Editing Greece (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Greece}}

=== Prehistory and Aegean civilisations ===
{{Main|Neolithic Greece|Pelasgians|Cycladic culture|Minoan civilisation|Mycenaean Greece}}
[[File:Entrance to the treasure of Atreus.jpg|thumb|upright|The entrance of the [[Treasury of Atreus]] (13th century BC) in [[Mycenae]]]]

The [[Apidima Cave]] in [[Mani Peninsula|Mani]], in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains of [[early modern humans]] outside of Africa, dated to 200,000 years ago.<ref name="NAT-20190710">{{cite journal |last=Harvati |first=Katerina |display-authors=etal |title=Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia |date=10 July 2019 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=571 |issue=7766 |pages=500–504 |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z |pmid=31292546 |hdl=10072/397334 |s2cid=195873640 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/6646855 |access-date=16 July 2022 |archive-date=1 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801132212/https://zenodo.org/record/6646855 |url-status=live  | issn=0028-0836}}</ref> However others suggest the remains represent [[archaic humans]].<ref name=":5">Marie-Antoinette de Lumley, Gaspard Guipert, Henry de Lumley, Natassa Protopapa, Théodoros Pitsios, Apidima 1 and Apidima 2: Two anteneandertal skulls in the Peloponnese, Greece, L'Anthropologie, Volume 124, Issue 1, 2020, 102743, ISSN 0003-5521, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2019.102743 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610015655/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552119300974?via%3Dihub |date=10 June 2024 }}.</ref> All three stages of the [[Stone Age]] are represented in Greece, for example in the [[Franchthi Cave]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Douka |first1=K. |last2=Perles |first2=C. |last3=Valladas |first3=H. |last4=Vanhaeren |first4=M. |last5=Hedges |first5=R.E.M. |title=Franchthi Cave revisited: the age of the Aurignacian in south-eastern Europe |journal=Antiquity Magazine |page=1133 |year=2011 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1129937 |access-date=20 December 2017 |archive-date=22 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222140445/https://www.academia.edu/1129937 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Neolithic]] settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,<ref name="Borza">{{cite book|author=Eugene N. Borza|title=In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58|year=1992|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00880-6|page=58 |access-date=11 October 2015 |archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610015721/https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> are the oldest in Europe, as Greece lies on the route by which farming spread from the [[Near East]] to Europe.<ref>{{cite book |last=Perlès |first=Catherine |title=The Early Neolithic in Greece: The First Farming Communities in Europe |page=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQQ3tx5_t7QC |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610015728/https://books.google.com/books?id=LQQ3tx5_t7QC&q=sesklo |url-status=live |isbn=9780521000277}}</ref>

Greece is home to the first advanced civilisations in Europe and is often considered the birthplace of Western civilisation.{{Sfn|Duchesne|2011|p=297: "The list of books which have celebrated Greece as the "cradle" of the West is endless; two more examples are Charles Freeman's The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (1999) and Bruce Thornton's Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (2000)"}}{{Sfn|Bottici|Challand|2013|p=88: "The reason why even such a sophisticated historian as Pagden can do it is that the idea that Greece is the cradle of civilisation is so much rooted in western minds and school curricula as to be taken for granted."}} The earliest of them was the [[Cycladic culture]] which flourished on the islands of the [[Aegean Sea]], starting around 3200 BC, and produced an abundance of folded-arm and other [[Cycladic art|marble figurines]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sansone|2004|pp=xviii-xix}}; {{harvnb|Neer|2019|pp=25–26}}; {{harvnb|Renfrew|2012|pp=83–92}}</ref> From {{circa|3100}} BC to 1100 BC, [[Crete]], a major cultural and economic centre, was home to the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan civilisation]] known for its [[Minoan art|colourful art]], [[Minoan religion|religious figurines]], and [[Minoan palaces|monumental palaces]].<ref>{{harvnb|Neer|2019|pp=27–38}}; {{harvnb|Tomkins|Schoep|2012|pp=66–76}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Watrous|2021}}; {{harvnb|McEnroe|2010}}</ref> The Minoans wrote [[Minoan language|their undeciphered language]] using scripts known as [[Linear A]] and [[Cretan hieroglyphs]].{{Sfn|Tomas|2012|pp=340-351}}{{Sfn|Salgarella|2022}} On the mainland, the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean civilisation]] developed around 1750 BC and lasted until {{circa|1100}} BC.{{Sfn|Knodell|2021|p=7}} The Mycenaeans possessed [[Military of Mycenaean Greece|advanced military]] and built [[Cyclopean masonry|large fortifications]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sansone|2004|pp=10–11}}; {{harvnb|Neer|2019|pp=48–70}}</ref> They [[Mycenaean religion|worshiped]] [[List of Mycenaean deities|many gods]]{{Sfn|Neer|2019|pp=65-66}} and used [[Linear B]] to write the earliest [[Attested language|attested]] form of [[Greek language|Greek]] known as [[Mycenaean Greek]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sansone|2004|pp=3–4}}; {{harvnb|Neer|2019|p=58}}</ref>{{Sfn|Chadwick|1990}}

===Ancient Greece===
{{Main|Ancient Greece}}
{{see also|Greek Dark Ages|Archaic Greece|Classical Greece|Hellenistic Greece}}

The collapse of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean civilisation]] ushered in the [[Greek Dark Ages]], from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=John R. |last=Short |title=An Introduction to Urban Geography |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&q=greek%20dark%20ages%20776%20BC&pg=PA10 |publisher=Routledge |year=1987 |isbn=9780710203724 |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020158/https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&q=greek%20dark%20ages%20776%20BC&pg=PA10 |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', the foundational texts of [[Western literature]], are believed to have been composed by [[Homer]] in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.<ref>Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. ''Le monde d'Homère'' (The World of Homer), Perrin (2000), p. 19.</ref><ref name="The Odyssey 2003">[[D.C.H. Rieu]]'s introduction to ''The Odyssey'' (Penguin, 2003), p. xi.</ref> [[Ancient Greek literature|Poetry]] shaped beliefs to the [[Greek mythology|Olympian gods]], but [[ancient Greek religion]] had no priestly class or systematic dogmas and encompassed other currents, such as popular cults, like [[Cult of Dionysus|that of Dionysus]], [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mysteries]] and [[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schuller|2008|pp=27, 88–89}}</ref> At this time there emerged kingdoms and [[city-state]]s across the Greek peninsula, [[Greek colonisation|which spread]] to the shores of the [[Black Sea]], [[Magna Graecia]] in [[southern Italy]], and [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]]. These reached great prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of [[classical Greece]], expressed in [[Architecture of ancient Greece|architecture]], [[Theatre of ancient Greece|drama]], [[Ancient Greek science|science]], [[Greek mathematics|mathematics]] and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]]. In 508 BC, [[Cleisthenes]] instituted the world's first [[Athenian democracy|democratic]] system of government in [[Athens]].<ref name="BKDunn1992">{{Cite book | first = John | last = Dunn | title = Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC&nbsp;– 1993 AD | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-19-827934-1}}</ref><ref name="BKRaaflaud2007">{{Cite book | first1 = Kurt A | last1 = Raaflaub | first2 = Josiah | last2 = Ober | first3 = Robert W | last3 = Wallace | title = Origin of Democracy in Ancient Greece | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-520-24562-4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6qaSHHMaGVkC}}</ref>

