Events in Greek History

Events 1 - 200 of 297

  • 1251-09-07 BC A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece.
  • 1184-04-24 BC The Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional date)
  • 0585-05-28 BC Solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales, while Lydians at war with the Medes leads to a truce. One of the cardinal dates from which other dates calculated.
  • 0480-09-29 BC Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I
  • 0480-08-11 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Artemisium - Persian naval victory over the Greeks in an engagement fought off north coast of Euboea.
  • 0479-08-27 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Mycale won by Greek forces over Persian naval troops on Ionian coast, double victory with that at Plataea ends Persian invasion
  • 0479-08-27 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Plataea, Persian forces led by Mardonius routed by Greek army under Pausanias; together with Greek success at Battle of Mycale halts Persian invasion of Greece
  • 0338-08-02 BC Macedonian army led by Philip II defeats the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over Greece and the Aegean Sea
  • 0322-08-07 BC Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great
  • 0701-10-30 John VI of Greece begins his reign as Catholic Pope
  • 0705-04-01 Greek pope John VII chosen as successor to John VI
  • 1308-08-15 Knights of St John conquer Rhodes
  • 1311-03-15 Battle of Halmyros: Catalan Company defeats the Frankish Duchy of Athens and its vassals led by Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece
  • 1514-01-10 Complutensian New Testament in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek & Latin finished
  • 1770-05-26 The Orlov Revolt, a first attempt to revolt against the Turks before the Greek War of Independence ends in disaster for the Greeks.

Venus de Milo

1820-04-08 The famous ancient Greek statue, Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos

  • 1820-04-12 Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization founded in Odessa to overthrow Ottoman rule of Greece
  • 1821-03-21 First revolutionary act in Monastery of Agia Lavra, Kalavryta, Greek War of Independence.
  • 1821-03-23 Battle and fall of city of Kalamata, Greek War of Independence
  • 1821-03-25 The Greek revolution against the Ottoman Turks is officially declared, with hostilities having started two months earlier
  • 1821-05-08 Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeat the Turks in Gravia
  • 1821-05-12 The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi
  • 1821-06-19 Decisive defeat of the Greek revolutionary society Philikí Etaireía by the Ottomans at Drăgăşani (in Wallachia)
  • 1821-09-23 Fall of Tripolitsa, Greek forces massacre 30,000 Turks during Greek War of Independence
  • 1822-01-13 The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus
  • 1822-01-14 Greek War of Independence: Acrocorinth is captured by Theodoros Kolokotronis and Demetrius Ypsilanti
  • 1822-01-15 Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.
  • 1822-03-31 Massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, (later depicted by artist Eugène Delacroix)
  • 1822-05-16 Greek War of Independence: Turks capture the Greek town of Souli
  • 1824-06-21 Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea
  • 1824-08-04 Battle of Kos is fought between Turks and Greeks
  • 1826-04-10 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town Messolonghi start leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
  • 1826-11-25 The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy
  • 1827-06-05 Turks capture the Acropolis and take Athens during the Greek War of Independence
  • 1828-04-26 Russia declares war on Turkey to support Greece's independence
  • 1828-10-07 The Greek city of Patras is liberated by the French expeditionary force in Peloponnese under General Maison.
  • 1829-03-22 The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece
  • 1830-02-03 The sovereignty of Greece confirmed in a London Protocol
  • 1831-10-09 Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Head of State of modern Greece, assassinated in Nafplion
  • 1832-05-07 Greece becomes independent, Otto of Bavaria is chosen as king
  • 1832-05-24 The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference
  • 1834-04-03 The generals in the Greek War of Independence stand trial for treason.
  • 1835-05-20 Otto is named the first modern king of Greece
  • 1850-01-18 British blockade Piraeus, Greece, to enforce mercantile claims
  • 1850-06-29 Autocephaly Officially Granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to The Church of Greece.
  • 1863-03-30 Danish prince Wilhelm Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg chosen as king George of Greece
  • 1864-03-29 Great Britain gives the Ionian Islands back to Greece
  • 1864-10-29 Greek parliament accepts new Constitution
  • 1864-11-13 The new Constitution of Greece adopted
  • 1874-05-13 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On Greek-Ruthenian rite"
  • 1874-06-29 Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" in which he lays out his complaints against King George. He is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.
  • 1878-02-02 Greece declares war on Turkey
  • 1881-03-26 Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again
  • 1881-05-24 Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
  • 1891-04-11 8-year old Jewish tailor's daughter disappears in Greece, rumor spreads that she was a Christian girl ritually killed by Jews
  • 1894-03-03 "NY Atlantis" 1st Greek-language publication in US begins
  • 1896-03-22 Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 at the Panhellenic Games
  • 1896-04-06 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump
  • 1896-04-15 I (modern) Summer Olympic Games close at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event
  • 1897-04-05 The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1897-05-12 Battle at Thessalie: Turkish army beats Greece
  • 1897-05-15 The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
  • 1898-08-25 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen are slaughtered by the Turks in Heraklion, Greece.
  • 1901-05-31 At the opening of the Greek National Assembly, Prince George, High Commissioner of Crete, asks it to endorse the union of Crete with Greece; the proposal is later rejected
  • 1901-11-08 Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek
  • 1902-05-17 Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer

