Timeline of modern Greek history

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a timeline of modern Greek history.

Greek War of Independence (1821–1828)

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First Hellenic Republic (1828–1832)

The First Hellenic Republic (Greek: Αʹ Ελληνική Δημοκρατία) is a historiographic term used for a series of councils and "Provisional Governments" during the Greek War of Independence. During the first stages of the rebellion, various areas elected their own regional governing councils. These were replaced by the united administration at the First National Assembly of Epidaurus during early 1822, which also adopted the first Greek Constitution. A series of National Assemblies ensued, while Greece was threatened with collapse due to civil war and the victories of Ibrahim Pasha. In 1827, the Third National Assembly at Troezen selected Count Ioannis Kapodistrias as Governor of Greece for seven years. He arrived in 1828 and established the Hellenic State, commanding with quasi-dictatorial powers. He was assassinated by political rivals in 1831 and was succeeded by his brother, Augustinos Kapodistrias until the Great Powers declared Greece a Kingdom and selected the Bavarian Prince Otto to be its king.

Kingdom of Greece (1832–1924)

Reign of King Otto (1832–1862)

  • 1843, 3 September: Military coup and revolution caused by the King's refusal to grant a constitution. King Otto agrees to convene a National Assembly to prepare a constitution.
  • 1843, 15 September: Andreas Metaxas becomes the first Constitutional Prime Minister of Greece.
  • 1844, March 18: The Greek Constitution of 1844 is voted into effect.
  • 1850, 4 January:
    Pacifico incident
    . Blockade of the port of Piraeus by the British fleet.
  • 1854, 14 May: Anglo-French occupation of Piraeus to ensure Greek neutrality during the Crimean War, although a Greek volunteer battalion participates in the Siege of Sevastopol. Cholera epidemic begins in the capital, transmitted by the foreign troops.
  • 1861: Assassination attempt against
    Queen Amalia
    .
  • 1862, 10 October:
    Military coup
    . Otto leaves the throne and the country.

Reign of King George I (1863–1913)

First Balkan War

  • 1912, 8 October: The members states of the Balkan League, after issuing ultimata, declare war on Turkey. Beginning of the First Balkan War.
  • 1912, 22 October: Greek victory at the Battle of Sarantaporo.
  • 1912, 1 November: Greek victory at the
    Battle of Giannitsa
    .
  • 1912, 6–12 November: Greek victory at the Battle of Pente Pigadia.
  • 1912, 9 November: The Greek army enters Thessaloniki. Most of southern Macedonia is occupied by Greece.
  • 1912, 15 November: A Greek division marching towards
    Battle of Vevi
    .
  • 1912, 16 December: Greek victory at the
    Naval Battle of Elli
    .
  • 1913, 18 January: Greek victory at the
    Naval Battle of Lemnos
    .
  • 1913, 20–21 February: After overcoming Ottoman defenses in the Battle of Bizani, the Greek army enters Ioannina. Epirus is liberated.
  • 1913, 18 March: King George I is assassinated in Thessaloniki. He's succeeded by his eldest son, King Constantine I.
  • 1913, 30 May: Signing of the
    Treaty of London
    . End of the First Balkan War.

Second Balkan War

  • 1913, 16 June: Bulgarian forces attack Greece and Serbia. Beginning of the Second Balkan War.
  • 1913, 19–21 June: Greek victory at the
    Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas
    .
  • 1913, 22–23 June: Greek victory at the Battle of Doiran.
  • 1913, 8–18 July: Greeks and Bulgarians fight to a bloody stalemate at the Battle of Kresna Gorge.
  • 1913, 10 August: Signing of the
    Treaty of Bucharest
    . End of the Second Balkan War. Much of Macedonia is transferred from Bulgaria to Greece.

