In the early 20th century, King George sent his fourth son,
Prince Andreas,
at the Evelpidon Military Academy in Athens, where he served as commander, the future leader of the revolution, who brought Venizelos to Greece,
Nikolaos Zorbas
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According to Zorba, then, the palace pressured him to promote the incompetent Andreas,
something that Zorbas categorically denied
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in the 1920 elections, when the united opposition prevailed,
Their very first, indeed their very first, act was to bring the royal family back from exile.
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Prince Andreas is immediately appointed commander of a division
in Asia Minor
and then promoted him to lieutenant general
and takes command of the Second Army Corps
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That was when they removed almost all the senior and top-ranking officers because they were Venizelists
and
in their place
They were appointed because they were loyal to the king
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In August 1921, at the Battle of Sangarius, General Papoulas,
ordered the Second Army Corps, commanded by Prince Andreas, to advance…
He was planning to encircle Kemal's forces and wipe them out
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Prince Andreas, however, has a different opinion.
Without Papoulas' approval, he abandoned the positions he had held and ordered the Second Army Corps to retreat,
allowing Kemal to retreat easily and escape
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Following a new order from Papoulas, Prince Andreas finally complied.
He called off the partial redeployment of forces that had already begun, but did not carry out the attack.
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If the plan had succeeded, Kemal’s army would have been defeated right then and there, and the War of Asia Minor would have ended in a Greek victory
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Immediately afterward,
During the heroic battle of Kale Grotto, the following incredible incident took place:
Plastiras's soldiers were scaling Kale Grotto, suffering heavy casualties.
They set up their dead as sentries and go into battle.
But eventually they run out.
Plastiras requests reinforcements, and Colonel Fragou asks the division commander, Prince Andreas, to commit the reserves to the battle.
The division commander’s aide-de-camp, General Gonatas, steps out of the division commander’s tent and replies to the messenger:
The general is asleep; I can't wake him up.
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After all this, Lieutenant General Papoulas stripped him of his command
of the Second Army Corps,
due to incompetence and obvious inadequacy.
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Prince Andreas, as if nothing were wrong, returns to Smyrna and goes about his business
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indeed,
on December 21, 1921,
He sends a letter from Smyrna to Greece to his friend Ioannis Metaxas, in which he says, among other things:
(my own free translation from Katharevousa, which I love)
«The Greeks here are truly awful, with very few exceptions.".
Venizelism is widespread, even as of December 15
(Feast of Saint Eleftherios, Venizelos's name)
Almost all the stores had closed.
It would indeed be worth handing Smyrna over to Kemal so he could slaughter all those scoundrels,
»This is how they treat us, even after all the blood we've shed here."
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after the destruction and execution of the ex,
Prince Andreas is tried separately and sentenced to death.
However, the sentence is not carried out.
Following pressure from the English captain Talbot
General Pagkalos intervenes, and the sentence is commuted to life exile from Greece.
So Talbot takes him, and they leave Greece
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In 1931, his wife Aliki fell into a depression.
They are admitting her to a clinic in Switzerland.
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Within seven months, all four of his daughters get married and leave home.
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Prince Andreas moves permanently to Monte Carlo, where he enjoys life with his mistresses.
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His son, young Philip, wanders from family to family and from house to house.
Andreas doesn't even care about his son, who goes from house to house.
Champagne, gambling, and mistresses take priority
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In the end, Andreas died in Monte Carlo in a hotel room, on this day in 1944,
died of a heart attack
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The Glücksburg dynasty has brought nothing but misery and destruction to this land
and nothing good….
