Eleftherios Venizelos

The Schism that constituted probably the most fundamental defining point of the inter-war period was consequent to and the culmination of the clashes of the previous period. The figures of King George II and Eleftherios Venizelos embodied the two opposing poles of the period.

For the great Cretan politician, the new situation after 1922 decisively contributed to the formation of a more conservative political policy. His intervention in public life took on many forms: suggestions for economic reconstruction, the orientation of Greek diplomacy towards the new world agendas and participation in every kind of political agitation (the military coups of 1933 and 1935). It becomes clear that both during his active participation in public affairs (government 1928-32), and also during his periods of absence, his influence and idiom had left their mark on the political life of the country as no other constitutional factor had ever done.