Venizelist victory
164-787: Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece , a country in Southern Europe: Greece – in Europe (light green & dark grey) – in the European Union (light green) Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in Southeast Europe . Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula , Greece shares land borders with Albania to
328-482: A constitution and representative assembly . Despite the absolutism of Otto's reign, it proved instrumental in developing institutions which are still the bedrock of Greek administration and education. Reforms were taken in education, maritime and postal communications, effective civil administration and the legal code . Historical revisionism took the form of de- Byzantinification and de- Ottomanisation , in favour of promoting Ancient Greek heritage. The capital
492-409: A "loan" of 40 million gold Reichsmark that went into his Swiss bank account. The Greek-Canadian journalist Philippe Gigantès argued that it was royal corruption with the "vast sums [of money] from Germany" that the king took was the most powerful reason for Constantine favoring neutrality, instead of the more altruistic reasons given by his admirers. According to Skouloudis and monarchist writers,
656-438: A 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.6/10, ranking it 70th globally out of 172 countries. In 2024, Greece became the first country in the European Union to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas what should protect its marine biodiversity . Rare marine species such as the pinniped seals and the loggerhead sea turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to
820-641: A Venizelos a message via Zaharoff proposing that British and French troops land in Thessaloniki to march north to aid Serbia, which would hopefully also deter Bulgaria from joining the Central Powers. The failure of the Anglo-French attempt to take Constantinople, which ended with the stalemate of the Battle of Gallipoli was used by the king as a justification for his belief that Germany would win
984-515: A basically autocratic personality and strongly disliked Venizelos as a person. Moreover, the king was a militaristic Germanophile who admired Prussian militarism and believed that the Reich would not be defeated in the present war. The king had little respect for parliamentary government and preferred to deal with soldiers rather than politicians. Constantine, whose political style was fundamentally authoritarian, had been looking for an occasion to undo
1148-625: A constitutional monarchy the King is a passive instrument of the state in managing public affairs. All political authority is vested in the people and the members of parliament and government elected by the people". The tension between the two parties grew gradually over the course of the following year (1916) with both sides taking a more radical and divisive approach to the situation. When French and British forces landed in Thessaloniki (as invited by Venizelos earlier), against Constantine's wishes,
1312-552: A coup in 1967 by the Greek junta , led by Georgios Papadopoulos . Civil rights were suspended, political repression intensified, and human rights abuses, including torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 set in motion the fall of the regime, resulting in a counter-coup that established brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis as
1476-466: A desperate attempt to persuade Constantine to help Serbia, Grey sent him a letter reading: "If Greece prepared to give support as an ally to Serbia, now that she has been attacked by Bulgaria, His Majesty's Government will be prepared to give Cyprus to Greece. Should Greece join the Allies for all purposes, she would naturally have a share with them in advantages secured at end of war, but the offer of Cyprus
1640-529: A failed attempt to annex Crete from the Ottomans. He was replaced by Prince Wilhelm of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. A new Constitution in 1864 changed Greece's form of government from constitutional monarchy to the more democratic crowned republic . In 1875 parliamentary majority as a requirement for government
1804-477: A government. In December 1915 Constantine forced Venizelos to resign for a second time, after an anti-German speech of the later in the parliament, and dissolved the Liberal-dominated parliament, calling a new election . In his speech, Venizelos warned that a German victory would be disaster for Greece. Venizelos warned that in the event of a German victory, then the Ottomans would wage genocide against
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#17327501498401968-423: A large German-Austrian army under Field Marshal August von Mackensen was poised to invade Serbia at the same time as Bulgaria, the king announced that Greece would not be aiding Serbia. Venizelos told Constantine that: "We should not allow Bulgaria to crush Serbia and expand overmuch so as to crush us tomorrow. At this point therefore you cannot depart from this policy: unless of course you are determined to set aside
2132-659: A message from Lloyd George that Britain would not allow Russia to dispose of Anatolia as she wished (the British had promised Constantinople with the straits to the Russians who rejected the Greek participation in the operation), argued that now was the time to enter the war. With the exceptions of Theotokis and Metaxas, all of the members of the Crown Council supported Venizelos at the second meeting of 20 February 1915, but
2296-462: A population of over 10.4 million. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city , followed by Thessaloniki and Patras . Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization , being the birthplace of democracy , Western philosophy , Western literature , historiography , political science , major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre , and the Olympic Games . From
2460-553: A result of Venizelos's call for a boycott, only a quarter of Greek men voted in the election. The decision not to aid Serbia despite the alliance disillusioned certain Army officers led by General Panagiotis Danglis who felt that it is dishonorable to break treaties, and it was dangerous to allow Serbia to be occupied as now the Bulgarians could throw all their forces against Greece. A Liberal politician, George Kafandaris, charged in
2624-719: A ruling minority. As a result, during the centuries that followed a vernacular form of Greek , known as koine , and Greek culture was spread , while the Greeks adopted Eastern deities and cults . Greek science, technology, and mathematics reached their peak during the Hellenistic period. Aspiring to maintain their autonomy and independence from the Antigonid kings of the Macedonians , many poleis of Greece united in koina or sympoliteiai i.e. federations, while after
2788-773: A significant barrier to east–west travel. Its extensions cross through the Peloponnese, ending in the island of Crete. The Vikos Gorge , part of the Vikos-Aoos National Park in the Pindus range, is listed by the Guinness book of World Records as the deepest gorge in the world. Another notable formation are the Meteora rock pillars, atop which have been built medieval Greek Orthodox monasteries. Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range,
2952-425: A speech that the royalists were promoting anachronistic "divine right of kings" theory that had no place in a democracy. Kafandaris stated: "Such theories lead us to think that ideas once believed to have disappeared in the deep darkness of past human history are resurfacing again to influence contemporary life...Our system of government was modeled after that of Great Britain and is known as constitutional monarchy. In
3116-636: A war against the Ottoman Empire under the grounds that Greece did not have the logistical capability to support an army in Anatolia nor the economic resources to win such a war. Only the fear of a British naval blockade led Metaxas to advocate neutrality, and otherwise he was for Greece entering the war on the side of the Central Powers. Additionally, the King was bribed by the Auswaertiges Amt into remaining neutral, secretly taking in 1915
3280-496: Is 1,160 km (721 mi). The country lies approximately between latitudes 34° and 42° N , and longitudes 19° and 30° E , with the extreme points being: the village Ormenio in the North and the islands Gavdos (South), Strongyli near Kastellorizo /Megisti (East), and Othonoi (West). The island Gavdos is considered the southernmost island of Europe. Approximately 80% of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making
3444-485: Is made by H.M. Government independently on condition that Greece gives immediate and full support with her army to Serbia". Both the King and his prime minister Alexandros Zaimis turned the offer down. After his inability to sway Constantine to act against Bulgaria, Venizelos took a new route by allowing British and French troops to land in Thessaloniki, Macedonia in aid of Serbia, following their failed operation at Gallipoli , and after asking them if they could offer