Theriso Revolt

1905-03-24 A group of Cretans dedicated to Crete's union with Greece led by Eleutherios Venizelos, meet at the village of Therisso and proclaim a union in defiance of the Great Powers

  • 1905-04-21 The elective assembly of Crete proclaims union with Greece
  • 1906-09-24 Prince George of Greece, convinced that he can no longer serve the cause of Crete, resigns as High Commissioner
  • 1906-12-04 Alpha Phi Alpha, first Black Greek Letter Fraternity, forms
  • 1908-02-03 Foundation of Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece.
  • 1908-03-12 The Pan-Macedonian group is formed in Athens to support the Greek Struggle for Macedonia
  • 1908-10-07 Crete revolts against Turkey & aligns with Greece
  • 1910-02-01 Dragoumis government forms in Greece
  • 1911-05-15 The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece
  • 1911-06-11 The Greek national assembly adopts a more liberal constitution
  • 1912-03-11 Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.
  • 1912-10-14 Cretan representatives are admitted to the Greek assembly; in doing so the Greek Government challenges the Turkish Government
  • 1912-10-17 Bulgaria, Greece & Serbia declares war on Turkey
  • 1912-10-18 The First Balkan War breaks out, with Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece opposed to Turkey
  • 1912-12-03 Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria sign weapons pact
  • 1913-01-18 Turkish-Greek sea battle near Troy
  • 1913-03-18 King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki
  • 1913-04-04 Greek aviator Emmanuel Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes
  • 1913-06-01 The Serbian government concludes a ten-year treaty with Greece against Bulgaria; Serbia wishes to pursue Macedonian aspirations with Greece's help
  • 1913-06-29 An attack by Bulgarian General Michael Savov on Greek and Serbian positions causes the start of the Second Balkan War
  • 1913-07-01 Serbia and Greece declare war on Bulgaria
  • 1913-12-01 Flag of Greece officially raised at Firka Fortress, Chania Crete symbolising the union of Crete and Greece

Southern Albania Divided

1913-12-13 British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey proposes that southern Albania be divided between Greece and Albania with compensation to Greece in the Aegean islands

