The history of modern
Greece

Greece covers the history of
Greece

Greece from the
recognition of its autonomy from the
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire by the Great
Powers (Great Britain, France, and Russia) in 1828, after the Greek
War of Independence, to the present day.
Contents
1 Background
2 Administration of Ioannis Kapodistrias
3 Assassination of Kapodistrias and the creation of the Kingdom of
Greece
4 Reign of King Otto, 1833–1863
5 Reign of King George I, 1864–1913
5.1 Balkan Wars
6
World War I

World War I and subsequent crises, 1914-1922
6.1 Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
7 Republic and Monarchy (1922–1940)
8 World War II
9 Civil War
10 Postwar
Greece

Greece (1950–1973)
10.1 Greek military junta of 1967–1974
11 Transition and democracy (1973–2009)
12 Economic crisis (2009-present)
12.1 Coalition Government
13 See also
14 References
15 Further reading
Background[edit]
Main articles: Frankokratia, Ottoman Greece, Modern Greek
Enlightenment, and Greek War of Independence
The
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire had ruled most of the Greek-speaking world since
late Antiquity, but experienced a decline as a result of Muslim Arab
and Seljuk Turkish invasions and was fatally weakened by the sacking
of
Constantinople

Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders in 1204. The establishment of
Catholic Latin states on Greek soil, and the struggles of the Orthodox
Byzantine Greeks

Byzantine Greeks against them, led to the emergence of a distinct
Greek national identity. The
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire was restored by the
Palaiologos

Palaiologos dynasty in 1261, but it was a shadow of its former self,
and constant civil wars and foreign attacks in the 14th century
brought about its terminal decline. As a result, most of Greece
gradually became part of the
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire in the late 14th and early
15th century, culminating in the
Fall of Constantinople

Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the
conquest of the
Duchy of Athens

Duchy of Athens in 1458, and of the Despotate of the
Morea in 1460.
Ottoman control was largely absent in the mountainous interior of
Greece, and many fled there, often becoming brigands.[1] Otherwise,
only the islands of the Aegean and a few coastal fortresses on the
mainland, under Venetian and Genoese rule, remained free from Ottoman
rule, but by the mid-16th century, the Ottomans had conquered most of
them as well.
Rhodes

Rhodes fell in 1522,
Cyprus

Cyprus in 1571, and the Venetians
retained
Crete

Crete until 1670. The
Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands were only briefly ruled
by the Ottomans (
Kefalonia

Kefalonia from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500),
and remained primarily under the rule of Venice.
The first large-scale insurrection against Ottoman rule was the Orlov
Revolt of the early 1770s, but it was brutally repressed. The same
time, however, also marks the start of the
Modern Greek

Modern Greek Enlightenment,
as
Greeks

Greeks who studied in Western Europe brought knowledge and ideas
back to their homeland, and as Greek merchants and shipowners
increased their wealth. As a result, especially in the aftermath of
the French Revolution, liberal and nationalist ideas began to spread
across the Greek lands.
In 1821, the
Greeks

Greeks rose up against the Ottoman Empire. Initial
successes were followed by infighting, which almost caused the Greek
struggle to collapse; nevertheless, the prolongation of the fight
forced the Great Powers (Britain,
Russia

Russia and France) to recognize the
claims of the Greek rebels to separate statehood (Treaty of London)
and intervene against the Ottomans at the Battle of Navarino. Greece
was initially to be an autonomous state under Ottoman suzerainty, but
by 1832, in the Treaty of Constantinople, it was recognized as a fully
independent kingdom. In the meantime, the 3rd National Assembly of the
Greek insurgents called upon Ioannis Kapodistrias, a former foreign
minister of Russia, to take over the governance of the fledgling state
in 1827.
Administration of Ioannis Kapodistrias[edit]
Ioannis Kapodistrias.
On his arrival, Kapodistrias launched a major reform and modernisation
programme that covered all areas. He re-established military unity by
bringing an end to the second phase of the civil war; re-organised the
military, which was then able to reconquer territory lost to the
Ottoman military during the civil wars; and introduced the first
modern quarantine system in Greece, which brought diseases such
typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery under control for the first time
since the start of the War of Independence.
Kapodistrias also negotiated with the Great Powers and the Ottoman
Empire to establish the borders and degree of independence of the
Greek state; signed the peace treaty that ended the War of
Independence with the Ottomans; introduced the phoenix, the first
modern Greek currency; organised local administration; and, in an
effort to raise the living standards of the population, introduced the
cultivation of the potato into Greece.
Face and Obverse of a Phoenix coin.
Furthermore, he tried to undermine the authority of the traditional
clans (or dynasties) that he considered the useless legacy of a bygone
and obsolete era.[2] However, he underestimated the political and
military strength of the capetanei (καπεταναίοι –
commanders) who had led the revolt against
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire in 1821, and
who had expected a leadership role in the post-revolution Government.
When a dispute between the capetanei of
Laconia

Laconia and the appointed
governor of the province escalated into an armed conflict, he called
in Russian troops to restore order, because much of the army was
controlled by capetanei who had been part of the rebellion.
George Finlay's 1861 History of Greek Revolution records that by 1831
Kapodistrias's government had become hated, chiefly by the independent
Maniots, but also by the
Roumeliotes
.svg/500px-Location_map_of_CentralGreece_(Greece).svg.png)
Roumeliotes and the rich and influential
merchant families of Hydra,
Spetses

Spetses and Psara. The customs dues of the
inhabitants of Hydra were the chief source of revenue for these
municipalities, and they refused to hand these over to Kapodistrias.
It appears that Kapodistrias had refused to convene the National
Assembly and was ruling as a despot, possibly influenced by his
Russian experiences. The municipality of Hydra instructed Admiral
Miaoulis and
Alexandros Mavrokordatos

Alexandros Mavrokordatos to go to
Poros

Poros and seize the
Hellenic Navy's fleet there. This Miaoulis did so with the intention
of preventing a blockade of the islands, so for a time it seemed as if
the National Assembly would be called.
Kapodistrias called on the British and French residents to support him
in putting down the rebellion, but this they refused to do.
Nonetheless, an Admiral Rikord (or Ricord) took his ships north to
Poros. Colonel (later General) Kallergis took a half-trained force of
Greek Army regulars and a force of irregulars in support. With less
than 200 men, Miaoulis was unable to make much of a fight; Fort Heidek
on Bourtzi Island was overrun by the regulars and the brig Spetses
(once Laskarina Bouboulina's Agamemnon) sank by Ricord's force.
Encircled by the Russians in the harbor and Kallergis' force on land,
Poros