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#17327501498403608-443: Is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival form ελληνικός ( ellinikos , [eliniˈkos] ) is sometimes also translated as Hellenic and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, the Hellenic Republic ( Ελληνική Δημοκρατία , [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a] ). The English names Greece and Greek are derived, via
3772-621: Is today the European Union in 1981 and is part of the eurozone . It is a member of other international institutions, including the Council of Europe , NATO (since 1952), the OECD , the WTO , and the OSCE . Greece has a unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry , and prominent shipping sector . The country's rich historical legacy is reflected in part by its 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites . Greece
3936-1068: The Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the East Mediterranean province of the Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region . According to the World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Environment Agency , the territory of Greece can be subdivided into six ecoregions : the Illyrian deciduous forests , Pindus Mountains mixed forests , Balkan mixed forests , Rhodope montane mixed forests , Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests , and Crete Mediterranean forests . It had
4100-693: The Central Powers took control of eastern Macedonia in May 1916, the public took similar outrage at the King's inability to defend Greek territory. Count Wilhelm von Mirbach, the German minister in Athens requested of the king the surrender of Fort Roupel , and the king duly ordered the garrison of the fort to surrender to a German-Bulgarian force. Without opposition, on 25 May 1916, 8,000 Greek soldiers at Fort Roupel surrendered and transferred to Germany , while
4264-582: The Cyclades , as well as some areas in the north featuring a cold equivalent climate ( Köppen : BSk ), such as the cities of Thessaloniki and Larissa . The mountainous areas and the higher elevations of northwestern Greece (parts of Epirus , Central Greece , Thessaly , Western Macedonia ) as well as in the mountainous central parts of Peloponnese – including parts of the regional units of Achaea , Arcadia , and Laconia – feature an Alpine climate ( Köppen : D , E ) with heavy snowfalls during
4428-594: The Golden Age of Athens , a seminal period that laid many foundations of Western civilization. Lack of political unity resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which marked the demise of the Athenian Empire and the emergence of Spartan and later Theban hegemony . Weakened by constant wars among them during
4592-808: The Greco-Turkish War , the collapse of the Second Hellenic Republic , the 1925 Coup d'etat by Pangalos and the dictatorial Metaxas Regime . The National Schism reflected the differences between the "New Greece" which gained after the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 , consisting of Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, Crete, and the North Aegean islands, and the "Old Greece" which consisted of the pre-1912 territories. In general, people in "New Greece" were pro-Venizelist while people in "Old Greece" were much more pro-royalist. The main cause of
4756-462: The Greek genocide (1914–22), when Ottoman and Turkish officials contributed to the death of several hundred thousand Asia Minor Greeks, along with similar numbers of Assyrians and a larger number of Armenians . The resultant Greek exodus from Asia Minor was made permanent, and expanded, in an official population exchange between Greece and Turkey , as part of the Treaty of Lausanne which ended
4920-581: The Hellenic Army , who felt humiliated by the defeat, and who were influenced by republicanism . A " Military League " was formed, and on 15 August 1909, they issued a pronunciamiento at the Goudi barracks in Athens. The movement, which demanded reforms in government and military affairs, was widely supported by the public; King George was forced to give in to the military's demands. He appointed Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis as Prime Minister and accepted
5084-508: The London Conference of 1832 , Britain, France and Russia installed Bavarian Prince Otto von Wittelsbach as monarch . Otto's reign was despotic , and in its first 11 years of independence Greece was ruled by a Bavarian oligarchy led by Josef Ludwig von Armansperg and, later, by Otto himself, as King and Premier. Greece remained under the influence of its three protecting great powers. In 1843 an uprising forced Otto to grant
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5248-620: The Macedonian Struggle , which ended with the Young Turk Revolution in 1908. Amidst dissatisfaction with the seeming inertia and unattainability of national aspirations , military officers organised a coup in 1909 and called on Cretan politician Eleftherios Venizelos , who conveyed a vision of national regeneration. After winning two elections and becoming prime minister in 1910, Venizelos initiated fiscal, social, and constitutional reforms , reorganised
5412-546: The Ottoman Empire , had joined in on Germany's side. Hence, neutrality was the course favored by most pro-German Greeks, including the senior, German-educated, leadership of the General Staff, who had great influence over the King. For the first two months of the war, the Ottoman Empire maintained a pro-German neutrality, and the British, French and Russian governments waged a campaign of appeasement to try keep
5576-639: The Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia. Attempts by Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed , and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by Sparta , which
5740-508: The Rhodope range, spreading across the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests, including the famous Dadia Forest in the Evros regional unit , in the far northeast of the country. Extensive plains are primarily located in the regions of Thessaly , Central Macedonia , and Thrace . They constitute key economic regions as they are among
5904-709: The Russian -instigated Orlov Revolt in 1770. These uprisings were put down by the Ottomans with great bloodshed. Many Greeks were conscripted as Ottoman subjects to serve in the Ottoman army and especially the navy, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, responsible for the Orthodox, remained in general loyal to the Empire. In the 18th century, Greek merchants came to dominate trade within
6068-532: The Second Hellenic Republic declared. In 1935, a royalist general-turned-politician Georgios Kondylis took power after a coup and abolished the republic, holding a rigged referendum , after which King George II was restored to the throne. An agreement between Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as head of a dictatorship known as the 4th of August Regime , inaugurating authoritarian rule that would last until 1974. Greece remained on good terms with Britain and
6232-498: The Slavic invasion in the 7th century resulted in a collapse in imperial authority in the Greek peninsula . The imperial government retained control of only the islands and coastal areas, particularly the populated walled cities such as Athens, Corinth and Thessalonica. However, the view that Greece underwent decline, fragmentation and depopulation is considered outdated, as cities show institutional continuity and prosperity between
6396-895: The United Kingdom , each sent a navy. The allied fleet destroyed the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino , and the Greeks captured Central Greece by 1828. The nascent Greek state was recognised under the London Protocol in 1830. In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias , was chosen by the Third National Assembly at Troezen as the first governor of the First Hellenic Republic . Kapodistrias established state, economic and military institutions. Tensions appeared between him and local interests and, following his assassination in 1831 and
6560-460: The election . In 2020, Greece's parliament elected a non-partisan candidate, Katerina Sakellaropoulou , as the first female President of Greece . In February 2024, Greece became the first Orthodox Christian country to recognise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. Located in Southern and Southeast Europe, Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into
6724-582: The "revolution" of 1909 for some time. His favorite adviser on both political and military affairs was the Germanophile General Ioannis Metaxas . Knowing of the strong anti-Slavic racism held by the Emperor Wilhelm II, Metaxas argued that Germany was the natural defender of "Hellenism against Slavism", and Germany would not permit Bulgaria to gain territory from a German-friendly Greece. Metaxas argued against
