Cretan Revolt
Georgios Tsontos was born in the village of Askifou in Sfakia, Crete, in 1871. His father Charalambos had distinguished himself as a rebel leader during the Cretan Revolt (1866–69) against the Ottoman Empire, was assassinated in Athens in 1874. Georgios entered the Hellenic Military Academy in 1888, graduating in 1893 as an Artillery Second Lieutenant.