Alexandros Papanastasiou (8 July 1876–17 November 1936) was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister.

Early years

Papanastasiou was the son of Member of Parliament Panagiotis Papanastasiou. He spent part of his childhood in Kalamata

Kalamata

Kalamata is the second-largest city of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The capital and chief port of the Messenia prefecture, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf...

 (1876–1883) and Piraeus

Piraeus

Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

 (1883–1889). He studied law in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...

(1895–1898),earning his doctorate in 1899 and a licence in 1901. From 1901-1905 he studied social science, law and philosophy in the Humboldt University of Berlin

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

 (at that time "Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität") and the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is a public research university located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386, it is the oldest university in Germany and was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidelberg has been a coeducational institution...

. In 1905 he goes to London, later on to Paris, continuing with his studies until 1907, when he decides to return to Greece.

Political career

In 1910, Papanastasiou was elected for the first time to the Hellenic Parliament

Hellenic Parliament

The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....

. He fought for agrarian reform in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

 seeking to break up the big farms that existed there since the rule of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 and redistribute them to the local farmers. In 1916, he joined the "National Defence" movement

Movement of National Defence

The Movement of National Defence was an uprising by Venizelist officers of the Hellenic Army in Thessaloniki in August 1916 against the royal government in Athens. It led to the establishment of a separate, Venizelist Greek government in the north of the country, which entered the First World...

 of Eleftherios Venizelos

Eleftherios Venizelos

Eleftherios Venizelos was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century. Elected several times as Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932...

 in Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

 which sought to bring Greece at the side of the Allies of World War I

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

. He was rewarded with the governorship of the Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...

.

Interwar years

After World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Papanastasiou took part in several Venizelos governments as Minister of Transportation, Minister of National Health and Interior Minister. When Venizelos lost the 1920 elections

Greek legislative election, 1920

The legislative elections of 1920 were probably the most crucial elections in the modern history of Greece, influencing not only the few years afterwards, including Greece's defeat by Kemal Atatürk's reformed Turkish army in 1922, but setting the stage for Greece's political landscape for most of...

, he remained in Greece and criticised the People's Party

People's Party (Greece)

The People's Party of Greece was a conservative and pro-monarchist political party founded by Dimitrios Gounaris, the main political rival of Eleftherios Venizelos and his Liberal Party. The party existed from 1920 until 1958....

 governments under the successive Prime Ministers Dimitrios Rallis

Dimitrios Rallis

Dimitrios Rallis was a Greek politician. Rallis was elected to Parliament in 1872 and always represented the same Athenian constituency. He became Minister in several governments and served as Prime Minister five times...

, Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos

Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos

Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos was a Greek politician and briefly Prime Minister of Greece.Kalogeropoulos was born in Chalkida, Euboea, and studied law in Athens and Paris. He was elected a Member of the Hellenic Parliament a total of ten times representing Euboea and served as minister in several...

, Dimitrios Gounaris

Dimitrios Gounaris

Dimitrios Gounaris was the Prime Minister of Greece from March 10, 1915 to August 23, 1915 and April 8, 1921 to May 16, 1922...

, Nikolaos Stratos

Nikolaos Stratos

Nikolaos Stratos was a Prime Minister of Greece for a few days in May, 1922. He was later tried and executed for his role in the Catastrophe of 1922.-Early political career:...

 and Petros Protopapadakis

Petros Protopapadakis

-Life and work:Born in 1854 in Apeiranthos, Naxos, Protopapadakis studied mathematics and engineering in Paris but was keenly interested in politics. He was a professor at the Scholi Evelpidon, the military academy of Greece....

 for their mishandling of the ongoing Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922

Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)

The Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign or the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, was a series of military events occurring during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May...

.

Democratic Manifesto

Along with others, he published a document entitled "The Democratic Manifesto" which criticised the Monarchy, stating that Greece "...is the creation of the spirit, labour and struggles of her children. It is not the property of Royalty and no part of Greece can be sacrificed for the sake of personal interests of her monarch". For the publication of this manifesto, Papanastasiou was imprisoned along with the other signatories.

Post Asia-Minor expedition

When the People's Party government collapsed, following the Asia Minor Disaster, Papanastasiou formed a government which, at his insistence, on March 25, 1924, proclaimed a Republic. The issue was submitted to a plebiscite with the voters approving the abolition of the monarchy on April 13, 1924. During his term of office, Papanastasiou also made proposals for the establishment of the University of Thessaloniki, the recognition of the common, demotic Modern Greek

Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...

 language, the establishment of adult education centres, etc.

From 1926 until 1928, he was Minister of Agriculture and was instrumental in the establishment of the Agrarian Bank of Greece.

Papanastasiou briefly served as Prime Minister once more between May and June 1932. In 1936, he was placed under house arrest by the government of Ioannis Metaxas

Ioannis Metaxas

Ioannis Metaxas was a Greek general, politician, and dictator, serving as Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941...

.

Papanastasiou died of a heart attack on November 17, 1936.