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6888-483: The 150,000 soldiers at the front. Venizelos took advantage of this by forcing through a parliamentary motion (with a 37-vote margin) to declare war on Bulgaria. The invitation to the Allies by Venizelos enraged the King. The dispute between the Greek Prime Minister and the King reached its height shortly after and the King invoked the Greek constitutional right that gave the monarch the right to dismiss
7052-454: The 19th century, many "crypto-Christians" returned to their old religious allegiance. The nature of Ottoman administration of Greece varied, though it was invariably arbitrary and often harsh. Some cities had governors appointed by the Sultan , while others, like Athens, were self-governed municipalities. Mountainous regions in the interior and many islands remained effectively autonomous from
7216-479: The 2nd and 3rd centuries, and Christianity's early leaders and writers were mostly Greek-speaking, though not from Greece itself. The New Testament was written in Greek, and some sections attest to the importance of churches in Greece in early Christianity . Nevertheless, much of Greece clung to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD, when they were outlawed by
7380-590: The 4th and 6th centuries. In the early 6th century, Greece had approximately 80 cities according to the Synekdemos chronicle, and the 4th to the 7th century is considered one of high prosperity. Until the 8th century almost all of modern Greece was under the jurisdiction of the Holy See of Rome . Byzantine Emperor Leo III moved the border of the Patriarchate of Constantinople westward and northward in
7544-496: The 4th century BC, the Greek poleis were subjugated to the rising power of the kingdom of Macedon under king Philip II into an alliance known as the Hellenic League . After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son and king of Macedon , Alexander , set himself leader of a Panhellenic campaign against the Persian Empire and abolished it. Undefeated in battle, he marched, until his untimely death in 323 BC, to
7708-597: The 5th century, is known as the Byzantine Empire , but called "Kingdom of the Romans" in its own time. With its capital in Constantinople , its language and culture were Greek and its religion was predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian . The Empire's Balkan territories, including Greece, suffered from the dislocation of barbarian invasions ; raids by Goths and Huns in the 4th and 5th centuries and
7872-426: The 8th century. The Byzantine recovery of lost provinces during the Arab–Byzantine wars began in the 8th century and most of the Greek peninsula came under imperial control again. This process was facilitated by a large influx of Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula, while many Slavs were captured and re-settled in Asia Minor. During the 11th and 12th centuries the return of stability resulted in
8036-412: The Anatolian Greeks to Greece with a population exchange. As the Great War began, the Greek authorities had to choose between neutrality and aligning themselves with the Allied forces . Outright participation in the war on the side of the Central Powers was not an option, both because of Greece's vulnerability to the Royal Navy and because, from early on (October 1914), Greece's traditional enemy,
8200-405: The Balkan wars and his health would never be the same. In the 1915 election, the royalist parties did best in "Old Greece" while the liberals did best in "New Greece". The newly returned prime minister forced the king to promise him that Greece would honor its alliance with Serbia if Bulgaria attacked, a promise the king had no intention of keeping. Venizelos stated that his win was the proof that
8364-489: The Bulgarians 40,000, and the Italians 9,000. Following liberation, Greece annexed the Dodecanese Islands from Italy and regained Western Thrace from Bulgaria. The country descended into a civil war between communist forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949, with the latter's victory. The conflict, one of the earliest struggles of the Cold War , resulted in further economic devastation, population displacement and political polarisation for
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#17327501498408528-413: The Bulgarians occupied the eastern half of Greek Macedonia including the port of Kavala. In 1915, pro-royalist supporters such as Metaxas had assailed Venizelos for his willingness to cede Kavala and the eastern half of Greek Macedonia to Bulgaria, and now the situation was reversed with the Venizelists attacking the king for surrendering the same lands to the Bulgarians. The surrender of Fort Roupel marked
8692-452: The Constitution, and assuming full responsibility by a Royal degree". Constantine replied: "You know, I recognize that I am bound to obey the popular verdict when it is a question of the internal affairs of the country; but when it is a question of foreign affairs, great international questions, I think that so long as I believe a thing is right or not right, I must insist upon its being done or not done, because I am responsible before God". In
8856-537: The Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games . The Iliad and the Odyssey , the foundational texts of Western literature , are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. Poetry shaped beliefs to the Olympian gods , but ancient Greek religion had no priestly class or systematic dogmas and encompassed other currents, such as popular cults, like that of Dionysus , mysteries and magic . At this time there emerged kingdoms and city-states across
9020-425: The Great Powers, however, Greece lost little territory, while Crete was established as an autonomous state under Prince George of Greece . With state coffers empty, fiscal policy came under International Financial Control . The government, aiming to quell Komitadjis and detach the Slavophone peasants of the region from Bulgarian influence, sponsored a guerrilla campaign in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia , known as
9184-417: The Greek army could be encircled, while Venizelos was anxious that the army should turn east and capture the strategically important city and harbor of Thessaloniki . The anxiety of Venizelos was doubled by the fact that the Bulgarians had also set their eyes on Thessaloniki, the most important in Macedonia , and were sending their own troops towards it. Eventually Venizelos prevailed, and the Greeks captured
9348-400: The Greek interests if Bulgaria secured Thrace, because Greece would gain a "stable spine". Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of War and a member of the triumvirate that ruled the Ottoman Empire decided in January 1914 to "cleanse" the Ionia area of Anatolia of its Greek inhabitants, and in May 1914 unleashed the dreaded "Special Organization" of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) against
9512-433: The Greek lands of eastern Macedonia to be given to Bulgaria (so to join also the Allies) hoping for the post-war concessions in Asia Minor. In a memo to the king on 17 January 1915, Venizelos recommended ceding Kavala to Bulgaria as the British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey had recommended, stating that this was a most painful sacrifice, but was necessary to protect the Greeks of Anatolia because if Greece did not enter
9676-428: The Greek peninsula benefiting from economic growth. The Greek Orthodox Church was instrumental in the spread of Greek ideas to the wider Orthodox world . Following the Fourth Crusade and fall of Constantinople to the " Latins " in 1204, mainland Greece was split between the Greek Despotate of Epirus and French rule (the Frankokratia ). The re-establishment of the imperial capital in Constantinople in 1261
9840-429: The Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea , Magna Graecia in southern Italy , and Asia Minor . These reached great prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece , expressed in architecture , drama , science , mathematics and philosophy . In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens . By 500 BC,
10004-458: The Greek people agreed with his pro-Entente policy. By the fall of 1915, a propaganda war was being conducted in the Greek newspapers between Zaharoff, who used his vast wealth to start buying up newspapers to campaign for Venizelos vs. Baron von Schneck, the press attache at the German legation who purchased newspapers to campaign for the king. At the time, Schneck was described by one British journalist as "a great and mysterious power for evil who
