{{Short description|Greek soldier and politician (1871–1946)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Georgios Kakoulidis | image = File:Georgios Kakoulidis Thessaloniki.jpg | caption = Kakoulidis in Thessaloniki during the Macedonian Struggle | native_name = Γεώργιος Κακουλίδης | birth_date = {{OldStyleDate|22 May|1871|10 May{{Greece Old Style dating}}}} | death_date = 30 May 1946 | birth_place = Athens, Kingdom of Greece | death_place = Mykonos, Kingdom of Greece | nickname = Kapetan Dragas<br>{{small|Καπετάν Δράγας}} | allegiance = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} Kingdom of Greece<br>{{flagicon|Russia}} Russian Empire<br>{{Flagicon|Greece|old}} Provisional Government of National Defence | branch = 25px Royal Hellenic Navy<br>{{navy|Russian Empire}} (on secondment) | rank = 15px Vice Admiral | commands = Niki<br>Pineios<br>Evrotas<br>Sfendoni<br>Hydra<br>Panthir<br>Ierax<br>Averof<br>Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff | service_years = 1890–1921 | awards = 30px War Cross | alma_mater = Hellenic Naval Academy | battles = {{tree list}} *Greco-Turkish War (1897) *Macedonian Struggle *Balkan Wars **First Balkan War ***Battle of Elli ***Battle of Lemnos **Second Balkan War *World War I **Mediterranean Theatre *Russian Civil War **Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War ***Southern Front ****Southern Russia Intervention *Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) **Occupation of Constantinople {{tree list/end}} | party = Liberal Party | term_end = 1929 | term_start = 1928 | prime_minister = Eleftherios Venizelos<br>Konstantinos Demertzis<br>Ioannis Metaxas | president = Pavlos Kountouriotis | office1 = Senator | office2 = Minister Governor General of Thrace | term_start1 = 1929 | term_end1 = 1935 | term_end2 = 1930 | term_start2 = 1929 | term = 1936 | prime_minister1 = Eleftherios Venizelos | prime_minister2 = Eleftherios Venizelos | president1 = Pavlos Kountouriotis<br>Alexandros Zaimis | president2 = Pavlos Kountouriotis<br>Alexandros Zaimis | monarch = George II | riding = Kozani Prefecture }}
'''Georgios Kakoulidis''' ({{langx|el|Γεώργιος Κακουλίδης}}; 10/22 May 1871 – 30 May 1946) was a Hellenic Navy officer, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff, and later became a politician.
==Military career== He was born in Athens on 10 May 1871,<ref name="PN">{{cite web | url = https://www.hellenicnavy.gr/el/viografika/206-2015-03-23-19-16-51/1029-kakulidis,-georyos.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200811075918/https://www.hellenicnavy.gr/el/viografika/206-2015-03-23-19-16-51/1029-kakulidis,-georyos.html | archive-date = 11 August 2020 | title = Διατελέσαντες Αρχηγοί ΓΕΝ: Κακουλίδης, Γεώργιος | publisher = Hellenic Navy | language = Greek}}</ref> entered the Hellenic Naval Academy on 23 July 1886, and graduated as a line ensign of the Royal Hellenic Navy on 8 August 1890.<ref name="PN"/><ref name="MilEnc">{{Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia | volume =4 | entry = Κακουλίδης Γεώργιος | page = 17}}</ref>
He specialized in naval artillery,<ref name="PN"/> and repeatedly served on ships of the Imperial Russian Navy for further education.<ref name="MilEnc"/> His first tenure abroad was in 1894–1897, during which he was promoted to sub-lieutenant, on 26 May 1895.<ref name="PN"/> He then participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 aboard the ironclad warship ''Psara''.<ref name="PN"/> Promoted to lieutenant on 24 March 1899, he left for another tour abroad in 1900–1902, followed by a stint as professor in the Navy Academy in 1903–1904.<ref name="PN"/>
He took part in the clandestine Macedonian Struggle, initially taking the guise of an animal trader called Christidis, in the area of Serres, but later taking command of his own armed band, with the ''nom de guerre'' of '''Kapetan Dragas''' (Καπετάν Δράγας).<ref name="PN"/> In 1907–08 he served abroad. In October 1909, he participated in the abortive coup of Lieutenant Konstantinos Typaldos-Alfonsatos.<ref name="PN"/> Promoted to lieutenant commander on 29 March 1910, he then commanded the destroyer ''Niki'' (1910), the gunboats {{ill|Greek gunboat Pineios|el|Πηνειός Ι (ατμομυοδρόμων)|lt=''Pineios''}} and {{ill|Greek gunboat Evrotas|el|Ευρώτας Ι (ατμομυοδρόμων)|lt=''Evrotas''}} (1910–11), and the destroyer ''Sfendoni'' (1911–12).<ref name="PN"/>
