Goudi coup

The Goudi coup (Greek: κίνημα στο Γουδί, romanized: kinima sto Goudi) was a military coup d'état by a group of military officers that took place on the night of 28 August [O.S. 15 August] 1909, at the barracks in Goudi, located on the eastern outskirts of Athens, Greece. The coup was pivotal in modern Greek history, ending the old political system and ushering in a new period for Greece.

The coup occurred under simmering tensions in Greek society, which reeled under the effects of a lack of necessary reforms and financial troubles that had been exacerbated by the defeat in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Emulating the Young Turks, several junior army officers founded a secret society, the Military League. With Colonel Nikolaos Zorbas as their figurehead, on the night of 15 August, the Military League, having gathered together its troops in the Goudi barracks, issued a pronunciamiento to the government, demanding an immediate turnaround for the country and its armed forces.

King George I gave in and replaced Prime Minister Dimitrios Rallis with Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis, without, however, satisfying the insurgents, who resorted to a large public demonstration the following month. When a stalemate was reached, the coup leaders appealed to a new and providential figure, the Cretan Eleftherios Venizelos, who respected democratic norms in calling for new elections. After his allies' twin victories in the Hellenic Parliament in August and November 1910, Venizelos became prime minister and proceeded to enact numerous social and military reforms, including those demanded by the coup's instigators. In the following years, Venizelos' popular leadership dominated the Greek discourse and eventually challenged the institution of monarchy. Henceforth and for several decades, Greek political life was dominated by two opposing forces: Venizelism, characterized by liberal and republican ideals, and its opposite, anti-Venizelism, characterized by conservative and pro-monarchy ideals.