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#173275014984010168-427: The Greek people supported the King's view that the Allies had violated the country's sovereignty. By the end of January 1916, there were 125, 000 French and 100, 000 British troops in Thessaloniki, having established so the Macedonian front . Constantine made diplomatic attempts to drive them out, but in December 1915, in a meeting in Paris, the Allies had decided to keep the front at all costs. However, later on, when
10332-407: The Greeks of Anatolia while allowing the Bulgarians to annex Serbian Macedonia would inevitably be followed up by demands for Greek Macedonia. After his speech, Venizelos was summoned to the royal palace, where the king told him that he was in disagreement with every point of his speech, and predicted that Germany would win the war. The king also made the claim that he was accountable only to God, not
10496-432: The Ionian Greeks. The "cleansing" operation caused the deaths of least 300,000 Ionian Greeks and as intended caused thousands more terrified refugees to flee across the Aegean Sea to Greece. In July 1914, the "cleansing operation" was stopped following very strong protests from the Russian, French and British ambassadors to the Sublime Porte with the French ambassador Maurice Bompard speaking especially strongly in defense of
10660-402: The Ionian Greeks. The increasing intolerance of the CUP regime towards minorities in Anatolia with a new emphasis upon Turkish nationalism in place of Ottomanism, as reflected in the slogan "Turkey for the Turks!" brought the subject of the Anatolian Greeks to the fore in Greece, with two options being available, namely to bring Greece to the Anatolian Greeks by annexing parts of Anatolia or bring
10824-443: The Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea. The climate of Greece is primarily Mediterranean ( Köppen : Csa ), featuring mild to cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. This climate occurs at most of the coastal locations, including Athens , the Cyclades , the Dodecanese , Crete , the Peloponnese , the Ionian Islands , and parts of mainland Greece . The Pindus mountain range strongly affects
10988-412: The Ionian islands and Constantinople lived in prosperity, and Greeks of Constantinople ( Phanariots ) achieved power within the Ottoman administration, much of Greece suffered the economic consequences of Ottoman conquest. Heavy taxes were enforced, and in later years the Ottoman Empire enacted a policy of creation of hereditary estates, effectively turning the rural Greek populations into serfs , while
11152-448: The King decided Greece to not participate in the operation, and was replaced with Dimitrios Gounaris . The new PM made statements to the Press about the proposals of Venizelos regarding Kavala increasing the social confusion and displeasure. The conflict between the Venizelos and the king in large part represented a conflict between a vision of Greece was expanding under a reformist government allied to Britain vs. another vision of Greece
11316-449: The King meant that the supposedly parliamentary government was actually at the monarch's discretion. Many reformists and liberals viewed meddling by the monarchy in politics as deleterious. The negative public attitude towards the monarchy was strengthened by the defeat of the Greek army, headed by Constantine (then the Crown Prince ), in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 . Many of these hopes for reform were also shared by young officers in
11480-437: The King refused to sign the conscription, accusing him of treason for the invasion in Salonika and forcing him to resign for a second time within that year (1915). Eight months later, in May and June 1916, the palace counterweighted the grip of the Entente in Salonika with the unconditional surrender of a strong military fort along with half of the eastern part of Macedonia to the German-Bulgarian forces. The disagreements of
11644-400: The King, Army generals (including the General Staff and Ioannis Metaxas ) forced Venizelos to draw back. Metaxas said during the council: "Nobody has the right to give Greek land." On 19 February, British and French warships entered the Dardanelles with the aim of taking Constantinople ( Gallipoli campaign ). Venizelos argued that the end of the Ottoman Empire was imminent, and after receiving
11808-586: The Latin Graecia and Graecus , from the name of the Graeci ( Γραικοί , Graikoí ; singular Γραικός , Graikós ), one of first ancient Greek tribes to settle Magna Graecia in southern Italy . The Apidima Cave in Mani , in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains of early modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 200,000 years ago. However others suggest
11972-522: The Liberal Party polarized Greek society between those who benefited from the patronage and who did not. Furthermore, those who felt excluded naturally looked towards the traditional dispenser of patronage, the royal family, to counterbalance the Liberals. With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars , Constantine was immediately appointed again as commander-in-chief , and the successes of the army in
12136-427: The Ottoman Empire, Zaharoff was the principal financier behind Venizelos's Liberal Party. Lloyd George was a Welshman while Venizelos was a Cretan, making both men into outsiders in their respective nations, providing a bond between the two men. By 1914, Lloyd George emerged as the most powerful voice for Greece within the British cabinet. Lloyd George's advocacy of Britain ceding Cyprus to Greece in exchange for leasing
12300-645: The Ottoman Empire, established communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Europe, and used their wealth to fund educational activities that brought younger generations into contact with Western ideas. In the 18th century, an increase in learning during the Modern Greek Enlightenment led to the emergence among Westernized Greek-speaking elites of the notion of a Greek nation . A secret organization formed in this milieu
12464-665: The Ottoman conquest had cut Greece off from European historical developments. The Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople were considered by the Ottoman governments as the ruling authorities of the entire Orthodox Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, whether ethnically Greek or not. Although the Ottoman state did not force non-Muslims to convert to Islam , Christians faced discrimination. Discrimination, particularly when combined with harsh treatment by local Ottoman authorities, led to conversions to Islam, if only superficially. In
12628-578: The Ottomans in 1453 and by 1460, Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece was complete. While most of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands was under Ottoman control by the end of the 15th century, Cyprus and Crete remained Venetian and did not fall to the Ottomans until 1571 and 1669 respectively and Venice maintained control of the Ionian Islands until 1797, after which they fell under first French, then British control. While some Greeks in
12792-459: The Ottomans in 1877 , Greek sentiment rallied to Russia, but Greece was too poor and concerned about British intervention, to enter the war. Greeks in Crete continued to stage revolts, and in 1897, the Greek government, bowing to popular pressure, declared war on the Ottomans. In the ensuing Greco-Turkish War of 1897 , the badly trained and equipped Greek army was defeated. Through the intervention of
12956-595: The Ottomans neutral. On 18 August 1914, Venizelos told the British minister in Athens Sir Francis Elliot that he wanted Greece to enter the war on the Allied side, but was curtly refused, saying the Allies preferred to keep the Ottoman Empire neutral. On 29 October 1914, the Ottomans attacked Russia in the Black Sea Raid and on 4 November 1914, Britain, France and Russia all declared war on
13120-429: The Ottomans were defeated, then "Hellenism in Asia Minor would still fall under alien domination". Metaxas's opposition to a campaign in Anatolia poisoned his relationship with Venizelos, starting one of the most famous feuds in Greek history as the two men came to completely detest one another, to the point that if one was for something, the other was almost automatically against it. An important factor turned out to be
13284-488: The Ottomans. After the Ottoman decision to enter the war, the Allies were more open to making promises to Greece about fulfilling the Megali Idea . However, the Allies still wanted to keep Bulgaria neutral, and through King Ferdinand of Bulgaria was an Austrian, he was also known as "Foxy Ferdinand" due to his opportunistic and cunning qualities, leading to hopes that he might be bribed into remaining neutral. Venizelos
13448-609: The Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republican constitution was promulgated in 1975 following a referendum which chose not to restore the monarchy. Meanwhile, Andreas Papandreou , George Papandreou's son, founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis's conservative New Democracy party, with the two political formations dominating government over the next four decades. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980. Greece became
