Nikitas wrote:Some references Runway might want to look up- Greek War of Indepence, the liberation of Crete, Macedonian campaign, Balkan Wars, they led to the sixfold territorial gain. World war II and the cessation of the Dodecanese about completes the picture. Next step will be the 12 mile territorial sea extension which will happen despite the protests.
Now give us popsicle's birth date. Maybe some people want to send you a card and a cake.
I beg to differ Nikitas because I am aware how (twisted) history is taught down South!
Liberation of Crete
Greeks did not liberate Greece and Crete but allied forces did! See: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Crete
http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/revolution.htm
In both cases, had it not been for the British, French and Russians, Greece and Crete would probably still be Turkish occupied!
QUOTE:
"A series of revolts against the Turks in the 19th cent. reached a climax in the insurrection of 1896–97 that led to war (1897) between Greece and Turkey. The European powers intervened in the war, forcing Turkey to evacuate (1898) Crete. An autonomous Cretan state was formed under nominal Turkish rule, but it was governed by a high commission of the occupying powers (England, France, Russia, and Italy). The Cretan national assembly, led by Eleutherios Venizelos Venizelos Eleutherios (ĕlĕfthâr`yôs vĕnēzĕ`lôs), 1864–1936, Greek statesman, declared in favor of union with Greece, but the powers rejected its demand. The Young Turk revolution of 1908, however, enabled the Cretans to proclaim their union with Greece, and in 1909 foreign occupation troops were withdrawn."
QUOTE:
"On March 13th 1821, twelve days before the official beginning of the War of Independence, the first revolutionary flag was actually raised on the island of Spetses by Laskarina Bouboulina. Twice widowed with 7 children but extremely rich she owned several ships. On April 3rd Spetses revolted, followed by the islands of Hydra and Psara with a total of over 300 ships between them. Bouboulina and her fleet of 8 ships sailed to Nafplion and took part in the seige of the impregnable fortress there. Her later attack on Monemvasia managed to capture that fortress. She took part in the blockade of Pylos and brought supplies to the revolutionairies by sea. Bouboulina became a national hero, one of the first women to play a major role in a revolution. Without her and her ships the Greeks might not have gained their independence. What is less well known is that she was Albanian.
The Greeks, led by local heroes like Theodoros Kolokotronis from the Mani, capture the Peloponessos and form a provisional government, electing the Phanariot Alexandros Mavrokordatos president. On April 26th the Greeks attack Athens and the Turks of the city are forced to flee to the Acropolis. They are rescued in August by Turkish troops but finally surrender in June of 1822 and are then massacred after being promised safe passage. In the meantime the Greeks in the Peloponessos, (or the Morea as it was called), are fighting amongst themselves. In European cities intellectuals and poets like Lord Byron embrace the Greek cause and sway public opinion. The Greek struggle is interpreted by many Europeans simplistically and romantically as a battle between the ideals of the ancient Greeks against the ruthless Turks who had been occupying and supressing the decendents of Pericles, Socrates and Plato. Many, including Lord Byron volunteer to fight and become leaders and heroes of the revolution, known as the Philhellenes (friends of the Greeks). Some sing the praises of the modern Greeks but many are completely disillusioned by the pettiness and greed of the Greek klefth leaders who seem to just want glory and riches. Though some of these warlords are elevated to the role of saviors and heroes in the national mythology, the reality is that many of them were just pirates and thieves looking out for their own self-interest. In 1823 Lord Byron arrives in Missolonghi, to take part in the resistance there, but dies three months later, not as romantically as he would have liked, but by disease. In 1826 the Peloponessos is back in Turkish hands and Athens is one of only a few cities controlled by the Greeks. When the Turkish army returns a major battle takes place and on June 5th the Acropolis is surrendered. Among the fifteen hundred Greek dead are 22 of the 26 Philhellenes. By 1827 the Turks have all of Greece with the exception of Nafplion and a few islands.
But the Greeks are rescued by their own history as support for them in their struggle grows. The Treaty of London, backed by Britain, Russia and France. declares that the three great powers can intervene 'peacefully' to secure the autonomy of the Hellenes. In October of that year the British, French and Russian show the power of peaceful intervention when they destroy the Turkish-Egyptian fleet in the bay of Navarino (Pylos) in what may have been the world's biggest and most fatal 'misunderstanding'. Whether by accident or not, when an Egyptian ship fires on a small boat filled with British sailors, all hell breaks loose and when the smoke clears the entire Turkish-Egyptian fleet is at the bottom of the bay, (where they can still be seen). It is the most one-sided battle in the history of naval warfare. For more see www.greecetravel.com/peloponessos/navarino With the destruction of the Egyptian-Turkish fleet the Hellenes have a clear path to nationhood except for the usual fighting amongst themsleves."
I do not hnow which Macedonian campaign you are referring to (there a few in history - depending on context) BUT the Balkan war involved no Greek heroics either! They were part of a four nation force against the, by then disintegrating and collapsing, Ottoman army...
