History History

Neanderthal man is thought to have begun sailing between the islands 100,000 years ago, but it wasn't until the end of the last Ice Age, 11,700 years ago, thatHomo sapiens really settled on these lands. The North Aegean islands bear traces of the first Neolithic inhabitants in a few exceptional sites, with advanced social and urban organization for the period. These include the site of Poliochni, on the island of Lemnos, which constitutes the oldest organized "city" excavated in Europe (^5th-2nd millennia BC), and the admirably preserved fortified site of Palamari, on the island of Skyros (^3rd-2nd millennia BC).

Around 3,200 B.C.E., Helladic, or Greek protohistory, began, a period that lasted until the 10th century B.C.E. The Cyclades have not yet entered the Bronze Age, which they gave birth to the first Greek 'civilization'. From Antiparos to Syros, passing through Milos and Amorgos, we find the same polished statuettes with emaciated features. Admire these idols at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens: their lines are so pure that those who discovered them in the 19th century imagined that they were produced much later, in the archaic period. It was not until a century later that it became clear that these works worthy of Picasso were indeed prehistoric. Since then, we have been learning more and more about this people of sailors and merchants whose traces can be traced as far as Serbia.

Settled in Crete and across the Aegean Sea, the so-called Minoan civilization invented the first Greek alphabets, left many vestiges and disappeared around 1200 BC. In the current state of research, that's about all we know. Everything else is questioned today: this people was not called the Minoans, was not a thalassocracy, did not have a palace, etc.. The British Sir Evans, the main discoverer of this civilization in 1900, started from a false reasoning: the Minoans are the descendants of the mythical king Minos. In fact, the Minoans were probably called the Kaphti, they had no king and their organization was not based on palaces, but on granaries where a seemingly very egalitarian society converged. In 2012, the Greek state did launch a project to start all over again, but the funding did not follow. In the meantime, in Knossos (Crete), we still visit the improbable reconstruction of a "palace" that never existed.

Implanted especially in the Peloponnese, this people called the Acheans by Homer is also a mystery. In Mycenae, when the first scholars discovered the Cyclopean walls, the circular tombs and the Lioness Gate, they were so impressed that an entire civilization was baptized "Mycenaean". Once again, Sir Evans would set the research on the wrong track, by imagining the foundation of a Mycenaean kingdom by the Minoans. It is true that the Cretan civilization dominated trade with mainland Greece, passing on to it its alphabet, the "linear B". But as for the rest, it is still very unclear. During Antiquity, the Greeks themselves wondered about the ruins inherited from the Mycenaeans, who disappeared around 1100 B.C. For lack of an answer, they created myths by attributing to the Cyclops the construction of the enormous stone walls, making Perseus the first king of Mycenae, etc.

The period from the end of the Mycenaeans to the beginning of Antiquity, which has been little known for a long time, now benefits from a new light. During these four so-called "dark" centuries, the population of Greece declined and the knowledge of writing was lost, but the arts continued to evolve (Orientalist, proto-geometric and geometric periods) and men continued to build temples, including those at the origin of the sanctuaries of Delos andOlympia. And, above all, researchers have put an end to claims that Minoans and Mycenaeans disappeared because of a cataclysm (the eruption of Santorini), an invasion (the semi-legendary Dorians) or revolts (against supposedly tyrannical regimes). None of these hypotheses is more advanced, but several combined factors are considered.