[[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Parthenon]] on the [[Acropolis of Athens]], icon of classical Greece]]

By 500 BC, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.<ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345 "A companion to Ancient Macedonia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330042424/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345#v=snippet&q=Achaemenid%20Persians%20ruled%20balkans&f=false |date=30 March 2024 }} John Wiley & Sons, 2011. {{ISBN|144435163X}} pp 135–138, p 343</ref> Attempts by Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule [[Ionian Revolt|failed]], and Persia [[First Persian invasion of Greece|invaded the states of mainland Greece]] in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after defeat at the [[Battle of Marathon]] in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by [[Sparta]], which was the first recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the [[Trojan War]].<ref name="Waterfield2018">{{cite book|author=Robin Waterfield|title=Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |date=19 April 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-872788-0|page=148|quote=They formed an alliance, which we call the Hellenic League, and bound themselves not just to repel the Persians, but to help one another whatever particular enemy threatened the freedom of the Greek cities. This was a real acknowledgment of a shared Greekness, and a first attempt to unify the Greek states under such a banner.|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020158/https://books.google.com/books?id=lLNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Fine1983">{{cite book|author=John Van Antwerp Fine|title=The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeM0kcp8swC&pg=PA297 |year=1983|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03314-6|page=297 |quote=This Hellenic League – the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan War – was the instrument through which the Greeks organised their successful resistance to Persia.|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020202/https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeM0kcp8swC&pg=PA297#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[second Persian invasion of Greece]] was decisively defeated in 480&ndash;479 BC, at [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]] and [[Battle of Plataea|Plataea]], marking the eventual withdrawal of the Persians from all their European territories. The Greek victories in the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] are a pivotal moment in history,<ref name="Strauss2005">{{cite book|author=Barry Strauss|title=The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|date=16 August 2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-7453-1|pages=1–11|access-date=29 October 2015|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429045458/https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|url-status=live}}</ref> as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as the [[Fifth-century Athens|Golden Age of Athens]], a seminal period that laid many foundations of Western civilisation. Lack of political unity resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404 BC), which marked the demise of the [[Delian League|Athenian Empire]] and the emergence of [[Spartan hegemony|Spartan]] and later [[Theban hegemony]].{{Sfn|Worthington|2015|pp=42–43}} Weakened by constant wars among them during the 4th century BC, the Greek ''poleis'' were subjugated to the [[Rise of Macedon|rising power]] of the [[kingdom of Macedon]] under king [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] into an alliance known as the [[League of Corinth|Hellenic League]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=13–14, 29–30}}, {{harvnb|Schuller|2008|pp=49–51, 52–53}}, {{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|pp=268–270, 285–9}}.</ref>

{{multiple images
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After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son and [[king of Macedon]], [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], set himself leader of a [[Panhellenism|Panhellenic]] [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaign]] against the [[Persian Empire]] and abolished it. Undefeated in battle, he marched, until his untimely death in 323 BC, to the banks of the [[Indus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=31–2, 34–5, 36–7}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=10–3, 16–7, 21, 24–5, 28–9}}</ref> Alexander's empire fragmented, inaugurating the [[Hellenistic period]]. After [[Wars of the Diadochi|fierce conflict]] amongst themselves, the [[Diadochi|generals that succeeded Alexander and their successors]] founded large personal kingdoms in the areas he had conquered, such as that of the [[Ptolemies]] in [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Egypt]] and of the [[Seleucids]] in [[Syria (region)|Syria]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Iranian plateau|Iran]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=46–48, 59, 74–75}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=30, 32, 45–48, 54–55}}</ref> The newly founded ''poleis'' of these kingdoms, such as [[Alexandria]] and [[Antioch]], were settled by Greeks as members of a ruling minority. As a result, during the centuries that followed a vernacular form of [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]], known as ''[[Koine Greek|koine]]'', and Greek culture was [[Hellenization|spread]], while the Greeks [[Hellenistic religion|adopted Eastern deities and cults]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=62–3, 133–9}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=63–65, 73, 75–6}}.</ref> Greek science, technology, and mathematics reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.<ref>{{Cite book | first1 = Cynthia | last1 = Kosso | first2 = Anne | last2 = Scott | title = The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance | publisher = Brill | year = 2009 | page = 51 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UTkXFLfmLTkC&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&pg=PA51 | isbn = 978-9004173576 | access-date = 11 November 2020 | archive-date = 18 March 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240318020442/https://books.google.com/books?id=UTkXFLfmLTkC&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&pg=PA51#v=snippet&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> Aspiring to maintain their autonomy and independence from the [[Antigonid dynasty|Antigonid kings]] of the [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonians]], many ''poleis'' of Greece united in ''koina'' or ''[[sympoliteia]]i'' i.e. federations, while after the establishment of economic relations with the East, a stratum of wealthy ''[[Euergetism|euergetai]]'' dominated their internal life.<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=79–80, 91–2, 141–2, 151–2}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=68–70}}.</ref>

=== Roman province (146 BC – 4th century AD) ===
{{Main|Greece in the Roman era}}
{{See also|Roman Empire}}
[[File:Athen Odeon Herodes Atticus BW 2017-10-09 13-12-44.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Odeon of Herodes Atticus]] in Athens, built in 161 AD]]
From about 200 BC the [[Ancient Rome|Roman Republic]] became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a [[Macedonian Wars|series of wars with Macedon]].<ref name=Flower>{{cite book |title=The Roman Republic |editor-last=Flower |editor-first=Harriet |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-00390-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani0000unse_s0h2/page/248 248, 258] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani0000unse_s0h2}}</ref> Macedon's defeat at the [[Battle of Pydna]] in 168 BC signalled the end of [[Antigonid dynasty|Antigonid]] power.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Britannica |contribution=Antigonid dynasty |year=2008 |edition=online}}</ref> In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate.<ref name=Flower/><ref name=Ward>{{cite book |title=A history of the Roman people |last1=Ward |first1=Allen Mason |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-13-038480-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofromanpe00alle/page/276 276] |publisher=Prentice Hall |display-authors=etal |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofromanpe00alle}}</ref> The process was completed in 27 BC, when emperor [[Augustus]] annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as the [[senatorial province]] of [[Achaea (Roman province)|Achaea]].<ref name=Ward /> Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became [[Greco-Roman world|heavily influenced]] by Greek culture.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient Rome: An Introductory History |last=Zoch |first=Paul |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8061-3287-7 |page=136 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95bu0O3LLlsC&q=Graecia%20capta%20ferum%20victorem%20cepit&pg=PA136 |access-date=29 April 2012 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020159/https://books.google.com/books?id=95bu0O3LLlsC&q=Graecia%20capta%20ferum%20victorem%20cepit&pg=PA136#v=snippet&q=Graecia%20capta%20ferum%20victorem%20cepit&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>

Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries,<ref>{{cite book | title = Backgrounds of Early Christianity | last = Ferguson | first = Everett | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-8028-2221-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuKkxU4-ncC&pg=PA617 | pages = 617–18 | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans | access-date = 18 May 2022 | archive-date = 10 June 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020200/https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuKkxU4-ncC&pg=PA617#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> and Christianity's early leaders and writers were mostly Greek-speaking, though not from Greece itself.<ref>{{cite book | title = Ancient Rome | last = Dunstan | first = William | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-7425-6834-1 | page = 500 | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xkOhwFzz1AkC&q=early%20christian%20leaders%20speak%20greek&pg=PA500 | access-date = 29 April 2012 | archive-date = 10 June 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020200/https://books.google.com/books?id=xkOhwFzz1AkC&q=early%20christian%20leaders%20speak%20greek&pg=PA500#v=snippet&q=early%20christian%20leaders%20speak%20greek&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> The [[New Testament]] was written in Greek, and some sections attest to the importance of churches in Greece in [[early Christianity]]. Nevertheless, much of Greece clung to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD,<ref>{{cite book |title=Early Christian Art and Architecture |last=Milburn |first=Robert |year=1992 |page=158 |publisher=University of California Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcRTwsDq_Z4C&q=early%20christianity%20greece&pg=PA158 |access-date=29 April 2012 |isbn=9780520074125 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020204/https://books.google.com/books?id=OcRTwsDq_Z4C&q=early%20christianity%20greece&pg=PA158#v=snippet&q=early%20christianity%20greece&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> when they were outlawed by the Roman emperor [[Theodosius I]] in 391–392.<ref name="FriellWilliams2005">{{cite book|author1=Gerard Friell|author2=Peabody Professor of North American Archaeology and Ethnography Emeritus Stephen Williams|author3=Stephen Williams|title=Theodosius: The Empire at Bay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8KRAgAAQBAJ|date=8 August 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-78262-7|page=105|access-date=19 October 2015|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429045345/https://books.google.com/books?id=I8KRAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393,<ref name="Perrottet2004">{{cite book|author=Tony Perrottet|title=The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2VPMUBAxUUC&pg=PA190|access-date=1 April 2013|date=8 June 2004|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-1-58836-382-4|pages=190–}}</ref> and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed.<ref name="Evans2005">{{cite book|author=James Allan Stewart Evans|title=The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xDNv6qZ_I-IC|date=January 2005|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32582-3|pages=65–70}}</ref><ref name="Haldon1990">{{cite book|author=J. F. Haldon|title=Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSHmT1G_5T0C|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31917-1|page=329|access-date=19 October 2015|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927210555/https://books.google.com/books?id=pSHmT1G_5T0C|url-status=live}}</ref> The closure of the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic]] Academy of Athens by Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the academy continued.<ref name="Evans2005" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Hellenic Temples and Christian Churches: A Concise History of the Religious Cultures of Greece from Antiquity to the Present |last=Makrides |first=Nikolaos |year=2009 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9568-2 |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKOY5NsekfkC&q=10th%20century&pg=PA17 |access-date=29 April 2012 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020750/https://books.google.com/books?id=kKOY5NsekfkC&q=10th%20century&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q=10th%20century&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Medieval period (4th–15th centuries) ===
{{Main|Byzantine Greece|Frankokratia}}
[[File:Map Byzantine Empire 1025-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire after the death of [[Basil II]] in 1025]]
[[File:Καστροπολιτεια μονεμβασιας.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|View of the medieval fortress city of [[Monemvasia]]]]
The Roman Empire in the east, following the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, is known as the [[Byzantine Empire]], but called "Kingdom of the Romans" in its own time. With its capital in [[Constantinople]], its language and culture were Greek and its religion was predominantly [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christian]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies |editor-last=Jeffreys |editor-first=Elizabeth |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-925246-6 |page=4 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liFKua_cWL8C&pg=PA4 |access-date=11 October 2015 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020703/https://books.google.com/books?id=liFKua_cWL8C&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Empire's Balkan territories, including Greece, suffered from the dislocation of [[Migration Period|barbarian invasions]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Halsall |first=Guy |title=Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West |pages=376–568 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007}}</ref> raids by [[Goths]] and [[Huns]] in the 4th and 5th centuries and the [[South Slavs|Slavic]] invasion in the 7th century resulted in a collapse in imperial authority in the Greek [[peninsula]].{{Sfn | Fine | 1991 | pp = 35–36}} The imperial government retained control of only the islands and coastal areas, particularly the populated walled cities such as Athens, Corinth and Thessalonica.{{Sfn | Fine | 1991 | pp = 35–36}}{{Sfn | Fine | 1991 | pp = 63–66}}<ref>{{Cite book | first = T. E. | last = Gregory | title = A History of Byzantium | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell | year = 2010 | page = 169 | quote = It is now generally agreed that the people who lived in the Balkans after the Slavic "invasions" were probably for the most part the same as those who had lived there earlier, although the creation of new political groups and arrival of small immigrants caused people to look at themselves as distinct from their neighbors, including the Byzantines.}}</ref> However, the view that Greece underwent decline, fragmentation and depopulation is considered outdated, as cities show institutional continuity and prosperity between the 4th and 6th centuries. In the early 6th century, Greece had approximately 80 cities according to the [[Synecdemus|Synekdemos]] chronicle, and the 4th to the 7th century is considered one of high prosperity.<ref name="Rothaus2000">{{cite book|first=Richard M. |last=Rothaus|title=Corinth, the First City of Greece: An Urban History of Late Antique Cult and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbAhrDO1XQIC|year=2000|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-10922-3|page=10|access-date=7 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020704/https://books.google.com/books?id=dbAhrDO1XQIC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Until the 8th century almost all of modern Greece was under the jurisdiction of the [[Holy See]] of [[Rome]]. Byzantine [[Emperor Leo III]] moved the border of the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]] westward and northward in the 8th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rayUr0j28wC&pg=PA203|title=Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes|first=Deno John|last=Geanakoplos|date=1984|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226284606|access-date=19 October 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020720/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rayUr0j28wC&pg=PA203|url-status=live}}</ref> The Byzantine recovery of lost provinces during the [[Arab–Byzantine wars]] began in the 8th century and most of the Greek peninsula came under imperial control again.<ref name= EB2>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26387/Byzantine-recovery |title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: Byzantine recovery | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=28 April 2012}}</ref>{{Sfn|Fine|1991|pp=79–83}} This process was facilitated by a large influx of Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula, while many Slavs were captured and re-settled in Asia Minor.{{Sfn|Fine|1991|pp=63–66}} During the 11th and 12th centuries the return of stability resulted in the Greek peninsula benefiting from economic growth.<ref name=EB2 /> The [[Greek Orthodox Church]] was instrumental in the spread of Greek ideas to the wider [[Orthodoxy|Orthodox world]].<ref name=BritIdent>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Greece during the Byzantine period (c. AD 300 – c. 1453), Population and languages, Emerging Greek identity |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |id=Online Edition}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018 |reason=Where does it say that in the text?}}

