Constantine I of Greece

King Constantine I during the Second Balkan War

In 1912 with the formation of the Balkan League, Greece was ready for war against the Ottoman empire and Prince Constantine became Chief of the Hellenic Army.

Ottoman planning anticipated a two-prong Greek attack east and west of the impassable Pindus mountain range. They accordingly allotted their resources, equally divided, in a defensive posture to fortify the approaches to Ioannina, capital of Epirus, and the mountain passes leading from Thessaly to Macedonia. This was a grave error. The war plan by Venizelos and the Greek General Staff called for a rapid advance with overwhelming force towards Thessaloniki with its important harbor. A small Greek force of little more than a division, just enough to forestall a possible Turkish redeployment eastwards, was to be sent west as the "Army of Epirus".

At the same time the bulk of the Greek infantry and artillery made a rapid advance against the Turks in the east. In the event, the Greek plan worked well. Advancing on foot, the Greeks soundly defeated the Turks twice, and were in Thessaloniki within 4 weeks. The Greek plan for overwhelming attack and speedy advance hinged upon another factor: should the Hellenic Navy succeed in blockading the Turkish fleet within the Straits, any Turkish reinforcements from Asia would have no way of quickly reaching Europe. The Ottomans would be slow to mobilize, and even when the masses of troops raised in Asia were ready, they were able to go no further than the outskirts of Constantinople, fighting the Bulgarians in brutal trench warfare. With the Bulgarians directing the bulk of their force towards Constantinople, the capture of Thessaloniki would ensure that the railway axis between these two main cities was lost to the Turks, causing loss of logistics and supplies and severe impairment of command and control capability. The Turks would be hard placed to recruit locals, as their loyalties would be liable to lie with the Balkan Allies. Ottoman armies in Europe would be quickly cut off and their loss of morale and operational capability would lead them toward a quick surrender.

Constantine with George I and the Greek Army enter Thessaloniki

Previously the Inspector General of the Army, Constantine was appointed commander-in-chief of the "Army of Thessaly" when the First Balkan War broke out in October 1912. He led the Army of Thessaly to victory at Sarantaporos. At this point, his first clash with Venizelos occurred, as Constantine desired to press north, towards Monastir, where the bulk of the Ottoman army lay, and where the Greeks would rendezvous their Serb allies. Venizelos, on the other hand, demanded that the army capture the strategic port city of Thessaloniki, the capital of Macedonia, with extreme haste, so as to prevent its fall to the Bulgarians. The dispute resulted in a heated exchange of telegrams. Venizelos notified Constantine that "... political considerations of the utmost importance dictate that Thessaloniki be taken as soon as possible". After Constantine impudently cabled: "The army will not march on Thessaloniki. My duty calls me towards Monastir, unless you forbid me", Venizelos was forced to pull rank. As Prime Minister and War Minister, he outranked Constantine and his response was famously three-words-long, a crisp military order to be obeyed forthwith: "I forbid you". Constantine was left with no choice but to turn east, and after defeating the Ottoman army at Giannitsa, he accepted the surrender of the city of Thessaloniki and of its Ottoman garrison on 27 October (O.S.), less than 24 hours before the arrival of Bulgarian forces who hoped to capture the city first.

The capture of Thessaloniki against Constantine's whim proved a crucial achievement: the pacts of the Balkan League had provided that in the forthcoming war against the Ottoman Empire, the four Balkan allies would provisionally hold any ground they took from the Turks, without contest from the other allies. Once an armistice was declared, then facts on the ground would be the starting point of negotiations for the final drawing of the new borders in a forthcoming peace treaty. With the vital port firmly in Greek hands, all the other allies could hope for was a customs-free dock in the harbor.[6]

Greek lithography showing the surrender of Ioannina by Essat Pasha to Constantine I during the First Balkan War

In the meantime, operations in the Epirus front had stalled: against the rough terrain and Ottoman fortifications at Bizani, the small Greek force could not make any headway. With operations in Macedonia complete, Constantine transferred the bulk of his forces to Epirus, and assumed command. After lengthy preparations, the Greeks broke through the Ottoman defences in the Battle of Bizani and captured Ioannina and most of Epirus up into what is today southern Albania (Northern Epirus). These victories dispelled the tarnish of the 1897 defeat, and raised Constantine to great popularity with the Greek people.

