Georgios Soulios ( el, Γεώργιος Σούλιος; 1885-1927) was a Greek guerrilla fighter of the early 20th century. He participated in the Macedonian Struggle, the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

, and in the struggle for the establishment of the

Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus ( el, Αὐτόνομος Δημοκρατία τῆς Βορείου Ἠπείρου, translit=Aftónomos Dimokratía tis Voreíou Ipeírou) was a short-lived, self-governing entity founded in the aft ...

Early life

Soulios was born in 1885, in the village of Orman Ciflik, just north of

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau some ...

(then

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, in present-day

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

).Kaphetzopoulos, Flokas, Dima-Dimitriou, 2000
p. 184
/ref>

Career

Macedonian Struggle and Balkan Wars He joined the Greeks Struggle for Macedonia in 1906, where he would operate as a member of Georgios Tsontos' armed band. The next year, he would become a chieftain of his own band which operated in the regions of Korytsa and Western Macedonia, where he would fight the Bulgarian Komitadjis and

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

until the Commencement of the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

. He would also go on to became part of the personal guard of the local Orthodox Bishop of Korytsa, Germanos. He participated in the

, as a guerrilla leader and took part in the Greek occupation of Korytsa. North Epirote Struggle for Autonomy The following cession of his homeland to the newly established Principality of Albania catalyzed the uprising in the region of Northern Epirus (in modern southern Albania) against this decision and lead to the

declaration Declaration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Declaration'' (book), a self-published electronic pamphlet by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri * ''The Declaration'' (novel), a 2008 children's novel by Gemma Malley Music ...

of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus in March 1914. After the establishment of the newly arrived Albanian authorities in Korytsa, which were accompanied by Dutch officers of the International Gendarmerie, a local uprising broke out in favor of the Northern Epirus movement. Soulios was one of the leaders of the uprising, however, he was wounded in combat during an attempt to storm the enemy police headquarters of the city. Later Years In 1916, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the French Army that controlled the city, declared the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korce. Soulios was arrested and sent to concentration camps in France. After the end of the war he moved to Greece and lived in the village of Marina,

Florina Prefecture Florina ( el, Περιφερειακή Ενότητα Φλώρινας, ''Perifereiakí Enótita Flórinas'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, Greece. Its ...

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soulios, Georgios 1885 births 1927 deaths Northern Epirus independence activists Greek revolutionaries Greek prisoners of war People from Korçë People of the Macedonian Struggle World War I prisoners of war held by France