Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cricket). But, Greek independence put pressure on Britain to give sovereignty to the
Greek nation, and in 1864 the British left. Meanwhile, Britain simultaneously eased onto
the Greek throne the young Danish Prince William, crowned King George I in 1863. His
50-year reign eventually brought some stability to the country, beginning with a new
constitution in 1864 that established the power of democratically elected representatives.
In 1881 Greece acquired Thessaly and part of Epiros as a result of a Russo-Turkish
war. But Greece failed miserably when, in 1897, it tried to attack Turkey in the north in
an effort to reach
enosis
(union) with Crete (who had persistently agitated for liberation
from the Ottomans). The bid drained much of the country's resources, and timely diplo-
matic intervention by the great powers prevented the Turkish army from taking Athens.
Crete was placed under international administration, but the government of the island
was gradually handed over to the Greeks, and in 1905 the president of the Cretan as-
sembly, Eleftherios Venizelos, announced Crete's union with Greece (although this was
not recognised by international law until 1913). Venizelos went on to become prime min-
ister of Greece in 1910 and was the country's leading politician until his republican sym-
pathies brought about his downfall in 1935.
Eugène Delacroix' oil canvas
The Massacre at Chios
(1824) was inspired by the events
in Asia Minor during Greece's War of Independence in 1821. The painting hangs in the
Louvre Museum in Paris.
Balkan Wars
Although the Ottoman Empire was in its death throes at the beginning of the 20th cen-
tury, it had still retained Macedonia. This was a prize coveted by the newly formed
Balkan countries of Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as by Greece, and led to the outbreak of
the Balkan Wars (1912 and 1913). The outcome was the Treaty of Bucharest (August
1913), which greatly expanded Greek territory (and with it, its fertile agricultural re-
sources). Its borders now took in the southern part of Macedonia (which included Thes-
saloniki, the vital cultural centre strategically positioned on the Balkan trade routes), part
of Thrace, another chunk of Epiros, and the northeastern Aegean Islands, as well as re-
cognising the union with Crete.
WWI & Smyrna
In March 1913 a man assassinated King George, and his son Constantine became the
monarch. King Constantine, who was married to the sister of the German emperor, insis-
ted that Greece remain neutral when WWI broke out in August 1914. As the war dragged
