From Independence to Expansion and Back Again

Irredentist concept aiming to establish a Greek land encompassing all historically Greek-inhabited areas

"Megali" redirects here. For the Roman Cosmic prelate, see Martino Megali.

"Greater Hellenic republic" redirects here. For the Ancient Greek settlements in southern Italian republic, come across Magna Graecia.

Map showing the Greek pretensions on the Paris Peace Conference later on WWI, 1919

Map of Megali Hellas (Keen Greece) equally proposed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 by Eleftherios Venizelos, the leading major proponent of the Megali Thought at the time.

The territorial expansion of Hellenic republic, 1832–1947.

The Megali Thought (Greek: Μεγάλη Ιδέα, romanized: Megáli Idéa , lit.'Cracking Thought')^[1] is an irredentist concept that expresses the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire,^[2] by establishing a Greek land, which would include the large Greek populations that were all the same under Ottoman rule later on the end of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1828) and all the regions that had large Greek populations (parts of the Southern Balkans, Asia Modest and Republic of cyprus).^[iii]

The term appeared for the start time during the debates of Prime Government minister Ioannis Kolettis with King Otto that preceded the promulgation of the 1844 constitution.^[4] It came to dominate strange relations and played a significant part in domestic politics for much of the first century of Greek independence. The expression was new in 1844 but the concept had roots in the Greek popular psyche, which long had hopes of liberation from Ottoman rule and restoration of the Byzantine Empire.^[4]

Πάλι με χρόνια με καιρούς,

πάλι δικά μας θα 'ναι!

(One time more, as years and time go by, once again they shall be ours).^[5]

The Megali Idea implies the goal of reviving the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, past establishing a Greek country, which would exist, as aboriginal geographer Strabo wrote, a Greek world encompassing mostly the sometime Byzantine lands from the Ionian Body of water to the due west, to Asia Minor and the Black Body of water to the east and from Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus to the north, to Crete and Cyprus to the south. This new state would have Constantinople every bit its capital: information technology would exist the "Greece of Two Continents and 5 Seas" (Europe and Asia, the Ionian, Aegean, Marmara, Black and Libyan Seas, respectively). If realized, this would expand modern Hellenic republic to roughly the same size and extent of the later Byzantine Empire, later its restoration in 1261 Advertisement.

The Megali Idea dominated foreign policy and domestic politics of Greece from the War of Independence in the 1820s through the Balkan wars in the beginning of the 20th century. It started to fade after the Greco-Turkish State of war (1919–1922) and the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922, followed past the population substitution between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Despite the end of the Megali Idea project in 1922, by then the Greek state had expanded 4 times, either through armed services conquest or diplomacy (frequently with British back up). Later on the creation of Greece in 1830, it annexed the Ionian Islands (Treaty of London, 1864), Thessaly (Convention of Constantinople (1881)), Macedonia, Crete, (southern) Epirus and the Eastern Aegean Islands (Treaty of Bucharest), and Western Thrace (Treaty of Neuilly, 1920). The Dodecanese were annexed afterwards the Second World War (Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947).

A related concept is Enosis.

Fall of Constantinople [edit]

Sultan Mehmed II's entry into Constantinople.

The Byzantine Empire was Eastern Roman in origin and was called the "Roman Empire" past its inhabitants, though oftentimes not by the Latin West, which regarded information technology equally Greek. Afterwards its autumn, Hieronymus Wolf popularized the usage of "Byzantium". Information technology became Hellenistic with time to the betoken where Greek replaced Latin as the official linguistic communication in Ad 620, owing to several factors: Its organized religion, being Christian, with the New Attestation written in Greek; its location in the Greek-speaking realm and sphere of influence; and the fact that, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it became the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire. Byzantium held out against the invasions of the centuries with a vitality that the Western Roman Empire lost, repelling the Visigoths, the Huns, the Saracens, the Mongols and finally the Turks (during the first siege). Constantinople, the upper-case letter of Byzantium, vicious to the 4th Crusaders in the early years of the 13th century. The city was eventually liberated by the Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine successor, and the Empire survived. Nevertheless, the weakened city fell to a unlike ability in 1453—the Ottoman Turks—and this fall of Constantinople marked the end of Byzantine civilisation; afterward the defeat, the city was comprehensively handed over to Turks. Latin merchants similar the Genoese colony of Galata and even the Patriarch of Constantinople recognized their rule. Post-obit the conquest of Constantinople, there were no official Byzantine territories left, but everything became part of the Ottoman Empire.

Greeks under Ottoman rule [edit]

Ethnic map of Asia Minor in 1917. Blackness = Bulgars and Turks. Red = Greeks. Calorie-free xanthous = Armenians. Bluish = Kurds. Orange = Lazes. Dark Yellow = Arabs. Green = Nestorians.

Under the millet system which was in strength during the Ottoman Empire, the population was classified according to faith rather than language or ethnicity. Orthodox Greeks were seen as part of the millet-i Rûm (literally "Roman community") which included all Orthodox Christians, including beside Greeks also Bulgarians, Serbs, Vlachs, Slavs, Georgians, Romanians and Albanians, despite their differences in ethnicity and linguistic communication and despite the fact that the religious hierarchy was Greek dominated. Information technology is non clear to what extent 1 can speak of a Greek identity during those times as opposed to a Christian or Orthodox identity.^[six] In the late 1780s, Catherine 2 of Russia and Joseph Ii of Austria intended to reclaim the Byzantine heritage and restore the Greek statehood equally part of their joint Greek Plan.

During the Middle Ages and the Ottoman period, Greek-speaking Christians identified as Romans and thought of themselves as the descendants of the Roman Empire (including the medieval Eastern Roman Empire). The term Roman was often interpreted as synonymous with Christian throughout Europe and the Mediterranean during this fourth dimension. The terms Greek or Hellene were largely seen by Ottoman Christians every bit referring to the ancient pagan peoples of the region. This changed during the late stages of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the Greek independence movement.^{[7] [8]}

Greek War of Independence and later [edit]

"The Kingdom of Greece is not Greece; it is merely a part: the smallest, poorest part of Greece. The Greek is non only he who inhabits the Kingdom, only also he who inhabits Ioannina, Salonika or Serres or Adrianople or Constantinople or Trebizond or Crete or Samos or any other region belonging to the Greek history or the Greek race... There are two great centres of Hellenism. Athens is the capital of the Kingdom. Constantinople is the peachy capital, the dream and hope of all Greeks."

Kolettis voicing his convictions in the National Associates in Jan 1844.^[9]

Afterward the Greek State of war of Independence ended in 1829, a new southern Greek state was established, with assistance from the British Empire, Kingdom of France, and Imperial Russia. However, this new Greek state under John Capodistria after the Greek War of Independence was, with Serbia, i of the simply ii countries of the era whose population was smaller than the population of the aforementioned ethnicity outside its borders; well-nigh indigenous Greeks even so resided within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. This version of Greece was designed by the Bully Powers, who had no desire to come across a larger Greek state replace the Ottoman Empire.

The Great Idea embodied a want to bring all ethnic Greeks into the Greek state, and later revive the Byzantine Empire; it applied specifically to the Greeks in Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, the Aegean Islands, Crete, Cyprus, parts of Anatolia, and the urban center of Constantinople (which would supercede Athens every bit the capital).

When the young Danish prince Wilhelm Georg was elected rex in 1863, the title offered to him by the Greek National Associates was not "King of Greece", the title of his deposed predecessor, King Otto; but rather "Male monarch of the Hellenes". Implicit in the wording was that George I was to be male monarch of all Greeks, regardless of whether they then lived inside the borders of his new kingdom.

The outset additional areas to exist incorporated into the Kingdom were the Ionian islands in 1864, and subsequently Thessaly with the Treaty of Berlin (1878).

Revolts, Cretan crunch and Greco-Turkish State of war (1897) [edit]

In January 1897, violence and disorder were escalating in Crete, polarizing the population. Massacres of the Christian population took identify in Chania and Rethimno. The Greek authorities, pressured by public opinion, intransigent political elements, farthermost nationalist groups (east.g. Ethniki Etairia) and with the Great Powers reluctant to intervene, decided to send warships and personnel to assist the Cretans. The Bang-up Powers had no choice then simply to go on with the occupation of the island, just they were too belatedly. A Greek force of i,500 men had landed at Kolymbari on one February 1897, and its commanding officer, Colonel Timoleon Vassos, declared that he was taking over the island "in the proper name of the King of the Hellenes" and that he was announcing the spousal relationship of Crete with Hellenic republic. This led to an insurgence that spread immediately throughout the island. The Great Powers finally decided to country their troops and stopped the Greek army force from budgeted Chania. At the same fourth dimension their fleets blockaded Crete, preventing both Greeks and Turks from bringing whatever more than troops to the island.

The Ottoman Empire, in reaction to the rebellion of Crete and the assistance sent past Greece, relocated a significant part of its army in the Balkans to the northward of Thessaly, close to the borders with Greece. Greece in answer reinforced its borders in Thessaly. However, irregular Greek forces and followers of the Megali Idea acted without orders and raided Turkish outposts, leading the Ottoman Empire to declare war on Greece; the war is known equally the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. The Turkish army, far outnumbering the Greek, was also better prepared, due to the contempo reforms carried out past a German mission under Baron von der Goltz. The Greek army fell back in retreat. The other Great Powers then intervened and an ceasefire was signed in May 1897. The state of war, however, only ended in Dec of that yr.

The military failure in the Greco-Turkish war cost Greece small territorial losses along the edge line in northern Thessaly, and a large sum of financial reparations that wrecked Greece's economy for years, while giving no lasting solution to the Cretan Question. The Great Powers (Uk, France, Russia, and Italia) in order to prevent future clashes and trying to avoid the cosmos of a revanchist climate in Greece, imposed what they idea of as the final solution on the Cretan Question: Crete was proclaimed an autonomous Cretan Country. The iv Great Powers assumed the administration of Crete; and, in a decisive diplomatic victory for Greece, Prince George of Greece (second son of King George I) became High Commissioner.

Early 20th century [edit]

Balkan Wars [edit]

Greek claims in Epirus and Republic of macedonia later the commencement Balkan war

Poster celebrating the "New Hellas" after the Balkan Wars.

A major proponent of the Megali Idea was Eleftherios Venizelos, under whose leadership Greek territory doubled in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 — southern Epirus, Crete, Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria, Samos, Samothrace, Lemnos and the bulk of Macedonia were fastened to Greece. Born and raised in Crete, in 1909 Venizelos was already a prominent Cretan and had influence in mainland Greece. Every bit such, he was invited after the Goudi insurrection in 1909 by the Military League to go Prime number Minister of Greece. Venizelos pressed forward a series of reforms in society, also as the military and administration, which helped Hellenic republic succeed in its goals during the Balkan Wars.

Globe War I [edit]

Following the Greek gains in the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans began to persecute ethnic Greeks living in the Empire, which led to ethnic cleansing in the Greek genocide. This persecution connected into World War I when the Ottomans declared for the Central Powers on late 1914. Greece remained neutral until 1917 when they joined the Allies. Refugees reports of Turkish atrocities equally well equally the Allied victory in World State of war I seemed to promise an even greater realization of the Megali Thought. Greece gained a foothold in Asia Minor with a protectorate over Smyrna and its hinterland. Following 5 years of Greek administration, a referendum was to be held to determine whether the territory would revert to Ottoman control or join Greece. Greece as well gained the islands of Imbros and Tenedos, Western and Eastern Thrace, the edge and then drawn a few miles from the walls of Constantinople.

Greco-Turkish State of war (1919–1922) [edit]

Greek soldiers in Smyrna, May 1919.

Greece's efforts to have control of Smyrna in accordance with the Treaty of Sèvres were thwarted by Turkish revolutionaries, who were resisting the Allies. The Turks finally prevailed and expelled the Greeks from Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) (part of the Turkish War of Independence). The war was concluded by the Treaty of Lausanne which saw Greece lose Eastern Thrace, Imbros and Tenedos, Smyrna and the possibility of staying in Anatolia. To avoid whatever further territorial claims, both Greece and Turkey engaged in an "exchange of populations": During the conflict, 151,892 Greeks had already fled Asia Minor. The Treaty of Lausanne moved 1,104,216 Greeks from Turkey,^[ten] while 380,000 Turks left the Greek territory for Turkey. This followed other and then-called population exchanges later on Globe War I, including twoscore,027 Greeks from Republic of bulgaria, 58,522 from Russia (because of the defeat of the White Army led by Pyotr Wrangel) and 10,080 from other lands (for example Dodecanese or Republic of albania), while 70,000 Bulgarians from Thrace and Republic of macedonia had moved to Bulgaria.^[eleven] From the Bulgarian refugees ca. 66,000 were from Greek Macedonia.^[12]

The immediate reception of refugees to Hellenic republic price 45 meg francs, and then the League of Nations arranged for a loan of 150 meg francs to assistance settlement of refugees. In 1930, Venizelos fifty-fifty went on an official visit to Turkey, where he proposed that Mustafa Kemal exist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Greek novelist Yiorgos Theotokas described the psychological impact of the defeat of 1922:

"For a short time, while the Treaty of Serves ran its joyful just uncertain course, it seemed to them that the...long-buried hopes of their ancestors were to be fulfilled. But the terrible summer of 1922 came all too soon. From the hermitage of Arsenios they watched, tense with anxiety, the daily unfolding of the national tragedy, the last desperate efforts of the Royalist Governments of Greece to salvage the state of affairs, the failure of Rex Constantine's try to take Constantinople, and the concluding Catastrophe.
In mid-August Mustapha Kemal broke through the Greek front and the Greek ground forces, exhausted by ten years of warfare and the privations of the Asia Pocket-size campaign, was vanquished in two weeks. The Turks, advancing apace, recaptured in quick succession Afion-Karahisar, Eski-Shehir, Kiutahia, Brussa, Oushak—and and then Smyrna! Once again the banners of Islam floated proudly, tauntingly, over the Aegean coast reverse Chios and Mytilene. The whole of Ionia was in flames. Slaughter and pillage descended on the smiling metropolis of Smyrna and in a few curt days turned it into a ruin...As day succeeded day, Greece seemed to have become paralyzed, to accept lost all will, all ability to resist the blows of fate. The swiftness of the catastrophe completely overwhelmed the Country, flooded every bit information technology was by the thousands of fleeting soldiers and refugees who sought shelter on the Greek coasts.The nation was plunged into deep despair...
Greece had lost her large gamble and had been uprooted from Asia Small-scale. St. Sophia remained in the hands of the Moslems. The vivid plans of 1918 were mocking visions, hallucinations, dreams. And the return of reality was truly heartbreaking. The tale of the years was not yet told, then, the historic 60 minutes, the fulfillment of the Great Idea, the moment they had longed for with such faith and such anxiety for five tortured, bloody centuries, had non yet come! It was all a prevarication!"^[thirteen]

World War Ii, annexation of Dodecanese and Republic of cyprus dispute [edit]

Although the Great Thought ceased to exist a driving force behind Greek foreign policy, some remnants connected to influence Greek strange policy throughout the remainder of the 20th century.

Thus, after his coup d'état of 4 Baronial 1936, Ioannis Metaxas proclaimed the appearance of the "Tertiary Hellenic Civilization", similar to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich (influenced by pan-germanism).^[14] The set on by Italy from Albania and the Greek victories enabled Greece to conquer, during the winter of 1940–1941, parts of southern Republic of albania (Northern Epirus, as information technology is identified past Greeks) which were administered as a province of Hellenic republic for a brusque time until the German offensive of Apr 1941.

The occupation, resistance and the civil state of war initially put the Keen Idea in the background. However, another very proficient diplomatic performance past the Greek side at the Paris Peace Conference, 1946 secured a farther enlargement of Greek territory, in the form of the Dodecanese Islands, despite the very strong opposition of Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet delegates.^[15] The Greek civil state of war, such equally the Soviet opposition was also the main reason for the non incorporation of the Northern Epirus, since Albania was, after WWII, communist controlled.

The British colony of Cyprus became the "apple of discord" betwixt the two countries, putting an end to the positive Greco-Turkish relations that had existed since the Kemal-Venizelos understanding in the 1930s. In 1955, a Greek army colonel of Greek Cypriot origin, George Grivas, began a entrada of civil disobedience whose purpose was primarily to drive the British from the isle, then move for Enosis with Greece. The Greek Prime Minister, Alexandros Papagos, was not unfavourable to this idea.^{[ citation needed ]} There was increasing polarisation of opinion between the ascendant Greek population and the minority Turks.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The issues in Cyprus afflicted the continent itself. In September 1955, in response to the demand for Énosis, an anti-Greek riot took place in Istanbul. During the Istanbul Pogrom 4,000 stores, 100 hotels and restaurants and seventy churches were destroyed or damaged.^[16] This led to the last great wave of migration from Turkey to Greece.

The isle of Cyprus, showing the areas controlled by the indigenous Greek Cypriots of the Democracy of Republic of cyprus (southward), and the areas controlled by ethnic Turkish Cypriots (north).

The Zürich Agreement of 1959 culminated in independence of the island with Greece, Turkey and United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland equally guarantee powers. The inter-ethnic clashes from 1960 led to the acceleration of a peacekeeping forcefulness of the Un in 1964.

The Republic of cyprus issue was revived past the dictatorship of the colonels, who presented their Apr 21, 1967, coup d'état as the but mode to defend the traditional values of what they called the "Hellenic-Christian Civilization".

Brigadier General Ioannidis arranged, in July 1974, to overthrow Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios, and proceed with Enosis (spousal relationship with Greece).^{[ commendation needed ]} This led to Turkey invading the island in response, with the expulsion of Greek Cypriots in areas controlled past Turkey, and the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the southward. In 1983, the due north alleged independence, but to this day, the only country that recognizes Northern Republic of cyprus is Turkey.

Attempted revival past Golden Dawn [edit]

The ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party, which had electoral support from 2010 to 2019, supports the Megali Idea,^[17] with political party leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos stating:

For two thousand years, the Jews would say a wish during their festivals, "next year in Jerusalem", and ultimately afterward many centuries they managed to make it a reality. So I besides conclude with a wish: Next yr in Constantinople, in Smyrna, in Trebizond!

