Ioannis Kalogeras was a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 army officer and politician.

He was born in Spartias, a small village of the mountainous area of Trichonis

Lake Trichonida

Lake Trichonida, also Trihonida , older forms: Trihonis ancient: Trichonis is the largest natural lake in Greece. It is located in the eastern part of the Aitoloakarnania prefecture, in the east of Agrinio, south of Evrytania and northwest of Nafpaktos. It covers an area of with a maximum length...

 in the prefecture of Aetoloacarnania in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. He entered the Hellenic Military Academy

Hellenic Military Academy

The Evelpidon Military Academy is the oldest tertiary level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the modern Greek State....

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 and then went to France for supplementary studies at the École supérieure de guerre. Upon the outbreak of the First Balkan War

First Balkan War

The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...

 in 1912, he was recalled from his studies in Paris, and placed in the staff of the 4th Infantry Division under Major General Konstantinos Moschopoulos

Konstantinos Moschopoulos

Konstantinos Moschopoulos was a senior Greek Army officer who distinguished himself in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 and served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff.- Life :...

. From this position, he participated in the battle of Sarantaporo

Battle of Sarantaporo

The Battle of Sarantaporo, variously also transliterated as Sarantaporon or Sarandaporon took place on October 9-10 , 1912...

 and the drive to Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

. In December 1912, he suggested to Lt General Konstantinos Sapountzakis

Konstantinos Sapountzakis

Konstantinos Sapountzakis was a Greek Army officer. He is notable as the first head of the Hellenic Army General Staff and as the first commander of the Army of Epirus during the First Balkan War.- Early career :...

, and then to the Crown Prince Constantine

Constantine I of Greece

Constantine I was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece won Thessaloniki and doubled in...

 the idea of capturing the strategic hill of Tsouka, west of the fortress of Bizani

Bizani

Bizani is a village and a former municipality in the Ioannina peripheral unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina, of which it is a municipal unit. Its 2001 municipal population was 4,241...

 that was blocking the Greek advance towards Ioannina

Ioannina

Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...

. In the battle of Bizani

Battle of Bizani

The Battle of Bizani took place in Epirus on March 4–6, 1913. The battle was fought between the Greek and the Ottoman forces during the last stages of the First Balkan War, and revolved around the forts of Bizani, which covered the approaches to Ioannina, the largest city in the region.At the...

, the hill was captured, leading to the liberation on February 21, 1913 of Ioannina. During the Second Balkan War

Second Balkan War

The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

, Kalogeras fought in the battle of Kilkis-Lahanas

Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas

The Battle of Kilkis–Lahanas took place during the Second Balkan War between Greece and Bulgaria for the town of Kilkis in Macedonia. The battle lasted three days from 19 to 21 June 1913 and ended with a Greek victory.-Background:...

. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he served as chief of staff of the 2nd Infantry Division, and later as vice-chief of staff to the General Headquarters in Smyrna

Smyrna

Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...

 in February 1920. In March 1920 he was transferred to the Army of Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 under Lt General Emmanouil Zymvrakakis

Emmanouil Zymvrakakis (Army general)

Emmanouil Zymvrakakis was a Greek army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General, and was distinguished in World War I.He was born to the expatriate Cretan Charalambos Zymvrakakis in Nafplio in 1861. He graduated the Greek Army Academy and was named 2nd Lieutenant in 1881, and went on to...

.

He resigned from the Army in August 1923 and settled in Athens, where he witnessed the royalist Leonardopoulos-Gargalidis coup attempt. Kalogeras formed a force of 3000 volunteers in Athens, and participated in the suppression of the coup in Macedonia

Macedonia (Greece)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...

 and Epirus

Epirus (region)

Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë in the north to the Ambracian Gulf in the south...

. Thus, he contributed to the fall of monarchy and the declaration of the Second Hellenic Republic

Second Hellenic Republic

The Second Hellenic Republic is the term used to describe the political regime of Greece from 1924 to 1935. It followed from the period of the constitutional monarchy under the monarchs of the House of Glücksburg, and lasted until its overthrow in a military coup d'état which restored the monarchy...

.

He then entered the political arena, and was elected

Greek legislative election, 1923

After the defeat of the Liberals in 1920, Venizelos left the country, King Constantine I returned and Greece was soundly defeated by the newly-reformed Turkey in the war in Asia Minor. After the death of King Constantine, his eldest son George was proclaimed King George II...

 a Member of Parliament for Athens, a post to which he was continually re-elected December 1930. In 1930 he became Minister General Director of Thrace, contributing to the organisation of Western Thrace

Western Thrace

Western Thrace or simply Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, located between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, it is often referred to informally as northern Greece...

.