13612-750: The Radicals on the left vs. the Liberal Imperialists on the right, Lloyd George had far more power than a normal Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lloyd George had first met Venizelos in December 1912, and the budding friendship between the two men was encouraged by Domini Crosfield , the Greek wife of the Liberal MP Arthur Crosfield and the extremely wealthy arms dealer Basil Zaharoff . A Greek native of Anatolia who hated
13776-621: The Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391–392. The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393, and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed. The closure of the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens by Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the academy continued. The Roman Empire in the east, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in
13940-525: The Turkish Straits. Traditionally, the advocates of Megali Idea had seen Constantinople as the future capital of a new Roman empire. Italy was allied to Germany and Austria, but neutral; in an attempt to persuade the Italians to enter the war on their side, the Allies promised the Italians parts of Anatolia where the population was Greek, which was another reason for Venizelos to advocate entering
14104-480: The Turks and Egyptians ravaged the islands, committing massacres . This galvanized opinion in western Europe in favour of the Greeks. The Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt , who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha with an army, in return for territorial gain. By the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control. Three great powers , France , Russian Empire , and
14268-482: The adoption of the euro, Greece could no longer devalue its currency to regain competitiveness. In the 2012 elections, there was major political change, with new parties emerging from the collapse of the two main parties, PASOK and New Democracy. In 2015, Alexis Tsipras was elected as prime minister, the first outside the two main parties. The Greek government-debt crisis , and subsequent austerity policies, resulted in social strife. The crisis ended around 2018, with
14432-527: The aim of annexing Greek Macedonia. Venizelos also warned that the Ottoman Empire which had joined the war on Germany's side earlier that month "would destroy Hellenism in Asia Minor" if Germany won. Venzelos was alluding to the savage campaign of persecution launched by the Turkish nationalist Committee of Union and Progress against the Ottoman Greek minority in May 1914. He further warned that even if
14596-812: The banks of the Indus . Alexander's empire fragmented, inaugurating the Hellenistic period . After fierce conflict amongst themselves, the generals that succeeded Alexander and their successors founded large personal kingdoms in the areas he had conquered, such as that of the Ptolemies in Egypt and of the Seleucids in Syria , Mesopotamia and Iran . The newly founded poleis of these kingdoms, such as Alexandria and Antioch , were settled by Greeks as members of
14760-723: The birthplace of Western civilisation. The earliest of them was the Cycladic culture which flourished on the islands of the Aegean Sea , starting around 3200 BC, and produced an abundance of folded-arm and other marble figurines . From c. 3100 BC to 1100 BC, Crete , a major cultural and economic centre, was home to the Minoan civilization known for its colourful art , religious figurines , and monumental palaces . The Minoans wrote their undeciphered language using scripts known as Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs . On
14924-468: The brink of war. Venizelos asked Constantine for mobilization of the Army. Constantine agreed for defensive posture against Bulgaria, but insisted on the condition that Greece would not attack first. Constantine now announced that he wished to disregard the alliance with Serbia, stating that it not apply if other powers (non-Balkan) also attacked Serbia. Plus, according to the treaty of alliance, Serbia had to provide 150,000 soldiers against Bulgaria. Since
15088-526: The central Ottoman state for centuries. The 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as a "dark age" in Greek history, with the prospect of overthrowing Ottoman rule appearing remote. However, prior to the Greek Revolution of 1821, there had been wars which saw Greeks fight against the Ottomans, such as the Greek participation in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Morean War of 1684–1699, and
15252-541: The city only a few hours before the arrival of the Bulgarians. This episode was not publicised at the time, and in the aftermath of the Wars, the two men, King and Prime Minister, both wildly popular, were seen as making up a formidable partnership at the helm of the Greek state. However, the antivenizelist opposition in the parliament gradually began rallying around the King. After the Second Balkan War and during
15416-474: The climate of the country, as areas to the west of the range are considerably wetter on average (due to greater exposure to south-westerly systems bringing in moisture) than the areas lying to the east of the range (due to a rain shadow effect), resulting to some coastal areas in the south falling to the hot semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSh ) category, such as parts of the Athens Riviera and some of
15580-586: The coming of the French military mission to Greece (1911–1914) , was not welcomed by the Crown Prince and his German trained cycle. Venizelos's reforms had broken the influence of the House of Glücksburg over the civil service and created a patronage machine loyal to himself. In a society where traditional clan and family loyalties often determined political loyalties, the creation of a patronage machine loyal to
15744-495: The conflict was the dispute between Venizelos and King Constantine over power in Greece, in which the development of true representation had been slow since the creation of the state. Up until the 1870s and the King's acceptance of the principle that the leader of the majority party in Parliament should be given the mandate to form a government, the formation of political groupings around a leader who could govern if this pleased
15908-758: The country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus , the mythical abode of the Greek Gods , culminates at Mytikas peak 2,918 metres (9,573 ft), the highest in the country. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. The Pindus, a continuation of the Dinaric Alps , reaches a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) at Mt. Smolikas (the second-highest in Greece) and historically has been
16072-637: The demobilisation of the military. They instituted also a partial naval blockade to the Greek Kingdom. Italian forces also took the approval of the Triple Entente, entered Argyrokastro and took over most of Northern Epirus (which was under Greek administration since 1914), while the French captured Korçë. On 19 August 1916, Constantine informed his royal chronicler Constantine Zavitzianos that he intended to keep control of military matters and
16236-556: The dismissal of the Princes from the military. However, it soon became apparent that the leadership of the League was not able to govern the country, and they looked for an experienced political leader, who would also preferably be anti-monarchist and not tainted by the "old-partyism" of the old system. The officers found such a man in the person of Eleftherios Venizelos , a prominent Cretan politician, whose clashes with Prince George ,
16400-496: The dowry was abolished, while education and foreign policy doctrines changed. However, Papandreou's tenure has been associated with corruption, high inflation, stagnation and budget deficits that later caused problems. The country adopted the euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. In 2010, Greece suffered from the Great Recession and related European sovereign debt crisis . Due to
16564-612: The eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states known as poleis (singular polis ) that spanned the Mediterranean and Black seas. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the known ancient world from the eastern Mediterranean to northwestern India. The subsequent Hellenistic period saw
16728-513: The end of the bailout mechanisms and return of growth. Simultaneously, Tsipras, and the leader of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev , signed the Prespa Agreement , solving the naming dispute that had strained the relations and eased the latter's way to become a member of the EU and NATO. In 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis became Greece's new prime minister, after his centre-right New Democracy won
