Greece

 ...and for the History Buffs and Culture Vultures!!

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Hydra is regarded as a National Monument for the leading role it played in the Greek War of Independence 1821-1829 against the Ottoman Turks. The victory is commemorated every year in a spectacular June festival called the "Miaoulia".  A fine museum on the Port documents Hydra's naval history. The huge silver chandelier in the cathedral was a gift from Napoleon in recognition of the Hydriots' maritime skills. Many people remember Hydra as the fabulous setting for Sophia Loren's hit movie "Boy on a Dolphin". Come and see it all!

IMPORTANT DATES IN MODERN GREECE

1453 Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, fell to the Ottoman Empire, which had conquered  most of the Greek Islands.

1821-1829 The Ottoman Turks were defeated in the Greek War of Independence, Hydra distinguished itself as the leading island in the fight against the Turks. Modern Greece was founded.
 

Greek War of Independence

 1844Greece became a constitutional monarchy.

 1864 A more democratic constitution was established in Greece under George I.

 1909-1910 A military revolt led to major reforms.

 1912-1913 Greece gained land in the Balkan Wars.

 1917-1918 Greece fought on the side of the Allies during World War I.

 1922 The Turks crushed Greek forces in Asia Minor.

 1924 Greece became a republic.

 1935 Constitutional monarchy was restored in Greece.

 1941-1944 Axis forces occupied Greece during World War II.

 1946-1949 The Civil War. A dark episode of Greek History.

 1967 In response to a chaotic socialist handling of power, a group of colonels seized the government and suspended the constitution.

 1974 Following a Turkish invasion in Cyprus, the military coup fell and Greece held its first parliamentary election in more than 10 years, and a civilian government was formed.

1981 Greece became a member of the European Community.

MODERN HISTORY

Ottoman Turkish rule

began to spread throughout the Greek lands during the 1300's. These lands were once part of the Byzantine Empire, which had broken up into small states. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks captured the Byzantine capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. They had won almost all the Greek lands by then. The Turks were muslims, but allowedreligious freedom to the Greeks, who were Christians. They also let the Greeks have much local self government.

A Greek national revival developed during the 1700's, toward the end of Turkish rule. The Greeks' desire for independence was strengthened by greater prosperity and education. The Greek merchant class increased in size and wealth. The Greeks expanded their manufacturing and trading operations,and developed a large merchant fleet. They built a large number of new schools, and many Greeks studied in more advanced countries.

The people became deeply interested in their ancient past and their folk culture. They also began to share in the scientific learning of the West. In 1814, Greek merchants in Odessa, Russia, formed the Philike Hetairia (Friendly Society). This group organized a movement against the Ottoman Turks thatled to a Greek revolt.

Independence

The Greek war of Independence began in 1821. Fierce Greek fighters swept down from the mountains and defeated the Turks in the Peloponnese, in Rumely in central Greece, and on many islands in the Aegean Sea. The Greeks held out against repeated Turkish attacks to regain these regions. In 1825, Egyptian forces allied with the Turks invaded the Peloponnese, and a Turkisharmy moved into Greece from the north. Together, they overran the regions that had been freed by the Greeks. But the Turks and Egyptians could not defeat the Greeks nor end the revolution.

In 1827, France, Great Britain, and Russia agreed to use force if necessary to end the fighting and make Greece a self-governing part of the Ottoman Empire. But the Turks refused to give up control of Greece. On Oct. 20, 1827, a combined fleet of the three European powers destroyed the Turkish-Egyptian fleet in the Battle of Navarino off the Peloponnese. Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in 1828, and the Turks left Greece to fight the Russians. The Egyptians withdrew in 1829, and Greece became independent.

In an agreement called the London Protocol of 1830, France, Great Britain, and Russia recognized Greece's independence and pledged to protect it. In 1832, they named a Bavarian prince, Otto, to be the first king of Greece. They also established Greece's borders.

The new Greek kingdom had fewer than 800,000 people and covered less than half of present-day
Greece. About 3 million Greeks lived in what remained Turkish territory, and 200,000 Greeks lived
in the British-controlled Ionian Islands. Greece's expansion to include all these territories became
known as the Megale Idea (Great Idea) and was the nation's supreme goal.

King Otto I

also called Otho I, became king of Greece in 1833. The country had no constitution, and the king, assisted by a few Bavarian advisers, had unlimited power. Neither the people nor individual Greek leaders had any real influence in the Government that was set up. Great political discontent developed. The country also had serious financial difficulties. In 1843, a peaceful revolution expelled Otto's Bavarian advisers from Greece and forced him to accept a constitution that establishedGreece as a constitutional monarchy in 1844.

In 1853, the Crimean War began between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Otto supported Greek attempts to fight the Turks and free the Greeks under them. But the British and French, who helped the Turks fight Russia, landed in Greece to stop these attempts. A revolt in 1862 forced Otto to give up the throne. He was replaced in 1863 by a Danish Prince, who became George I.