The Archaic period marks the beginning of Antiquity. At the end of the "dark centuries", the Hellenes were present not only in Greece, but also in Asia Minor (now Turkey) and Cyprus. As the Phoenicians founded Carthage (814 BC) and dominated the Mediterranean, the Greeks turned to them to regain their mastery of writing. The Phoenician alphabet was modified with the addition of vowels: this was the first complete alphabet, later adapted by the Romans. This revolution heralded others. The population of the Greek world grew and agriculture flourished. Trade flourished, but it wasn't until 650 BC that the Greeks of Lydia (now Turkey) minted the first Hellenic currency. In the ^8th century BC, independent cities were born. These still numbered between 500 and 1,500 inhabitants and were dominated by the aristocracy. However, in the ^7th century BC, several cities began to reduce the privileges of the nobility. Under the influence of thinkers such as the Athenian Solon, politics became a matter for the many. The beginnings of citizenship led to the emergence of the polis in the ^6th century BC: a city-state run by and for its inhabitants. Citizens acquired rights, but also duties, such as compulsory conscription. Armies grew in size, leading to the invention of the hoplitic phalanx: heavily armed infantrymen (hoplites) advancing in close ranks. Cities became conquerors and, as their populations grew, created colonies. From the Black Sea to Marseilles, the Greek world underwent immense expansion. Through contact with the Phoenicians, Syrians and Egyptians, Greek philosophy took shape (^6th century BC) and art took a phenomenal leap forward: massive statues of kouros (young man) and koré (young girl) appeared in the Cyclades in the ^7th century BC, painters abandoned geometric forms in favor of the figurative, and poetry developed under the influence of Homeric tales. Religion and mythology, along with language, formed the common foundation of an otherwise divided Greek world. Conflicts abounded, especially between Athens and Sparta, who sought to control the Peloponnese.

It all begins with the Medieval Wars (490-479 BC). Faced with the Persians (then called the Medes) who subdued the Greeks of Asia Minor, the rival cities united. In 490 BC, the Athenians crush Darius' troops at Marathon. In 480 BC, 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas sacrifice themselves at Thermopylae, before the Greek fleet wins at Salamis. Finally, on 27 August 479 BC, the Athenian hoplites confirmed the Persian defeat at the Battle of Plateaeus. This victory allowed the emergence of democracy in Athens in 510 BC. The city was then rich and powerful. Its success was based on its mastery of the sea. With its port of Piraeus, its merchant fleet and its combat galleys (the trières), Athens exerted a real hegemony over the Greek world. Since the end of the medieval wars, it has led the League of Delos, an alliance of cities against the Persians. Gradually, Athens behaves in an imperialist way towards the league, confiscating the common treasure provided in case of war. This money was used to finance, among other things, the Parthenon, completed in 432 BC. Sparta fears that the Athenian empire will make it lose control of the Peloponnese. Thus the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) broke out. The conflict engulfed the whole Greek world, opposing almost all the cities on either side of Sparta or Athens. The latter seemed to have the advantage with its fleet, its alliance and its strategist Pericles. Despite brilliant victories, Athens was weakened by a plague epidemic and the disastrous Sicilian expedition (413 BC). Sparta's victory was not complete, however, as Thebes and Corinth emerged as its new rivals. For Athens, however, it meant the disappearance of its empire and the end of democracy, replaced by a tyrannical regime. For two centuries, Athens prospered, its population doubled (400,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the^5th century BC) and, above all, it played a leading role in the development of the arts, sciences and philosophy.

Paradoxically, it was the Spartans who made democracy possible by helping the Athenians to overthrow the tyrant Hippias in 510 BC. Immediately, the reformer Clisthenes established the foundations of the regime: an ecclesia (assembly) made up of equal citizens who vote the laws and among whom are drawn by lot the 500 members of the boule (council) responsible for drafting the laws. But out of about 200,000 inhabitants in Clisthenes' time, only 10% were citizens: slaves, dago (non-Athenians) and women were not allowed to vote. Democracy, however, was to spread from Kos to Rhodes, via Cyrene (Libya) and Syracuse (Sicily). Other cities opted for the second major Greek political model, that of Sparta. It too guarantees equality, but according to a collective and military way of life, at the expense of the arts and individual liberties, and retaining certain aspects of tyranny.

This golden age reached its apogee during what is known as the century of Pericles. The city was home to such remarkable men as the historians Thucydides and Herodotus, and the sculptor Phidias, who designed the Parthenon. It was home to the philosophers Plato and Socrates, orators such as Protagoras (the Sophist movement), and playwrights Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. The city also attracted the mathematician Pythagoras and the physician Hippocrates. Despite the end of democracy, the city continued to shine, with the sculptor Praxiteles and the philosopher Aristotle, tutor to Alexander the Great.

