Rallis |