Commander's badge of the Order of King George I of the Macedonian Fighter and Balkan War fighter Athanasios Souliotis-Nikolaidis
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149/15.01.99/1423
Commander's badge of the Order of King George I of the Macedonian Fighter and Balkan War fighter Athanasios Souliotis-Nikolaidis
MEDAL
BALKAN WARS
BADGES-MEDALS
Commander of the Order of George I. The badge consists of a surmounted cross, coated with white enamel, the arms of which are slightly wider on the ends and the horizontal ones are shorter. The middle bears within a circle of red enamel the royal monogram of George I (two G crossed) and the inscription “THE LOVE OF MY PEOPLE IS MY STRENGTH”. The cross is enclosed in an oval laurel wreath. The reverse bears the dates 1863-1913 in commemoration of the reign of King George I and inside a circle 1915, the year the decoration was established. The specific medal was awarded to the Macedonian Fighter and Balkan War fighter Athanasios Souliotis, who came to Thessaloniki in 1906 as a sewing machine dealer, under the pseudonym Athanasios Nikolaidis to organise the “Secret Organisation of Thessaloniki”. The Royal Order of King George I was established with Law 613/16-1-1915 on the occasion of the doubling of the size of the Greek state, and in commemoration of the fifty-year reign of King George I, who was assassinated in 1913, at the time when the boundaries of the Greek state were drawn. It was awarded to Officers and Citizens who distinguished themselves in acts of benevolence or exalted the Greek name abroad, as well as to foreigners whose inclusion honoured the Order.