Since the end of the Peloponnesian War, conflicts between Thebes, Athens and Sparta have weakened the cities. This benefited the Kingdom of Macedonia, located in northern Greece. Founded in the ^8th century BC, the Aragaean dynasty originated in Argolid (Peloponnese). But the Macedonian population was perceived as "barbaric", i.e. non-Greek. From 359 BC, Philip II of Macedonia subdued neighboring peoples (Illyrians, Thracians, etc.), then seized the Athenian colonies in Macedonia (354 BC). The dreaded Macedonian phalanxes were then called in by Thebes, and Thessaly became part of the kingdom. The cities tried to forge alliances, resisting the Macedonians both with weapons and violent rhetoric(the Philippics by Athenian tribune Demosthenes). However, Philip prevailed at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Controlling all of Greece except Sparta, he proposed a sacred union to liberate the Persian-controlled cities of Asia Minor. But Philip was assassinated in 336 BC.

A Greek-speaking Macedonian and student of the philosopher Aristotle, Europe's greatest conqueror was not considered Greek by most ancient Greeks. And today, his legacy is claimed as much by tiny neighboring Northern Macedonia as by Iranians, Afghans and Egyptians. All this makes Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) the most universal figure in Greek history. He changed the world, if only by wiping out the Persian Empire, the hereditary enemy of the Greek cities. Above all, his campaigns spread Hellenism as far as India. And while his vast empire collapsed immediately after his death, his diadochos (generals) founded dynasties from Egypt to the Middle East that lasted three centuries and gave birth to a new Greco-Oriental culture. This would serve as a foundation for the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans alike.

The most famous of all conquerors was just 20 years old when he succeeded his father. After putting down a city revolt, Alexander the Great took up the idea of a sacred union against the Persians. In May 334 BC, an army of 45,000 Macedonians, Greeks and Barbarians landed in what is now Turkey. The troops of the Persian emperor Darius III were quickly routed. Alexander descended to Egypt, where he was made pharaoh and founded Alexandria (331 BC). He then moved on to the heart of the Empire, capturing Babylon and Persepolis, before succeeding Darius III, who had just been killed, in the summer of 330 BC. The young Macedonian set off for India. The Punjab and Indus valleys were taken. Alexander went no further. In the spring of 325 BC, faced with the grumbling of his soldiers, he returned to his capital, Babylon. There, surrounded by his wife Roxanne, mistresses and lovers, he was caught up in a whirlwind of rivalries, jealousies and revolts. He died, probably poisoned, on June 11, 323 BC. His empire immediately fell apart. But his generals, the Diadochi, created Hellenistic dynasties, three of which lasted until the arrival of Rome. In Egypt, Ptolemy founded the Lagid kingdom, which came to an end with the death of Cleopatra (30 BC), with Alexandria replacing Athens as the cultural capital of the Greek world. In the Middle East, Seleucos erected the immense Seleucid Empire. Greece itself was disputed for a long time before the Antigonid dynasty established itself in the ^3rd century BC. While the Macedonian cities of Pella and Thessalonica emerged as political centers, Sparta and Athens resisted.

Under the pretext of "liberating the Greeks", Rome launched the Macedonian Wars (215-148 BC). For almost 80 years, four conflicts pitted the Romans against the Antigonids. The latter enjoyed the support of Carthage and the Seleucid Empire, before finding themselves isolated. As for Rome, at the outset it was only a small power. But it was fascinated by Greek culture and set about conquering the cities. The latter sometimes rallied to one side, sometimes to the other. The Greeks, however, leaned more and more towards Rome. The Republic of Latium had become their leading economic partner and, above all, had proved its love of Hellenism by adopting the gods of Olympus. Thus, during the Fourth Macedonian War (150-148 BC), the cities refused to rise up against the Romans, bringing about the end of the Macedonian kingdom. In 146 B.C., present-day Greece was attached to Rome as a province of Macedonia.

