Georgios Kondylis Georgios Kondylis ( , August 14 , 1878 – February 1 , 1936 ) was a general of the Greek army and Prime Minister of Greece . He was nicknamed " Keravnos " , Greek for " Thunder " or " Thunderbolt " . Military career . Kondylis was born in Proussós . He enlisted in the army as a volunteer in 1896 , and fought with the Greek expeditionary corps in Crete . He was later commissioned and participated in the Macedonian Struggle ( 1904 – 1908 ) leading his own guerrilla band , and was promoted to Captain during the Balkan Wars ( 1912 – 1913 ) . He supported the Movement of National Defence of Eleftherios Venizelos during the First World War , rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel . A firm Venizelist , he opposed the restoration of King Constantine I in 1920 , fleeing to Constantinople together with other Venizelist officers and organizing there the " Democratic Defence " ( Δημοκρατική Άμυνα ) . He returned after the 1922 Revolution as a Major General , suppressed the royalist revolt of 1923 , retired from the army , and became involved in politics . Political career . He was elected to Parliament at the 1923 elections for the constituency of Rodope , initially for the Greek Republican Party , and later founded the National Republican Party ( Εθνικό Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα ) , renamed in 1928 National Radical Party ( Εθνικό Ριζοσπαστικό Κόμμα ) . He was war minister from March to June 1924 . On August 24 , 1926 , he overthrew the dictatorship of Theodoros Pangalos in a bloodless coup and formed a government , proclaiming elections for November . Notably , his party did not participate in these . In the elections of August 1928 , voters elected nine of his party ' s candidates as MPs , and he was elected in Kavala . During this time , Kondylis began moving rightward . In 1932 he became war minister again in return for his support of the Populist government , a post he retained after the Populists were reelected in 1933 . From this post he was instrumental in crushing the March 1935 Venizelist revolt . In the period immediately following the revolt , Kondylis became the real power in the country . He sacked numerous pro - republican soldiers and civil servants , and condemned Venizelos to death " in absentia " . By now , Kondylis was one of the strongest proponents of restoring the monarchy . However , he opposed Prime Minister Panagis Tsaldaris ' call for a referendum . On October 10 , 1935 , Kondylis and several other officers called on Tsaldaris and forced him to resign . Kondylis forced President Alexandros Zaimis to name him the new premier . Later that day , Kondylis forced Zaimis to resign , declared himself Regent , abolished the Republic and staged a plebiscite on November 11 for the return of the monarchy . The official tally showed that 98 percent of the voters supported the return of George II — an implausibly high total that could have only been obtained through massive fraud . Indeed , the vote took place under less - than - secret conditions . Voters were given the choice of dropping a blue piece of paper in the ballot box if they supported the monarchy , and a red one if they supported the republic . Those who supported the republic risked being beaten up . Under those circumstances , it took a brave Greek to vote " no . " By this time , Kondylis had turned so far to the right that he now openly sympathized with fascism . He hoped to echo Benito Mussolini ' s example in Italy , in which Victor Emmanuel II had been reduced to a puppet . George returned to Greece on 25 November , and retained Kondylis as prime minister . Kondylis soon quarreled with the king , who was not content to be a mere puppet , and resigned five days later . In the January 1936 elections , he cooperated with Ioannis Rallis and managed to have fifteen MPs elected . Soon after , however , he died of a heart attack on February 1 , 1936 , in Athens .