The Nationalist Party ( el, Κόμμα Ἐθνικοφρόνων, ''Kómma Ethnikofrónōn''; literally ''National Opinion Party'') was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and

irredentist Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

political party from 1865 to 1909. It was opposed primarily by the New Party of

Charilaos Trikoupis Charilaos Trikoupis ( el, Χαρίλαος Τρικούπης; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895. He is best remembered for introducing the vote of c ...

History

The Nationalist Party was formed after the previous major-power client political parties, the

Russian Party The Russian Party ( el, Ρωσικό Κóμμα), presenting itself as the Napist Party ("Dell Party", el, κόμμα των Ναπαίων), one of the Early Greek parties, was an informal grouping of Greek political leaders that formed during t ...

English Party The English Party ( el, Αγγλικό Κóμμα), was one of the three informal early Greek parties that dominated the political history of the First Hellenic Republic and the first years of the Kingdom of Greece during the early 19th century, ...

and the

French Party The French Party ( el, Γαλλικό Κόμμα, Galliko Komma), presenting itself as the Constitutional Party ( el, Συνταγματικό Κόμμα), was one of the three informal early Greek parties that dominated the early political histor ...

, ceased to be factors after the reign of King Otto in 1865. The first leader of the Nationalist Party was

Alexandros Koumoundouros Alexandros Koumoundouros ( el, Αλέξανδρος Κουμουνδούρος, 4 February 1815 – 26 February 1883) was a Greek politician. Born in Kampos, on the Messenian side of the Mani Peninsula, he was the son of Spyridon-Galanis Koumoun ...

, who was a ten-time

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ� ...

. Koumoundouros was able to draw many of the conservative stalwarts of the old Russian Party with some of the other two parties to develop a coherent, albeit mostly personality-driven, party of the right. Koumoundouros was succeeded as party leader and Prime Minister by

Theodoros Deligiannis Theodoros Deligiannis () was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parliament, who served as Prime Minister of Greece five times from 1885 to 1905. He led the Nationalist Party, which, alongside the New Party led by his prima ...

, who famously stated that he "was against everything Trikoupis was for". By stoking the fires of nationalism and territorial expansion, Deligiannis was able to take advantage of military events and economic downturns to propel himself to power. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, Greece developed a stable two-party system with the premiership alternating between Deligiannis and Trikoupis. Deligiannis was assassinated in 1905 by a gambler who was outraged at Deligiannis's proposal to curtail gambling. With Deligiannis's death, the Nationalist Party began to splinter. Many of the conservative leaders followed

Dimitrios Gounaris Dimitrios Gounaris (; 5 January 1867 – 28 November 1922) was a Greek politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 25 February to 10 August 1915 and 26 March 1921 to 3 May 1922. Leader of the People's Party (Greece), People's P ...

' so-called "

Japanese Group The Japanese Group ( el, Ὀμάς Ἰαπώνων) was an unofficial name for a political grouping in the Hellenic Parliament in 1906–08. Name Although the group had been created in June 1906 after the parliamentary elections of that year, the ...

", and later formed the People's Party.

Leaders

(1865–1882) *

(1882–1905)

References

{{Reflist Political parties established in 1865 Political parties disestablished in 1912 Defunct nationalist parties in Greece Nationalist Party Eastern Orthodox political parties 1865 establishments in Greece 1913 disestablishments in Greece