  • 1913-12-14 Greece formally takes possession of Crete
  • 1914-06-13 Eleftherios Venizelos announces that Greece intends to annex Chios and Mytilene, two large islands off the Turkish coast; Greece and Turkey have been heading towards conflict for months over claims to Aegean islands
  • 1914-08-07 Engagement between British cruiser HMS Gloucester and German cruisers SMS Breslau and SMS Goeben off Greece
  • 1915-03-06 Greek King Constantine I fires premier Venizelos
  • 1915-10-05 Allies land troops at the northern Greek city of Salonika; Greece is nominally neutral but allows the landing
  • 1915-11-06 Sophokles Skouloudis forms Greek government
  • 1916-09-11 German troops conquer Kavalla, Greece
  • 1916-09-30 Eleftherios Venizelos announces he is forming a Provisional Government in Crete as an alternative to the one in Athens; he is determined to bring Greece into the war on the side of the Allies
  • 1916-11-26 Greece declares war on Germany
  • 1916-12-01 There is virtual civil war in Greece as royalists fight Eleftherios Venizelos' Liberal Party, the Allies ensure a Venizelist victory
  • 1917-01-16 The Greek Government accepts reparations for Allied losses sustained in recent actions in Greece

Alexander of Greece

1917-06-11 King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens

  • 1917-06-27 Eleftherios Venizelos takes over as Prime Minister of Greece and severs relations with Central Powers, bringing Greece onside with the Allies in WWI
  • 1917-08-18 A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
  • 1918-05-15 Greeks troops land at Smyrna
  • 1920-03-04 Last day of Julian civil calendar in Greece
  • 1920-03-25 Greek Independence Day
  • 1920-08-24 With British approval, Greece is encouraged to take offensive action against Turkish nationalists in Asia Minor
  • 1920-12-05 Dimitrios Rallis forms a government in Greece.
  • 1920-12-19 King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
  • 1921-01-16 Eleftherios Venizelos becomes Prime Minister of Greece (4th time)
  • 1921-02-21 The London Conference on the Near East begins: the issue is the Allies' 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which had given part of Turkish Asia Minor to Greece

Greco-Turkish War

1921-07-16 Encouraged by the British, King Constantine of Greece launches a drive to take Asia Minor from nationalists under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

  • 1921-08-24 Battle of Sakaray Valley begins between Turkey & Greece
  • 1922-07-29 Greek troops defeat Turkish forces and are on their way to Constantinople, but the Allies forbid them taking the city
  • 1922-09-07 In Aydin, Turkey, independence of Aydin, from Greek occupation
  • 1922-09-09 Turkish troops conquer Smyrna and murder Greek citizens
  • 1922-09-14 The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe to Greeks. The Ottoman army expels Greeks and other non-Turks from Asia Minor. (August 13 OS)
  • 1922-09-16 Turkish troops chase Greeks out of Asia
  • 1922-09-27 King Constantine I of Greece abdicates
  • 1922-09-30 Government of Alexandros Zaimis forms in Greece
  • 1922-10-11 Turkey & Greece sign cease fire
  • 1922-11-03 Greek parliament bans Prince Andreas for life
  • 1922-11-28 6 ex-ministers executed in Greece

Corfu Incident

1923-08-31 Mussolini orders the Greek Government to apologize for the deaths of an Italian general and his staff on the Greco-Albanian border

  • 1923-12-19 King George II of Greece moves in exile to Romania while the National Assembly deliberates over future of government
  • 1924-01-11 A republic is proclaimed in Greece; King George II is deposed and Eleutherios Venizelo is named Prime Minister of the Greek National Assembly
  • 1924-02-24 Greek parliament proclaims republic
  • 1924-03-24 Greece becomes a republic
  • 1924-03-25 Greek parliament selects admiral Paul Koundouriotis as premier
  • 1924-04-13 Greek plebiscite for a republic
  • 1924-05-01 Admiral Paul Koundouriotis becomes President of Greece
  • 1924-10-07 Greek government of Dikalekopoulis forms
  • 1925-06-25 Military putsch under General Theodorus Pangulos in Greece
  • 1925-09-29 Greek republican constitution enforced
  • 1925-09-30 General Pangulos disbands Greek parliament
  • 1925-10-06 Greek premier Papanastasiou orders gen Pangulos arrested
  • 1926-01-03 Greek gen Theodorus Pangulos names himself dictator
  • 1926-01-04 Theodoros Pangalos resigns as Greek dictator
  • 1926-04-04 Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos elected president
  • 1926-08-17 Greek-Serbian, Croatian and Slavs peace treaty signed
  • 1926-08-21 -22] Uprising against Greek president and dictator Pangalos
  • 1926-08-22 Greek dictator Gen Pangulos driven out
  • 1926-08-25 Pavlos Koundouris becomes president of Greece
  • 1927-05-07 Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal.
  • 1929-12-14 Alexander Zaimis elected president of Greece
  • 1930-06-13 22 people killed by hailstones in Siatista, Greece
  • 1930-09-25 Zoe Akins' "Greeks Had a Word for it" premieres in NYC
  • 1930-10-30 Turkey & Greece sign a treaty of friendship
  • 1932-10-31 Greek government of Eleftherios Venizelos falls after defeat in national elections
  • 1934-02-09 Balkan Entente alliance forms (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey & Romania)
  • 1935-10-10 Coup under Gen Giorgios Kondylis in favor of Greek monarchy
  • 1935-11-03 George II returns to Greece after 12 years and regains monarchy
  • 1936-04-13 Ioannis Metaxas becomes Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1936-08-04 Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas leads a 'self-coup' giving him authoritarian control of the country

