1935 Greek coup d'état attempt

The attempted coup d'état of March 1935 (Greek: Κίνημα του 1935) was a Venizelist revolt against the People's Party government of Panagis Tsaldaris, which was suspected of pro-royalist tendencies.

The coup was headed by Nikolaos Plastiras, and broke out on 1 March 1935, but failed to establish itself in Athens and most of mainland Greece. The government quickly reacted, and loyal forces under the leadership of General Georgios Kondylis put the revolt down by March 11, when Venizelos himself was forced to flee Greece. In the coup's aftermath, a military tribunal was set up, which purged the Armed Forces of Venizelist and Republican officers, and ordered the execution of two prominent Venizelist generals, Anastasios Papoulas and Miltiadis Koimisis, and major Stamatis Volanis on April 24. Venizelos and Plastiras likewise were condemned to death in absentia. In the political sphere, the failure of the revolt marked the triumph of anti-Venizelist forces, and actually quickened the collapse of the fragile Second Hellenic Republic. Its final death blow was given in October, when the Armed Forces overthrew the government in a coup and Kondylis declared himself regent for the restored monarchy.

The coup was the resultant of conspiratorial actions of various circles and organizations of the venizelist faction, who aimed to the deterrence of the restoration of the crowned democracy. Behind this goal was the desire of the venizelists officers, who were dismissed, to return to the army and proceed into radical purges of the dissidents as well as the pursuit of the policies of the same party to return to power.

The concerns of the venizelists for the future of the democracy were perhaps not entirely justified because, despite all the challenges of the royal fanatics, the regime was not seriously in danger, much less even by fanatical enemies, who were a powerless minority. The People’s Party, which housed the majority of the old royalists, had recognized in 1932 the republic and had undertaken to work in the framework of this regime. Although the leadership and the press refused to renounce crowned democracy, their refusal was related probably to the reasonable desire not to cause a portion of their voters rather than by their fanatical devotion to the royal institution.

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