Poros surrendered. Miaoulis was forced to set charges in the flagship
Hellas and the corvette Hydra to blow them up when he and his handful
of followers returned to Hydra. Kallergis' men were enraged by the
loss of the ships and sacked Poros, carrying off plunder to Nauplion.
The loss of the best ships in the fleet crippled the
Hellenic Navy

Hellenic Navy for
many years, but it also weakened Kapodistrias' position. He did
finally call the National Assembly, but his other actions triggered
more opposition and that led to his downfall.
Assassination of Kapodistrias and the creation of the Kingdom of
Greece[edit]
Further information: Kingdom of Greece
Assassination of
Ioannis Kapodistrias

Ioannis Kapodistrias by Dionysios Tsokos.
The Entry of King Otto in
Athens

Athens by Peter von Hess.
In 1831, Kapodistrias ordered the imprisonment of Petrobey
Mavromichalis, the
Bey of the Mani Peninsula, one of the wildest and
most rebellious parts of Greece. This was a mortal offence to the
Mavromichalis family, and on 9 October 1831 (27 September in the
Julian Calendar) Kapodistrias was assassinated by Petros' brother
Konstantis and son Georgios on the steps of the church of Saint
Spyridon in Nafplio.
Ioannis Kapodistrias

Ioannis Kapodistrias was succeeded as Governor by his younger brother,
Augustinos Kapodistrias. Augustinos ruled only for six months, during
which the country was very much plunged into chaos. Under the protocol
signed at the
London Conference of 1832 on 7 May 1832 between Bavaria
and the protecting Powers,
Greece

Greece was defined as an independent
kingdom, free of Ottoman control, with the Arta-Volos line as its
northern frontier. The protocol also dealt with the way in which a
Regency was to be managed until Otto of
Bavaria
.svg/240px-Flag_of_Bavaria_(striped).svg.png)
Bavaria reached his majority
to assume the throne of Greece. The
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire was indemnified in
the sum of 40,000,000 piastres for the loss of territory in the new
kingdom.
Reign of King Otto, 1833–1863[edit]
Main article: Otto of Greece
Otto, the first King of modern Greece.
Otto's reign would prove troubled, but he managed to hang on for 30
years before he and his wife, Queen Amalia, left the same way they
came, aboard a British warship. During the early years of his reign, a
group of Bavarian Regents ruled in his name, and they made themselves
very unpopular by trying to impose German ideas of rigid hierarchical
government on the Greeks, while keeping most significant state offices
away from them. Nevertheless, they laid the foundations of a Greek
administration, army, justice system and education system. Otto was
sincere in his desire to give
Greece

Greece good government, but he suffered
from two great handicaps: his
Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic faith and his childless
marriage to Queen Amalia. This meant he could neither be crowned as
King of
Greece

Greece under the Orthodox rite nor establish a dynasty.
The Bavarian Regents ruled until 1837, when they were recalled at the
insistence of Britain and France. Otto thereafter appointed Greek
ministers, although Bavarian officials still ran most of the
administration and the army. At this time,
Greece

Greece still had no
legislature and no constitution. Discontent grew until the 3 September
1843 Revolution broke out in Athens. Otto agreed to grant a
constitution and convened a National Assembly that met in November of
the same year. The
Greek Constitution of 1844

Greek Constitution of 1844 then created a bicameral
parliament consisting of an Assembly (Vouli) and a Senate (Gerousia).
Power then passed into the hands of a group of Greek politicians, most
of whom who had been commanders in the War of Independence against the
Ottomans.
Greek politics in the 19th century was dominated by the "national
question." The majority of
Greeks

Greeks continued to live under Ottoman
rule, and
Greeks

Greeks dreamed of liberating them all and reconstituting a
state embracing all the Greek lands, with
Constantinople

Constantinople as its
capital. This was called the Great Idea (Megali Idea), and it was
sustained by almost continuous rebellions against Ottoman rule in
Greek-speaking territories, particularly Crete,
Thessaly

Thessaly and
Macedonia.
When the
Crimean War

Crimean War broke out in 1854,
Greece

Greece saw an opportunity to
gain Ottoman-controlled territory that had large Greek populations.
Greece, an Orthodox nation, had considerable support in Russia, but
the Russian government decided it was too dangerous to help Greece
expand its holdings.[3] When the Russians attacked the Ottoman forces,
Greece

Greece invaded
Thessaly

Thessaly and Epirus. To block further Greek moves, the
British and French occupied the main Greek port at
Piraeus

Piraeus from April
1854 to February 1857.[4] The Greeks, gambling on a Russian victory,
incited the large-scale
Epirus Revolt of 1854

Epirus Revolt of 1854 as well as uprisings in
Crete. The revolts failed and
Greece

Greece made no gains during the Crimean
War, which
Russia

Russia lost.[5]
A new generation of Greek politicians was growing increasingly
intolerant of King Otto's continuing interference in government. In
1862, the King dismissed his Prime Minister, the former admiral
Constantine Kanaris, the most prominent politician of the period. This
provoked a military rebellion, forcing Otto to accept the inevitable
and leave the country.
The
Greeks

Greeks then asked Britain to send Queen Victoria's son Prince
Alfred as their new king, but this was vetoed by the other Powers.
Instead, a young Danish Prince became King George I. George was a very
popular choice as a constitutional monarch, and he agreed that his
sons would be raised in the Greek Orthodox faith. As a reward to the
Greeks

Greeks for adopting a pro-British King, Britain ceded the Ionian
Islands to Greece.
Reign of King George I, 1864–1913[edit]
King George I of the Hellenes in
Hellenic Navy

Hellenic Navy uniform.
At the urging of Britain and King George,
Greece

Greece adopted the much more
democratic Greek Constitution of 1864. The powers of the King were
reduced, the Senate was abolished, and the franchise was extended to
all adult males.
Approval voting

Approval voting was used in elections, with one urn
for each candidate divided into "yes" and "no" portions into which
voters dropped lead beads. Nevertheless, Greek politics remained
heavily dynastic, as it has always been. Family names such as Zaimis,
Rallis and Trikoupis occurred repeatedly as Prime Ministers.
Although parties were centered around the individual leaders, often
bearing their names, two broad political tendencies existed: the
liberals, led first by
Charilaos Trikoupis

Charilaos Trikoupis and later by Eleftherios
Venizelos, and the conservatives, led initially by Theodoros
Deligiannis and later by Thrasivoulos Zaimis. Trikoupis and
Deligiannis dominated Greek politics in the later 19th century,
alternating in office. Trikoupis favoured co-operation with Great
Britain in foreign affairs, the creation of infrastructure and an
indigenous industry, raising protective tariffs and progressive social
legislation, while the more populist Deligiannis depended on the
promotion of Greek nationalism and the Megali Idea.
Greece

