serviceyears laterwork branch death_date death_place birth_place allegiance battles birth_date rank image article_title name
1886-1920 minister northern epirus -lrb- 1914 -rrb- member of the greek parliament of -lrb- 1915-1917 -rrb- military affairs of the autonomous r. of greek army 1928 athens nivica , sarande greece 24px aut . rep. northern epirus -lrb- february -- october royal 1914 -rrb- greece -lrb- 1883 - february 1914 -rrb- greco-turkish balkan war northern epirus autonomy struggle war -lrb- 1897 -rrb- first balkan war second 1865 colonel dimitrios doulis.jpg dimitrios doulis
 dimitrios doulis
dimitrios doulis

dimitrios doulis -lrb- , 1865 -- 1928 -rrb- , was a greek military officer , from nivica in modern southern albania -lrb- northern epirus -rrb- .
doulis was born in 1865 , son of nikolaos doulis and descendant of kitsios doulis , a hero of the greek war of independence against the ottoman empire -lrb- 1821 -- 30 -rrb- .
in 1883 he enlisted in the hellenic army , while at 1897 he fought in the war against the ottoman empire , in the epirus sector of operations , in which the greek army was defeated .
as a battalion commander he took part in the operations in epirus front during the balkan wars of 1912 -- 13 , notably capturing the town of preveza .
during the war , the greek army occupied the region of northern epirus , and doulis was appointed military commander of argyrokastro -lrb- gjirokastër -rrb- .
in december 1913 however , with the protocol of florence , the great powers decided to award the region to the newly formed albanian state .
this decision was highly unpopular among the local greek population , who decided to form their own government and military in order to secure their autonomy .
doulis resigned his commission in the greek army and joined the autonomists .
with the official declaration of the autonomous republic of northern epirus , in 1 march 1914 , he was appointed to the post of minister of military affairs of the new government .
from the first days he managed to mobilize an army consisting of more than 5,000 volunteer troops , and organize local gendarmerie units -lrb- called `` sacred bands '' -rrb- in order to secure the region .
until may 17 , when the protocol of corfu was signed , the autonomist epirote forces managed retain their positions and push back the attacks of albanian irregulars and gendarmerie , which was under the command of dutch officers .
when world war i broke out , the greek forces , after approval from the triple entente powers , re-entered northern epirus .
in the subsequent legislative elections , dimitrios doulis was elected as member of the greek parliament for the argyrokastron prefecture .
doulis retired from the greek army with the rank of colonel on 2 may 1915 -lrb- o.s. -rrb- , and died in athens in 1928 .