Following the [[Fourth Crusade]] and fall of Constantinople to the "[[Latin Empire|Latins]]" in 1204, mainland Greece was split between the Greek [[Despotate of Epirus#Foundation|Despotate of Epirus]] and [[Kingdom of France|French]] rule<ref name = EB3>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26389/Results-of-the-Fourth-Crusade|title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: Results of the Fourth Crusade|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=28 April 2012|archive-date=22 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422103358/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26389/Results-of-the-Fourth-Crusade|url-status=live}}</ref> (the ''[[Frankokratia]]'').<ref name= EB3A>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26395/The-islands|title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: The islands|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=14 May 2012|archive-date=24 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224051540/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26395/The-islands|url-status=live}}</ref> The re-establishment of the imperial capital in Constantinople in 1261 was accompanied by the empire's recovery of much of the Greek peninsula, while the islands remained under Genoese and Venetian control.<ref name = EB3 /> During the [[Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty|Paleologi dynasty]] (1261–1453) a new era of Greek patriotism emerged accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moles |first1=Ian |title=Nationalism and Byzantine Greece |journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies |date=1969 |page=102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJhOAAAAIAAJ |quote=Greek nationalism, in other words, was articulated as the boundaries of Byzantium shrank... the Palaeologian restoration that the two words are brought into definite and cognate relationship with 'nation' (Έθνος). |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020724/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJhOAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RuncimanRunciman1985">{{cite book|first=Steven |last=Runciman|title=The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm5OGIBgoHMC&pg=PA120|date=24 October 1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31310-0|page=120|quote=By the fifteenth century most Byzantine intellectuals alluded to themselves as Hellenes. John Argyropoulus even calls the Emperor 'Emperor of the Hellenes' and describes the last wars of Byzantium as a struggle for the freedom of Hellas.|access-date=9 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020725/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm5OGIBgoHMC&pg=PA120|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Vasiliev>{{cite book |last1=Vasiliev |first1=Alexander A. |title=History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453 |date=1964 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0299809256 |page=582 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RtM0qClcIX4C}}</ref><ref name="CareyCarey1968">{{cite book|first1=Jane Perry Clark |last1=Carey|first2=Andrew Galbraith |last2=Carey|title=The Web of Modern Greek Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltw7AAAAMAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Columbia University Press|page=33|isbn=978-0231031707|quote=By the end of the fourteenth century the Byzantine emperor was often called "Emperor of the Hellenes"|access-date=9 September 2018|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927205509/https://books.google.com/books?id=ltw7AAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hilsdale |first1=Cecily J. |title=Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107729384 |pages=82–83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7GkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020749/https://books.google.com/books?id=t7GkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 14th century much of the Greek peninsula was lost by the Byzantine Empire to the [[Serbs]] and then the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]].<ref name = EB4>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26391/Thessaly-and-surrounding-regions|title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: Serbian and Ottoman advances|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=28 April 2012|archive-date=24 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224052621/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26391/Thessaly-and-surrounding-regions|url-status=live}}</ref> Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and by 1460, Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece was complete.<ref name= EB5>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26391/Thessaly-and-surrounding-regions|title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: The Peloponnese advances|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=28 April 2012|archive-date=24 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224052621/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26391/Thessaly-and-surrounding-regions|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Venetian possessions and Ottoman rule (15th century – 1821) ===
{{Main|Ottoman Greece|Stato da Màr}}
{{See also|Kingdom of Candia|Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands}}During the 15th to early 19th centuries, while much of [[Geography of Greece|mainland Greece]] and the [[Aegean Islands|Aegean islands]] fell under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] control, [[Venice]] retained several key territories. Notably, [[Crete]] remained under [[Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands|Venetian rule]] until 1669, and the [[Ionian Islands]] were governed by Venice until 1797. These islands were subsequently ceded to [[First French Empire|French]] and later [[British Empire|British]] control.{{sfn|Clogg|1992|p=10}} While some Greeks in the Ionian islands and [[Constantinople]] lived in prosperity, and Greeks of Constantinople ([[Phanariots]]) achieved power within the Ottoman administration,{{sfn|Clogg|1992|p=23}} much of Greece suffered the economic consequences of Ottoman conquest. Heavy taxes were enforced, and in later years the Ottoman Empire enacted a policy of creation of hereditary estates, effectively turning the rural Greek populations into [[serfdom|serfs]],<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Kourvetaris | first1 = George | last2 = Dobratz | first2 = Betty | title = A profile of modern Greece: in search of identity | page = 33 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ePwcAAAAYAAJ&q=Greece+chiflik+serfs | publisher = Clarendon Press | year = 1987 | isbn = 9780198275510 | access-date = 11 October 2015 | archive-date = 10 June 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021207/https://books.google.com/books?id=ePwcAAAAYAAJ&q=Greece+chiflik+serfs | url-status = live }}</ref> while the Ottoman conquest had cut Greece off from European historical developments.{{Sfn|Clogg|1992|pages=3}}

The [[Greek Orthodox Church]] and the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] were considered by the Ottoman governments as the ruling authorities of the entire [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] population of the Ottoman Empire, whether ethnically Greek or not. Although the Ottoman state did not force non-Muslims to convert to [[Islam]], Christians faced discrimination. Discrimination, particularly when combined with harsh treatment by local Ottoman authorities, led to conversions to Islam, if only superficially. In the 19th century, many "[[Crypto-Christianity|crypto-Christians]]" returned to their old religious allegiance.{{sfn|Clogg|1992|p=14}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venice and the Ottomans |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/educators/curriculum-resources/art-of-the-islamic-world/unit-seven/chapter-two/venice-and-the-ottomans |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>

[[File:White Tower and Beach front.jpg|thumb|The [[White Tower of Thessaloniki]], one of the best-known Ottoman structures remaining in Greece]]

The nature of Ottoman administration of Greece varied, though it was invariably arbitrary and often harsh.{{Sfn|Clogg|1992|p=14}} Some cities had governors appointed by the [[Ottoman Sultan|Sultan]], while others, like Athens, were self-governed municipalities. Mountainous regions in the interior and many islands remained effectively autonomous from the central Ottoman state for centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ottoman-Venetian Border (15th-18th Centuries) |url=https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/books/978-88-6969-138-6/978-88-6969-138-6.pdf}}</ref> The 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as a "dark age" in Greek history,{{Sfn|Clogg|1992|page=15}} with the prospect of overthrowing Ottoman rule appearing remote.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} However, prior to the Greek Revolution of 1821, there had been wars which saw Greeks fight against the Ottomans, such as the Greek participation in the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571,{{sfn|Clogg|1992|p=15}} the [[Morean War]] of 1684–1699, and the [[Russian Empire|Russian]]-instigated [[Orlov revolt]] in 1770.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} These uprisings were put down by the Ottomans with great bloodshed.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Lyn |last=Harrington |title=Greece and the Greeks |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d7BAAAAAIAAJ&q=greece+revolts+ottoman+rule+bloodshed |publisher=T Nelson |year=1968 |access-date=11 October 2015 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021226/https://books.google.com/books?id=d7BAAAAAIAAJ&q=greece+revolts+ottoman+rule+bloodshed |url-status=live}} 221 pp.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first1=Jamie |last1=Stokes |first2=Anthony |last2=Gorman |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East |page=256 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&q=greece%20ottoman%20rule%20revolts%20orlov&pg=PA256 |publisher=Infobase |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4381-2676-0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021208/https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&q=greece%20ottoman%20rule%20revolts%20orlov&pg=PA256#v=snippet&q=greece%20ottoman%20rule%20revolts%20orlov&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> Many Greeks were conscripted as Ottoman subjects to serve in the Ottoman army and especially the navy, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, responsible for the Orthodox, remained in general loyal to the Empire.