Greece remained a very poor country throughout the 19th century. The
country lacked raw materials, infrastructure and capital. Agriculture
was mostly at the subsistence level, and the only important export
commodities were currants, raisins and tobacco. Some
Greeks

Greeks grew rich
as merchants and shipowners, and
Piraeus

Piraeus became a major port, but
little of this wealth found its way to the Greek peasantry. Greece
remained hopelessly in debt to London finance houses.
By the 1890s
Greece

Greece was virtually bankrupt. Poverty was rife in the
rural areas and the islands, and was eased only by large-scale
emigration to the United States. There was little education in the
rural areas. Nevertheless, there was progress in building
communications and infrastructure, and fine public buildings were
erected in Athens. Despite the bad financial situation,
Athens

Athens staged
the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896, which proved a great
success.
The
Hellenic Parliament

Hellenic Parliament in the 1880s, with PM Charilaos Trikoupis
standing at the podium.
The parliamentary process developed greatly in
Greece

Greece during the reign
of George I. Initially, the royal prerogative in choosing his prime
minister remained and contributed to governmental instability, until
the introduction of the dedilomeni principle of parliamentary
confidence in 1875 by the reformist Charilaos Trikoupis. Clientelism
and frequent electoral upheavals however remained the norm in Greek
politics, and frustrated the country's development.
Corruption and Trikoupis' increased spending (to create necessary
infrastructure such as the Corinth Canal) overtaxed the weak Greek
economy, forcing the declaration of public insolvency in 1893 and to
accept the imposition of an International Financial Control authority
to pay off the country's creditors.
Another political issue in 19th-century
Greece

Greece was the Greek language
question. The Greek people spoke a form of Greek called Demotic. Many
of the educated elite saw this as a peasant dialect and were
determined to restore the glories of Ancient Greek. Government
documents and newspapers were consequently published in Katharevousa
(purified) Greek, a form that few ordinary
Greeks

Greeks could read. Liberals
favoured recognising Demotic as the national language, but
conservatives and the Orthodox Church resisted all such efforts, to
the extent that when the
New Testament

New Testament was translated into Demotic in
1901, riots erupted in
Athens

Athens and the government fell (the
Evangeliaka). This issue would continue to plague Greek politics until
the 1970s.
Map of the Kingdom of Greece, the
Cretan State

Cretan State and the Principality of
Samos in 1903, before the Balkan Wars.
All
Greeks

Greeks were united, however, in their determination to liberate
the Greek-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Especially in
Crete, the
Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)

Cretan Revolt (1866–1869) raised nationalist fervour.
When war broke out between Russian and the Ottomans in the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Greek popular sentiment rallied to
Russia's side, but
Greece

Greece was too poor and too concerned about British
intervention to enter the war officially. Nevertheless, in 1881,
Thessaly

Thessaly and small parts of Epirus were ceded to
Greece

Greece as part of the
Treaty of Berlin.
Greeks

Greeks in
Crete

Crete continued to stage regular revolts, and in 1897, the
Greek government under Theodoros Deligiannis, 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 by
the Ottomans. Through the intervention of the Great Powers however,
Greece

Greece lost only a little territory along the border to Turkey, while
Crete

Crete was established as an autonomous state under Prince George of
Greece

Greece as the Cretan State.
Popular lithograph celebrating the success of the Goudi
pronunciamiento of 1909 as a national rebirth.
Nationalist sentiment among
Greeks

Greeks in the
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire continued to
grow, and by the 1890s there were constant disturbances in Macedonia.
Here, the
Greeks

Greeks were in competition not only with the Ottomans, but
also with the Bulgarians, in an armed propaganda struggle for the
hearts and minds of the ethnically mixed local population, the
so-called "Macedonian Struggle".
In July 1908, the
Young Turk Revolution

Young Turk Revolution broke out in the Ottoman
Empire. Taking advantage of the Ottoman internal turmoil,
Austria-Hungary
.svg/250px-Flag_of_Austria-Hungary_(1869-1918).svg.png)
Austria-Hungary annexed
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Bulgaria

Bulgaria declared
its independence from the Ottoman Empire. On Crete, the local
population, led by a young politician named Eleftherios Venizelos,
declared Enosis, Union with Greece, provoking another crisis. The fact
that the Greek government, led by Dimitrios Rallis, proved unable to
likewise take advantage of the situation and bring
Crete

Crete into the
fold, rankled many Greeks, especially young military officers. These
formed a secret society, the "Military League", with the purpose of
emulating their Ottoman colleagues to seek governmental reforms.
The resulting
Goudi coup

Goudi coup on 15 August 1909 marked a watershed in
modern Greek history: as the military conspirators were inexperienced
in politics, they asked Venizelos, who had impeccable liberal
credentials, to come to
Greece

Greece as their political adviser. Venizelos
quickly established himself as a powerful political figure, and his
allies won the August 1910 elections. Venizelos became Prime Minister
in October 1910, ushering a period of 25 years where his personality
would dominate Greek politics.
Venizelos initiated a major reform program, including a new and more
liberal constitution and reforms in the spheres of public
administration, education and economy. French and British military
missions were invited for the army and navy respectively, and arms
purchases were made. In the meantime, the Ottoman Empire's weaknesses
were revealed by the ongoing
Italo-Turkish War

Italo-Turkish War in Libya.
Balkan Wars[edit]
Main article: Balkan Wars
Through the spring of 1912, a series of bilateral agreements between
the Christian Balkan states (Greece, Bulgaria,
Montenegro

Montenegro and Serbia)
formed the Balkan League, which in October 1912 declared war on the
Ottoman Empire. In the First Balkan War, the Ottomans were defeated on
all fronts, and the four allies rushed to grab as much territory as
they could. The
Greeks

Greeks occupied
Thessaloniki
.jpg/440px-Thessaloniki-Arch_of_Galerius_(eastern_face).jpg)
Thessaloniki just ahead of the
Bulgarians, and also took much of Epirus with Ioannina, as well as
Crete

Crete and the Aegean Islands.
The
Treaty of London (1913)

Treaty of London (1913) ended the war, but no one was left
satisfied, and soon, the four allies fell out over the partition of
Macedonia. In June 1913,
Bulgaria

Bulgaria attacked
Greece

Greece and Serbia,
beginning the Second Balkan War, but was beaten back. The Treaty of
Bucharest (1913), which concluded the Second Balkan War, left Greece
with southern Epirus, the southern half of Macedonia (known as Greek
Macedonia),
Crete

Crete and the Aegean islands, except for the Dodecanese,
which had been occupied by
Italy

