Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos

Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos (Θρασύβουλος Τσακαλώτος, 3 April 1897, Preveza, Ottoman Empire – 15 August 1989, Athens), was a Hellenic Army officer who served in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 and World War II, rising to become Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff.

Tsakalotos was born in Preveza in 1897. He entered the Hellenic Army Academy in 1913 and graduated from it as an Infantry 2nd Lieutenant in 1916. He fought at the Macedonian Front of World War I as well as in Anatolia against the Turks, being promoted to Lieutenant in 1917 and Captain in 1920. In the interwar period he held various staff appointments and commands, as well as a teaching post in the War Academy. He was promoted to Major in 1924, Lt Colonel in 1930 and Colonel in 1938.

During the Greco-Italian War, he commanded the 3/40 Evzone Regiment, until he was appointed Chief of Staff of II Army Corps on 22 March 1941, shortly before the German attack and occupation of Greece. In 1942, he managed to escape the country and reach Egypt, where the Greek government in exile resided. There he was placed in charge of the Ismaïlia training centre, before assuming command of the newly formed 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade in April 1944. He led his brigade during the Gothic Line offensive in Italy, including the Battle of Rimini, and then in the Dekemvriana clashes with the pro-Communist EAM-ELAS in Athens in December 1944.

In March 1945 he was appointed CO of the 2nd Infantry Division. In the next year he was placed as the head of the Supreme War Academy and promoted to Major General. In 1947, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff. In 1948 he was promoted to Lt General and given command of I Army Corps and then II Army Corps, from which position he contributed to the victory of the Hellenic Army in the Greek Civil War. From May 1951 he served as Chief of the Army General Staff, resigning the post in November 1952. In 1957–1960, Tsakalotos also served as Greece's ambassador in Yugoslavia. Following the Metapolitefsi of 1974, Tsakalotos became a supporter of Andreas Papandreou and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK); in the elections of 1985 he published a statement encouraging people to vote for PASOK and saying that he felt Andreas was like a brother to him. (Avriani, May 1985)

On 23 March 1984, as a symbolic gesture of reconciliation and healing of the divisions caused by the Civil War, Tsakalotos publicly met and shook hands with his erstwhile adversary, Markos Vafiades, the commander of the Communist forces.

Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos died in Athens on 15 August 1989.