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 Greece,
formally called the Hellenic Republic, is a country in the southeast
of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It has land
boundaries with Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
and Albania to the north; and with Turkey to the east. The waters
of the Aegean Sea border on Greece to the east, and those of the
Ionian and Mediterranean Seas to the west and south. Regarded by
many as the cradle of Western civilization, Greece has a long and
rich history during which its culture has proven especially influential
in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Name
The formal name for Greece in Greek is "Hellas"—pronounced
"elás" in modern Greek; less formally, it is "Ellada"
("eládha"). Some Greeks prefer to call themselves
Hellenes even in English.
The English name "Greece" derives from a Latin name,
Graecia, originally used for the Magna Graecia region.
History
 The
shores of the Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the first civilizations
in Europe, namely the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations. After these
subsided a Dark Age followed until around 800 BC a new era of Greek
civilization emerged. This Greece of city-states established colonies
along the Mediterranean and partially resisted Persian invasions.
Greek culture would later become the basis of the Hellenistic civilisation
that followed the empire of Macedonian King Alexander of Macedon.
Militarily Greece itself declined to the point that the Romans
conquered the land (168 BC onwards), though Greek culture would
in turn conquer Roman life. Greece became a province of the Roman
Empire, but Greek culture would continue to dominate the eastern
Mediterranean and when the Empire finally split in two the Eastern
or Byzantine Empire, centred on Constantinople, would remain Greek
in nature, as well as encompassing Greece itself. From the 4th century
to the 15th century the Eastern Roman Empire survived eleven centuries
of attacks from the west and east until Constantinople fell on May
29, 1453 to the Ottoman Empire. Greece had gradually been conquered
by the Ottomans during the 15th century.
 Cape
Sounion in Attica, looking out to the Aegean islandsThe Ottomans
ruled Greece until the early 19th century. In 1821 the Greeks rebelled
and declared their independence, but did not succeed in winning
it until 1829. The elites of powerful European nations saw the war
of Greek independence, with its accounts of Turkish attrocities,
in a romantic light (see, for example, the 1824 painting Massacre
of Chios by Eugene Delacroix). Scores of non-Greeks volunteered
to fight for the cause - including, for example Lord Byron - and
indeed at times the Ottomans seemed on the point of almost entirely
suppressing the Greek revolution but for the threatened direct military
intervention of France, England or Russia. The Russian minister
for foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, himself a Greek, returned
home as President of the new Republic following Greek independence.
That republic disappeared when a few years later Western powers
helped turn Greece into a monarchy, the first king coming from Bavaria
and the second from Denmark. During the 19th and early 20th centuries,
in a series of wars with the Ottomans, Greece sought to enlarge
its boundaries to include the Greek-speaking population of the Ottoman
Empire, slowly growing in territory and population until it reached
its present configuration in 1947. In World War I Greece sided with
the entente powers against a pro-German Turkey. In the war's aftermath
the Powers awarded parts of Asia Minor to Greece, including the
city of Smyrna (known as Izmir today) which had a large Greek population.
At that time, however, the Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, overthrew the Ottoman government, organised a military
assault on the Greek troops and defeated them. Immediately afterwards,
hundreds of thousands of Turks then living in mainland Greek territory
left for Turkey as an exchange with hundreds of thousands of Greeks
living in Turkey.
An overview of the 2004 Olympic infrastructureDespite the country's
numerically small and ill-equipped armed forces, Greece made a decisive
contribution to the Allied efforts in World War II. At the start
of the war Greece sided with the Allies and refused to give in to
Italian demands. Italy invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, but Greek
troops repelled the invaders after a bitter struggle. This marked
the first Allied victory in the war. Hitler then reluctantly stepped
in, primarily to secure his strategic southern flank: troops from
Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Italy successfully invaded Greece.
When, however, the Germans seized Crete so as to protect themselves
against a British invasion from Egypt and to prepare for the planned
invasion of the Soviet Union, Cretan civilians and Allied forces
offered fierce resistance to a massive German parachute drop. This
delayed German plans significantly, with the result that the German
invasion of the Soviet Union started fatally close to winter.
During years of Nazi occupation thousands of Greeks died in direct
combat, in concentration camps or of starvation. The economy languished
in tatters. After liberation Greece experienced an equally bitter
civil war -- between communists and royalists -- that lasted until
1949.
In the 1950s and 1960s Greece continued to develop slowly, initially
with the help of the U.S.A Marshall programme and later with the
growth of tourism. In 1967 the military seized power in a coup d'état,
overthrew the social-democrat government of George Papandreou, senior
and established what became known as the Régime of the Colonels,
supported by the U.S.A. In 1973 the régime abolished the
Greek monarchy. In 1974, dictator Papadopoulos denied help to the
USA and as a result the (US/Kissinger) "appointed" a new
dictator named Ioannides. Many hold Ioannides responsible for the
coup against President Makarios of Cyprus -- the coup seen as the
pretext for the first wave of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in
1974. The Cyprus events and the outcry following a bloody suppression
of Athens Polytechnic uprising in Athens led to the implosion of
the military régime. A charismatic exiled politician, Konstantinos
Karamanlis, returned from Paris as interim prime minister and later
gained re-election for two further terms at the head of the conservative
Nea Dimokratia party. In 1975, following a referendum to confirm
the deposition of King Constantine II, a democratic republican constitution
came into force. Another previously exiled politician, Andreas Papandreou
also returned and founded the socialist PASOK party, which won the
elections in 1981 and dominated the country's political course for
almost two decades.
Since the restoration of democracy the stability and economic prosperity
of Greece have grown. Greece joined the European Union in 1981 and
adopted the Euro as its currency in 2001. New infrastructure, funds
from the EU and growing revenues from tourism, shipping, services,
light industry and the telecommunications industry have brought
Greeks an unprecedented standard of living. Tensions continue to
exist between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus and the delimitation
of borders in the Aegean Sea but relations have considerably thawed
following successive earthquakes - first in Turkey and then in Greece
- and an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance by ordinary
Greeks and Turks. Prime Minister Karamanlis recently attended the
wedding of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's daughter as a guest
of honour. The Greek Government supports Turkish entry into the
EU although clearly it seeks key commitments on Cyprus. Polls show
a small majority of Greek citizens support this position - giving
greater support than several other EU member countries.
The 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the country of their foundation
to general satisfaction. |