Italy since 1911. These gains nearly
doubled Greece's area and population.
In March 1913, an anarchist, Alexandros Schinas, assassinated King
George in Thessaloniki, and his son came to the throne as Constantine
I. Constantine was the first Greek king born in
Greece

Greece and the first
to be Greek Orthodox by birth. His very name had been chosen in the
spirit of romantic Greek nationalism (the Megali Idea), evoking the
Byzantine emperors of that name. In addition, as the
Commander-in-chief of the Greek Army during the Balkan Wars, his
popularity was enormous, rivalled only by that of Venizelos, his Prime
Minister.
World War I

World War I and subsequent crises, 1914-1922[edit]
Main articles:
Greece

Greece during World War I, National Schism, Greek
genocide, and Asia Minor Campaign
When
World War I

World War I broke out in 1914, the King and his Prime Minister
Venizelos both preferred to maintain a neutral stance, in spite of
Greece's treaty of alliance with Serbia, which had been attacked by
Austria-Hungary
.svg/250px-Flag_of_Austria-Hungary_(1869-1918).svg.png)
Austria-Hungary as the first belligerent action of the conflict. But
when the Allies asked for Greek help in the
Dardanelles campaign

Dardanelles campaign of
1915, offering
Cyprus

Cyprus in exchange, their diverging views became
apparent: Constantine had been educated in Germany, was married to
Sophia of Prussia, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm, and was convinced of the
Central Powers' victory. Venizelos, on the other hand, was an ardent
anglophile, and believed in an Allied victory.
Since Greece, a maritime country, could not oppose the mighty British
navy, and citing the need for a respite after two wars, King
Constantine favored continued neutrality, while Venizelos actively
sought Greek entry in the war on the Allied side. Venizelos resigned,
but won the Greek elections of 1915 and again formed the government.
When
Bulgaria

Bulgaria entered the war as a German ally in October 1915,
Venizelos invited Allied forces into
Greece

Greece (the Salonika Front), for
which he was again dismissed by Constantine.
Venizelos reviews a section of the Greek army on the Macedonian front
during the First World War, 1917. He is accompanied by Admiral Pavlos
Koundouriotis (left) and General
Maurice Sarrail

Maurice Sarrail (right).
In August 1916, after several incidents in which both sides in the war
had encroached upon the still theoretically neutral Greek territory,
Venizelist officers rose up in Allied-controlled
Thessaloniki
.jpg/440px-Thessaloniki-Arch_of_Galerius_(eastern_face).jpg)
Thessaloniki and
Venizelos established a separate government there known as the result
of a so-called Movement of National Defence. Constantine was now
ruling only in what was
Greece

Greece before the
Balkan Wars

Balkan Wars ("Old Greece"),
and his government was subject to repeated humiliations from the
Allies. In November 1916 the French occupied Piraeus, bombarded Athens
and forced the Greek fleet to surrender. The royalist troops fired at
them, leading to a battle between French and Greek royalist troops.
There were also riots against supporters of Venizelos in
Athens

Athens (the
Noemvriana).
Following the
February Revolution

February Revolution in
Russia

Russia in 1917, the Tsar's
support for his cousin Constantine was eliminated, and he was forced
to leave the country, without actually abdicating, in June 1917. His
second son Alexander became King, while the remaining royal family and
the most prominent royalists followed him into exile. Venizelos now
led a superficially united
Greece

Greece into the war on the Allied side, but
underneath the surface, the division of Greek society into Venizelists
and anti-Venizelists, the so-called National Schism, became more
entrenched.
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)[edit]
Main article: Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
The Greek Kingdom and the
Greek diaspora

Greek diaspora in the Balkans and western
Asia Minor, according to a 1919 map submitted to the Paris Peace
Conference.
With the end of the war in November 1918, the moribund Ottoman Empire
was ready to be carved up among the victors, and
Greece

Greece now expected
the Allies to deliver on their promises. In no small measure through
the diplomatic efforts of Venizelos,
Greece

Greece secured
Western Thrace

Western Thrace in
the
Treaty of Neuilly

Treaty of Neuilly in November 1919 and
Eastern Thrace

Eastern Thrace and a zone
around
Smyrna

Smyrna in western
Anatolia

Anatolia (already under Greek administration
as the
Occupation of İzmir
.svg/250px-State_Flag_of_Greece_(1863-1924_and_1935-1970).svg.png)
Occupation of İzmir since May 1919) in the Treaty of Sèvres
of August 1920. The future of
Constantinople

Constantinople was left to be
determined. But at the same time, a
Turkish National Movement
.png)
Turkish National Movement rose in
Turkey

Turkey led by Mustafa Kemal (later Kemal Atatürk), who set up a rival
government in
Ankara

Ankara and was engaged in fighting the Greek army.
Map of the military developments during the Greco-Turkish War
(1919–1922).
At this point, the fulfillment of the
Megali Idea

Megali Idea seemed near. Yet so
deep was the rift in Greek society that on his return to Greece, an
assassination attempt was made on Venizelos by two royalist former
officers. Even more surprisingly, Venizelos' Liberal Party lost the
Greek elections of November 1920, and in the Greek plebescite of 1920,
the Greek people voted for the return of King Constantine from exile
after the sudden death of King Alexander.
The United Opposition, which had campaigned on the slogan of an end to
the
Asia Minor Campaign

Asia Minor Campaign in Anatolia, instead intensified it. But the
royalist restoration had dire consequences: many veteran Venizelist
officers were dismissed or left the army, while
Italy

Italy and
France

France found
the return of the hated Constantine a useful pretext for switching
their support to Kemal. Finally, in August 1922, the Turkish army
shattered the Greek front, and took
Smyrna

Smyrna in an operation that led to
the disastrous Great Fire of Smyrna.
The Greek army evacuated not only Anatolia, but also Eastern Thrace
and the islands of
Imbros

Imbros and
Tenedos

Tenedos in accordance with the terms of
the (Treaty of Lausanne). A population exchange between
Greece

Greece and
Turkey

Turkey was agreed between the two countries, with over 1.5 million
Christians and almost half a million Muslims being uprooted. This
catastrophe marked the end of the Megali Idea, and left Greece
financially exhausted, demoralized, and having to house and feed a
proportionately huge number of Greek refugees.
Republic and Monarchy (1922–1940)[edit]
Main articles: 11 September 1922 Revolution, Second Hellenic Republic,
and 4th of August Regime
Crowds celebrating in
Athens