===Modern nation-state===
{{Main|History of modern Greece}}

==== Greek War of Independence (1821–1832) ====
{{Main|Greek War of Independence}}
[[File:The sortie of Messologhi by Theodore Vryzakis.jpg|thumb|upright=.85|''The sortie (exodus) of [[Messolonghi]]'', depicting the [[third siege of Missolonghi]], painted by [[Theodoros Vryzakis]]]]
In the 18th century, Greek merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, established communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Europe,{{Sfn|Clogg|1992|pages=21, 23}} and used their wealth to fund educational activities that brought younger generations into contact with Western ideas.{{Sfn|Clogg|1992|page=25, 26, 27}} In the 18th century, an increase in learning during the [[Modern Greek Enlightenment]] led to the emergence among [[Westernization|Westernised]] Greek-speaking [[elite]]s of the [[Greek nationalism|notion of a Greek nation]]. A secret organisation formed in this milieu was the [[Filiki Eteria]], in 1814.<ref>{{harvnb|Hatzopoulos|2009|pp=81–3}}.</ref> They engaged [[traditional society|traditional strata]] of the Greek Orthodox world in their [[liberal nationalism|liberal nationalist]] cause.<ref>{{harvnb|Hatzopoulos|2009}}. For the crisis of maritime trade from 1815 onwards, see {{harvnb|Kremmydas|1977}} and {{harvnb|Kremmydas|2002}}.</ref>

The first revolt began on 6 March 1821 in the [[Danubian Principalities]], but was put down by the Ottomans. This spurred the Greeks of the [[Peloponnese]] and on 17 March the [[Maniots]] declared war on the Ottomans.<ref name="Brewer, D. 2001, pp. 235">Brewer, D. ''The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation.'' Overlook Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-58567-172-X}}, pp. 235–36.</ref> By October 1821 the Greeks had captured [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripolitsa]]. There were revolts in Crete, [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] and [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]], which were suppressed. In 1822 and 1824 the Turks and Egyptians ravaged the islands, committing [[Massacres during the Greek Revolution|massacres]].<ref name="Brewer, D. 2001, pp. 235" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |title=A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851096725 |page=1140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_tSnygvbIC&pg=PA1140 |access-date=11 November 2018 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021209/https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_tSnygvbIC&pg=PA1140 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Chios Massacre Of 1822|work=Queens Gazette |url=http://www.qgazette.com/news/2007-11-28/features/016.html |access-date=11 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111173817/http://www.qgazette.com/news/2007-11-28/features/016.html|archive-date=11 November 2018}}</ref> This galvanised opinion in western Europe in favour of the Greeks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klose |first=Fabian |title=The Emergence of Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas and Practice... |date=2016 |publisher=Clays |isbn=9781107075511 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cMvZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA175 |page=175 |access-date=6 August 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240912210753/https://books.google.com/books?id=cMvZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA175#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2024-09-12}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Sultan]] [[Mahmud II]] negotiated with [[Mehmet Ali of Egypt]], who agreed to send his son [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]] with an army, in return for territorial gain.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Willert |first=Trine Stauning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gB1tDwAAQBAJ&q=The+New+Ottoman+Greece+in+History+and+Fiction|title=The New Ottoman Greece in History and Fiction|date=4 September 2018 |publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-93849-3|pages=71–100 |access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021210/https://books.google.com/books?id=gB1tDwAAQBAJ&q=The+New+Ottoman+Greece+in+History+and+Fiction#v=snippet&q=The%20New%20Ottoman%20Greece%20in%20History%20and%20Fiction&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control.<ref>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Ibrahim Pasha |volume=14 |pages=223–224 |inline=1}}</ref> Three [[great powers]], [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]], [[Russian Empire]], and the [[United Kingdom]], each sent a navy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodhouse |first=Christopher Montague |year=1965 |title=The Battle of Navarino |pages=117–18, 137, 139}}</ref> The allied fleet destroyed the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at the [[Battle of Navarino]], and the Greeks captured Central Greece by 1828. The [[First Hellenic Republic|nascent Greek state]] was recognised under the [[London Protocol (1830)|London Protocol]] in 1830.<ref>{{cite book |title=Η αντιπολίτευση κατά του κυβερνήτη Ιωάννη Καποδίστρια |first=Χρήστος |last=Λούκος |publisher=Θεμέλιο |year=1988 |location=Αθήνα, Ελλάδα |page=187 |language=el}}</ref>

====Kingdom of Greece====
{{Main|Kingdom of Greece}}
[[File:Peter von Hess - The Entry of King Othon of Greece in Athens - WGA11387.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|''[[The Entry of King Otto of Greece into Athens]]'', painted by [[Peter von Hess]] in 1839]]

In 1827, [[Ioannis Kapodistrias]], was chosen by the [[Third National Assembly at Troezen]] as the first governor of the [[First Hellenic Republic]]. Kapodistrias established state, economic and military institutions. Tensions appeared between him and local interests and, following his assassination in 1831 and the [[London Conference of 1832]], Britain, France and Russia installed Bavarian Prince [[Otto of Greece|Otto von Wittelsbach]] as [[Kingdom of Greece (Wittelsbach)|monarch]].<ref name="britannica otto">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Otto |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-king-of-Greece |language=en |access-date=1 September 2018 |archive-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909190752/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-king-of-Greece |url-status=live }}</ref> Otto's reign was [[despotism|despotic]], and in its first 11 years of independence Greece was ruled by a Bavarian oligarchy led by [[Josef Ludwig von Armansperg]] and, later, by Otto himself, as King and Premier.<ref name="britannica otto" /> Greece remained under the influence of its three protecting great powers.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fXfatJ1aQq0C&q=king%2520otto%2520german%2520language%2520administration%2520greece&pg=PA71 |title=The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transplantation: Experiences with the Transfer of Policy Institutions |last1=Jong |first1=M. de |last2=Lalenis |first2=K. |last3=Mamadouh |first3=V. D. |date=31 December 2002 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9781402011085 |page=71 |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021211/https://books.google.com/books?id=fXfatJ1aQq0C&q=king%2520otto%2520german%2520language%2520administration%2520greece&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q=king%2520otto%2520german%2520language%2520administration%2520greece&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1843 an [[3 September 1843 Revolution|uprising]] forced Otto to grant a [[Greek Constitution of 1844|constitution]] and [[Hellenic Parliament|representative assembly]].