Things are off to a bad start. In 146 B.C., after razing Carthage to the ground, the Romans destroy Corinth. The city had been a valuable ally against the Macedonians. But Rome used the pretext of a slight dispute to seize the Peloponnese and prove its military superiority. This will not prevent Greek revolts like those of Pergamos (Asia Minor) and Athens in 129 and 88 BC. Then the Romans were generous: they financed the reconstruction of Corinth and, in 27 BC, Julius Caesar made the city the capital of the new province of Achaia (southern Greece). The transformation of the Republic into an Empire coincided with the longest period of peace ever experienced by the Greeks: the Pax Romana (27 BC -180 AD). Deprived of their armies, the cities benefited from a favourable economic environment. Thanks to the Empire, which soon spread throughout the Mediterranean, merchants no longer had to fear pirates and renewed close ties with the Greek cities of Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Italy and Gaul. The emperors' passion for Hellenism is reflected in the creation of numerous monuments: Hadrian's Gate in Athens, Nero's villa in Olympia... The Romans also built aqueducts, cities and roads like the Via Egnatia linking Rome to Byzantium. Within the Empire, ideas circulate more easily. Greek culture and language spread among the Roman elite as well as among the merchants of Palestine. In the eastern half of the Empire, texts and inscriptions are more often written in Greek than in Latin. Artists and authors copied Greek works over and over again. In short, Hellenism has never been so powerful. But ideas also travel in the other direction. Thus, Christianity enters Europe via Greece. The Apostle Paul stayed there twice between 50 and 58. If his preaching is rejected by the Stoics in Athens, he forms communities in the Peloponnese, Macedonia and Thrace. The link between Christianity and Hellenism accompanied the changes in the Roman Empire, allowing it to continue in Byzantium until 1453.

Saint Demetrios (c. 270-306) is the most venerated Christian martyr among the Orthodox. His city, Thessalonica, became a major place of pilgrimage for Greeks, Bulgarians and Russians alike. Born into a wealthy convert family, he began an evangelization campaign during the most severe anti-Christian persecution. His fame was ensured above all by the miracles attributed to him after his death, notably the defense of his city against Avar and Bulgarian invaders in the Middle Ages. Thessalonica was the main meeting point for the new peoples who had arrived since the 6th^century . And it was two other Thessalonian saints, Cyril and Methodius, who launched the conversion of the Slavs from the 9th^century onwards, spreading the cult of Demetrios as far as Kiev.

From the ^2nd century onwards, the Roman Empire was weakened by the rise of Christianity and the invasions of the Germans and Huns. Christians challenged the unifying cult of the emperor. Persecution was therefore the order of the day. But as these were mainly aimed at the Greco-Roman elite, the new religion was gradually tolerated. Invasions were dealt with by splitting the Empire in two, East and West: first administratively in 285, then completely in 395. In the meantime, Constantine (306-337) temporarily reunited the Empire. But the emperor did two things in particular: he converted to Christianity and moved the capital to the East, where Hellenism was seen as the best bulwark of "Romanity". In 330, he named an ancient Greek colony Byzantium. Later renamed Constantinople, then Istanbul, it was ideally located between Asia and Europe. Constantine's choices were confirmed by his successors: they made Christianity the official religion (392) and, when the Western Empire disappeared (476), Constantinople became the seat of Christianity.

Today's Greece is the most direct heir to the Eastern Roman Empire, known as Byzantine. Almost unknown in French history textbooks, this medieval superpower nevertheless beats all records for longevity in Europe: eleven centuries. The Greek-speaking "Byzantines", the successors of ancient Rome, called themselves "Romans". For a long time, this empire retained territories as far as Italy. Although fought by the Catholics, it will serve as a model for future European states: efficient army, balanced taxation, broad access to education, enriched Roman law, etc.. Although the Byzantines laid the foundations of Christianity, they continued to study the ancient authors and were tolerant of other cults. The influence of Byzantium was such that it allowed the emergence of the Italian Renaissance after the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453.