16892-513: The endangered brown bear , the Eurasian lynx , the roe deer , and the wild goat. National Schism Serbian campaign (1914) Serbian campaign (1915) Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian occupation Aegean Albania Greece ( National Schism ) Macedonian front The National Schism ( Greek : Εθνικός Διχασμός , romanized : Ethnikós Dichasmós ), also sometimes called The Great Division ,
17056-524: The establishment of economic relations with the East, a stratum of wealthy euergetai dominated their internal life. From about 200 BC the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon . Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC signalled the end of Antigonid power. In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and
17220-399: The few arable places in the country. Greece features a vast number of islands —between 1,200 and 6,000, depending on the definition, 227 of which are inhabited. Crete is the largest and most populous island; Euboea , separated from the mainland by the 60 m-wide Euripus Strait , is the second largest, followed by Lesbos and Rhodes . The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into
17384-508: The field, especially in the Second Balkan War against the Bulgarians , helped many forget his record in 1897. Constantine, now king, was being hailed as "laurel-crowned" and "Bulgar-slayer". It was however during this war that the first tension between Constantine and Venizelos surfaced, in a dispute over the army's course following the victory at Sarantaporo . Constantine wanted to march due north, towards Monastir , fearing otherwise that
17548-821: The following clusters: the Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens; the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea; the North Aegean islands , a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey; the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey; the Sporades , a small tight group off the coast of northeast Euboea; and
17712-531: The foreign policy, which were royal prerogatives as far as he was concerned, and that it did not matter how many people supported Venizelos. In a speech in Athens on 27 August 1916, Venizelos for the first time publicly attacked the king, saying: "King of the Hellenes! You have been a victim of men who, in order to undo the work of the Revolution (of which tomorrow is the seventh anniversary) and to restore
17876-618: The friendship between David Lloyd George and Venizelos. Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British equivalent to a finance minister), was the leader of the "Radical" (left-wing) of the British Liberal Party and was world famous as the most charismatic man in British politics. Owing to the precarious nature of the British Liberal government under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith , badly divided between
18040-573: The growing Army of the Orient had landed, one year earlier. After intense diplomatic negotiations, an armed confrontation in Athens between Allied and royalist forces with dozens of casualties, some due to lynching by a royalist paramilitary organization , and a subsequent five-month naval blockade upon the (southern part of the) Greek kingdom, King Constantine abdicated on 11 June 1917 (his eldest son George bypassed, for also being anti-Entente), and
18204-464: The height of Greek culture and influence in antiquity. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire , which was predominately Greek in culture and language . The Greek Orthodox Church , which emerged in the first century AD, helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to
18368-435: The island's regent , seemed to confirm his anti-monarchist and republican credentials. With Venizelos' arrival, the League was sidelined, and the energetic and relatively young politician soon dominated Greek political life. His government carried out a large number of overdue reforms, including the creation of a revised constitution . However, he also established a close relationship with the King, resisted calls to transform
18532-462: The king remained opposed. Metaxas, the actual leader then of the General Staff, and advisor of Venizelos, didn't agree with the Greek Prime Minister in the participation in the operation, believing it would fail because the Germans had already fortified the straits and Greece would be vulnerable to a Bulgarian attack, and decided to resign. Venizelos resigned also shortly afterwards (on March, 6), when
18696-602: The king's perspective, the loss of Macedonia, which was a stronghold of Venizelism, would be more than counter-balanced by the weakening of the Venizelist movement. According to the royal chronicler Zavitzianos, Constantine since 1915 (and especially after the failed operation in Gallipoli), had concluded that the victory of the Central powers was militarily certain, and he in no way wanted to bring Greece against Germany. He
18860-528: The loan of 40 million Reichsmark from Germany was to the Greek government without any term of neutrality, with better interest than the Allied offers. The Prime Minister, Venizelos, was strongly in favor of joining the Entente, as he believed that Greece would gain new lands and fulfill the Megali Idea . On 17 November 1914, Venizelos in a speech before Parliament stated that Greece would remain neutral in
19024-624: The mainland, the Mycenaean civilization developed around 1750 BC and lasted until c. 1100 BC. The Mycenaeans possessed advanced military and built large fortifications . They worshiped many gods and used Linear B to write the earliest attested form of Greek known as Mycenaean Greek . The collapse of the Mycenean civilization ushered in the Greek Dark Ages , from which written records are absent. The end of
19188-462: The military, made Greece a member of the Balkan League , and led it through the Balkan Wars . By 1913, Greece's territory and population had doubled, annexing Crete, Epirus , and Macedonia . The struggle between King Constantine I and charismatic Venizelos over foreign policy on the eve of First World War dominated politics and divided the country into two opposing groups . During parts of
19352-404: The naval base at Arostoli endeared him to Venizelos. Furthermore, Lloyd George's support for the Megali Idea persuaded Venizelos that if Greece entered the war, then it would have the support of the mighty British Empire. Venizelos was alarmed when he learned that the British and French had agreed that after the war, Russia would have Constantinople (modern Istanbul) together with the land around
19516-422: The negotiations of the Treaty of Bucharest , Venizelos was heavily criticised for being too compliant against Bulgaria. Bulgaria finally took the lands of Western Thrace, even though it had been captured by the Greek army during the war. As for the port city of Kavala , the intervention of Kaiser Wilhelm II in favour of Greece was crucial for keeping it. Venizelos in the parliament supported that it wasn't against
19680-415: The new junta strongman. On 20 July 1974, Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus in response to a Greek-backed Cypriot coup, triggering a crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and restoration of democracy through Metapolitefsi . The former prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis was invited back from self-exile and the first multiparty elections since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of
19844-572: The next thirty years. Although post-war was characterised by social strife and marginalisation of the left, Greece experienced rapid economic growth and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S. Marshall Plan . In 1952, Greece joined NATO , reinforcing its membership in the Western Bloc of the Cold War. King Constantine II 's dismissal of George Papandreou 's centrist government in 1965 prompted political turbulence, which culminated in
20008-644: The northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland , the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin , featuring thousands of islands . The country comprises nine traditional geographic regions , and has
20172-409: The old regime of corruption, have not hesitated to traffic the people's reverence for the Crown and their devotion to your person... You have been the victim of your military advisers, with the narrowness of the military understanding, and with the desire to establish an absolutism which should make them substantially masters of the situation, have persuaded you that Germany would emerge victorious from
20336-444: The parts of Serbia he coveted, decided to enter the war. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia, which posed an immediate threat to the newly gained province of Macedonia , including the strategically important port of Thessaloniki . On 22 September, Bulgaria mobilized and began to mass troops on the border with Serbia. Since under the Serbian-Greek alliance committed each other to the defense of the other if attacked, Greece appeared to be on