Athens the proclamation of the Republic, 1924,
with placards of republican leaders Papanastasiou, Hatzikyriakos and
Kondylis.
The catastrophe deepened the political crisis, with the returning army
rising up under Venizelist officers and forcing King Constantine to
abdicate again, in September 1922, in favour of his firstborn son,
George II. The "Revolutionary Committee" headed by Colonels Stylianos
Gonatas (soon to become Prime Minister) and
Nikolaos Plastiras

Nikolaos Plastiras engaged
in a witch-hunt against the royalists, culminating in the "Trial of
the Six".
The Greek election of 1923 was held to form a National Assembly with
powers to draft a new constitution. Following a failed royalist
Leonardopoulos-Gargalidis coup attempt, the monarchist parties
abstained, leading to a landslide for the Liberals and their allies.
King George II was asked to leave the country, and on 25 March 1924,
Alexandros Papanastasiou

Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaimed the Second Hellenic Republic,
ratified by the Greek plebiscite of 1924 a month later.
However, the new Republic was built on unstable foundations. The
National Schism

National Schism lived on, as the monarchists, with the exception of
Ioannis Metaxas, did not acknowledge the Venizelist-sponsored
Republican regime. The army, which had power and provided many of the
leading proponents of both sides, became a factor to be reckoned with,
prone to intervene in politics.
Greece

Greece was diplomatically isolated and vulnerable, as the Corfu
incident of 1923 showed, and the economic foundations of the state
were in ruins after a decade of war and the sudden increase of the
country's population by a quarter. The refugees, however, also brought
a new air into Greece. They were impoverished now, but before 1922
many had been entrepreneurs and well-educated. Staunch supporters of
Venizelos and the Republic, many would radicalize and play a leading
role in the nascent Communist Party of Greece.
In June 1925, General Theodoros Pangalos launched a coup and ruled as
a dictator for a year until a counter-coup by another General,
Georgios Kondylis, unseated him and restored the Republic. In the
meantime, Pangalos managed to embroil
Greece

Greece in a short-lived war with
Bulgaria

Bulgaria precipitated by the
Incident at Petrich

Incident at Petrich and make unacceptable
concessions in
Thessaloniki
.jpg/440px-Thessaloniki-Arch_of_Galerius_(eastern_face).jpg)
Thessaloniki and its hinterland to
Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia in an
effort to gain its support for his revanchist policies against Turkey.
In 1928, Venizelos returned from exile. After a landslide victory in
the Greek election of 1928, he formed a government. This was the only
cabinet of the Second Republic to run its full four-year term, and the
work it left behind was considerable. Alongside domestic reforms,
Venizelos restored Greece's frayed international relations, even
initiating a Greco-Turkish reconciliation with a visit to
Ankara

Ankara and
the signing of a Friendship Agreement in 1930.
The
Great Depression

Great Depression hit Greece, an already poor country dependent on
agricultural exports, particularly hard. Matters were made worse by
the closing off of emigration to the United States, the traditional
safety valve of rural poverty. High unemployment and consequent social
unrest resulted, and the Communist Party of
Greece

Greece made rapid
advances. Venizelos was forced to default on Greece's national debt in
1932, and he fell from office after the Greek elections of 1932. He
was succeeded by a monarchist coalition government led by Panagis
Tsaldaris of the People's Party.
Two failed Venizelist military coups followed in 1933 and 1935 in an
effort to preserve the Republic, but they had the opposite effect. On
10 October 1935, a few months after he suppressed the 1935 Greek coup
d'état attempt, Georgios Kondylis, the former Venizelist stalwart,
abolished the Republic in another coup, and declared the monarchy
restored. The rigged Greek plebiscite of 1935 confirmed the regime
change (with an unsurprising 97.88% of votes), and King George II
returned.
The conservative regime of
Ioannis Metaxas

Ioannis Metaxas (4th of August Regime)
adopted many of the ideas and symbolism of Italian Fascism. Here
members of the
National Organisation of Youth

National Organisation of Youth give the
Roman salute

Roman salute to
Metaxas.
King George II immediately dismissed Kondylis and appointed Professor
Konstantinos Demertzis

Konstantinos Demertzis as interim Prime Minister. Venizelos meanwhile,
in exile, urged an end to the conflict over the monarchy in view of
the threat to
Greece

Greece from the rise of Fascist Italy. His successors as
Liberal leader,
Themistoklis Sophoulis

Themistoklis Sophoulis and Georgios Papandreou,
agreed, and the restoration of the monarchy was accepted. The Greek
elections of 1936 resulted in a hung parliament, with the Communists
holding the balance. As no government could be formed, Demertzis
continued on. At the same time, a series of deaths left the Greek
political scene in disarray: Kondylis died in February, Venizelos in
March, Demertzis in April and Tsaldaris in May. The road was now clear
for Ioannis Metaxas, who had succeeded Demertzis as interim Prime
Minister.
Metaxas, a retired royalist general, believed that an authoritarian
government was necessary to prevent social conflict and quell the
rising power of the Communists. On 4 August 1936, with the King's
support, he suspended parliament and established the 4th of August
Regime. The Communists were suppressed and the Liberal leaders went
into internal exile. Patterning itself after Benito Mussolini's
Fascist Italy,[citation needed] Metaxas' regime promoted various
concepts such as the "Third Hellenic Civilization", the Roman salute,
a National Organisation of Youth, and introduced measures to gain
popular support, such as the Greek
Social Insurance Institute
.svg/440px-Social_Insurance_Institute_(Greece).svg.png)
Social Insurance Institute (IKA),
still the biggest social security institution in Greece.
Despite these efforts, the regime lacked a broad popular base or a
mass movement supporting it. The Greek people were generally
apathetic, without actively opposing Metaxas. Metaxas also improved
the country's defenses in preparation for the forthcoming European
war, constructing, among other defensive measures, the "Metaxas Line".
Despite his aping of Fascism, and the strong economic ties with
resurgent Nazi Germany, Metaxas followed a policy of neutrality, given
Greece's traditionally strong ties to Britain, reinforced by King
George II's personal anglophilia. In April 1939, the Italian threat
suddenly loomed closer when
Italy

Italy annexed Albania, whereupon Britain
publicly guaranteed Greece's borders. Thus, when
World War II

World War II broke
out in September 1939,
Greece

Greece remained neutral.
World War II[edit]
Main articles:
Military history of Greece

Military history of Greece during World War II, Axis
Occupation of Greece, and Greek Resistance
The symbolic start of the Occupation: German soldiers raising the
German War Flag over the Acropolis. It would be taken down in one of
the first acts of the Greek Resistance.
The three occupation zones. Blue indicates the Italian, red the German
and green the territory annexed by Bulgaria. The Italian zone was
taken over by the Germans in September 1943.
Guerillas of ELAS
Despite this declared neutrality,
Greece