National Schism

  • 1914: According to the Protocol of Corfu, Northern Epirus is granted autonomy within Albania. Beginning of the Greek genocide.
  • 1915, January: King Constantine I forces Venizelos to resign. The National Schism begins.
  • 1915, October: French and British forces land in Thessaloniki, establishing the
    Salonika front
    .
  • 1915, December: Constantine I forces Venizelos to resign for a second time and dissolves the Liberal-dominated parliament. Venizelos leaves Athens.
  • 1916, April: The autonomy of Northern Epirus is revoked by the Albanian government, in violation of the Protocol of Corfu.
  • 1916, August:
  • 1916, 30 August: Successful anti-royalist coup by the
    Movement of National Defence
    . Venizelos returns to the Greek mainland. Henceforth, Greece has two governments: the royalist government in Athens commanded by the King and the "Temporary Government of National Defence" commanded by Venizelos in Thessaloniki.
  • 1916, 18 November: The "Noemvriana" (November events). Royalist paramilitary units, named the "League of Reservists", target the Venizelists. Armed clashes between Reservists and French marines in Athens. The Allies institute a naval blockade of Greece. French and British forces land in Thessaly and enter the regional capital of Larissa.
  • 1916, 21 November: HMHS Britannic, British merchant ship, sinks by a mine near Kea. 30 people die.
  • 1917, June: French and British forces occupy Piraeus, bombard Athens and force the Greek fleet to surrender. Constantine I abdicates, he and his eldest son George (barred from succession) leave the country. His second son Alexander becomes King Alexander I and Venizelos is restored as Prime Minister in Athens.
  • 1917, 19 August: The Great Fire of Thessaloniki destroys most of the city.

World War I

Greco-Turkish War

Restoration of stability

  • 1923: Greece has an enormous refugee problem with the arrival of approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Asia Minor (according to the population exchange agreement of the Treaty of Lausanne. The population of the bankrupt Greece increased by 1/3 in a period of a few months. The fate of the rest 1 million Greeks of Asia Minor (according to the Ottoman census) remains unknown.
  • 1923, 31 August: The Corfu incident. Mussolini's forces bombard and briefly occupy the Greek island of Corfu.
  • 1923, October:
    Failed anti-Venizelist military coup
    , begun out of fear for the upcoming elections' result.
  • 1923, 16 December: Venizelos's Liberal Party wins the elections.
  • 1923, 19 December: King George II is "asked" to leave the country. Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis is named Regent.

Second Hellenic Republic (1924–1935)

Kingdom of Greece restored (1935–1967)

  • 1935, 3 November: George II is restored to the throne.

4 August Regime (1936–1940)

  • 1936, 4 August: Coup by General Ioannis Metaxas, who declares a state of emergency, decrees martial law, annuls various articles of the Constitution and establishes a crisis cabinet to end the increasing riots and to restore social order.
  • 1937, 15 December: Mass NKVD operation against Greeks in the USSR begins, based on Joseph Stalin's Directive 50125 of Dec. 1937, resulting in the loss of 38,000 Soviet citizens of Hellenic descent at the Gulags of Siberia.[18]
  • 1939:
    Antiochian Greeks
    reaches its maximum.
  • 1940, 15 August:
    national religious holiday
    ), by an Italian submarine. The Greek government announced that the attack had been performed by a submarine of "unknown nationality", in an attempt to keep Greece neutral.

World War II (1940–1944)

Greco-Italian War and Battle of Greece (1940–1941)

  • 1940, 28 October: After Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas
    Greco-Italian War
    .
  • 1940, 13 November: The Battle of Pindus ends in a complete Greek victory.
  • 1940, 14 November: The Greek forces enter Albanian territory.
  • 1940, 24 December: The Greek army controls practically all of Northern Epirus.
  • 1941: Turkey mobilizes all Greeks between 18 and 45 years of age and deports them to
    labour battalions in central Anatolia
    .
  • 1941, 29 January: Ioannis Metaxas dies in Athens.
  • 1941, 1 March: Earthquake occurs in Larissa leaving 40 people dead and thousands homeless.
  • 1941, 9–20 March: The Italian Spring Offensive fails to dislocate the Greek forces.
  • 1941, 6 April: The German Army
    invades Greece
    .
  • 1941, 11–12 April: Battle of Vevi.
  • 1941, 18 April: The German Army advances towards Athens. Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis commits suicide.
  • 1941, 20 April: The Greek First Army surrenders to the Germans.
  • 1941, 21 April: The German forces manage to go through the Metaxas Line.
  • 1941, 22 April: The King, the Royal family and the Government flee Athens and go to Crete.
  • 1941, 27 April: The German Army enters Athens. Greek writer
    Greek flag
    .
  • 1941, May: The Allied forces impose a naval blockade of Greece, ending off all imports, including foods.
  • 1941, 4 May: Out of respect for the Greek nation, Hitler orders the Wehrmacht not to take Greek war prisoners and allows them to carry weapons.
  • 1941, 20 May: Beginning of the Battle of Crete.
  • 1941, 22 May: The King, the Royal family and the Government are evacuated to Alexandria.
  • 1941, 1 June: The remaining defenders at
    Sphakia
    surrender to the German Army.

