The Birth of a Nation-State

1071. In Manzikert, part of modern Turkey, a new Muslim dynasty, the Seljuks, manages to dominate in a battle against the Byzantines - a historical ev...

Following a 53-day siege, Constantinople falls into the hands of the Ottomans on March 29, 1453. With the capital of the Byzantine Empire now taken, i...

In order to fill up the empire’s treasure chests after conquering new territories, Ottomans imposed heavy taxes to their non-Muslim subjects. In Greec...

Under the Ottoman rule, a long period of intellectual darkness began in Greece. With almost all educated people and scientists having fled to Europe,...

With intellectuals away from Greece, Church took on the role of the watchful guardian of the Greek language. But equally important for the spreading o...

Before the Revolution of 1821, Greece’s population was a mosaic of people of different religions. Amid the extremely difficult life conditions and num...

Since the fall of Constantinople, Greeks staged 123 smaller or bigger revolutions, which were usually instigated by the great European powers. All of...

With their modern ideas and activities, Greek intellectuals and expatriates prepared the ground for the burst of the Revolution in 1821. Two of the mo...

Beside Greek intellectuals, crucial role to the preparation of the Revolution played the numerous secret organizations, with Filiki Eteria being the m...

On February 24, 1821, Alexandros Ipsilantis, who has taken on the leadership of Filiki Eteria after Kapodistrias’ refusal, declares the beginning of t...

Conflicts over power and the management of British loans gave rise to civil wars between rebelled Greeks. Finally, the victories of Kolokotronis and K...

The fact that the Revolution of 1821 was the only one to have employed the navy was the key to its success. Hydra, Spetses and Psara led the war at se...

In a very short time period, Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece, managed to create a state from scratch. But, his conflict with the Op...

The period of anarchy that followed Kapodistrias’ murder destroyed almost everything he had created. To fill his gap, the Great Powers chose 17-year-o...