20500-442: The people, leading Venizelos to say that Greece was not an absolute monarchy. Venizelos left Athens and moved back to his native Crete . The Liberals boycotted the new elections, which undermined the new Royalist government's position, as it was seen as a government directly appointed by the King, disregarding popular opinion. Venizelos complained that the Crown had intervened directly to interfere with election campaign, and as
20664-409: The plans of the Central Powers . The disagreement had wider implications, since it would also affect the character and role of the king in the state. The dismissal of Venizelos by the King resulted in a deep personal rift between the two men, and in subsequent events their followers divided into two radically opposed political camps; this affected the wider Greek society. After Bulgaria had entered
20828-440: The point of no return in relations between Venizelos and Constantine as the former was now convinced that the king was a traitor. The decision to surrender Fort Roupel was announced by the government as a counterbalance to the Allied presence in Thessaloniki, but there were other factors at play as well. By 1916, Constantine was willing to consider giving up parts of Macedonia to Bulgaria as the best way of weakening Venizelism. From
20992-427: The presence also of the Muslim and Jewish communities), and elsewhere, against these proposals. Venizelos advised King Constantine to convene the Crown Council , which he did. It met twice, on February 18 and on February 20 . In these meetings, Venizelos presented his case for joining the Entente, a course of action which was opposed by opposition leader Theotokis, but Rallis supported. However, staunch opposition by
21156-484: The propaganda war reached its peak. By this point, Constantine had secretly promised both the German and Bulgarian ministers that Greece would not go to war against them. Germany had also promised to Constantine secretly that if Greece remained neutral, she would have Northern Epirus and Dodecanese after the war, such as the protection of the Greek population in Turkey. In fall of 1915, Ferdinand after receiving promises from German and Austrian diplomats that he could have
21320-410: The remains represent archaic humans . All three stages of the Stone Age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave . Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe, as Greece lies on the route by which farming spread from the Near East to Europe. Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is often considered
21484-407: The rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate. The process was completed in 27 BC, when emperor Augustus annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as the senatorial province of Achaea . Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became heavily influenced by Greek culture. Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in
21648-409: The revisionary assembly into a constitutional one, and even reinstated the Princes in their positions in the army, with Crown Prince Constantine as its Inspector-General. The reestablishment of the Princes in the Army, such as of royalist officers like Metaxas (whom Venizelos appointed as his adjutant) and Dousmanis , caused protests by officers of the Military League (like Zorbas and Zymvrakakis), while
21812-401: The sea at the southern end of the Balkans , ending at the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth ) and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its highly indented coastline and numerous islands give Greece the 11th longest national coastline in the world, with 13,676 km (8,498 mi); its land boundary
21976-415: The tenth member of the European Communities in 1981, ushering in sustained growth. Investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenue from tourism, shipping, and a fast-growing service sector raised the standard of living . In 1981, the election of Andreas Papandreou resulted in reforms over the 1980s. He recognised civil marriage,
22140-473: The two men had now escalated towards a covert civil war . In August 1916, followers of Venizelos set up the Provisional Government of "National Defence" which included northern Greece, the Aegean Islands and Crete , and sided with Entente . This act, which effectively split Greece into north and south entities, had the aim to reclaim the trust of Entente along with the lost regions of Macedonia, and to regain control on northern Greece, gradually lost after
22304-421: The war "Hellenism in Asia Minor would be lost forever". Venizelos also planned a compulsory population exchange with Bulgaria with the Greeks living in Kavala to be expelled and resettled in Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey). Venizelos' proposals were made known by the Press and caused a shock to the public, such as among ex-soldiers that had recently fought in the Balkan wars. Demonstrations took place in Kavala (with
22468-418: The war against Serbia (already in a siege under Germany 's and Austria-Hungary 's combined attack), in September 1915, Venizelos achieved a vote on October 4 in the parliament for a call to conscription , honoring the alliance treaty between Greece and Serbia. The next day he was implicated in the invasion of Allied forces in Thessaloniki which would establish the Macedonian front to help Serbia, but
22632-435: The war to secure Greek-speaking territories of Asia Minor before the Allies took them all for themselves. In January 1915, in an attempt to convince the Greeks to side with them, Britain offered Greece post-war concessions in Asia Minor (currently part of Turkey). Venizelos felt this was very much in Greece's interests and attempted to force a bill through the Greek parliament to join the Allies. Venizelos had agreed that
22796-469: The war, Greece had two governments: A royalist pro-German one in Athens and a Venizelist pro- Entente one in Thessaloniki . They united in 1917, when Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente. After the war, Greece attempted expansion into Asia Minor , a region with a large native Greek population, but was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) , contributing to a flight of Asia Minor Greeks . These events overlapped, happening during
22960-475: The war, but would also stand by its alliance with Serbia. He also warned that Bulgaria under the leadership of the Austrian-born King Ferdinand would inevitably at some point along the line attack Serbia together with the Austrian Empire to annex Serbian Macedonia. Venizelos predicted that Ferdinand, who just attacked Serbia and Greece in May 1913 in order to take all of Macedonia for Bulgaria, would after taking Serbian Macedonia then turn south to invade Greece with
23124-460: The war. At a dinner with the wealthy Delta family in April 1915, Venizelos stated that Lloyd George had promised him that Greece could have all the Greek-speaking parts of Anatolia if she entered the war, leading him to say that Greece would enter the war on the Allied side regardless of Constantine's wishes. And if the king continued to block him, then Venizelos stated that he would push him aside just as he pushed his brother Prince George out as he
23288-417: The war. The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5 million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey (some of whom could not speak Greek) had to be integrated into Greek society. The refugees made a dramatic population boost, as they were more than a quarter of Greece's prior population. Following the catastrophic events in Asia Minor, the monarchy was abolished via a referendum in 1924 and
23452-451: The whole network of party jobbery whose power had been endangered by the reforms of 1910–11; and this opposition of personal hostility to Venizelos was cleverly utilized by the German propaganda, which had only to identify the policy of loyalty to Serbia and to the Protecting Powers with the figure of Venizelos in order to make this mixed opposition into a compact body of opinion working in effect if not intention for Germany". Lloyd George sent
23616-421: The wider Orthodox world . After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Latin possessions were established in parts of the Greek peninsula, but most of the area fell under Ottoman rule by the mid-15th century. Following a protracted war of independence , which started in 1821, Greece emerged as a modern nation state in 1830. Over the first hundred years, the Kingdom of Greece sought territorial expansion , which
