DELYANNI, THEODOROS (1826-1905)

This article appears in Volume V07, Page 979 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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DELYANNI, THEODOROS (1826-1905) , Greek statesman, was born at Kalavryta, Peloponnesus, in 1826. He studied law at Athens, and in 1843 entered the ministry of the interior, of which department he became permanent secretary in 1859. In 1862, on the deposition of King

Otho

OTHO, MARCUS SALVIUS (32-69)

, he became minister for foreign affairs in the provisional government. In 1867 he was minister at Paris. On his return to Athens he became a member of successive cabinets in various capacities, and rapidly collected a party around him consisting of those who opposed his

great

GREAT

rival, Tricoupi. In the so-called "

Oecumenical

OECUMENICAL (through the Lat. from Gr. oiKOVµevI.KOS, universal, belonging to the whole inhabited world, i] oiKovµtvf sc. y;7, aides, to dwell)

Ministry " of 1877 he voted for war with Turkey, and on its fall he entered the cabinet of Koumoundoros as minister for foreign affairs. He was a representative of

Greece

GREECE

at the Berlin Congress in 1878. From this time forward, and particularly after 1882, when Tricoupi again came into power at the head of a strong party, the duel between these two statesmen was the leading feature of Greek politics. (See

GREECE

GREECE

: History.) Delyanni first formed a cabinet in 1885; but his warlike policy, the aim of which was, by threatening Turkey, to force the

powers

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

to make concessions in order to avoid the

risk

RISK

of a European war, ended in failure. For the

powers

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

, in order to stop his excessive armaments, eventually blockaded the Peiraeus and other ports, and this brought about his downfall. He returned to power in 189o, with a radical programme, but his failure to deal with the

financial

FINANCIAL

crisis produced a conflict between him and the king, and his disrespectful attitude resulted in his summary dismissal in 1892. Delyanni, by his demagogic behaviour, evidently expected the public to side with him; but at the elections he was badly beaten. In 1895, however, he again became prime minister, and was at the head of affairs during the Cretan crisis and the opening of the war with Turkey in 1897. The humiliating defeat which ensued though Delyanni himself had been led into the disastrous war policy to some extent against his willcaused his fall in

April

APRIL

1897, the king again dismissing him from office when he declined to resign. Delyanni kept his own seat at the election of 1899, but his following dwindled to small dimensions. He quickly recovered his

influence

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

, however, and he was again president of the council and minister of the interior when, on the 13th of June 1905, he was murdered in revenge for the rigorous

measures

MEASURES

taken by him against gambling houses.
The main fault of Delyanni as a statesman was that he was unable to grasp the truth that the prosperity of a state depends on its adapting its ambitions to its means. Yet, in his vast projects, which the powers were never likely to endorse, and without their endorsement were vain, he represented the real wishes and aspirations of his countrymen, and his death was the occasion for an extraordinary demonstration of popular grief. He died in extreme poverty, and a pension was voted to the two nieces who lived with him.

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