View source for Dimitrios Gounaris

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Short description|Greek politician (1867–1922)}}
{{Expand Greek|topic=bio|Δημήτριος Γούναρης|fa=yes|date=March 2009}}
{{Infobox Prime Minister
| name                = Dimitrios Gounaris
| image               = Dimitrios_Gounaris.jpg
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Greece]]
| order               = 
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{Lang|el|Δημήτριος Γούναρης}}}}
| native_name_lang    = el
| monarch1            = Constantine I
| termstart1          = 25 February 1915
| termend1            = 10 August 1915
| predecessor1        = [[Eleftherios Venizelos]]
| successor1          = Eleftherios Venizelos
| monarch             = [[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine I]]
| termstart           = 26 March 1921
| termend             = 3 May 1922
| predecessor         = [[Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos]]
| successor           = [[Nikolaos Stratos]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1867|01|05|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Patras]], Kingdom of Greece
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1922|11|28|1867|01|05|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Goudi]], Athens, {{avoid wrap|Kingdom of Greece}}
| death_cause         = [[Trial of the Six|Execution by firing squad]]
| party               = [[People's Party (Greece)|People's Party]]
| caption             = Gounaris {{c.|1915}}
}}
'''Dimitrios Gounaris''' ({{Langx|el|Δημήτριος Γούναρης}}; 5 January 1867 &ndash; 28 November 1922) was a Greek politician who served as the [[prime minister of Greece]] from 25 February to 10 August 1915 and 26 March 1921 to 3 May 1922. The leader of the [[People's Party (Greece)|People's Party]], he was the main right-wing opponent of his contemporary [[Eleftherios Venizelos]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Arvanitopoulos |first1=Constantine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfICfT59cWwC&pg=PA124 |title=The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy Yearbook 2010 |last2=Botsiou |first2=Konstantina E. |date=19 May 2010 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-12374-0 |pages=124 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Ruiz |first1=Blanca Rodriguez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KIMwdbG0EcC&pg=PA443 |title=The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe: Voting to Become Citizens |last2=Rubio-Marín |first2=Ruth |date=7 June 2012 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-22425-4 |pages=443 |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
He studied law at [[Athens University]] and continued his studies in Germany, France and England,<ref name="NatBio">{{cite book |last1=Keridis |first1=Dimitris |title=Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810863125 |pages=79–80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ERJI1jLruQC&q=dimitrios+gounaris&pg=PA79 |access-date=30 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref> before returning to his native [[Patras]]. He was elected deputy for [[Achaea]] in 1902 and distinguished himself as an orator and a member of the so-called "[[Japanese Group]]"<ref name="NatBio"/> that opposed the [[Georgios Theotokis]] government in 1906–1908. Gounaris himself, however, joined the government in 1908 as Finance Minister, hoping to implement a reformist program,<ref name="NatBio"/> thereby causing the dissolution of the group, although he was soon forced to resign.<ref name="Enemy">{{cite book |last1=Dalby |first1=Andrew |title=Eleftherios Venizelos: Greece |date=2011 |publisher=Haus Publishing |isbn=9781907822339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVcrDwAAQBAJ&q=dimitrios+gounaris |access-date=1 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Despite his progressive views (he was an admirer of the [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]]ian German social laws), his conservative political thinking turned him into a leading opponent of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]].<ref name="JSTOR1">{{cite journal |last1=Mazower |first1=Mark |title=The Messiah and the Bourgeoisie: Venizelos and Politics in Greece, 1909- 1912 |journal=The Historical Journal |date=1992 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=893–895 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00026200 |issn=0018-246X|jstor=2639443 |s2cid=154495315 }}</ref>

==First premiership==
He was appointed [[List of Prime Ministers of Greece|Prime Minister]] after Venizelos' first resignation in 1915 by [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine I]].<ref name="Enemy"/> For his anti-Venizelist, pro-neutrality role he was exiled with other prominent anti-Venizelists to [[Corsica]] in 1917 after Venizelos' return to power in [[Athens]].<ref name="Enemy"/> He managed to escape to [[Sardinia]], Italy, in 1918, but was able to return to Greece only in 1920, as to partake in the crucial November elections as the ''de facto'' leader of the "United Opposition",<ref name="Migrate">{{cite book |last1=Dragostinova |first1=Theodora K. |title=Between Two Motherlands: Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900–1949 |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801461163 |pages=134, 141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUjV1Fd3W8oC&q=dimitrios+gounaris&pg=PA134 |access-date=1 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref> amidst the ongoing [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War]].

