Modern Greeks: Constantinos Karamanlis (2007)

Constantinos Karamanlis was the architect of Greece's accession to the European Union. Like Pericles in classical times, by the sheer force of his personality he put a bloodless end to a 7-year military dictatorship and rebuilt Greek democracy. When somebody asked Karamanlis how he compared himself to previous famous Greek statesmen, he said that it wasn't because he was so great himself - he simply hadn't made as many mistakes as the others had. History will surely judge that he was too modest. He was born in the town of Proti, prefecture of Serres, in Macedonia. He became a Greek citizen in 1913, after Macedonia was liberated in the aftermath of the Second Balkan War. Karamanlis retired in 1995, at the age of 88, having won 5 parliamentary elections, and having spent 14 years as Prime Minister, 10 years as President of the Republic, and a total of more than sixty years in politics. He died after a short illness in 1998, at the age of 91.