— ^[17]

Michaloliakos criticized Thessaloniki mayor Yiannis Boutaris for wanting to name a street later Atatürk, who was born in the urban center when information technology was yet part of the Ottoman Empire.^{[18] [19]} In January 2013, a group of Golden Dawn supporters attacked the car of Turkish consul-full general Osman İlhan Şener and hurled insults at Atatürk, during an anti-Turkey protest in Komotini.^[xx]

Mihaloliakos has besides called for the "liberation"^{[ citation needed ]} of Northern Epirus. Golden Dawn and its former Cypriot analogue ELAM support enosis.

In 2015, close to 100 Golden Dawn members and leaders were arrested on a range of charges, including murder and racketeering. In 2019, the party's level of back up, slumped to less than ii%. In October 2020, about of Golden Dawn'south leadership was convicted, including Michaloliakos. Every bit of 2021, the party, which never enjoyed electoral support above x% of the popular vote now has no remaining members in either the Hellenic or European Parliament.^[21]

Meet also [edit]

• Greek diaspora
• Northern Epirus
• Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus
• Greece during Earth War I
• Occupation of Constantinople
• Irredentism
• Zone of Smyrna
• Republic of Pontus
• Greek genocide
• Georgios Grivas
• Foreign relations of Greece
• Greek Programme
• Enosis
• Succession of the Roman Empire

References [edit]

1. ^ Mateos, Natalia Ribas. The Mediterranean in the Age of Globalization: Migration, Welfare & Borders. Transaction Publishers. ISBN9781412837750.
2. ^ Roumen Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov, Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies; BRILL, 2013; ISBN 900425076X, p. 200.
3. ^ "European Election Database - Background - Greece". o.nsd.no.
4. ^ ^{a b} History of Greece Encyclopædia Britannica Online
5. ^ D. Bolukbasi and D. Bölükbaşı, Turkey And Greece: The Aegean Disputes, Routledge Cavendish 2004
6. ^ Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos (2007). Greece: The Modern Sequel. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd.
7. ^ Honing, Matthias; Vogl, Ulrik; Moliner, Olivier, eds. (31 May 2012). Standard Languages and Multilingualism in European History. John Benjamins. p. 163. ISBN9789027273918.
8. ^ Zacharia, Katerina, ed. (2008). Hellenisms: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity from Artifact to Modernity. Ashgate Publishing. p. 240. ISBN9780754665250.
9. ^ Smith M., Ionian Vision, (1999), p. 2
10. ^ André Billy, La Grèce, Arthaud, 1937, p. 188.
11. ^ The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine led to an exchange of 50,000 Greeks for 70,000 Bulgarians between the two countries. For more run into: Rutsel Silvestre, J. Martha; The Financial Obligation in International Police, Oxford University Press, 2015; ISBN 0191055956, p. seventy.
12. ^ "The second wave of Bulgarian refugees took place in the 1920s, following the signing of the Neilly Treaty (1919) concerning the and so-called "voluntary" commutation of population between Greece and Bulgaria. Of them 66,126 people from Greek Macedonia." For more than see: Victor Roudometof, Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question; Greenwood Publishing Grouping, 2002 ISBN 0275976483, p. 97.
13. ^ Kaloudis, George "Ethnic Cleansing in Asia Minor and the Treaty of Lausanne" p.59-89 from International Journal on Earth Peace, Volume 31, No. 1, March 2014 p.83-84
14. ^ R. Clogg, p. 118.
15. ^ One thousand. Svolopoulos, Greek Foreign Policy 1945–1981, p. 134.
16. ^ R. Clogg, p. 153.
17. ^ ^{a b} Μιχαλολιάκος: Του χρόνου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, στην Σμύρνη, στην Τραπεζούντα…. Stochos (in Greek). 31 Dec 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
18. ^ "Greek far-correct leader vows to 'accept back' İstanbul, İzmir", Today's Zaman, fifteen June 2012, archived from the original on 3 Nov 2013, retrieved 12 September 2012
19. ^ "Greek 'Führer' vows to 'take back İzmir' afterward Istanbul". Hürriyet Daily News.
20. ^ "Yunanistan'da Türk konsolosun aracına saldırı" (in Turkish). NTVMSNBC. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
21. ^ Gatopoulos, Derek; Becatoros, Elena (vii October 2020). "Greek courtroom rules Golden Dawn party criminal organization". Associated Press. Retrieved January 3, 2020.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megali_Idea

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