History of Greece

History of Greece

Key Dates

• 12th century BCE: beginning of Ancient Greece, succeeding the Mycenaean Civilization, which, starting from southern Greece, had developed in the region for several centuries before collapsing.

• 12th-8th century BCE: known as the "Dark Ages", this was a period of stagnation in Greek society.

• 8th century-480 BCE: the "Archaic Period", marked by the rise of city-states with monarchical systems, the growth of trade, and the colonization of the Mediterranean basin.

• 776 BCE: creation of the Olympic Games.

• 5th-4th century BCE: Ancient Greece reaches its peak, first dominated by Athens, which was later overshadowed by its rival Sparta. Greece faced repeated threats from the Persians. This was also the era of Alexander the Great and his conquests.

• 4th century-146 BCE: gradual decline of Greece and the rise of Rome, which officially took possession of Greece in 146 BCE. Nevertheless, Greece retained significant cultural influence within the Empire.

• 395: division of the Roman Empire; Roman Greece was integrated into the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire.

• 5th century-1204: Greece, and the Byzantine Empire more broadly, faced numerous invasions (Goths, Huns, Arabs, etc.) that gradually devastated the country. The capture of Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, by the Crusaders in 1204 led to the fragmentation of the country into several rival kingdoms.

• 14th-mid 15th century: under growing Ottoman pressure, the Byzantine Empire progressively lost its territories. Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, followed by Athens in 1456.

• 15th-early 19th century: although some Greek islands occasionally enjoyed special status, Greece came under Ottoman rule for several centuries, despite a series of nationalist uprisings in favor of independence.

• 1821-1829: War of Independence. With the help of France, England, and Russia, Greece secured its independence from the Turks in 1830 for its mainland and some of its islands.

• 1830-early 20th century: despite its independence, Greece was governed by the major European powers, leading to various tensions and conflicts.

• 1912-1923: over a decade, Greece faced the Balkan Wars (1912-13), World War I, and later the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. One consequence of the latter conflict was a massive population exchange.

• 1924-1928: proclamation of the republic in 1924, followed by a period of instability and military coups.

• 1940-1944: during World War II, the country was occupied by Italian, then German and Bulgarian forces.

• 1946-1949: the Greek Civil War between "pro-Western" factions and communists ended with the defeat of the latter, leading to increasingly authoritarian governments until the early 1960s and the rise of centrist Georgios Papandreou.

• 1967: a military coup ended the democratic process initiated by Papandreou. This was the era of the Colonels' Regime, which ended in 1974 due to the effects of the Cyprus crisis on Greek power.

• 1974-2007: return to democracy and economic development, particularly through tourism. Greece joined the European Union in 1981, adopted the euro in 2001, and hosted the 2004 Olympics.

• 2007: like other countries, Greece was affected by the global economic crisis. However, poor economic management by successive governments, combined with heavy international speculation on Greek debt, gradually plunged the country into crisis and its population into poverty.

• 2015: the left-wing "anti-establishment" party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, came to power following the January 2015 elections. The new government quickly clashed with the IMF and, especially, the European Union and various European governments over Greek debt and possible recovery measures. At the same time, Greece, particularly its islands near Turkey, faced the 2015 migrant crisis.