Greece became a target for
Mussolini's expansionist policies. Provocations against Greece
included the sinking of the Greek cruiser Elli on 15 August 1940.
Italian troops crossed the border on 28 October 1940, beginning the
Greco-Italian War, but were stopped by a determined Greek defence that
ultimately drove them back into Albania.
Metaxas died suddenly in January 1941. His death raised hopes for a
liberalization of his regime and the restoration of parliamentary
rule, but King George quashed these hopes when he retained the
regime's machinery in place. In the meantime,
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was
reluctantly forced to divert German troops to rescue Mussolini from
defeat, and attacked
Greece

Greece through
Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia and
Bulgaria

Bulgaria on 6 April
1941. Despite British assistance, the Germans overran most of the
country by the end of May. The King and the government escaped to
Crete, where they stayed until the end of the Battle of Crete. They
then transferred to Egypt, where a
Greek government in exile
.svg/250px-State_Flag_of_Greece_(1863-1924_and_1935-1970).svg.png)
Greek government in exile was
established.
The occupied country of
Greece

Greece was divided in three zones (German,
Italian and Bulgarian) and in Athens, a puppet regime was established.
The members were either conservatives or nationalists with fascist
leanings. The three quisling prime ministers were Georgios
Tsolakoglou, the general who had signed the armistice with the
Wehrmacht, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, and Ioannis Rallis, who took
office when the German defeat was inevitable and aimed primarily at
combating the left-wing Resistance movement. To this end, he created
the collaborationist Security Battalions.
Greece

Greece suffered terrible privations during
World War II

World War II as the Germans
appropriated most of the country's agricultural production and
prevented its fishing fleets from operating. As a result, and because
a British blockade initially hindered foreign relief efforts, the
Great Greek Famine resulted. Hundreds of thousands of
Greeks

Greeks perished,
especially in the winter of 1941–1942. In the mountains of the Greek
mainland, in the meantime, several Greek resistance movements sprang
up, and by mid-1943, the Axis forces controlled only the main towns
and the connecting roads, while a "Free Greece" was set up in the
mountains.
The largest resistance group, the National Liberation Front (EAM), was
controlled by the Communist Party of Greece, as was the Greek People's
Liberation Army (Elas), led by Aris Velouchiotis, and a civil war soon
broke out between it and non-Communist groups such as the National
Republican Greek League (EDES) in those areas liberated from the
Germans. The exiled government in
Cairo

Cairo was only intermittently in
touch with the resistance movement and exercised virtually no
influence in the occupied country. Part of this was due to the
unpopularity of King George II in
Greece

Greece itself, but despite efforts
by Greek politicians, British support ensured his retention at the
head of the
Cairo

Cairo government.
As the German defeat drew nearer, the various Greek political factions
convened in Lebanon in May 1944 under British auspices and formed a
government of national unity under George Papandreou, in which EAM was
represented by six ministers.
Civil War[edit]
Main article: Greek civil war
German forces withdrew on 12 October 1944, and the government in exile
returned to Athens. After the German withdrawal, the EAM-ELAS
guerrilla army effectively controlled most of Greece, but its leaders
were reluctant to take control of the country, as they knew that
Soviet premier
Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin had agreed that
Greece

Greece would be in the
British sphere of influence after the war. Tensions between the
British-backed Papandreou and the EAM, especially over the issue of
disarmament of the various armed groups, led to the resignation of the
latter's ministers from the government.
A few days later, on 3 December 1944, a large-scale pro-EAM
demonstration in
Athens

Athens ended in violence and ushered an intense,
house-to-house struggle with British and monarchist forces (the
Dekemvriana). After three weeks, the Communists were defeated: the
Varkiza agreement ended the conflict and disarmed ELAS, and an
unstable coalition government was formed. The anti-EAM backlash grew
into a full-scale "White Terror", which exacerbated tensions.
Organization and military bases of the "Democratic Army", as well as
entry routes to Greece.
The Communists boycotted the March 1946 elections, and on the same
day, fighting broke out again. By the end of 1946, the Communist
Democratic Army of
Greece

Greece had been formed, pitted against the
governmental National Army, which was backed first by Britain and
after 1947 by the United States.
Communist successes in 1947–1948 enabled them to move freely over
much of mainland Greece, but with extensive reorganization, the
deportation of rural populations and American material support, the
National Army was slowly able to regain control over most of the
countryside. In 1949, the insurgents suffered a major blow, as
Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia closed its borders following the split between Marshal
Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito with the Soviet Union. Finally, in August 1949, the
National Army under Marshal
Alexander Papagos

Alexander Papagos launched an offensive
that forced the remaining insurgents to surrender or flee across the
northern border into the territory of Greece's northern Communist
neighbors.
The civil war resulted in 100,000 killed and caused catastrophic
economic disruption. In addition, at least 25,000
Greeks

Greeks and an
unspecified number of Macedonian Slavs were either voluntarily or
forcibly evacuated to
Eastern bloc

Eastern bloc countries, while 700,000 became
displaced persons inside the country. Many more emigrated to Australia
and other countries.
The postwar settlement ended Greece's territorial expansion, which had
begun in 1832. The 1947 Treaty of Paris required
Italy

Italy to hand over
the
Dodecanese

Dodecanese islands to Greece. These were the last
majority-Greek-speaking areas to be united with the Greek state, apart
from
Cyprus

Cyprus which was a British possession until it became independent
in 1960. Greece's ethnic homogeneity was increased by the postwar
expulsion of 25,000 Albanians from Epirus (see Cham Albanians). The
only significant remaining minorities are the Muslims in Western
Thrace (about 100,000) and a small Slavic-speaking minority in the
north. Greek nationalists continued to claim southern
Albania

Albania (which
they called Northern Epirus), home of a significant Greek population
(about 3%-12% in the whole of Albania[6]), and the Turkish-held
islands of
Imvros