King George I

gave Greece a much more democratic government that that of Otto. In 1864, a new constitution limited the royal power and gave much power to an elected Parliament. Also in 1864, Great Britain turned over the Ionian Islands to Greece. In exchange, George pledged to discourage Greek revolts in Turkish territory.

During the 1880's and 1890's, Greece made great progress. Roads and railroads were built and the merchant fleet was expanded. In addition, the educational system and other social services were improved.

In 1881, Greece acquired the Thessaly region from the Ottoman Empire. The transfer had been decided by the great European powers at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. In 1897, during the revolt in Turkish held Crete, war broke out between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The European powers arranged peace after severe Greek defeats, and set up self-government for Crete in 1898 under Greek high commissioner.

A group of young Greek army officers called the Military League organized a peaceful revolt in 1909. The league was protesting against political confusion and economic difficulties that had developed in Greece. The league called on Eleutherios Venizelos, a Cretan leader, to be its political adviser. The Parliament agreed to the league's demands for changes in the constitution, and Venizelos became prime minister in 1910. He carried out sweeping reforms in the Greek economy,armed forces, and civil service. Venizelos served as prime minister during much of the period until 1933.

Venizelos helped organize the Balkan alliance of Greece with Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Serbia. This alliance led to the two Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. IN the first war, the four Balkan countries defeated the Ottoman Empire and took most of its European territory. In the second war,Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its gains, attacked its allies but was defeated. As a result of the Balkan Wars Greece gained the island of Crete, southern Epirus, part of Macedonia, and many AegeanIslands.

King George was shot by an assassin in 1913. His son, Constantine I, succeeded him.

World War I

began in 1914. Venizelos urged that Greece fight with the Allies against Germany and its partners. But King Constantine, whose wife was a sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, supported Germany and kept Greece neutral. Venizelos started a revolutionary movement. It was supported bythe Allies, who had established a military base at Salonika to attack Bulgaria. In 1917, Constantine was forced to give the throne to his son, Alexander I. Greece entered the wars on the side of theAllies on July 2, 1917 under the leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos.

Thousands of Greek troops joined the British, French, and Serbians at their Salonika base, from which they attacked the Bulgarians and Turks. In September 1918, the Greeks and other Allied forces moved north. They defeated the Bulgarians, who signed an armistice at Salonika. The entirewar ended on November 11.

The peace treaties that followed World War I gave Greece most of the territories it had long sought. From the Ottoman Empire, Greece got eastern Thrace; some islands in the Aegean Sea, including two at the entrance to the Dardanelles; and temporary control of the Smyrna (now Izmir) region inAsia Minor. The Greeks gained western Thrace from Bulgaria.

King Alexander died in 1920, and Constantine I returned to the Greek throne. In 1921, Constantine renewed the war against the Turks by sending Greek forces deep into Asia Minor. The Turks dealt the Greeks a crushing defeat in 1922, and a military revolt forced Constantine from the throne. Hisson, George II, replaced him. A revolution ended the Ottoman Empire in 1922. It became the Republic of Turkey the next year.

In 1923, under the Treaty of Lausanne, Greece returned the Turkish territories it had gained after World War I. The treaty also provided for ending tensions produced by Turkish rule over Greeks. It
required over 1,250,000 Greeks in Turkey to move to Greece and 400,000 Turks in Greece to move to Turkey. After the Greek migration, the only Greeks under foreign rule were in northern Epirus in Albania, British-held Cyprus, and the Italian-held Dodecanese Islands.

Between World Wars

Another military revolt forced George II from the Greek throne late in 1923. The next year, Greece declared itself a republic. The republic lasted until 1935, and this period was one of great political confusion and economic weakness. The people were divided between the republicans, who supported the republic, and the royalists, who wanted a king. Also, Greece's economic resources could not keep up with its population, which had been swollen by the refugees from Turkey and by a high birth rate. The worldwide economic depression of the 1930's further weakened the Greek economy and the government.

The royalists returned to power in the elections of 1933. Two unsuccessful republican revolts took place, in 1933 and 1935. The government recalled George II to the throne later in 1935. The 1936 elections left the royalists and republicans almost evenly matched in Parliament. The balance ofpower rested with the Communists, who held 15 of the 300 seats. As a result, George permitted General Joannes Metaxas to establish a military dictatorship. On Aug. 4, 1936, the king dissolvedParliament without fixing a date for new elections, and suspended the main provisions of theconstitution. Metaxas remained dictator until his death in 1941.

World War II

began in 1939, and Greece declared its neutrality. But on Oct. 28, 1940, Italy attacked Greece. Metaxas had refused to permit Italian troops to build military bases there. The Greek forces were heavily out-numbered, but they pushed the Italians back deep into Albania. Germany came to the aidof Italy. On April 6, 1941, German forces poured into Greece and quickly defeated the defenders.

The Germans and their allies occupied Greece during the war. The Greeks suffered starvation, mass executions, and other tragedies, and their economy was almost destroyed. But they organized one of the best underground movements in all Europe. The largest and most effective of the several secret Greek resistance groups was the National Liberation Front, known as EAM. Its military arm was the National Popular Liberation Army, or ELAS.

