The coup failed in its first and crucial phase, when the fleet instead of Thessaloniki, headed to Crete, where Venizelos took over leadership of the Movement, but not without hesitation. The guards in northern Greece rebelled too late, and the ones of the capital were again under the government's control, as soon after the onset of the Movement. In the meantime, the government of Panagis Tsaldaris reacted dynamically by assigning the suppression of the Movement to the Minister of Military Affairs Georgios Kondylis and by hiring Ioannis Metaxas as Minister of State.