Axis occupation and Resistance (1941–1944)

  • 1941, 30 May: The first resistance act occur in Athens. Two law students tear down the Flag of Nazi Germany from the Acropolis.
  • 1941, 27 September: The National Liberation Front (EAM), the largest resistance group, is initiated.
  • 1941, 28–29 September: A spontaneous rebellion in Drama is repressed by the Bulgarian occupation forces with a death toll of 3,000.
  • 1941, 17 October: Executions of the male population and burning of the village Kerdyllia by the Nazis, with a death toll of 235.[19]
  • 1941, 23–28 October: Massive executions of the inhabitants of the villages Mesovouno, Cleisto, Kidonia and Ambelofito by the Nazis.
  • 1941–1942, Winter: The Great Famine. An estimated 300,000 Greeks perish during the period of occupation, with mortality reaching a maximum during that winter.
  • 1942: The Fortune Tax (Varlık Vergisi) is imposed on the Greeks in Turkey (as well as on others, mostly non-Muslims), resulting in their financial ruination.
  • 1942, June: The
    Greek People's Liberation Army
    begins operating in the mountains.
  • 1942, Summer: The great suffering and the pressure of the exiled Greek government eventually forces the British partially to lift the blockade. The
    International Red Cross
    is able to distribute food supplies in sufficient quantities.
  • 1942, 25 November: The
    Rommel
    .
  • 1943, 27 February: Poet Kostis Palamas dies. His funeral becomes a public show of defiance to the occupation authorities.
  • 1943, March: The Germans began mass deportations of the Jews of Thessaloniki to Auschwitz. By the end of the war, an estimated 60,000 Greek Jews were murdered.
  • 1943, 16 August: 317 inhabitants of Kommeno are murdered and the village is burned by the Nazis.
  • 1943, September: The Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews of Athens fails, thanks to the combined efforts of
    Archbishop Damaskinos
    , Greek resistance groups and some of the Greek people.
  • 1943, 13 September: More than 5,000 Italian soldiers are
    Cephallonia
    or perish in the sea, during the German takeover of the Italian occupation areas.
  • 1943, 26 September-16 November:
    Dodecanese Campaign
    .
  • 1943, 13 December: The
    Massacre of Kalavryta
    occurs.
  • 1944, 10 March: the EAM-controlled Political Committee of National Liberation is established.
  • 1944, 10 June: The Distomo massacre. 218 civilians are murdered and the village is looted and burnt.

Restoration of the Greek Government

  • 1944, 14 October: Athens is liberated and the Greek government-in-exile returns, with George Papandreou as Premier.
  • 1944, 18 October: Premier
    George Papandreou
    and his national unity government repatriate.
  • 1944, 3 December: "Dekemvriana" (December events). 28 people are killed by British troops and policemen in Athens.
  • 1944, 4 December: George Papandreou attempts to resign.
  • 1944, 12 December:
    ELAS
    controls most of Athens and its environs.
  • 1945 12 February: EAM and the Greek Government sign a
    peace agreement
    to end fighting.
  • 1945, 16 June: Former ELAS leader Aris Velouchiotis is killed or commits suicide.
  • 1945, 17 October:
    Archbishop Damaskinos
    assumes as regent in an attempt to stabilize the country.
  • 1945, 24 October: Greece is one of the founding members of the United Nations.

Civil War (1946–1949)

  • 1946, March: Fighting resumes between the Government and the Communists.
  • 1946, 28 September: A
    national referendum
    favours constitutional monarchy.
  • 1946: King George II returns to Greece.
  • 1947, 20 January: The deadliest shipwreck of modern Greek history occurs when Himara sinks in the South Evian Gulf, resulting in 391 deaths. It remains unknown if the cause was the bad weather, a mine or sabotage.
  • 1947, 1 April: King George II dies of sudden heart failure in the Palace in Athens. Some Greeks do not believe the announcement, considering it a joke. He is succeeded by his younger brother Paul.
  • 1947, December: Approximately 1,200 Communist militants are killed in a battle near Konitsa
  • 1948: The Communists reach the maximum of their power.
  • 1949, August: General
    Alexander Papagos
    begins a major counter-offensive against Communist forces in northern Greece, pushing them into Albania.
  • 1949, 16 October:
    Nikolaos Zachariadis
    , commander of the Communist guerillas, announces a ceasefire that ends the Greek Civil War.