Imvros and Tenedos, where there were smaller Greek
minorities.
Postwar
Greece

Greece (1950–1973)[edit]
After the civil war,
Greece

Greece sought to join the Western democracies and
became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1952.
Since the Civil war (1946–49) but even more after that, the parties
in the parliament were divided in three political concentrations. The
political formation Right-Centre-Left, given the exacerbation of
political animosity that had preceded dividing the country in the 40s,
tended to turn the concurrence of parties into ideological positions.
Workmen grade the street in front of new housing constructed with the
help of
Marshall Plan
.svg/280px-Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_(obverse).svg.png)
Marshall Plan funds in Greece.
In the beginning of the 1950s, the forces of the Centre (EPEK)
succeeded in gaining the power and under the leadership of the aged
general N. Plastiras they governed for about half a four-year term.
These were a series of governments having limited manoeuvreability and
inadequate influence in the political arena. This government, as well
as those that followed, was constantly under the American auspices.
The defeat of EPEK in the elections of 1952, apart from increasing the
repressive measures that concerned the defeated of the Civil war, also
marked the end of the general political position that it represented,
namely political consensus and social reconciliation.
The Left, which had been ostracized from the political life of the
country, found a way of expression through the constitution of EDA
(United Democratic Left) in 1951, which turned out to be a significant
pole, yet steadily excluded from the decision making centres. After
the disbandment of the Centre as an autonomous political institution,
EDA practically expanded its electoral influence to a significant part
of the EAM-based Centre-Left.
The 1960s are part of the period 1953-72, during which Greek economy
developed rapidly and was structured within the scope of European and
worldwide economic developments. One of the main characteristics of
that period was the major political event - as we have come to accept
it - of the country's accession in the European Economic Community, in
an attempt to create a common market. The relevant treaty was
contracted in 1962.
The developmental strategy adopted by the country was embodied in
centrally organized five-year plans; yet their orientation was
indistinct. The average annual emigration, which absorbed the excess
workforce and contributed to extremely high growth rates, exceeded the
annual natural increase in population. The influx of large amounts of
foreign private capital was being facilitated and consumption was
expanded. These, associated with the rise of tourism, the expansion of
shipping activity and with the migrant remittances, had a positive
effect on the country's balance of payments.
The peak of development was registered principally in manufacturing,
mainly in the textile, chemical and metallurgical industries, the
growth rate of which reached 11% during 1965-70. The other large area
where obvious economic and social consequences occurred, was that of
construction. The policy of αντιπαροχή (antiparochi,
"property-swap"), a Greek invention which entailed the concession of
construction land to developers in return for a share in the resulting
multi-storey apartment buildings, favoured the creation of a class of
small-medium contractors on the one hand and settled the housing
system and property status on the other. However, it was also
responsible for the demolition of much of the country's traditional
and 19th-century neoclassical architecture, and the transformation of
Greek cities, and especially Athens, into a "form-less, border-less
and placeless urban landscape".[7]
During that decade, youth culture came to the fore in society as a
distinct social power with autonomous presence (creation of a new
culture in music, fashion etc.) and young people displayed dynamism in
the assertion of their social rights. The independence granted to
Cyprus, which was mined from the very beginning, constituted the main
focus of young activist mobilizations, along with struggles aiming at
reforms in education, which were provisionally realized to a certain
extent through the educational reform of 1964. The country reckoned on
and was influenced by Europe - usually behind time - and by the
current trends like never before. Thus, in a sense, the imposition of
the military junta conflicted with the country's social and cultural
development.
Greek military junta of 1967–1974[edit]
Main article: Greek military junta of 1967–1974
The country descended into a prolonged political crisis, and elections
were scheduled for late April 1967. On 21 April 1967 a group of
right-wing colonels led by Colonel George Papadopoulos seized power in
a coup d'état establishing the Regime of the Colonels. Civil
liberties were suppressed, special military courts were established,
and political parties were dissolved.
Several thousand suspected communists and political opponents were
imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands. Alleged US support for
the junta is claimed to be the cause of rising anti-Americanism in
Greece

Greece during and following the junta's harsh rule. The junta's early
years also saw a marked upturn in the economy, with increased foreign
investment and large-scale infrastructure works. The junta was widely
condemned abroad, but inside the country, discontent began to increase
only after 1970, when the economy slowed down.
Even the armed forces, the regime's foundation, were not immune: In
May 1973, a planned coup by the
Hellenic Navy

Hellenic Navy was narrowly suppressed,
but led to the mutiny of the HNS Velos, whose officers sought
political asylum in Italy. In response, junta leader Papadopoulos
attempted to steer the regime towards a controlled democratization,
abolishing the monarchy and declaring himself President of the
Republic.
Transition and democracy (1973–2009)[edit]
Main articles:
Metapolitefsi and Third Hellenic Republic
Greek territorial changes between 1821 and 1947, showing territories
awarded to
Greece

Greece in 1919 and those lost in 1923.
On 25 November 1973, following the bloody suppression of Athens
Polytechnic uprising on the 17th, the hardliner Brigadier Dimitrios
Ioannides overthrew Papadopoulos and tried to continue the
dictatorship despite the popular unrest the uprising had triggered.
Ioannides' attempt in July 1974 to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, the
President of Cyprus, brought
Greece

Greece to the brink of war with Turkey,
which invaded
Cyprus

Cyprus and occupied part of the island.[8]
Senior Greek military officers then withdrew their support from the
junta, which collapsed.
Constantine Karamanlis

Constantine Karamanlis returned from exile in
France

France to establish a government of national unity until elections
could be held. Karamanlis worked to defuse the risk of war with Turkey
and also legalised the Communist Party, which had been illegal since
1947.[8] His newly organized party, New Democracy (ND), won the
elections held in November 1974 by a wide margin, and he became prime
minister.
Following the 1974 referendum which resulted in the abolition of the
monarchy, a new constitution was approved by parliament on 19 June
1975. Parliament elected
Constantine Tsatsos

Constantine Tsatsos as President of the
Republic. In the parliamentary elections of 1977, New Democracy again
won a majority of seats. In May 1980, Prime Minister Karamanlis was
elected to succeed Tsatsos as President.
George Rallis

George Rallis succeeded
Karamanlis as Prime Minister.
On 1 January 1981,
Greece

Greece became the tenth member of the European
Community (now the European Union).[9] In parliamentary elections held
on 18 October 1981,
Greece

Greece elected its first socialist government when
the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement

Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreou,
won 172 of 300 seats. On 29 March 1985, after Prime Minister
Papandreou declined to support President Karamanlis for a second term,
Supreme Court Justice
Christos Sartzetakis
_cropped.jpg)
Christos Sartzetakis was elected president by
the Greek parliament.
Greece

