Greece History Timeline
7000 B.C.
First Stone Age settlements in mainland Greece.
2500 B.C.
Bronze Age is effective on mainland and some islands.
1550 B.C.
Mycenaean civilization started on mainland Greece.
1450 B.C.
Mycenaean culture spreads to islands.
1200 B.C.
Disappearance of Mycenaean civilization.
1100 B.C.
Dorian movements to the islands and Asia Minor.
776 B.C.
First official Olympic Games held in Greece.
800-600 B.C.
First Greek city-states appear, Athens and Sparta are among them.
545 B.C.
Persian invasion of Asia Minor cities.
490 B.C.
Persian incursion and the battle of Marathon.
479 B.C.
Persian invasion of mainland Greece.
430-404 B.C.
War between Athens and Sparta ends in Spartan victory.
359 B.C.
Philip II became the king of Macedonia.
336 B.C.
After Philip II, Alexander the Great became the king of Macedonia.
0-300 A.D.
Romans rule Greece.
324 A.D.
Emperor Constantine established the Byzantium and Constantinople became the capital.
529 A.D.
Non-Christian schools of philosophy in Athens were forced to close.
650 A.D.
Invasion of Greece by Slavic tribes.
800 A.D.
Byzantium established the control over Greece again.
1200 A.D.
Latin – Venetian crusaders took control of Greece.
1260 A.D.
Byzantium reclaimed the control over Greece.
1430 A.D.
Ottomans conquered Thessaloniki.
1453 A.D.
Ottomans conquered Constantinople. This marks the end of Byzantium.
1460 A.D.
Ottomans took Mistra.
1522 A.D.
Ottomans conquered Rhodes.
1566 A.D.
Ottomans took Chios and Naxos.
1577 A.D.
Samos taken by Ottomans
1669 A.D.
Ottomans conquered whole Crete.
1685-1715
Venetians occupied Peloponnese
1799-1814
France, Russia and Britain occupied Ionian islands successively.
1821-1830
Greece gained independence against Ottomans after the battle of Navarino (25th March – Independence Day).
1831
President Capodistrias was assassinated.
1833
Othon was declared as the king of Greece by Russia, France and Britain.
1864
Britain gave the control of Corfu and Ionian islands to Greece.
1881
Ottomans surrendered Thessaly to Greece.
1912
First Balkan war and Greece reclaimed Thessaloniki, Ioanina and Chios.
1913
Second Balkan war. After Bulgarian attacks, Greece gains Crete, Lesbos and Ikaria.
1914
World War I. Divisions in Greece and finally joining the war on the side of Allied forces.
1919
Britain and France convinced Greece to annex the land at Smyrna (Izmir) in Turkey.
1919-1923
After the collapse of Ottoman Empire, the existing conditions triggered a war between Greece and newly formed Turkey. Greece lost the war and Greek population in Anatolia was exchanged with Turkish or Muslim population in Greece (Lauseane Treaty).
1936
After a long period of political chaos, General Metaxas became dictator.
1939
After the invasion of Albania, Italy demanded access to Greek ports. Metaxas refused (28th October “Ochi Day”). Victorious battles against the Italians. Greek troops push Italians back towards Italy.
1941
World War II and the German invasion.
1944
After 3 years of German occupation, British troops took the county back from Germans.
1945-1949
Civil war between royalists and communists.
1951
Night of terror in Constantinople. Violent Turkish riots against the Greeks result in the elimination of a 300,000 minority in the City.
1967
Military junta took control of political power.
1973
Pro-democracy movement mainly led by students was crushed by fascist junta and a large number of students were brutally killed.
1974
Military junta supported a right-wing Greek coup in Cyprus. This led to Turkey’s invasion of the island. Turkey is still occupying the Northern part of the island (hence the Cyprus problem).
1975-1999
The Junta falls. Socialist PASOK and right-wing New Democracy Party maintain the democratic process uninterruptedly since then.
2000
Greece, now part of the single-currency European Union, is one of the world’s 25 most developed countries. Its strong economy, its stable and flourishing society make Greece the guarantor of peace and progress in the Balkans.
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