Elizabeth Meets Philip

1939-06-22 Princess and future Queen Elizabeth meets future husband Prince Philip of Greece (Midshipman Mountbatten, RN)

  • 1940-10-28 Greece successfully resists Italy's attack
  • 1940-12-22 World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
  • 1941-01-10 World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
  • 1941-01-29 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1941-03-07 50,000 British soldiers land in Greece during WWII
  • 1941-04-21 WWII: Greece surrenders to Nazi Germany
  • 1941-04-23 Greek Army surrenders to Germany; British RAF evacuates the Greek King George II to Egypt
  • 1941-04-24 British army begins evacuation of Greece
  • 1941-04-27 German troops occupy Athens, Greece
  • 1941-04-28 Last British troops in Greece surrender
  • 1942-11-05 Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
  • 1943-03-09 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
  • 1943-03-21 Massacre of the town of Kalavryta, Greece by German Nazi troops.

Final Salonika Jewish Convoy

1943-08-18 Final convoy of Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrives at Auschwitz

  • 1944-04-05 World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans
  • 1944-04-14 Greek Colonel Venizelos forms government
  • 1944-04-26 Papandreou government in Greece forms
  • 1944-06-10 World War II: In Distomo, Boeotia Prefecture, Greece 218 men, women and children are massacred by German troops
  • 1944-10-04 British troops land on Greek mainland
  • 1944-12-03 British order to disarm causes general strike in Greece
  • 1944-12-03 The Greek Civil War breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between communists and royalists
  • 1944-12-27 Greece: British premier Winston Churchill flies back to London
  • 1944-12-30 King George II of Greece, abdicates his throne, appointing Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens as Regent in 1945
  • 1945-01-03 Greek General Plastiras forms government
  • 1945-01-14 In Greece, Communists and the British agree to a cease-fire in the struggle to control Athens (and with it Greece)
  • 1946-03-31 First election is held in Greece after World War II
  • 1946-05-01 The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy
  • 1946-09-01 Greece votes for monarchy
  • 1946-09-27 King George II of Greece returns from exile to Athens
  • 1947-01-10 Greek steamer "Himara" strikes a wartime mine in Saronic Gulf south of Athens with loss of 392 of 637 aboard
  • 1947-05-22 "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece
  • 1947-08-29 Constantine Tsaldaris succeeds Maximos as Greek premier
  • 1948-02-10 Greek Gen Markos' guerrilla army bombs Saloniki
  • 1948-03-07 The Dodecanese islands officially become part of Greece again, ending Italian rule
  • 1948-12-24 Greek government disbands due to state of war, press censorship
  • 1949-11-06 Greek civil war ends after 3 years with defeat of communist factions
  • 1950-03-23 Sophocles Venizelos forms liberal Greek government
  • 1952-05-28 The women of Greece are given the right to vote.
  • 1952-11-14 Greek General Alexander Papagos wins elections

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