Constantine I of Greece

Constantine I was king of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. His neutrality policy during World War I brought him into conflict with Eleftherios Venizelos and divided the country.

Eleftherios Venizelos: A Greek statesman who served repeatedly as prime minister and led Greece during its expansion in the early twentieth century. Their rivalry over entering World War I split Greek political authority and society.
National Schism: The political and social division in Greece between royalists and Venizelists during and after World War I. Constantine’s refusal to enter the war alongside the Allies became its central dispute.
Greek monarchy: The hereditary institution that governed Greece as a kingdom from 1832 to 1973, with interruptions. Constantine’s reigns exposed the monarchy’s vulnerability to party conflict and military crisis.
Greek entry into World War I: Greece’s participation in World War I on the Allied side, beginning in 1917. It contrasts Venizelos’s interventionist policy with Constantine’s effort to preserve neutrality.
Sophia of Prussia: Queen consort of Greece and sister of German emperor Wilhelm II. Her family ties to Germany intensified suspicion that Constantine favored the Central Powers.
Greek Constitution of 1911: The constitutional framework revised under Eleftherios Venizelos’s government in 1911. Disputes over whether the king could dismiss parliament shaped the constitutional crisis.
Greek general election, 1920: The Greek parliamentary election of November 1920, won by the royalist opposition to Venizelos. Its result enabled Constantine’s return despite Allied opposition.
Venizelism: The political movement associated with Eleftherios Venizelos, advocating liberal reforms and an active foreign policy. Its program opposed royalist authority and Constantine’s wartime stance.
Alexander of Greece: King of Greece from 1917 until his death in 1920, during his father Constantine’s exile. The Allies backed his accession after Constantine was forced to leave Greece.
Allied intervention in Greece: The diplomatic and military pressure exerted by the Entente powers on Greece during World War I. The Allies used blockades and political pressure against Constantine’s neutrality.

Linked from 11 pages