Leonidas Paraskevopoulos

Who was Leonidas Paraskevopoulos?

Leonidas Paraskevopoulos was a Greek military officer and politician.

Paraskevopoulos was born in 1860 on the island of Kythnos to a family that hailed from Smyrna, Asia Minor. He joined the Hellenic Army and took part in the Greco-Turkish War, the Balkan Wars and World War I.

After World War I, Paraskevopoulos was made Commander in Chief of the Greek forces that occupied Smyrna in 1919 in accordance with the Treaty of Sèvres. Under his command, the Hellenic Army successfully extended their occupation zone, from the greater İzmir area, south to Aydin and west to Bursa near the ancient city of Cius. He was replaced however, after the November 1920 elections, with the royalist Anastasios Papoulas

After the end of the Greco-Turkish War, Paraskevopoulos entered politics. He was elected in the Greek Senate election, 1929 with the Liberal Party under Eleftherios Venizelos and served as President of the Senate. He died in 1936 in Athens.