==Second premiership and war against Turkey==
[[File:Greek government and military leaders, Asia Minor June 1921.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.09|Gounaris with officers in [[Asia Minor]], 1921]]

After Venizelos' defeat, Gounaris controlled most deputies in the parliament, and was the main driving force of the following royalist governments,<ref name="Migrate"/> but himself only assumed the office of Prime Minister in March 1921. Although he was willing to compromise with the Turks, as he showed in the London talks in early 1921, in order to step up pressure on the [[Kemalism|Kemalist]] Turks, he agreed to the launch of the Greek offensive of March 1921. The Greek Army was not prepared, and the attack was repulsed in the [[Second Battle of İnönü]], resulting in the first Greek defeat in the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greco-Turkish War]]. After the successful Greek advance towards [[Eskişehir]] and [[Afyonkarahisar|Afyon]] in July, he urged the continuation of the advance towards [[Ankara]],<ref name="Migrate"/> which was however stopped in the [[Battle of Sakarya]]. After the Greeks retreated to form a new front, he appealed to the Allies, and especially to the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], for assistance and mediation. 

Although Gounaris threatened the British with unilateral withdrawal, his government maintained the Greek Army's positions, not being able to shoulder the political cost of abandoning Asia Minor and the many Greeks living there to Turkish reprisals. The deepening political crisis caused the fall of Gounaris' government in May 1922, after marginally surviving a vote of confidence, but the predominance of his followers in the National Assembly meant that he only exchanged the post of Prime Minister with that of Justice Minister in the government of [[Petros Protopapadakis]].<ref name="Justice">{{cite book |last1=Laughland |first1=John |title=A history of political trials: from Charles I to Saddam Hussein |date=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9781906165055 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qaPAAAAMAAJ&q=dimitrios+gounaris |access-date=1 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

==Trial, execution and legacy==
{{Conservatism in Greece sidebar|Politicians}}
After the disaster of August 1922 and the rout of the Greeks by [[Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]]'s forces, the remnants of the Greek Army revolted in September, and the government was deposed. The predominantly [[Venizelism|Venizelist]] rebels, under the leadership of Colonel [[Nikolaos Plastiras]], formed a military tribunal to try those that were considered as responsible for the catastrophe. The so-called "[[Trial of the Six]]", convened in November 1922, found the defendants, Gounaris among them, guilty of treason. He was executed along with the others at [[Goudi]] on the same day of the verdict, on 28 November.<ref name=":0" /> Although Gounaris undoubtedly bears a measure of responsibility for the military and diplomatic actions that led to the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–22)| Greek defeat in 1922]], his trial and execution are widely perceived<ref>{{cite book |last1=Δάφνης |first1=Γρηγόριος |title=Η Ελλάς μεταξύ δύο πολέμων |date=1997 |publisher=Κάκτος |location=Αθήνα |page=21 }}</ref> to be more an act of [[scapegoating]] in order to vent the anger of the people, as well as being mostly motivated by the hatred of the Venizelist faction towards him.<ref name="Death">{{cite book |last1=Clogg |first1=Richard |title=A Concise History of Greece |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521004794 |pages=98–100 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5pyUIY4THYC&q=dimitrios+gounaris&pg=PA98 |access-date=30 September 2019 |language=en |chapter=4: Catastrophe and occupation and their consequences}}</ref> In 2010, the Supreme Court of Greece overturned convictions of Gounaris and other defendants.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/greek-court-clears-executed-men/26691675.html |title=Greek court clears executed men |publisher=Irish Independent |date=21 October 2010 |access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref>

Gounaris together with some conservative politicians were the first to propose amendment to the [[Greek Constitution of 1911|Greek Constitution]] to allow ''[[women's suffrage]]'' rights. The amendment ultimately failed to pass.<ref name=":1" /> Gounaris was the uncle of [[Panagiotis Kanellopoulos]].<ref name="Nephew">{{cite book |last1=Alikaniotis |first1=Dion P. |title=Η πολιτική και κοινωνική Ιδεολογία του Δημητρίου Γούναρη |date=2009 |location=Athens |page=301}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[History of Modern Greece]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Greece]]|before=[[Eleftherios Venizelos]]|after=[[Eleftherios Venizelos]]|years=25 February 1915 – 10 August 1915}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Greece]]|before=[[Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos]]|after=[[Nikolaos Stratos]]|years=26 March 1921 – 3 May 1922}}
{{S-end}}

{{Heads of government of Greece}}
{{Foreign Ministers of Greece}}
{{Interior Ministers of Greece}}
{{Greece during World War I}}
{{Monarchism in Greece}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gounaris, Dimitrios}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Greece]]
[[Category:MPs of Patras]]
[[Category:National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century Greek lawyers]]
[[Category:People's Party (Greece) politicians]]
[[Category:Ministers of military affairs of Greece]]
[[Category:Greek exiles]]
[[Category:Greek monarchists]]
[[Category:Conservatism in Greece]]
[[Category:Greek people of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)]]
[[Category:People executed for treason against Greece]]
[[Category:People executed by Greece by firing squad]]
[[Category:Executed prime ministers]]
[[Category:Finance ministers of Greece]]
[[Category:Ministers of the interior of Greece]]
[[Category:Justice ministers of Greece]]
[[Category:Politicians from Patras]]
[[Category:Greek Freemasons]]
[[Category:Overturned convictions]]