Alexander (1893–1920) was King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his death at the age of 27. He succeeded his father, King Constantine I, in 1917, after the Entente Powers of World War I and followers of Eleftherios Venizelos pushed the king and his eldest son Crown Prince George into exile. Venizelos, as prime minister, became the effective ruler with the support of the Entente. Though reduced to the status of a puppet king, Alexander supported Greek troops during their war against the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Under his reign, Greece expanded, following the victory of the Entente and the early stages of the Greco- Turkish War of 1919–1922. Alexander married the commoner Aspasia Manos in 1919, provoking a major scandal that forced the couple to leave Greece for several months. Soon after returning to Greece with his wife, Alexander was bitten by a domestic Barbary macaque and died of septicemia. The sudden death of the sovereign contributed to the fall of the Venizelist regime. After a general election and a referendum, Constantine I was restored.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Greece
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1345:
Inspecting a new prison without being escorted by his bodyguard, Alexios Apokaukos, megas doux of the Byzantine Navy, was lynched by the prisoners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_Apokaukos
1837:
Tensions between Yankees and Irish Americans in Boston, Massachusetts, erupted in the Broad Street Riot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Street_Riot
1920:
During their national convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in The Blackstone Hotel to decide their presidential candidate, leading to the phrase "smoke-filled room". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Hotel
1963:
Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem's administration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c
2007:
Mudslides caused by heavy monsoon rainfall killed around 130 people in Chittagong, Bangladesh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chittagong_mudslides
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
shoefie: (photography, slang, neologism) A photograph of one's own shoes taken while one is wearing them. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shoefie
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a flatterer. --Ben Jonson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson