Eleutherios Venizelos, Greece (1864-1936)
Greek statesman and Prime Minister (1910-15, 1917-20, 1924, 1928-32, 1933), born in Mourniés, Crete, Greece. Venizelos was the leader of the Cretan movement against Turkish rule until the union of the island with Greece in 1905. He led the Liberal Party in the Cretan chamber of deputies and later as Prime Minister of Greece, he promoted the Balkan League against Turkey (1912) and Bulgaria (1913), thus extending the Greek kingdom.
His sympathies with France and Britain at the outbreak of World War I clashed with those of King Constantine I, and caused Venizelos to establish a provisional rival government at Salonika, and in 1917 forced the King's abdication. He served three times more as Prime Minister before retiring. In 1935 he came out of retirement to support a revolt against the monarchy, but it failed to win support and he eventually fled to Paris.