The first shock came in the ^6th century with the invasion of the Slavs. They founded sklavinies (autonomous colonies) in Macedonia and the Peloponnese, then kingdoms in Bulgaria (635) and Serbia (780). The Slavs remained a constant threat, barely stemmed by the Christianization launched by Cyril and Methodius from Thessalonica. From the ^8th century onwards, the Byzantine Empire was shaken by religious conflict (the iconoclastic crisis), while Islamicized Arabs took over large territories, including Egypt. The other danger came from the West, where the Pope and the Germanic kings challenged Constantinople's supremacy. Taking the title of Emperor of the West in 800, Charlemagne went so far as to modify Christian dogma to establish his authority, leading to the schism of the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054. Despite the spectacular reconquests of Basil II (976-1025), Byzantium could no longer defend Magna Graecia (southern Italy and Sicily): in the ^12th century, it was conquered by the Normans, supported by the Pope. In 1204, the final break came: the Crusaders and the Venetians captured Constantinople and Greece. Ripped apart by the Catholics, the Byzantine Empire was given up for dead. However, it was re-established in 1261. Under the Palaeologus dynasty (1261-1453), it even experienced a new golden age, as witnessed by the churches of Mistra (Peloponnese). This "Palaeologus Renaissance" influenced European art and heralded the Italian Renaissance. Byzantium survived because of its solid foundations: efficient administration and taxation, constantly enriched Roman law, the ability to assimilate a variety of peoples, an experienced army... The Palaeologos took back most of Greece and Anatolia. While Crete, the Ionian Islands, Nafplio and the Cyclades remained in Venetian hands, a new enemy arrived: the Ottoman Empire. Founded in 1299, this Turkish and Muslim power gradually conquered Byzantine territories. Constantinople itself was besieged four times before its ramparts gave way to Mehmed II's cannons on May 29, 1453.

The history of Ottoman Greece varies from one territory to another. Thrace was conquered from 1347 and massively Islamized. The Cyclades, on the other hand, remained Venetian for a long time and were never really occupied by the Ottomans. Tinos itself was not captured until 1715. Corfu, for its part, was never Ottoman, remaining Venetian until its annexation by France in 1797. The case of Crete is more complex: the Ottomans seized the island two centuries after Constantinople, in 1646, settling many Turkish colonists. As a result, Muslims accounted for half of the Cretan population until they were driven off the island in 1923. As for present-day Turkey, it retained large Greek communities in Trebizond, Smyrna and Constantinople. Pragmatically, the Ottomans showed religious tolerance. While they encouraged conversions to Islam through tax incentives, they generally allowed "infidels" to practice their religion. In 1492, Sultan Bajazet II took under his protection the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal. This decision was prompted by the need to repopulate the cities taken during the conquest. For four centuries, Thessalonica became the largest city in Europe with a Jewish majority. In the same practical spirit, the Patriarch of Constantinople was given responsibility for all Christians in the Balkans, whether Greek or Slavic, Orthodox or Catholic. The aim was to relieve the pashas (governors) of community tax collection. The favoritism enjoyed by the Greek Church was also reflected in the virtual invulnerability of monasteries, particularly those on Mount Athos. There, monks kept alive the memory of the Byzantine Empire, nurtured a language and age-old traditions, and spearheaded the resistance.

Greece chose 25 March 1821 as the date of the beginning of the uprising in Patras. In fact, the motto "liberty or death" is brandished from 15-17 March 1821 in several localities of the Peloponnese. There were many reasons for this: the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, the fragmentation of Greece into local potentates, the increase in taxes, etc. The causes were numerous. The conflict extended from Macedonia to Crete, but the independence fighters were divided. The Ottomans and their Egyptian allies take back all of Greece, except for Nafplio and Hydra. The massacre of Chios (April 1822) and the bloody siege of Missolonghi (April 1826) provoke indignation. The emotion relayed by Delacroix, Hugo, Byron and Lamartine gave rise to philhellenic movements. The latter put pressure on the European states to support the Greeks. On 6 July 1827, the Treaty of London marked a turning point with the intervention of Russia, England and France in favour of the Greeks. The naval victory of Navarin (20 October 1827), then the French expedition of Morée and the ninth Russian-Turkish war finally forced the Ottomans to withdraw from southern Greece on 14 September 1829.

Gentlemen, if you ever have to say something sweet to a Greek woman, tell her she's a bouboulina: it's the nicest compliment you can pay her. Born in captivity to the Ottomans in Constantinople to a family of Arvanite shipowners (Hellenized Orthodox Albanians) from the island of Hydra, Laskarina Bouboulina (1771-1825) was the Greek heroine of the War of Independence (1821-1829). The widow of a captain from the island of Spetses, she built herself theAgamemnon, an 18-gun ship, and in 1820 led a flotilla to blockade Nafplio, even before the conflict began. She then lost a son during the Battle of Argos (May 1821) and remarried general Kolokotronis, taking part with him in the liberation of the Peloponnese. Feared by the Ottomans, but caught up in internal conflicts, Bouboulina returned to Spetses, where a family vendetta led to her death.