Greece had two rounds of parliamentary elections in 1989; both
produced weak coalition governments with limited mandates. Party
leaders withdrew their support in February 1990, and elections were
held on 8 April. New Democracy, led by Constantine Mitsotakis, won 150
seats in that election and subsequently gained two others. However, a
split between Mitsotakis and his first Foreign Minister, Antonis
Samaras, in 1992, led to Samaras' dismissal and the eventual collapse
of the ND government. In new elections in September 1993, Papandreou
returned to power.
On 17 January 1996, following a protracted illness, Papandreou
resigned and was replaced as Prime Minister by former Minister of
Trade and Industry Costas Simitis. Within days, the new prime minister
had to handle a major Greek-Turkish crisis over the Imia/Kardak
islands. Simitis subsequently won re-election in the 1996 and 2000
elections. In 2004, Simitis retired and George Papandreou succeeded
him as PASOK leader.[10]
In the March 2004 elections, PASOK was defeated by New Democracy, led
by Kostas Karamanlis, the nephew of the former President. The
government called early elections in September 2007 (normally,
elections would have been held in March 2008), and New Democracy again
was the majority party in the Parliament. As a result of that defeat,
PASOK undertook a party election for a new leader. In that contest,
George Papandreou was reelected as the head of the socialist party in
Greece. In the 2009 elections however, PASOK became the majority party
in the Parliament and George Papandreou became Prime Minister of
Greece. After PASOK lost its majority in the Parliament, ND and PASOK
joined the smaller
Popular Orthodox Rally

Popular Orthodox Rally in a grand coalition,
pledging their parliamentary support for a government of national
unity headed by former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas
Papademos.
Economic crisis (2009-present)[edit]
Main article: Greek government-debt crisis
This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to
reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2016)
From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among
investors concerning Greece's ability to meet its debt obligations due
to strong increase in government debt levels.[11][12] This led to a
crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads
and risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to other
countries, most importantly Germany.[13][14] Downgrading of Greek
government debt to junk bonds created alarm in financial markets.
On 2 May 2010, the Eurozone countries and the International Monetary
Fund agreed on a €110 billion loan for Greece, conditional on the
implementation of harsh austerity measures. In October 2011, Eurozone
leaders also agreed on a proposal to write off 50% of Greek debt owed
to private creditors, increasing the EFSF to about €1 trillion and
requiring European banks to achieve 9% capitalization to reduce the
risk of contagion to other countries. These austerity measures have
proved extremely unpopular with the Greek public, precipitating
demonstrations and civil unrest.
There are widespread fears that a Greek default on its debt would have
global repercussions, endangering the economies of many other
countries in the European Union, threatening the stability of the
European currency, the euro, and possibly plunging the world into
another recession. It has been speculated that the crisis may force
Greece

Greece to abandon the euro and bring back its former currency, the
drachma. In April 2014,
Greece

Greece returned to the global bond market as
it successfully sold €3 billion worth of five-year government bonds
at a yield of 4.95%. According to the IMF,
Greece

Greece will have real GDP
growth of 0.6% in 2014 after 5 years of decline.
Coalition Government[edit]
Main article: Antonis Samaras
Following the May 2012 legislative election where the New Democracy
party became the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament, Samaras,
leader of ND, was asked by Greek President
Karolos Papoulias

Karolos Papoulias to try to
form a government.[15] However, after a day of hard negotiations with
the other parties in Parliament, Samaras officially announced he was
giving up the mandate to form a government. The task passed to Alexis
Tsipras, leader of the SYRIZA (the second largest party) who was also
unable to form a government.[16] After PASOK also failed to negotiate
a successful agreement to form a government, emergency talks with the
President ended with a new election being called while Panagiotis
Pikrammenos was appointed as Prime Minister in a caretaker government.
Voters once again took to the polls in the widely watched June 2012
election. New Democracy came out on top in a stronger position with
129 seats, compared to 108 in the May election. On 20 June 2012,
Samaras successfully formed a coalition with PASOK (now led by former
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos) and DIMAR.[17] The new
government would have a majority of 58, with SYRIZA, Independent
Greeks

Greeks (ANEL), Golden Dawn (XA) and the Communist Party (KKE)
comprising the opposition. PASOK and DIMAR chose to take a limited
role in Samaras' Cabinet, being represented by party officials and
independent technocrats instead of MPs.[18]
See also[edit]
Greece

Greece portal
History portal
Timeline of Greek history
Timeline of modern Greek history
References[edit]
^ Cavendish, Marshall (2009). World and Its Peoples. Marshall
Cavendish. p. 1478. ISBN 0-7614-7902-3. The klephts were
descendants of
Greeks

Greeks who fled into the mountains to avoid the Turks
in the fifteenth century and who remained active as brigands into the
nineteenth century.
^ John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause - Brigandage and
Irredentism in Modern
Greece

Greece 1821-1912, Clarendon Press Oxford (1987),
p. 67.
^ Orlando Figes, The Crimean War(2010 pp 32-40, 139
^ Spencer C. Tucker (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict. ABC-CLIO.
p. 1210.
^ Candan Badem (2010). "The" Ottoman Crimean War: (1853 - 1856).
BRILL. p. 183.
^ CIA - The World Factbook
^ Yannis Aesopos, Yorgos Simeoforidis, "The contemporary Greek city",
in The Contemporary (Greek) City, ed. Yannis Aesopos and Yorgos
Simeoforidis (Athens: Metapolis Press, 2001), 32-60.
^ a b Clogg, Richard. A Concise history of Greece.
^ EU members - Chronology - Ministère des Affaires étrangères
Archived 24 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
^ PM Simitis resigns as PASOK president, initiates election of new
party leader Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
^ George Matlock (16 February 2010). "Peripheral euro zone government
bond spreads widen". Reuters. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
^ "
Acropolis

Acropolis now". The Economist. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 22 June
2011.
^ "Greek/German bond yield spread more than 1,000 bps".
Financialmirror.com. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010. [dead
link]
^ "Gilt yields rise amid UK debt concerns". Financial Times. 18
February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
^ "Samaras tries to form Greek coalition". Rthk.hk. Archived from the
original on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ Petrakis, Maria. "Greek Government Mandate to Pass to Syriza as
Samaras Fails". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ "Antonis Samaras". BBC News. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June
2012.
^ "PM
Antonis Samaras

Antonis Samaras announces cabinet". BBC News. 21 June 2012.
Retrieved 22 June 2012.
Further reading[edit]
Colovas, Anthone C. A Quick History of Modern
Greece

Greece (2007) excerpt
and text search
Gallant, Thomas W. Modern
Greece

Greece (Brief Histories) (2001)
Herzfeld, Michael. Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology and the Making
of Modern
Greece

Greece (1986) excerpt and text search
Kalyvas, Stathis. Modern Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford
University Press, 2015)
Keridis, Dimitris. Historical Dictionary of Modern
Greece

Greece (2009)
excerpt and text search
Koliopoulos, John S., and Thanos M. Veremis. Modern Greece: A History
since 1821 (2009) excerpt and text search
Miller, James E. The
United States

United States and the Making of Modern Greece:
History and Power, 1950-1974 (2008) excerpt and text search
Woodhouse, C. M. Modern Greece: A Short History (2000) excerpt and
text search
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