23780-610: The winter of 1941–42, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and collaborators , the economy was ruined, and most Greek Jews (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps. The Greek Resistance , one of the most effective resistance movements, fought against the Nazis. The German occupiers committed atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages in reprisals. Hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless. The Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks,
23944-510: The winter. Most of the inland parts of northern Greece, in Central Macedonia , the lower elevations of Western Macedonia and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace feature a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa ) with cold, damp winters and hot, moderately dry summers with occasional thunderstorms. Snowfalls occur every year in the mountains and northern areas, and brief periods of snowy weather are possible even in low-lying southern areas, such as Athens . Phytogeographically , Greece belongs to
24108-405: Was restored in 1974–75, leading to the current parliamentary republic . It was a belligerent on the side of the Greek Cypriots in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Having achieved record economic growth from 1950 through the 1970s , Greece is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy . A founding member of the United Nations , Greece was the tenth member to join what
24272-434: Was "narrow, suspicious and defensive". For the King, everything that had happened since the 1909 Goudi coup had been a diminution of his power, and he was determined to use the intervention debate as a way of restoring the pre-1909 status quo. The Greek historian John Mavrogorado wrote that Venizelos had "to face a strong opposition, composed of jealous party leaders, great provincial families, party bosses, majors and lawyers,
24436-422: Was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreign policy of Greece in the period of 1910–1922 of which the tipping point was whether Greece should enter World War I . Venizelos was in support of the Allies and wanted Greece to join the war on their side, while the pro- German King wanted Greece to remain neutral, which would further favor
24600-418: Was accompanied by the empire's recovery of much of the Greek peninsula, while the islands remained under Genoese and Venetian control. During the Paleologi dynasty (1261–1453) a new era of Greek patriotism emerged accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece. In the 14th century much of the Greek peninsula was lost by the Byzantine Empire to the Serbs and then the Ottomans . Constantinople fell to
24764-442: Was descended on his father's side from the Glucksburgs of Denmark and on his mother's side from the Romanovs of Russia, spoke perfect English, was a frequent visitor to England and had relatives there. Greece had an ongoing mutual defense pact with Serbia , a member of the Allied forces , who were asking for support after they were invaded by Austria-Hungary (see Serbian Campaign (World War I) ). However, Constantine believed it
24928-472: Was governor of Crete. Venizelos's resignation caused political dissension in Greece. A political battle between the conservatives and Venizelos' supporters forced a general election in June 1915 . These elections were won by Venizelos' Liberal Party and he resumed his post as Prime Minister, however Constantine delayed to ratify the appointment of the new government until August for health reasons (he barely escaped death). He had been ill with pleurisy since
25092-411: Was greatly disappointed that the Allies preferred to have Bulgaria neutral rather than having Greece fight on their side. King Constantine's German affiliations were exaggerated in the Entente's propaganda during the war. It is true that Queen Sofia was the sister of the German Kaiser , Wilhelm II , and Constantine himself had been educated in Germany and admired German culture. On the other hand, he
25256-406: Was in the greater interests of Greece to remain neutral. His considerable military experience and knowledge made him especially conscious of the threat to Greece from Bulgaria's powerful military in the event that the Hellenic Army was engaged in a war with Austria-Hungary. Beyond military considerations, there were personal reasons for the split between the king and the prime minister. Constantine had
25420-475: Was introduced, curbing the power of the monarchy to appoint minority governments . Corruption, coupled with increased spending to fund infrastructure like the Corinth Canal , overtaxed the weak economy and forced the declaration of public insolvency in 1893. Greeks were united, however, in their determination to liberate the Hellenic lands under Ottoman rule; the Cretan Revolt (1866–1869) had raised nationalist fervour. When war broke out between Russia and
25584-615: Was leading the Greek nation astray and seducing it from the right path-from Venizelos and from the Entente". The head of Allied propaganda in Greece, a French naval officer, Captain de Roquefeil, was inept, leading Zaharoff to intervene as he argued that as a Greek he knew Greek mentalities far better than any Frenchman could. Antiwar and pro-German propaganda were made by newspapers Embros of Kalapothakis , Script and later Kathimerini and pro-Allied by Ethnos , Eleftheros Typos , Estia and Makedonia among others. Many documents and papers were falsified also during this period and
25748-473: Was mainly realized in the early 20th century during the Balkan Wars and up until the catastrophic defeat of its Asia Minor Campaign in 1922. The short-lived republic that was established in 1924 was beset by the ramifications of civil strife and the challenge of resettling refugees from Turkey . In 1936 a royalist dictatorship inaugurated a long period of authoritarian rule, marked by military occupation , civil war and military dictatorship . Democracy
25912-423: Was moved from Nafplio , where it had been since 1829, to Athens , then a smaller town. The Church of Greece was established as Greece's national church and 25 March, the day of Annunciation , was chosen as the anniversary of the Greek War of Independence to reinforce the link between Greek identity and Orthodoxy . Otto was deposed in 1862 because of the Bavarian-dominated government, heavy taxation, and
26076-541: Was not allied with the Axis . In October 1940, Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but it refused , and, in the Greco-Italian War , Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania. French general Charles de Gaulle praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance, but the country fell to urgently dispatched German forces during the Battle of Greece . The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions were given to Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during
26240-425: Was only asked by the German military authorities to not allow Bulgarian troops enter in Greek territory, but he was ignored. After these events, General Sarrail imposed martial law in Thessaloniki and on 21 June 1916, an Anglo-French ultimatum (considering themselves "protector powers" of the Greek state, since its establishment in 1832) was submitted to Constantine, demanding the dismissal of Zaimis, new elections and
26404-433: Was succeeded by his second son Alexander as king. Venizelos returned to Athens on 29 May 1917, and Greece, re-unified but under French armistice , officially joined the war on the side of the Allies. Although Greece emerged victorious and secured new territory by the Treaty of Sèvres , the bitter effects of this division were the main features of Greek political life until the 1940s, and contributed to Greece's defeat in
26568-507: Was the Filiki Eteria , in 1814. They engaged traditional strata of the Greek Orthodox world in their liberal nationalist cause. The first revolt began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities , but was put down by the Ottomans. This spurred the Greeks of the Peloponnese and on 17 March the Maniots declared war on the Ottomans. By October 1821 the Greeks had captured Tripolitsa . There were revolts in Crete, Macedonia and Central Greece , which were suppressed. In 1822 and 1824
26732-421: Was the first recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the Trojan War . The second Persian invasion of Greece was decisively defeated in 480–479 BC, at Salamis and Plataea , marking the eventual withdrawal of the Persians from all their European territories. The Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are a pivotal moment in history, as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as
26896-430: Was the ninth most-visited country in the world in 2023. The native name of the country in Modern Greek is Ελλάδα ( Elláda , pronounced [eˈlaða] ). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek ( Katharevousa ) is Ἑλλάς ( Hellas , classical: [hel.lás] , modern: [eˈlas] ). This is the source of the English alternative name Hellas , which
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