Georgios Theotokis

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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