The History of Greece near World War I - 8-13-2026 437

The year is 1830. Greece just gained independence after a decade-long revolutionary war against the Ottoman empire. The smoke of the war still can be seen in Athens, sitting on the Aegean coast. By 1834 AD, the last Ottoman garrison was removed from Athens and it was chosen as the capital of Greece. In 1865 AD, the United Kingdom gave the Ionian islands to Greece. In 1882 AD, Greece and the Ottoman Empire signed the convention of Constantinople, giving parts of southern Thessaly to Greece. In 1912 AD, Greece, along with Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro, heard the cries of their Christian people being persecuted in the Ottoman empire. In 1912, the nations formed the Balkan league and formed a coalition against the Ottoman empire. They absolutely crushed the Ottomans and Greece gained southern Macedonia, along with the cities of Thessaloniki and Ioannina. Later, in 1913, Bulgaria was unhappy with their share of Macedonia, so they declared war on all their former allies. But Bulgaria lost the war. Because of this, Greece gained some land east of Macedonia, as well as the islands of Crete, Lemnos, Lesbos, etc. In 1914 AD, a Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princip assassinates the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. One thing leads to another, and all of Europe ended up at war. In 1917 AD, Greece joined the war on the side of the Entente. Shortly afterward, Bulgaria began pushing into Greek Macedonia. The Central powers ended up occupying all of the Balkans including Greece. But, the British and some other allied nations landed on the Ottoman Gallipoli peninsula and reconquered the Balkans from there. In 1918 AD, World War I was over. In the treaty of Versailles, Greece was given Bulgaria's coastline to the Aegean sea, most of Thrace, and a piece of western Turkey. For more history of Greece, see the next paragraph! -- Written by Vikenait Productions