Despite the [[absolute monarchy|absolutism]] of Otto's reign, it proved instrumental in developing institutions which are still the bedrock of Greek administration and education.<ref name="encyclopedia imperialism">{{Cite book |date=2008 |last=Hodge |first=Carl Cavanagh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5zTkGKy4wEC&q=king%2520otto%2520german%2520language%2520administration%2520greece&pg=PA291 |title=Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=291 |access-date=9 September 2018 |isbn=9780313043413}}</ref> Reforms were taken in education, maritime and postal communications, effective civil administration and the [[legal code]].{{sfn|Great Greek Encyclopedia|page=50–51}} [[Historical revisionism]] took the form of de-[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantinification]] and de-[[Ottoman Empire|Ottomanisation]], in favour of promoting Ancient Greek heritage.{{sfn|Roudometof|2001|pp=101–113}} The capital was moved from [[Nafplio]], where it had been since 1829, to [[Athens]], then a smaller town.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wynn |first=Martin |date=1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vb2xAAAAIAAJ&q=otto+move+capital+athens |title=Planning and Urban Growth in Southern Europe |publisher=Mansell |isbn=9780720116083 |page=6 |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021731/https://books.google.com/books?id=vb2xAAAAIAAJ&q=otto+move+capital+athens |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Church of Greece]] was established as Greece's [[national church]] and 25 March, the day of [[Annunciation]], was chosen as the anniversary of the [[Greek War of Independence]] to reinforce the link between Greek identity and [[Orthodoxy]].{{sfn|Roudometof|2001|pp=101–113}}

Otto [[23 October 1862 Revolution|was deposed]] in 1862 because of the Bavarian-dominated government, heavy taxation, and a failed attempt to annex Crete from the Ottomans.<ref name="britannica otto" /><ref name="encyclopedia imperialism" /> He was replaced by Prince Wilhelm of Denmark, who took the name [[George I of Greece|George I]] and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. A [[Greek Constitution of 1864|new Constitution in 1864]] changed Greece's form of government from [[constitutional monarchy]] to the more democratic [[crowned republic]].{{sfn|Great Greek Encyclopedia|page=239|loc="Διὰ τοῦ Συντάγματος τοῦ 1864 καθιερώθει ὡς πολίτευμα διὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἡ κοινοβουλευτικὴ μοναρχία, ἣ, ὅπως ἄλλως ἐχαρακτηρίσθη, ἡ «βασιλευομένη δημοκρατία» ἣ «δημοκρατικὴ βασιλεία»" [Through the Constitution of 1864, constitutional monarchy, or, as it had been described, "crowned democracy", or "democratic monarchy", was consolidated as the form of government in Greece]}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Vouli-ton-Ellinon/To-Politevma/Syntagmatiki-Istoria/ |title=Constitutional History |publisher=Hellenic Parliament |access-date=4 September 2018 |quote=The revolt marked the end of constitutional monarchy and the beginning of a crowned democracy with George-Christian-Wilhelm of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Glücksburg dynasty as monarch. |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526170714/https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Vouli-ton-Ellinon/To-Politevma/Syntagmatiki-Istoria/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RekVT4GnyYIC&q=crowned%2520republic%2520greece&pg=PA132 |title=Greece Country Study Guide: Strategic Information and Developments |publisher=International Business Publications, US |date=3 March 2012 |isbn=978-1-4387-7447-3 |page=131 |quote=In 1862, however, a revolt brought about important changes in the political system that led to the so-called "crowned democracy", i.e. a kingdom with a democratic government. }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1875 [[parliamentary majority]] as a requirement for government was introduced,<ref name="constitutional history">{{cite web |url=https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Vouli-ton-Ellinon/To-Politevma/Syntagmatiki-Istoria/ |title=Constitutional History |publisher=Hellenic Parliament |access-date=4 September 2018 |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526170714/https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Vouli-ton-Ellinon/To-Politevma/Syntagmatiki-Istoria/ |url-status=live }}</ref> curbing the power of the monarchy to appoint [[minority government]]s. Corruption, coupled with increased spending to fund infrastructure like the [[Corinth Canal]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aedik.gr/frontend/articles.php?cid=44&scid=51 |title=Η αντίστροφη μέτρηση |trans-title=The Countdown |website=Διώρυγα Κορίνθου |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328044804/http://www.aedik.gr/frontend/articles.php?cid=44&scid=51 |archive-date=28 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> overtaxed the weak economy and forced the declaration of [[Sovereign default|public insolvency]] in 1893.

[[File:Map Greece expansion 1832-1947-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.15 |The territorial evolution of the [[Kingdom of Greece]] from 1832 to 1947]]

Greeks were united, however, in their determination to liberate the [[regions of ancient Greece|Hellenic lands]] under Ottoman rule; the [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)]] had raised nationalist fervour. When war broke out between [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russia and the Ottomans in 1877]], Greek sentiment rallied to Russia, but Greece was too poor and concerned about British intervention, to enter the war.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The "New" Muslim Minorities in Greece: Between Emigration and Political Participation, 1881–1886 |first=Nicole |last=Immig |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |year=2009 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=511–522 |doi=10.1080/13602000903411408 |s2cid=143664377}}</ref> Greeks in Crete continued to stage revolts, and in 1897, the Greek government, bowing to popular pressure, declared war on the Ottomans. In the ensuing [[Greco-Turkish War (1897)|Greco-Turkish War of 1897]], the badly trained and equipped Greek army was defeated. Through the intervention of the Great Powers, however, Greece lost little territory, while Crete was established as an [[Cretan State|autonomous state]] under [[Prince George of Greece]]. With state coffers empty, fiscal policy came under [[International Financial Control]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Marie Charrel |date=16 July 2015 |title=Quand la France et l'Allemagne mirent la Grèce sous tutelle… en 1898 |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2015/07/16/quand-la-france-et-l-allemagne-mirent-la-grece-sous-tutelle-en-1898_4685561_3234.html |work=Le Monde |access-date=17 May 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517145442/https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2015/07/16/quand-la-france-et-l-allemagne-mirent-la-grece-sous-tutelle-en-1898_4685561_3234.html}}</ref> The government, aiming to quell [[Komitadjis]] and detach the [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia|Slavophone peasants of the region]] from [[Bulgarian Macedonians|Bulgarian]] influence, sponsored a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] campaign in Ottoman-ruled [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], known as the [[Macedonian Struggle]], which ended with the [[Young Turk Revolution]] in 1908.<ref>{{harvnb|Livanios|1999|pp=195–196}}, {{harvnb|Koliopoulos|Veremis|2002|pp=280–281}}, {{harvnb|Kostopoulos|2011}}.</ref>

==== Expansion, disaster, and reconstruction ====
{{See also|Greece in the Balkan Wars|Greece during World War I|National Schism|Second Hellenic Republic}}
Amidst dissatisfaction with the seeming inertia and unattainability of [[Megali Idea|national aspirations]], military officers organised a [[Goudi coup|coup]] in 1909 and called on [[Cretan State|Cretan]] politician [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], who conveyed a vision of national regeneration. After winning [[Greek legislative election, August 1910|two]] [[Greek legislative election, November 1910|elections]] and becoming prime minister in 1910,{{sfn|Mazower|1992|pp=886, 890–893, 895–900, 904}} Venizelos initiated fiscal, social, and [[Greek Constitution of 1911|constitutional reforms]], reorganised the military, made Greece a member of the [[Balkan League]], and led it through the [[Balkan Wars]]. By 1913, Greece's territory and population had doubled, annexing Crete, [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]], and [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]]. The struggle between [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine I]] and charismatic Venizelos over foreign policy on the eve of First World War dominated politics and divided the country into [[National Schism|two opposing groups]]. During parts of the war, Greece had two governments: A royalist [[Central Powers|pro-German]] one in [[Athens]] and a [[Venizelism|Venizelist]] pro-[[Triple Entente|Entente]] one in [[Thessaloniki]]. They united in 1917, when Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente.

