Koumoundhoúros, Aléxandros

▪ prime minister of Greece

born 1814, Sélitsa, Greece, Ottoman Empire

died February 1883, Athens

      politician who was nine times prime minister of Greece between 1865 and 1882. He was known for his strong anti-Turkish policies.

      A native of the Peloponnese, Koumoundhoúros fought in the Cretan insurrection against the Turks (1841) and was elected to the Greek Chamber of Deputies in 1851, becoming its president in 1854. As a member of the moderate wing of the Constitutional Party, he was minister of finance in 1856–57 and 1859 and took part in the overthrow of the first Greek king, Otto, in 1862, serving in the interim government that was in power until the accession of King George I. He was prime minister three times between March 1865 and January 1868. After the Cretan insurrection of 1866 against Turkish rule, he refrained from direct intervention but attempted to make alliances with Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Egypt against Turkey. In 1867 he concluded an alliance with Serbia acknowledging the right of self-determination of the different nationalities in the Christian East.

      Urged by Great Britain, King George I dismissed Koumoundhoúros in January 1868 for mobilizing the Greek military after a new revolt broke out in Crete against the Turks. He still headed three governments between 1870 and 1877, advocating Greek intervention in the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and sending troops to aid insurgents in Turkish-occupied Thessaly and Macedonia. He was last appointed prime minister in October 1880. When Thessaly and the Arta (Árta) district of southern Epirus were awarded to Greece in May 1881, his government gained much popularity, but he was disappointed at being unable to annex the cities of Ioánnina (Janina) and Preveza too. Opposed by the new Thessalian deputies, he resigned in March 1882.

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