King Constantine I (1868-1923) (German Field Marshal uniform)

Constantine I king of the Hellenes; Athens, Greece; August 2, 1868 Palermo, Italy; January 11, 1923), king of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was the eldest of the eight sons of King George I and his wife Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova of Russia.

In 1882 Constantine entered the Hellenic Military Academy. After graduating, Constantine continued his military education in the German Imperial Army in Berlin. Subsequently he studied higher education in several German universities. In 1889 he married Sophia of Prussia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1890, he returned to Greece continuing his military career.

In March 1897, the first Greek-Turkish war broke out, also called the Thirty Days War. Constantine newly appointed Commander in Chief of the Greek army, penetrates Ottoman territory with the intention of invading Macedonia. The General Staff does not have any invasion plan. The troops with little preparation and little material are losing the war that ends in the first days of May. Despite the support of the European powers in the peace negotiations of December 1897, the consequences of the defeat are very serious for Greece. The crown prince (Diádoco) loses his status as commander-in-chief of the army.

In October 1912, Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire. A few days later, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece do the same: it is the beginning of the First Balkan War. Constantine assumes the command of the army of the Northeast, that fights in Thessaly and in Macedonia, allied with the army of Bulgaria. After several victorious combats, the Greek army besieged the capital of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, forcing the Ottoman forces in command of the city to surrender in November 1912. Constantine enters victorious in Thessaloniki acclaimed by the population.

A few months later, in March 1913, King George I, father of Constantine, died assassinated by the anarchist Alexandros Schinas acceding to the Greek throne as King Constantine I.

Despite his kinship with Kaiser Wilhelm II and holding the rank of field marshal of the German army, Constantine was determined to keep Greece neutral after the outbreak of World War I, while Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos backed the cause Allied The allied occupation of Thessalonica (October 1915), the formation by Venizelos of a separate pro-ally government (October 1916) and an allied demand for his abdication finally forced Constantine to hand over power to his second son, Alexander, the June 12, 1917. Without renouncing, however, its right holder. After the death of Alexander and the fall of the power of Venizelos (1920), Constantine returned from exile by a plebiscite. He had to follow the anti-Turkish policy of Venizelos, which led to a catastrophic war in Anatolia in 1922. A military revolt cost him the throne for the second time, resigning on September 27, 1922 in favor of his eldest son, who He became King George II.

Constantine I was exiled in Italy, dying a few months, on January 11, 1923, in the Sicilian city of Palermo.

We have represented Constantino I in German Field Marshals uniform, in maneuvers in 1913. The figure wears the blue frock coat -Úberrock- of the Prussian cavalry officers, faced and piped in red. The Pickelhaube leather helmet has the shield and all accessories in metal. The dark blue breeches bear the usual Lampassen -double strip- in red. The braided thread belt in silver color. The shoulder pads show two crossed silver-metal batons that correspond to the rank of field marshal, and he carries the undress baton. You can see the black armband of mourning for death of his father.