After the war, Greece attempted expansion into [[Asia Minor]], a region with a large native Greek population, but was defeated in the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)]], contributing to a flight of [[Ottoman Greeks|Asia Minor Greeks]].<ref name=Gibney>{{cite book |author=Matthew J. Gibney, [[Randall Hansen]]. |title=Immigration and Asylum: from 1900 to the Present, Volume 3 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/immigrationasylu00matt/page/377 377] |isbn=978-1-57607-796-2 |quote=The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of I.2 million with the main wave occurring in 1922 before the signing of the convention. According to the official records of the Mixed Commission set up to monitor the movements, the Greeks who were transferred after 1923 numbered 189,916 and the number of Muslims expelled to Turkey was 355,635 (Ladas I932, 438–439), but using the same source Eddy 1931, 201 states that the post-1923 exchange involved 192,356 Greeks from Turkey and 354,647 Muslims from Greece. |url=https://archive.org/details/immigrationasylu00matt/page/377 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sofos |first1=Spyros A. |last2=Özkirimli |first2=Umut |author2-link=Umut Özkirimli |title=Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey |publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd |year=2008 |pages=116–117 |isbn=978-1-85065-899-3 }}</ref> These events overlapped, happening during the [[Greek genocide]] (1914–22),<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/14623520801950820 | last1 = Schaller | first1 = Dominik J | last2 = Zimmerer | first2 = Jürgen | year = 2008 | title = Late Ottoman genocides: the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies&nbsp;– introduction | journal = Journal of Genocide Research | volume = 10 | issue = 1| pages = 7–14| s2cid = 71515470 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url = http://news.am/eng/news/16644.html | title = Genocide Resolution approved by Swedish Parliament | publisher = News.AM | access-date = 9 December 2014 | archive-date = 16 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190416235256/https://news.am/eng/news/16644.html | url-status = live }}, containing both the IAGS and the Swedish resolutions.</ref><ref>Gaunt, David. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140102130735/http://books.google.com/books?id=4mug9LrpLKcC Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I]''. Piscataway, [[New Jersey|NJ]]: Gorgias Press, 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite news | author-link = Chris Hedges | last = Hedges | first = Chris | date = 17 September 2000 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/nyregion/a-few-words-in-greek-tell-of-a-homeland-lost.html | title = A Few Words in Greek Tell of a Homeland Lost | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | access-date = 19 February 2017 | archive-date = 25 November 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181125062332/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/nyregion/a-few-words-in-greek-tell-of-a-homeland-lost.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | first = RJ | last = Rummel | author-link = R. J. Rummel | year = 1998 | title = The Holocaust in Comparative and Historical Perspective | journal = Idea Journal of Social Issues | volume = 3 | number = 2}}</ref> when Ottoman and Turkish officials contributed to the death of several hundred thousand Asia Minor Greeks, along with similar numbers of [[Assyrian genocide|Assyrians]] and a larger number of [[Armenian genocide|Armenians]]. The resultant Greek exodus from Asia Minor was made permanent, and expanded, in an official [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]], as part of the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] which ended the war.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Annette Grossbongardt|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/christians-in-turkey-the-diaspora-welcomes-the-pope-a-451140.html|title=Christians in Turkey: The Diaspora Welcomes the Pope|magazine=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=28 November 2006|access-date=3 September 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924143609/http://www.spiegel.de/international/christians-in-turkey-the-diaspora-welcomes-the-pope-a-451140.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5&nbsp;million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey (some of whom could not speak Greek) had to be integrated into Greek society. The refugees made a dramatic population boost, as they were more than a quarter of Greece's prior population.<ref>Howland, Charles P. [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/68710/charles-p-howland/greece-and-her-refugees "Greece and Her Refugees"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407210749/http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/68710/charles-p-howland/greece-and-her-refugees |date=7 April 2015 }}, ''Foreign Affairs'', [[The Council on Foreign Relations]]. July 1926.</ref>

Following the catastrophic events in Asia Minor, the monarchy was abolished [[Greek republic referendum, 1924|via a referendum]] in 1924 and the [[Second Hellenic Republic]] declared.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wFDWqVnkvhsTndtvSoClrL8BI7vRxXKg8ztIl9LGdkF53UIxsx942CdyqxSQYNuqAGCF0IfB9HI6hq6ZkZV96FIfmAIHno4xZaiebsKTXkZGFzZyd4dunA0LfOa-Yg4kaY. |title=Newspaper of the Government – Issue 64 |date=25 March 1924 |work=Government Newspaper of the Hellenic State |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=18 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518194612/http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wFDWqVnkvhsTndtvSoClrL8BI7vRxXKg8ztIl9LGdkF53UIxsx942CdyqxSQYNuqAGCF0IfB9HI6hq6ZkZV96FIfmAIHno4xZaiebsKTXkZGFzZyd4dunA0LfOa-Yg4kaY. |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1935, a royalist general-turned-politician [[Georgios Kondylis]] took power after a coup and abolished the republic, holding [[Greek monarchy referendum, 1935|a rigged referendum]], after which [[George II of Greece|King George II]] was restored to the throne.

==== Dictatorship, World War II, and reconstruction ====
{{See also|4th of August Regime|Balkans campaign (World War II){{!}}Balkans campaign|Axis occupation of Greece|Hellenic State (1941–1944){{!}}Hellenic State|Greek Civil War}}

An agreement between Prime Minister [[Ioannis Metaxas]] and George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as head of a dictatorship known as the [[4th of August Regime]], inaugurating [[authoritarianism|authoritarian rule]] that would last until 1974.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hagen |first=Fleischer|title=Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century|chapter=Authoritarian Rule in Greece (1936–1974) and Its Heritage|year=2006|location=New York/Oxford|publisher=Berghahn|page=237}}</ref> Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with the [[Axis powers|Axis]].

[[File:Αθηναίοι γιορτάζουν την απελευθέρωση της πόλης τους, Οκτώβριος 1944.jpg|thumb|right|People in [[Athens]] celebrate the liberation from the Axis powers, October 1944. Postwar Greece would soon experience a [[Greek civil war|civil war]] and political polarisation]]

In October 1940, [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] demanded the surrender of Greece, but it [[Ohi Day|refused]], and, in the [[Greco-Italian War]], Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania.{{sfn|Fafalios|Hadjipateras|1995|p=157}} French general [[Charles de Gaulle]] praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance, but the country fell to urgently dispatched [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces during the [[Battle of Greece]]. The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions were given to Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–42, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#Greece|collaborators]], the economy was ruined, and most [[History of the Jews in Greece|Greek Jews]] (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Greek history since World War I |date=14 June 2023 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26430/Greek-history-since-World-War-IGreece |access-date=21 June 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021739/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=criteoPrebidAdapter&topUrl=www.britannica.com&us_privacy=1YNY&gpp=}}</ref>{{sfn|Mazower|2001|p=155}} The [[Greek Resistance]], one of the most effective resistance movements, fought against the Nazis. The German occupiers committed [[German war crimes#Greece|atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages]] in reprisals. Hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.{{sfn|Mazower|2001|p=155}} The Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians 40,000, and the Italians 9,000.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Die Wehrmacht eine Bilanz |date=2009 |author1=Guido Knopp |author2=Mario Sporn |isbn=978-3-442-15561-3 |edition=1st |publisher=Goldmann |location=München |oclc=423851310}}</ref><!-- Does this include the 60,000-70,000 Jews mentioned at [[History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#World_War_II,_Resistance_and_the_Holocaust]] ?-->