QUOTE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Balkan_War
"The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria) against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, and achieved rapid success. As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Despite its success, Bulgaria was unsatisfied with the peace settlement and with the Ottoman threat gone, soon would start a Second Balkan War, this time against its First Balkan War allies."
Cessation of the Dodecanese
Understandably this is a sour point with Turkey! Tell me how much of what's below you've been taught in your history lessons:
QUOTE:
Ottoman Rule:
Thus began a period of several hundred years in the Ottoman Empire. The Dodecanese formed the Vilayet of the islands. The population was allowed to retain a number of privileges provided it submitted to Ottoman rule. By Suleiman's edict, they paid a special tax in return for a special autonomous status that prohibited Ottoman generals from interfering in their civil affairs or mistreating the population. These guarantees, combined with a strategic location at the crossroads of Mediterranean shipping, allowed the islands to prosper. Although sympathies of the overwhelmingly Greek population (only Rhodes and Kos had Turkish communities) leaned heavily towards Greece following its declaration of independence in 1822, the islanders did not join the Greek War of Independence, continuing instead a semi-autonomous existence as an archipelago of Greek merchants within the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, the 19th century turned out to be one of the islands' most prosperous, and a number of mansions date from this era.
Italian rule
After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over nearby Libya, the islands finally declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, proclaiming an independent state as the Federation of the Dodecanese Islands. This nascent state was quashed almost immediately by the invasion of Italy, which wanted the islands, and particularly the fortress of Rhodes, to control communication between Turkey and Libya. The Italians occupied all the Dodecanese except for Kastelorizo, which was later temporarily seized by France.
After the end of the war, according to the First Treaty of Lausanne, Italy maintained the occupation of the islands, as guarantee for the execution of the treaty. Following the declaration of War of Italy against the Ottoman Empire (21 August 1915), the war occupation of the islands started again.
During World War I, with Italy allied to France and Britain, the islands became an important British and French naval base, used as a staging area for numerous campaigns, most famously the one at Gallipoli. During the war, some of the smaller islands were occupied by the French and British, with Rhodes continuing as Italian-occupied.
Following the war, the Tittoni - Venizelos agreement, signed on July 29, 1919 called for the smaller islands to join with Greece, with Rhodes remaining Italian. Italy should have got in exchange southwest Anatolia with Antalya. The Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and the foundation of modern Turkey made this solution impossible. With the Treaty of Lausanne the Dodecanese was then formally annexed by Italy, as the Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo.
Mussolini embarked on a program of Italianization, hoping to make Rhodes a modern transportation hub that would serve as a focal point for the spread of Italian culture in Levant. The islands were overwhelmingly Greek-speaking, punctuated only by a Turkish-speaking minority (nearly 10,000) and even smaller Ladino-speaking Jewish minority (with only a few immigrated Italian speakers).
During World War II, Italy joined the Axis Powers, and used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for its invasion of Crete in 1940. After the surrender of Italy in September 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans and Allied forces, including the Italians (see Battle of Leros). The Germans prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945, during which time nearly the entire Jewish population of 6,000 was deported and killed. Only 1200 of these Ladino speaking Jews survived, thanks to their lucky escape to the nearby coast of Turkey.
Post-World War II [b]
[b]Following the war, the islands became a British military protectorate, and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs, upon which the islands became informally united with Greece, though under separate sovereignty and military control. Despite objections from Turkey, which desired the islands as well, they were formally united with Greece by the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy, ending a seven-century long era of non-Greek rule over the islands. As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece, it is still considered a separate "entity" for amateur radio purposes, essentially maintaining its status as an independent country "on the air." Radio call signs in the Dodecanese begin with the prefix SV5."
Now, http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/
refers to only TWO Greco-Turkish Wars (That can actually be classified as war between the two) and this is how it goes:
quote
Two military conflicts between the Greeks and the Turks.
The first, or Thirty Days' War, took place after an 1896 rebellion on Turkish-ruled Crete between Christian residents and their Muslim rulers. Greek troops occupied the island in 1897. The European powers imposed a blockade to prevent assistance to the island. Unable to reach Crete, the Greeks sent a force to attack the Turks in Thessaly, but it was overwhelmed by the superior Turkish army. Though a peace treaty forced the Greeks to withdraw, Turkish troops also left Crete, which had been made an international protectorate and was later (1913) ceded to Greece.
The second war occurred after World War I, when the Greeks attempted to claim territories assigned to them by the Treaty of Sèvres (1920). In 1921 the Greek army launched an offensive in Anatolia against nationalist Turks who would not recognize the treaty. The Greek forces were driven out by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) returned the disputed territories to Turkey."
The last paragraph also explains why many Greeks (and GCs) violently love mud slinging at a world acclaimed great leader such as Kemal Ataturk...
You might want to take a map and compare modern day territories to see Greece is a tiny piece of land.
