Learn About Greece


	The Acropolis in Athens

Greece is a small nation in southeastern Europe where one of the world's great civilizations flourished more than 2,000 years ago. At a time when most of Europe was in cultural darkness, Greek dramatists were writing plays that are still performed today. Greek sculptors and builders were creating statues and temples of unsurpassed beauty. Greek thinkers were laying the foundations of modern science and philosophy. And it was in ancient Greece that the idea of democracy, or government by the people, was born.

Although Greece was conquered by stronger powers, Greek civilization spread across Europe and to parts of Asia. Modern Greece emerged as an independent nation in the 1800s, after a long struggle against foreign rule. The Greeks today are justifiably proud of their heritage, evidence of which they still can see in the land around them.

In A.D. 330 the Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, made the Greek city of Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire. He named it New Rome. Later the rebuilt city was renamed Constantinople in his honor. (The city is now called Istanbul.) In A.D. 395 the empire broke into eastern and western halves. By the 400s, the western empire had fallen to barbarian invaders. But the eastern half, usually referred to as the Byzantine Empire, lived on as a Greek-speaking state which preserved Greek culture and traditions.

The new empire was different from the old Greek city-states. It was a Christian theocracy, led by priests according to religious laws. To defend itself against invaders, the empire raised great armies.

In the A.D. 500s the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I went to war to get back lost lands. But attempts to reunite the two halves of the old Roman Empire ended in A.D. 800, when Charlemagne was crowned Roman emperor in the West. After that, Byzantium went its own way. A religious split in 1054 separated the Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1204, Constantinople was captured by Crusaders from western Europe. The crusading knights divided Greece into small states. Byzantine rulers won back Constantinople in 1261, but they had only a shaky hold over their shrunken lands. In 1453 the Turks took Constantinople, ending the 1,000-year rule of the Byzantine Empire, heir to Greece and Rome.

The Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled most of old Greece, or Byzantium. Crete and the Ionian Islands, held by Venice, escaped Turkish rule for several more centuries. The Christian Greeks suffered under the rule of the Muslim Turks. Most became landless peasants working for Turkish masters. The Turks allowed the Greek Church only limited freedom, yet Greek traditions stayed alive. In time the Turks relaxed their grip. After 1600, Greeks could own land and engage in trade.

Independence. As the Ottoman Empire began to weaken in the 1700s, the Greeks saw their chance to win their freedom. With support from Russia, France, and Britain—an uprising led to the establishment of an independent Greek state in 1830. Otto, a German prince, became the first king of modern Greece in 1832.

World War I. When World War I began in 1914, Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos supported the Allies, led by Britain and France. The king, Constantine I, who favored Germany, sought to keep Greece neutral. In 1917 the king was forced to abdicate (give up the throne) and Greece entered the war on the side of the Allies. Under the peace treaties signed after the war ended in 1918, Greece received West Thrace from Bulgaria and East Thrace from Turkey.

Constantine I regained the throne in 1920, and in 1921, Greece renewed its war with Turkey. The Greek forces were crushingly defeated in 1922. King Constantine abdicated in favor of his son, George II, and Greece was forced to return East Thrace to Turkey. A Greek republic was established in 1924, but in 1935 the monarchy was restored. From 1936 to 1941 the government was led by General Joannes Metaxas, who ruled as a dictator.

World War II and Civil War. Greece was neutral when World War II broke out in 1939, but in 1940 it was invaded by Italy. When the small Greek Army routed the Italians, Germany came to the aid of its ally and overran Greece in 1941. At the war's end in 1945, Greek Communists attempted to seize power. They were resisted by the legal government, backed first by Britain and then the United States. Civil war raged from 1946 to 1949, when the Communists were defeated. Massive U.S. economic aid to Greece in the 1950s helped rebuild the war-torn country.

Recent History. In 1973, Colonel George Papadopoulos abolished the monarchy and was named president. Soon after, Papadopoulos himself was removed from power in a new military coup. The downfall of the military government came in 1974. Greece and Turkey had long been at odds over Cyprus. An attempt by the Greek military leaders to overthrow the Cyprus government led to a Turkish invasion and the partition of the island nation.

In 1996, Costas Simitis became party leader and prime minister of Greece, and in 2001, Greece became the twelfth nation to adopt the euro, the single currency of the European Union.

Government. For most of its modern history, Greece was a monarchy. The last king went into exile following a military takeover of the government in 1967. The monarchy was abolished in 1973. When a civilian government was restored in 1974, Greeks rejected a return of the king in a referendum (vote by the people). A republic was officially established under a new constitution, which went into effect in 1975.

The legislature is a parliament elected for four years. Parliament elects the president, who is head of state, for a 5-year term. The president appoints a prime minister to head the government. The prime minister is usually the leader of the political party that wins a majority (more than half) of seats in parliament in an election.

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The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
Learn to speak like an ancient Greek, uncover the wisdom of the early philosophers or find out who might have been in Ancient Athens.