The Germans began to withdraw from Greece in September 1944, and British forces landed in October. The British found EAM in control of most of Greece. Civil was broke out in Athens in December, and the British fought ELAS until early in 1945, when ELAS stopped fighting and agreedto break up its forces. The war in Europe ended in May 1945. Greece became one of the original members of the United Nations later that year.

Elections were held in March 1946, and a royalist government was formed. In September, a referendum that was held favored having a king, and George II returned to the throne. By the end of 1946, Communist led rebels had begun to revolt against the government. Great Britain had supported the government by giving Greece economic support and military aid against the rebels, but it could no longer afford to do so. Under the Truman Doctrine, announced in March 1947, theUnited States took over the British support of Greece. A long, bitter civil war followed. By October 1949, the rebels were defeated, but only after the United States provided the Government withmassive military aid.

King George died in 1947, and was succeeded by his brother, Paul I. Greece acquired the Dodecanese Islands under a 1947 peace treaty with Italy.

The 1950's

brought economic recovery and political stability. Greece joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952. In 1953, Greece allowed the United States to set up military bases on its territory.

During the 1950's, a serious dispute developed between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus, a British island colony off Turkey. Greeks made up 80 per cent of the island's population, and the rest were Turks. The Greeks of Cyprus demanded union with Greece and organized a revolutionary movement. The Greek government supported this demand, but Great Britain supported by the Turkish Government and Turkish Cypriots opposed it. After severe tensions, an agreement between Greece, Turkey, and Britain led to independence for Cyprus in 1960.

In 1952, Greek law gave women the right to vote and hold office. Field Marshal Alexander Papagos, head of the Greek Rally Party, became prime minister that year. He held office until his death in 1955. Constantine Caramanlis, head of the National Radical Union party, succeeded him.Under Caramanlis, Greece's economy expanded rapidly with continuing U.S. aid. The government improved Greece's finances, controlled rising prices, and encouraged the expansion of agricultureand industry. In 1955, Greece's first nationwide electric power system was completed. Caramanlisresigned in 1963.

The revolt of 1967

George Papandreou of the Center Union party became prime minister of Greece in November 1963. Earlier, he had charged that the elections of 1961 had been rigged. He had also suggested that the army, with support from the monarchy, stood in the way of democracy. King Paul died in 1964,and his son came to the throne as Constantine II. Constantine clashed with Papandreou over the king's political powers and control of the armed forces. Constantine dismissed Papandreou in 1965.Political confusion developed, and the government remained shaky. In an effort to achieve a stablegovernment, Parliament was dissolved on April 14, 1967, and new elections were called for May28. But these elections never took place.

On April 21, 1967, Greek army units equipped with tanks and armored cars seized the royal palace, government offices and leaders, and radio stations. Three army officers then set up a military dictatorship. This junta consisted of Colonel George Papadopoulos, its leader; Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos; and Colonel Nicholas Makarezos. The junta suspended important liberties guaranteed by the constitution. It prohibited all political activity, and made mass arrests. It replacedthe leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, imposed harsh controls on newspapers, and dissolved hundreds of private organizations of which it disapproved.

Constantine remained head of state, though powerless. On Dec. 13, 1967, he tried to overthrow the junta. He failed, and he and his family then fled to Italy. The junta named a regent to substitute for the king. Papadopoulos named himself prime minister and minister of defense.

The restoration of democracy

In May 1973, a group of naval officers led an unsuccessful mutiny aboard a Greek destroyer. The government said the mutiny was part of an attempted coup supported by King Constantine. In June, Papadopoulos announced the end of the monarchy and proclaimed Greece a republic. He became president in August and began to prepare the country for parliamentary elections. On November 25, 1973, a group of military officers who opposed Papadopoulos's liberalizing policiesoverthrew the government. The group's leader, Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis, became president.

The conflict between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus was renewed in 1974, when Greek officers led Cypriot troops in overthrowing the government of Cyprus. Turkey claimed that Greece had violated the independence of Cyprus, and Turkish troops invaded the island. After several days offighting, a cease-fire was signed to prevent full-scale war between Greece and Turkey.

The crisis in Cyprus and economic recession paralyzed Greece's military government. Shortly after the cease-fire was signed, the military government collapsed. Military leaders invited Constantine Caramanlis, who had opposed Greece's military government, to become prime minister again. OnJuly 24, 1974, Caramanlis was sworn in as prime minister of a civilian government.

In November, Greece's held its first free elections in more than 10 years. Caramanlis was then head of the New Democratic Party. The party won the elections by a wide margin. In December, Greek voters chose to make the country a republic rather than a monarchy. Parliament adopted a newconstitution in 1975. Civilian control over the military was gradually established. Papadopoulos, Pattakos, and Makarezos were found guilty of treason for their roles in the 1967 revolt. Theyreceived sentences of life in prison. The New Democratic Party retained its majority in elections heldin 1977. In 1980, Caramanlis resigned as prime minister and George Rallis succeeded him. Caramanlis was elected president, and held that post until he resigned in 1985. In 1981, Greece joined the European Community.