Konstantinos Manetas

Konstantinos Manetas
Manetas as a major general, ca. 1923
Born	1879 Tripoli
Died	1960 Athens
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Service/branch	Hellenic Army
Years of service	1901–1935
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Wars	Balkan Wars, Macedonian Front, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922
Other work	Minister for Military Affairs Minister for Transport Minister for Justice Minister for Supply and Distribution MP

Konstantinos Manetas (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Μανέτας, 1879–1960) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general and served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1931. He also served four times in ministerial positions and was elected to parliament in 1950.

He was born in Tripoli in 1879, the son of the politician Panagiotis Manetas, the elder brother of Lieutenant General Theodoros Manetas and younger brother of the politician Ioannis Manetas.

After finishing school, he enrolled in the Hellenic Army Academy and graduated on 11 July 1901 as an Infantry Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1908 and captain in 1911. He fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 as company and battalion commander, and was wounded at the Battle of Kilkis–Lachanas. After the wars he was attached as aide de camp to the chiefs of the French military mission to Greece, generals Joseph-Paul Eydoux and Étienne de Villaret, and was promoted to Major (1914).

During World War I, he joined the Venizelist Movement of National Defence and fought in the Macedonian Front as commander of the 4th Archipelago Regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 12 January 1917 and to full colonel on 13 December 1917. In 1919 Manetas participated in the unsuccessful Allied intervention in the Ukraine as Infantry Commander of the 13th Infantry Division. Following the Allied withdrawal, he led the same division as its commander during the early phases of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. In 1920, he was promoted to major general. As a confirmed Venizelist, he was suspended from active duty in November 1920 following the Venizelist electoral defeat.