Swearing-in ceremony of Constantine, 1913

George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki by an anarchist, Alexandros Schinas, on 18 March 1913, and Constantine succeeded to the throne. In the meantime, tensions between the Balkan allies grew, as Bulgaria claimed Greek and Serbian-occupied territory. In May, Greece and Serbia concluded a secret defensive pact aimed at Bulgaria. On 16 June, the Bulgarian army attacked their erstwhile allies, but were soon halted. King Constantine led the Greek Army in its counterattack in the battles of Kilkis-Lahanas and the Kresna Gorge. In the meantime the Bulgarian army had started to disintegrate: beset by defeat in the hands of Greeks and Serbs, they were suddenly faced by a Turkish counterattack with fresh Asian troops finally ready, while the Romanians advanced south, demanding Southern Dobrudja. Under attack on four fronts Bulgaria sued for peace, agreed to an armistice and entered into negotiations in Bucharest. On the initiative of Prime Minister Venizelos, Constantine was also awarded the rank and baton of a Field Marshal. His popularity was at its peak. He was the "winner over the Bulgarians", the King who under his military commandment, doubled the Greek territory.

The widely held view of Constantine I as a "German sympathizer" owes something to his marriage with Sophia of Prussia, sister of Wilhelm II, to his studies in Germany and his supposed "militaristic" beliefs and attitude.

Constantine did rebuff Kaiser Wilhelm who in 1914 pressed him to bring Greece into the war on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In their correspondence he told him that his sympathy was with Germany, but he would not join the war. Constantine then offended also the British and French by blocking popular efforts by Prime Minister Venizelos to bring Greece into the war on the side of the Allies.

Constantine's insistence on neutrality, according to him and his supporters, was based more on his judgement that it was the best policy for Greece, rather than venal self-interest or his German dynastic connections, as he was accused of by the Venizelists.

Admiral Mark Kerr, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Hellenic Navy in the early part of World War I and later Commander-in-Chief of the British Adriatic Squadron, supported the Allied cause, but was sympathetic to the King, personally. He wrote in 1920:

"The persecution of King Constantine by the press of the Allied countries, with some few good exceptions, has been one of the most tragic affairs since the Dreyfus case." [Abbott, G.F. (1922) 'Greece and the Allies 1914–1922']

Although Venizelos, with Allied support, forced Constantine to leave the throne in 1917, he remained popular with parts of the Greek people (as shown by the vote for his return in the December 1920 plebiscite), who saw the Allied actions as a violation of sovereignty of Greece.

King Constantine ("Tino") being torn between Britain and France on the one, and Kaiser Wilhelm, assisted by Ferdinand of Bulgaria, on the other. Satirical cartoon in the style of an ancient Greek vase, published in Punch in November 1915

In the aftermath of the victorious Balkan Wars, Greece was in a state of euphoria. Her territory and population had doubled with the massive liberation of Greeks from Ottoman rule and, under the dual leadership of Constantine and Venizelos, her future seemed bright. However Constantine had been ill with pleurisy since the Balkan wars and almost died during the summer of 1915.

This state of affairs was not to last, however. When World War I broke out, a dispute appeared between the king and the government about the responsibility for the external policy of the state in case of war.

Constantine was faced with the difficulty of determining where Greece's support lay. His first concern as King was for the welfare and security of Greece. He rejected the early appeal from Kaiser Wilhelm that Greece should march on the side of Germany and stated that Greece would remain neutral. Sophie, Constantine's queen, was popularly thought to support her brother Kaiser Wilhelm, but it seems that she was actually pro-British; like her father the late Kaiser Frederick, Sophie was influenced by her mother, the British-born Victoria. Venizelos was fervently pro-Entente, having established excellent rapport with the British and French, and was convinced that German aggression had caused the war and that the Allies would quickly win the war.

Both Venizelos and Constantine were keenly aware that a maritime country like Greece could not, and should not, antagonise the Entente, the dominant naval powers in the Mediterranean. Constantine settled on a policy of neutrality because it seemed the path that best assured that Greece would emerge from the World War intact and with the substantial territorial gains it had won in the recent Balkan Wars.

In January 1915, the Entente made proposals to both Bulgaria and Greece to side with it. Bulgaria would take eastern Macedonia from Greece (with Drama and Kavala), while Greece in exchange would gain land in Asia Minor from Turkey after the war. Venizelos agreed but Constantine rejected the proposal.

