Theodoros Manetas

Theodoros Manetas
Manetas as a Lt. General in the early 1930s
Born	1881 Tripoli
Died	1947 Athens
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Service/branch	Hellenic Army
Years of service	1902–1920, 1922–1925, 1926–1935
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Wars	Balkan Wars, Macedonian Front
Other work	Minister for Military Affairs Minister Governor-General for Northern Greece Minister of Aviation MP

Theodoros Manetas (Greek: Θεόδωρος Μανέτας, 1881–1947) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general and served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1931–1933. He also served thrice in ministerial positions and was elected to parliament in 1946.

He was born in Tripoli in 1881, the son of the politician Panagiotis Manetas, the youngest brother of Lieutenant General Konstantinos Manetas and of the politician Ioannis Manetas.

After finishing school, he enrolled in the Hellenic Army Academy and graduated on 6 July 1902 as an Artillery Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1909, and spent the period 1910–1912 studying in France. He returned to take part in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 as a battery commander, and was promoted to captain in 1913 and major in 1915.

During World War I, he joined the Venizelist Movement of National Defence and fought in the Macedonian Front leading artillery battalions and regiments. In 1917 he was promoted to Lt. Colonel and assigned as head of the Personnel Department in the Ministry of Military Affairs. In 1918 he was reassigned to the front, assuming the post of artillery chief of the Cretan Division and taking part in the Battle of Doiran.

In 1919 he was promoted to full colonel, but was dismissed from the Army in November 1920 following the Venizelist electoral defeat. After the disastrous defeat of the Greek army in Anatolia by the Turkish nationalist forces in August 1922 and the subsequent outbreak of a military revolt, he was recalled to active service by the new revolutionary government and named Inspector of Artillery. Promoted to major general in 1924, he quarrelled with the dictator Theodoros Pangalos in 1925 and resigned, only to be recalled to his post soon after.