Following liberation, Greece annexed the [[Dodecanese Islands]] from Italy and regained [[Western Thrace]] from Bulgaria. The country descended into a [[Greek Civil War|civil war]] between [[Communism|communist]] forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949, with the latter's victory. The conflict, one of the earliest struggles of the [[Cold War]],<ref name= Noam&Chomsky>{{cite book|last= Chomsky|first= Noam|title= ''World Orders, Old And New''|publisher= Pluto Press London|year= 1994}}</ref> resulted in further economic devastation, population displacement and political polarisation for the next thirty years.{{sfn|Mazower|2016|p={{page needed|date=September 2024}}}}

Although post-war was characterised by social strife and marginalisation of the left, Greece experienced [[Greek economic miracle|rapid economic growth]] and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S. [[Marshall Plan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Baten|first=Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present |date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0|page=51, Figure 2.3 "Numeracy in selected Balkan and Caucasus countries", based on data from Crayen and Baten (2010)}}</ref> In 1952, Greece joined [[NATO]], reinforcing its membership in the [[Western Bloc]] of the Cold War.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chourchoulis |first1=Dionysios |last2=Kourkouvelas |first2=Lykourgos |title=Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War |journal=Southeast European and Black Sea Studies |publisher=Informa UK Limited |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–514 |date=26 November 2012 |issn=1468-3857 |doi=10.1080/14683857.2012.741848 |s2cid=153476225}}</ref>

[[Constantine II of Greece|King Constantine II]]'s [[Iouliana|dismissal]] of [[George Papandreou (senior)|George Papandreou]]'s centrist government in 1965 prompted political turbulence, which culminated in a coup in 1967 by the [[Greek junta]], led by [[Georgios Papadopoulos]]. Civil rights were suspended, political repression intensified, and human rights abuses, including torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of the [[Athens Polytechnic uprising]] in 1973 set in motion the fall of the regime, resulting in a counter-coup that established brigadier [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]] as the new junta strongman. On 20 July 1974, [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus]] in response to a Greek-backed Cypriot coup, triggering a crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and restoration of democracy through [[Metapolitefsi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=34. Cyprus (1960–present) |url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/cyprus-1960-present/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |website=uca.edu |language=en-US |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602195040/https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/cyprus-1960-present/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Third Hellenic Republic ====
{{Main|Third Hellenic Republic}}{{More citations needed|subsection|date=April 2025}}[[File:Accession of Greece to the European Union.png|thumb|Signing at [[Zappeion]] by [[Constantine Karamanlis]] of the documents for the accession of Greece to the [[European Union|European Communities]] in 1979]]

The former prime minister [[Konstantinos Karamanlis]] was invited back from self-exile and the [[Greek legislative election, 1974|first multiparty elections]] since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republican [[Constitution of Greece|constitution]] was promulgated in 1975 following a [[Greek republic referendum, 1974|referendum]] which chose not to restore the monarchy.

Meanwhile, [[Andreas Papandreou]], George Papandreou's son, founded the [[Panhellenic Socialist Movement]] (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis's conservative [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] party, with the two political formations dominating government over the next four decades. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.{{Refn | group = lower-alpha | name="integrated1974" | On 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of [[NATO]] in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus; Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.}}<ref name="AdamHartDavis">History, Editorial Consultant: Adam Hart-Davis. [[Dorling Kindersley]]. {{ISBN|978-1-85613-062-2}}.</ref> Greece became the tenth member of the [[European Communities]] in 1981, ushering in sustained growth. Investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the [[European Union]] and growing revenue from tourism, shipping, and a fast-growing service sector raised the [[standard of living]]. In 1981, the election of [[Andreas Papandreou]] resulted in reforms over the 1980s. He recognised civil marriage, the dowry was abolished, while education and foreign policy doctrines changed. However, Papandreou's tenure has been associated with corruption, high inflation, stagnation and budget deficits that later caused problems.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 February 2019 |title=The ideal Greek everyman: Andreas Papandreou at 100 |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2019/02/05/the-ideal-greek-everyman-andreas-papandreou-at-100/ |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=EUROPP |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509192132/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2019/02/05/the-ideal-greek-everyman-andreas-papandreou-at-100/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The country adopted the euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the [[2004 Summer Olympics|2004 Summer Olympic Games]] in Athens.<ref name="europa.eu">{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/greece/index_en.htm|publisher=European Union|access-date=7 April 2007|title=Greece|archive-date=26 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726074103/http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/greece/index_en.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, Greece suffered from the [[Great Recession]] and related [[European sovereign debt crisis]]. Due to the adoption of the euro, Greece could no longer [[Devaluation|devalue]] its currency to regain competitiveness.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0|page=66|author=Baten, Jörg}}</ref> In the 2012 elections, there was major political change, with new parties emerging from the collapse of the two main parties, PASOK and New Democracy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Konstantinidou |first=Diana |date=28 June 2012 |title=Elections 2012: the Greek political system in flux? |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/greeceatlse/2012/06/28/elections-2012-the-greek-political-system-in-flux/ |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=Greece@LSE}}</ref> In 2015, [[Alexis Tsipras]] was elected as prime minister, the first outside the two main parties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Syriza's historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe |url=https://theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/25/syriza-historic-win-greece-european-union-austerity |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=amp.theguardian.com |date=26 January 2015 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021731/https://theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/25/syriza-historic-win-greece-european-union-austerity |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Greek government-debt crisis]], and subsequent austerity policies, resulted in social strife. The crisis ended around 2018, with the end of the bailout mechanisms and return of growth.<ref name="Bailout exit Reuters" /> Simultaneously, Tsipras, and the leader of North Macedonia, [[Zoran Zaev]], signed the [[Prespa Agreement]], solving the [[Macedonia naming dispute|naming dispute]] that had strained the relations and eased the latter's way to become a member of the EU and NATO.<ref>{{Cite web |title=After the Prespa Agreement: Why North Macedonia's Accession to EU won't happen in the near future {{!}} Ústav mezinárodních vztahů – Expertise to impact |url=https://www.iir.cz/after-the-prespa-agreement-why-north-macedonia-s-accession-to-eu-won-t-happen-in-the-near-future |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=www.iir.cz |language=cs |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509193636/https://www.iir.cz/after-the-prespa-agreement-why-north-macedonia-s-accession-to-eu-won-t-happen-in-the-near-future |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2019, [[Kyriakos Mitsotakis]] became Greece's new prime minister, after his centre-right New Democracy won the [[2019 Greek legislative election|election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=New era as Mitsotakis is sworn in as Greece's new PM |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/8/kyriakos-mitsotakis-sworn-in-as-greeces-new-prime-minister |work=www.aljazeera.com |language=en |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926231754/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/8/kyriakos-mitsotakis-sworn-in-as-greeces-new-prime-minister |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2020, Greece's parliament elected a non-partisan candidate, [[Katerina Sakellaropoulou]], as the first female [[President of Greece]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/3/13/greeces-first-female-president-sworn-in|title=Greece swears in first female president|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref> In February 2024, Greece became the first Orthodox Christian country to recognise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Helena |title=Greece becomes first Orthodox Christian country to legalise same-sex marriage |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/greece-becomes-first-orthodox-christian-country-to-legalise-same-sex-marriage |work=The Guardian |date=15 February 2024 |access-date=16 February 2024 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021731/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/greece-becomes-first-orthodox-christian-country-to-legalise-same-sex-marriage |url-status=live }}</ref>