Constantine claimed his military judgement was right, after the outcome of the Allies' failed operation of landing on Gallipoli. Despite the popularity of Venizelos and his clear majority in Parliament for supporting the Allies, Constantine opposed Venizelos. Venizelos actually wanted Greece to participate at the Gallipoli operation, but after military objections by the General Staff (Ioannis Metaxas), the King rejected the idea.

In autumn 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and attacked Serbia, with which Greece had a treaty of alliance. Venizelos again urged the King to allow Greece's entry into the war. The Hellenic army was mobilized for defensive reasons, but Constantine claimed that the treaty had no value in case of a global war, but only of Balkan issues. Furthermore, he supported that according to the treaty, Serbia should mobilize 150,000 soldiers against Bulgaria, something that it could not do at that time.

The British then offered Cyprus to the Greek Kingdom to join the war, but Constantine rejected this offer as well. Venizelos permitted Entente forces to disembark in Thessaloniki (establishing so the Macedonian front) in aid of Serbia and in preparation for a common campaign over the King's objections. This action of Venizelos, which violated the country's neutrality, enraged the King who dismissed him for second time.

At the same time, Germany offered the protection and security of the Greek population of Turkey during and after the war, in exchange for Greece to remain neutral. Constantine was accused also by his Venizelist opponents for secret discussions and correspondence with the Central Powers.

In March 1916, in an effort to increase his prestige, Constantine declared the official annexation of Northern Epirus, which was controlled by the Greeks since 1914, but the Greek forces were driven from the area by the Italians and French during the next year.

In June 1916, Constantine, General Metaxas (the future dictator) and Prime Minister Skouloudis allowed Fort Rupel and parts of eastern Macedonia to be occupied, without opposition, by the Germans and Bulgarians, as a counter balance to the Allied forces in Thessaloniki. This caused popular anger,[7] especially in Greek Macedonia which now was facing the Bulgarian danger. The leadership of the Allied armies in Thessaloniki was worried also about a possible attack by the army of Constantine in their back.

In July 1916, arsonists set fire to the forest surrounding the summer palace at Tatoi. Although injured in the escape, the king and his family managed to flee to safety. The flames spread quickly in the dry summer heat, and sixteen people were killed.[8] Royal rumors connected the incident with actions by French agents, especially De Roquefeuil, who was in Athens since 1915, but it was never proven. A hunting of Venizelists followed in Athens.

In August 1916, a military coup broke out in Thessaloniki by Venizelist officers. There, Venizelos established a provisional revolutionary government, which created its own army and declared war on the Central Powers. With Allied support, the revolutionary government of Venizelos gained control of half the country – significantly, most of the "New Lands" won during the Balkan Wars. This cemented the National Schism, a division of Greek society between Venizelists and anti-Venizelist monarchists, which was to have repercussions in Greek politics until past World War II. Venizelos made a public call to the King to dismiss his "bad advisors", to join the war as King of all Greeks and stop being a politician. The royal governments of Constantine in Athens continued to negotiate with the Allies a possible entry in the war.

During November/December 1916, the British and French landed units at Athens claiming the surrender of war materiel equivalent to what was lost at Fort Rupel as a guarantee of Greece's neutrality. After days of tension, finally they met resistance by paramilitary (Epistratoi) and pro-royalist forces (during the Noemvriana events), that were commanded by officers Metaxas and Dousmanis. After an armed confrontation, the Allies evacuated the capital and recognized officially the government of Venizelos in Thessaloniki. Constantine so became the most hated person for the Allies after his best man Kaiser Wilhelm.

Early in 1917, the Venizelist Government of National Defence (based in Thessaloniki) took control of Thessaly.[7]

After the fall of the monarchy in Russia, Constantine lost his last supporter inside the Entente opposed to his removal from the throne. In the face of Venizelist and Anglo-French pressure, King Constantine finally left the country for Switzerland on 11 June 1917; his second-born son Alexander became king in his place. The Allied Powers were opposed to Constantine's first born son George becoming king, as he had served in the German army before the war and like his father was thought to be a Germanophile.[9]

From birth, Constantine was styled "His Royal Highness The Crown Prince (Diadochos) of Greece" until his accession to the throne. On the day of his baptism, his father issued a Royal Decree granting him the additional title of Duke of Sparta;[13] however, this title was used only outside of Greece.[14]