The fragile Hellenic Republic that came into being at independence represents about one third of present-day Greece. Taking Aegina and then Nafplio as their capital, the rebel leaders chose Jean Capo of Istria as their first head of state. But this Greco-Venetian, who was a Russian minister, did not meet with unanimous approval: he was assassinated on 31 October 1831. The following year, the "protective" monarchies (Great Britain, Russia and France) overthrew the Republic. The Kingdom of Greece was established with the Bavarian Prince Otto I at its head. Reigning as absolute monarch, he launched the modernization of the country, settled in Athens (1834) and undertook the project of the "Great Idea" (Megali Idea), that of reuniting the territories inhabited by the Greeks with Constantinople as its capital. Supporting revolts, as in Crete (1841), he failed to enlarge his kingdom, only deepening the public debt and provoking the anger of both Ottomans and Europeans. He was finally overthrown by a revolution in 1862. His successors, George I and Constantine I, Danish princes also chosen by the great powers, will nevertheless continue the project of the Great Idea. Despite a worrying public debt, political crises and a heavy defeat in 1897 against the Ottomans, Greece recovered the Ionian Islands from the British (1863) and part of Thessaly (1878). Then, at the end of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the country took its present form, with the exception of the Dodecanese islands, which were ceded by Italy in 1947.

During the conflict, the country was torn over which side to take. It was the "National Schism": on one side, King Constantine ^I, pro-German; on the other, his Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, pro-Entente. The arrival of Franco-British troops on the Macedonian front exacerbated tensions. In 1917, the king gave the order to shoot French soldiers. Paris and London had Constantine deposed, and Athens entered the war on their side. As one of the victors, Greece obtained part of present-day Turkey under the Treaty of Sèvres (1920).

Thanks to Franco-British support, Venizelos thought he could complete the Great Idea. He launched the army towards Constantinople. But everything changed in 1922. In Athens, Constantine returned to the throne, bringing aid from Paris and London to an immediate halt. Above all, Atatürk remobilized the Ottoman army, which reconquered Asia Minor. After the Greek massacres of Muslims, the Turks took equally terrible revenge. It was the "Great Catastrophe": the loss of lands inhabited by Hellenes for millennia. The result was the death of hundreds of thousands of Christians and the exodus of a million Greeks from Asia Minor. Politically, this upheaval led to the end of the Ottoman Empire, the birth of Turkey (1923) and the fall of the Greek monarchy (1924).

Greece was painfully rebuilt. While the uprooted people of Asia Minor brought with them an entire oriental culture, hundreds of thousands of Slavic, Turkish and Jewish inhabitants were expelled. Paralyzed by corruption and political instability, the ^Second Republic was overthrown by General Ioannis Metaxas in 1936. He suspended Parliament and re-established the monarchy. His authoritarian regime borrowed certain aspects from fascism. But Metaxas was more tolerant of minorities than his predecessors. He also imposed a modern approach to tourism, for example by whitewashing Cycladic houses. Unloved by his people, Metaxas was also feared by Western democrats, who judged him to be pro-German. Yet the dictator became a national hero when he refused Mussolini's ultimatum on October 28, 1940 ("Day of No"). After fierce resistance against the Italians, Greece was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1941.

During the Occupation, the country suffered two major traumas: the famine of winter 1941-1942 (more than 250,000 deaths) and the extermination of 86% of the Jewish population. The other striking fact was the intensity of the resistance, organized into two rival movements, royalists and communists. The Germans responded to ambushes and sabotage with ferocious reprisals. In all, the Second World War claimed the lives of 574,000 Greeks (8% of the population). In 1944, the Communists succeeded in liberating the country. However, under British pressure, they were removed from power. This led to the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), the first confrontation of the Cold War. On one side, King George II and the State were supported by London and Washington. On the other, the Communist insurrection was aided by Tito's Yugoslavia, but quickly abandoned under pressure from Stalin. At Yalta (1945), the Allies had agreed that Greece should become part of the Western sphere, while the rest of the Balkans would come under Soviet control. In the name of this agreement, Greek communists were hunted down. Former Nazi collaborators returned to business, while the Americans used napalm on a large scale for the first time. The conflict led to 150,000 deaths and a mass exodus.