Postwar Greece (1950–1967)

Military dictatorship (1967–1974)

  • 1967, 21 April: Successful coup d'état led by a group of colonels.
  • 1968: Counter-coup organized by King Constantine II fails. Constantine II leaves the country.
  • 1968, 13 August: Assassination attempt against Dictator Papadopoulos by Alexandros Panagoulis.
  • 1968, 1 November: George Papandreou dies. His funeral becomes the occasion for a large anti-dictatorship demonstration.
  • 1971: Halki seminary, Orthodoxy's most prominent theological school, is closed by the Turkish government. Despite international pressure for its reopening, it remains closed ever since.
  • 1972, 2 March:
    Ecclesiastical coup
    in Cyprus fails to remove Makarios from the Presidency.
  • 1973, 1 June: Dictator George Papadopoulos declares Greece a republic and himself President, thus deposing King Constantine II via abolishing the monarchy.
  • 1973, 17 November: End of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. A total of 24 civilians and students are killed.
  • 1973, 25 November: Military coup by General
    Dimitrios Ioannides
    ousts Papadopoulos. Military law is reinstated.
  • 1974, 15 July: The Greek regime sponsors a coup d'état in Nicosia, replacing President Makarios III with Nikos Sampson.
  • 1974, 20 July: Turkey invades Cyprus.
  • 1974, 23 July: Nikos Sampson is removed from office and replaced with
    Glafkos Klerides
    . The coup regime ends. A general ceasefire is declared.
  • 1974, 23 July: Junta-appointed President Phaedon Gizikis calls a meeting of old guard politicians with the participation of the commanders of the armed forces. Konstantinos Karamanlis is chosen to assume the premiership.

Third Hellenic Republic (1974–today)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Greek Independence Day". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-09-09. The Greek revolt was precipitated on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Peloponnesia. The cry "Freedom or Death" became the motto of the revolution. The Greeks experienced early successes on the battlefield, including the capture of Athens during June 1822, but infighting ensued.
  2. ISBN 0-19-285439-9
    . The Greek uprising and the church. Bishop Germanos of old Patras blesses the Greek banner at the outset of the national revolt against the Turks on 25 March 1821. The solemnity of the scene was enhanced two decades later in this painting by T. Vryzakis…. The fact that one of the Greek bishops, Germanos of Old Patras, had enthusiastically blessed the Greek uprising at the onset (25 March 1821) and had thereby helped to unleash a holy war, was not to gain the church a satisfactory, let alone a dominant, role in the new order of things.
  3. ^ "Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Gregory V". Ec-patr.org. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  4. ^ "Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Cyril VI". Ec-patr.org. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  5. ^ a b c "University of Athens, Επίτομο Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Ιστορίας". Phys.uoa.gr. 1960-09-16. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  6. ^ Mazower, Mark, Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430–1950 (Vintage, 2006), p. 126–129
  7. ^ http://www2.egiklopedia.gr/imeportal/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaID=8747 [dead link]
  8. ^ Dr. Detorakis, Theocharis "Brief Historical Review of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete"
  9. ^ "Cyprus brief historical survey". Kypros.org. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  10. ^ Claude Delaval Cobham, Exerpta Cypria, Cambridge University Press (1908) p. 453-454
  11. ^ Claude Delaval Cobham, Exerpta Cypria, Cambridge University Press (1908) pp. 454–455
  12. ^ Douglas Dakin, The Greek struggle for independence, 1821–1833, Batsford (1973) p. 66
  13. ^ Paul D. Hellander, Greece, pg 530
  14. ISBN 1-58567-172-X
    , pp. 235–236.
  15. ^ La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. Tripolis
  16. ^ Alexander Kitroeff. The Story of Greek Migration to America. The Journey: The Greek American Dream (Documentary Film).
  17. ^ a b C. Moskos. "The Greeks in the United States." In: R. Clogg (cd.). The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999. p.105.
  18. ^ SAE World Council of Hellenes Abroad. Memorial for the Greek victims of Gulag in Siberia. SAE Former USSR Countries. Moscow, 28.01.2010. Retrieved: 2013-06-04.
  19. ^ Modern and Contemporary Macedonia, vol 2, pg61-103
  20. ^ "NATO Update 1974". Nato.int. 2001-10-26. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  21. ISBN 9781856130622
  22. Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens. Για τον αείμνηστο φιλέλληνα Roger Milliex
    . Μηνύματα. ECCLESIA: ΔΙΑΔΙΚΤΥΑΚΟΣ ΟΙΚΟΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ, 10/7/2006.
  23. ^ Greece Travel Blog. Roger Milliex. 12 July 2006.
  24. ISBN 9789604670925
  25. ^ Niki Kitsantonis. Young Greeks Seek Options Elsewhere. NY Times. September 15, 2010. B1.

Further reading

External links
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