During the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, he served as first officer of the ironclad ''Hydra'', taking part in the battles of Elli and Lemnos against the Ottoman navy, as well as the occupation of the islands of the eastern Aegean: Lemnos, Lesbos, and Thasos.<ref name="PN"/> He also took part in the mission of blockading the Ottoman cruiser ''Hamidiye'' in the Red Sea in April–May 1913.<ref name="PN"/>
Promoted to commander on 2 June 1913, he served as commander of the destroyers ''Panthir'' (1913–14) and ''Ierax'' (1914–15), while also serving as flotilla commodore of the four "Wild Beast"-class destroyers. On 7 February 1915, he was promoted to captain.<ref name="PN"/> In 1915, he briefly served as head of the Harbor Authorities Inspectorate.<ref name="PN"/>
During the National Schism, he supported Eleftherios Venizelos against the royal government in Athens. When the latter declared his "Provisional Government of National Defence" in Thessaloniki, on 11 November 1916, Kakoulidis with ten men boarded the ironclad ''Hydra'', and with the assistance of its captain, Ioannis Vratsanos, took control of the ship. The mutineers sailed the ship to the nearby French naval squadron, and thence sailed to Thessaloniki, where they joined the Provisional Government's forces.<ref name="PN"/> Kakoulidis served as head of the Provisional Government's naval forces until 1917, when Greece was reunified under Venizelos.<ref name="PN"/>
[[File:Averof painting 1919 Bosporus.jpg|thumb|The ''Averof'' entering the Bosporus|left]] With the formal entry of the country into the First World War, he served as Commander of the Light Fleet (1918), and subsequently of the Battleship Squadron (1918–19), being promoted to rear admiral on 8 March 1919.<ref name="PN"/> From this position, he participated with his flagship, ''Averof'', in the Allied occupation of Constantinople in November 1918, and in the Allied intervention in Southern Russia in 1919.<ref name="PN"/> On 18 January 1919, he was awarded the Greek War Cross 2nd Class, for his services during the First World War.<ref name="PN"/>
During the subsequent Asia Minor Campaign, he served as Chief of the Navy General Staff, until being appointed Greek representative in the Allied advisory commission on naval affairs later in 1920.<ref name="PN"/> After the electoral victory of the royalist parties in November 1920, he was suspended from active service on 26 April 1921, and retired on 30 September 1921.<ref name="PN"/> On 12 February 1925, he was promoted retroactively to vice admiral in retirement, the appointment backdated to 6 October 1921.<ref name="PN"/>
==Political career== After his retirement, Kakoulidis entered politics in Kozani,<ref name="MilEnc"/> being elected as a representative to the IV National Assembly in 1924–25, and then an MP in 1926–1928, Senator in 1929–1935, and again MP in 1936, always with Venizelos' Liberal Party.<ref name="PN"/> In 1929–1930, he was Minister Governor-General of Thrace in the Venizelos cabinets.<ref name="PN"/>
Georgios Kakoulidis died at Mykonos on 30 May 1946.<ref name="PN"/>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Chiefs of the Hellenic Navy General Staff}} {{Macedonian Struggle}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kakoulidis, Georgios}} Category:1871 births Category:1946 deaths Category:Chiefs of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Category:Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Category:Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1897) Category:Greek military personnel of the Macedonian Struggle Category:Greek military personnel of the Russian Civil War Category:Greek military personnel of World War I Category:Greek MPs 1924–1925 Category:Greek MPs 1926–1928 Category:Greek MPs 1936 Category:Hellenic Navy admirals Category:Members of the Greek Senate 1929–1932 Category:Members of the Greek Senate 1932–1935 Category:Military personnel from Athens Category:Governors-general of Thrace Category:Liberal Party (Greece) politicians