Greece
Eleftherios Venizelos
1864–1936 Prime Minister of Greece, 1910–1915 and 1917–1920; Greek representative at the Paris Peace Conference
Born in Crete under Ottoman rule, Venizelos trained as a lawyer, became a leader of the Cretan movement for union with Greece and in 1910 became Greece's prime minister. During the war he wanted Greece to join the Entente while King Constantine I favored neutrality; this National Schism led Venizelos to set up a Provisional Government of National Defence at Thessaloniki in 1916. After Constantine went into exile in June 1917, Venizelos returned to Athens and Greece joined the Allies. He represented Greece at the Paris Peace Conference and signed the Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920. Defeated in the elections of November 1920, he left for Paris, led the Greek delegation that signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and died in Paris on 18 March 1936.