On May 30, 1941, he committed the first act of resistance in Greece by removing the Nazi flag flying over the Acropolis. It was one of many episodes in the life of this non-communist left-wing activist. Committed to opposing the Metaxas dictatorship from high school onwards, Glezos (1922-2020) was a fierce opponent of the Germans, the pro-British regime and then the colonels' junta. This led to a death sentence, eleven years in prison and five years in exile. Elected several times as a member of parliament, including while in prison, he joined Pasok in 1984, promoted local democracy on his island of Naxos, sat as a member of the European Parliament, and then became leader of the radical left, soon to be renamed Syriza. Opposed to austerity measures after the 2009 crisis, he was the most comfortably elected MP in the country's history in 2014. In 2015, however, he criticized the Tsipras government and left Syriza. He died in Athens on March 30, 2020.

After a decade of war, Greece was plunged into poverty. The constitutional monarchy was dominated by Constantin Karamanlis (1907-1998), on the right, and Georges Papandreou (1888-1968), on the center-left. The country remained weakened by weak industrialization, debt, corruption and a bloated, inefficient civil service. Faced with this situation, a group of officers seized power on April 21, 1967. Led by George Papadopoulos, the "dictatorship of the colonels" aimed to restore order and relaunch the Great Idea. With the support of the United States and Great Britain, communists were imprisoned and rock music and long hair were banned. Europe was shocked when, on November 17, 1973, tanks stormed the École Polytechnique in Athens. But it was another event that was to bring down the regime. Weakened, the junta tried to restore its image withEnosis: the union of Greece and Cyprus. On July 15 1974, the Greek military overthrew Cypriot President Makarios. Turkey feared for the Turkish Cypriot minority and sent its army to capture the northern part of the island. The fiasco was such that the colonels relinquished power.

In 1974, with the return of democracy, Greece opted for the end of the monarchy. Until 2009, the country was ruled alternately by two political parties and three family dynasties: New Democracy (center-right), with the Karamanlis and Mitsotakis clans, and Pasok (center-left), with the Papandreou family. But the system was corrupt: corruption, tax gifts to shipowners and the Church, fictitious jobs, etc. In 1981, Greece joined the European Community and benefited from enormous structural aid. But the first shock came with the fall of the Communist regimes. Driven out by poverty, 900,000 Albanians settled in Greece from 1991 onwards. That same year, the small Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia declared its independence. Athens refused to allow it to use the term "Macedonia" and went so far as to suffocate its neighbor with an economic blockade (1995-1996). Greek nationalism was also fuelled by the wars in Yugoslavia (1991-1999): in the name of Greek-Serbian friendship, Athens condemned NATO intervention, and Greek extremists took part in the Srebrenica massacre (1995). This period was also marked by a rapprochement with Bulgaria and Turkey. Although the entente with Sofia lasted, Erdoğan's arrival in power (2003) rekindled tensions with Ankara. And the organization of the 2004 Olympic Games further deepened the debt.

In 2009, Prime Minister Georges Papandreou (Pasok) revealed the extent of the deficit. Placed under supervision, Greece obtained new loans with draconian conditions: public spending cuts, higher taxes, lower pensions and 25% job cuts for civil servants. While the state was saved, the economy collapsed. In 2015, voters rejected the Pasok-New Democracy system: they entrusted power to the alternative left-wing Syriza party. But Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is forced to continue the policy of austerity. And he has to deal with the exodus of Greeks, the massive arrival of refugees, deadly fires (104 deaths in 2018) and the rise of the far right, in particular Aube Dorée. This neo-Nazi formation has won around twenty seats in parliament, and maintains a poisonous climate with its militias. After several racist murders, the party will be dissolved in 2020. Despite a return to a balanced budget (2017) and a compromise with Skopje on the name "North Macedonia" (2018), Syriza was defeated in 2019. Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy) became Prime Minister. He opted for a neo-liberal turn and ruled the country with an iron fist, targeting migrants, students and the press. Although weakened by giant fires every summer, a wiretapping scandal (2022) and a serious rail accident (57 deaths in February 2023), Mitsotakis retained power in the May 2023 elections. In 2024, despite pressure from the Church, he supported the parliament that voted to adopt marriage for all.