Konstantinos Koumoundouros

Konstantinos Koumoundouros was an officer in the Hellenic Army as well as a politician.

Biography

Konstantinos Koumoundouros was born at Oitylo or Kalamata in 1846, the son of the politician and multiple Prime Minister of Greece, Alexandros Koumoundouros. The younger Koumoundouros entered the Hellenic Army Academy, graduating in 1871 as an Ensign, while following in parallel a political career, being elected mayor of Oitylo and entering the Hellenic Parliament as an MP for his native Messenia in 1879, being repeatedly re-elected until 1922. Initially a supporter of Theodoros Diligiannis, under whom he served as Minister for Naval Affairs in 1890–92, Koumoundouros quarrelled with Diligiannis and went over to his rival, Charilaos Trikoupis.
In the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, Koumoundouros, with the rank of major, commanded a battalion in the Epirus front, and was defeated at the Battle of Pente Pigadia, losing a fifth of his troops. In 1899, he was appointed Minister of Military Affairs in Georgios Theotokis' cabinet. His last political office was as Speaker of the 18th Parliament in the 1908–1909 term. Koumoundouros was discharged from the Army in 1908, with the rank of lieutenant general.
He died at Athens in 1924.