Last modified: 2006-05-27 by ivan sache
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The first human settlements in Greece date back to the VIIth
millenium BC. Greece was later colonized by successive waves of
Indo-European peoples, the Acheans (IInd millenium BC, whose
importance peaked with the Mycenes civilization) being supplanted by
the Dorians c. 1200 BC.
The Dorian period is often called the "Greek Middle Ages". The
Greek cities increased in size and importance. Oligarchy
progressively replaced monarchy. In the VIth century BC, Pisistrates
(600-527) established the hereditary tyranny in Athens. Pisistrates'
family was overthrown in 507 by Clisthenes and democracy was set up.
The Vth century BC was the peak of the
Greek classical period. Athens and the
allied Greek cities won the Medic wars (490-479) against the
Persians, who eventually withdrew after the peace signed in 448.
Athens flourished under Pericles' rule (443-429).
The hegemony of Athens ended when Sparta won the Peloponnesus War
(431-404). The Spartan hegemony itself ended in 371 when the Thebans
defeated Sparta in Leuctres.
King of Macedonia Philip II (355-336) progressively invaded
Greece. He defeated the Athens-Theba coalition in Cheronea in 338 and
placed Greece under the Macedonian rule. Philip was succeeded by his
son Alexander the Great (336-323). Alexander suppressed a Greek
revolt and was appointed Chief of the Greeks against the Persians. He
defeated them several times, conquered Egypt, where he founded
Alexandria, seized Babylonia and burned
Parsa (Persepolis), and stopped his conquest on the river Indus. Back
in Babylonia, he attempted to organized a united Empire including the
victorious and defeated peoples.
When Alexander died, his Empire was rapidly dismembered and shared
among his generals. Greece was placed under the rule of the
Antigonids, a dynasty founded by Antigonos Monophtalmos (381-301).
The Romans started the conquest of Greece in 216. Antigonid
King Philip V (221-179) was defeated by Consul Quinctus Flamininius
in Cynoscephales in 197. Greece was granted a semi-independence under
the Roman rule.
In 146, Rome defeated the revolted Greek cities. Corinth was
destroyed and Greece became a Roman province. From the Ist century BC
to the IVth century, "Greece conquered its fierce victor": the Greek
culture and civilization dramatically influenced the Roman Empire.
In 330, Roman Emperor Constantine the
Great (306-337) inaugurated the city of Contantinople (now
Istanbul, in Turkey),
which became the main center of culture and religion in Greece. After
the death of Emperor Theodosius in 395, the Roman Empire was shared
between his two sons and Constantinople became the capital city of
the Eastern Roman Empire.
In 610, Emperor Heraclius (610-641) adopted Greek as the offficial
language of the Empire, which lost its last Roman characteristics.
The Byzantine Empire peaked under the
Macedonian dynasty (867-1050). Later, the Empire was assaulted by
Slavonic and Bulgarian tribes. In 1204, the
Crusaders seized Constantinople and
started to dismember the Empire. Feudal
states such as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Kingdom of
Thessaloniki and the Principality of Achaia, were founded. The Greeks
founded Principalities in Epirus, Trabzon and Nicea. The Lascaris
from Nicea reconstituted the Empire and their successors, the
Paleologues, recaptured Constantinople
in 1261.
Continental Greece and the islands were attacked by the Venitians,
the Genoese and the Catalans. The Ottomans occupied Thrace, Thessalia
and Macedonia.
The Ottomans seized Constantinople in
1453. In 1456, they conquered Athens and the Peloponnesus. Greece was
incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and remained
under Turkish rule until the beginning of
the XIXth century.
Greek national feelings developed in the XVIIIth century, when the
Ottoman Empire started to decline. Philhellenism was supported and
funded by Greeks living abroad. The Greek Society Hetairia was
founded by Alexander Ypsilanti
(1792-1828) in Odessa (then in Russia, now in Ukraine)
in 1814.
The insurrection broke out all over
Greece in 1821-1822. The Greek independence was proclaimed in
Epidaure in 1822. The Ottomans reacted by
slaughtering Greek populations and recaptured Athens and Missolonghi
in 1826-1827. A joint British, French and Russian fleet defeated the
Ottoman Navy in Navarin in 1827. Next year, Russia declared war to
the Ottoman Empire. Autonomy of Greece was granted by the treaty of
Andrinople (now Edirne, in Turkey) in
1829.
In 1830, the treaty of London created an independent Greek state,
placed under the protection of Britain, France and Russia. The
Bavarian prince Otto I was
crowned King of Greece in 1832.
However, Otto's pro-Russian policy was not accepted by Britain, which
occupied Athens in 1854. Otto was overthrown in 1862.
His successor George I (1863-1913)
was imposed by Britain, which ceded the Ionian
Islands to Greece in 1864. Greece attempted to incorporate to the
kingdom areas inhabited by Greeks but was defeated by the Ottomans in
1897.
After the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), Greece incorporated most of
Macedonia, south of Epirus, Crete and the
islands of Samos, Chios, Mytilenes and
Lemnos. Constantine I was crowned in 1913 after the assassination of
George I. In the beginning of the First World War, Constantine
supported the Germans, whereas the republican government, formed by
Venizelos in Thessaloniki in 1916, supported the Triple Entente. In
1917, Constantine I abdicated and his son, King Alexander I, declared
war on Germany. By the treaties of Neuilly and Sèvres, Greece
was given Thrace and the region of Smyrna (now Izmir, in Turkey).
When Alexander I died in 1920, Constantine I came back to the
power. He lost the war against Turkey in 1922. Constantin had to
abdicate again in 1922, and was succeeded by his son George II. In
1923, the treaty of Lausanne retroceded eastern Thrace and the region
of Smyrna to Turkey.
The First Republic of Greece was
proclaimed in 1924. However, the government could not rule the
country and anarchy spread all over. In 1935, George II reestablished
the Kingdom of Greece and Venizelos exiled.
From 1936 to 1941, General Metaxas imposed a dictatorhip to the
king. Greece was invaded by Italy (1940) and Germany (1941), and
George II exiled. A strong national resistance movement developed.
George II came back to Greece in 1946 and died the next year. He was
succeeded by his brother Paul I. The civil
war between the partisans of the King and the Communists ended in
1949 with the defeat of the Communists. Greece joined
NATO in 1952.
In 1964, Constantine II succeded his father Paul I. In 1967, a
junta of officers established the so-called Colonels' regime and the
King exiled. The Second Republic was proclaimed in 1973.
In 1974, the Colonels' dictatorship broke down and democracy was
restored. Greece joined the European Union in
1981.
Ivan Sache, 25 October 2003