Greece: a Journey in Time

c. 40000 BC: First traceable human incursions

c. 4500: Mainland settled from the Balkans and Asia Minor

c. 3000-1400: Minoan civilization flourishes in Crete

c. 1600: Mycenae dominates Greek mainland

c. 1200: Trojan War

c. 1100: Dorian invasion

c. 800: Homeric Epics

776: First Olympic Games

c. 750-700: Greeks colonize Southern Italy and Sicily

c. 594: Solon lays democratic foundations in Athens

490-479: Persians invade Greece, defended heroically at Marathon and Thermophylae. Athenian naval victory at Salamis ends Persian threat

479-431: The Golden Age. pericles guides Athens through a democratic period unparalleled in its intellectual and artistic creativity

431-404: Following the bloody Peloponnesian War, victorious Sparta strips Athens of its maritime power, wealth and prestige

399: Blaiming their downfall on democracy, Athenians grow distrustful of intellectuals and sentence Socrates to death by drinking conium

357-336: Phillip of Macedonia expands his kingdom, defeating Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea and becomes master of Greece

 

336-323: Phillip’s son, Alexander the Great, creates an empire stretching from Egypt to India

323: Alexander dies in Babyon

323-276: Alexander’s empire is divided, but Hellenic culture takes root throughout the conquered lands

c. 300: Alexandria in Egypt becomes the cultural center of the Hellenistic world

197-146: Rome, now in ascendancy, sends troops to crush Macedonia

146: Greece becomes a Roman province

AD 50: The Apostle Paul preaches Christianity in Greece

330: Emperor Constantine builds Constantinople, which flourishes as the seat of the Byzantine Empire. Language and culture remain predominantly Greek

c. 550-600: Waves of Slavs penetrate deep into Greece. Many settle and adopt Greek ways

1204: Crusaders sack Constantinople and divide Greece into feudal principalities under Latin control

1261: Greek-Byzantine Empire restored

13oos: Mistra in the Peloponnese becomes cultural center of the Empire

1453: Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople. End of Byzantine Empire

1456-1460: Ottomans conquer Athens, invade the Peloponnese

1685-1715: Venice unsuccesfully challenges Ottoman control of Greece. The Parthenon is blown up during a battle

1770-1821: Revolutions abroad arouse Greek desire for independence

1821: War of Independence begins

1827: The allied fleetsof France, England and Russia defeat the Turkish-Egyptian forces in the bay of Navarino

1829: Greece becomes an independent state

1833: The major European powers select Otto of Bavaria as the first king of the Hellens

1834: The capital is moved to Athens

1863: Otto is dethroned and replaced by George I

1864-1913: Greece annexesthe Ionian Islands and extends its northern boundaries

1912: Thessaloniki surrenders to Greek Army

1912-1913: The Balkan Wars. Greece gains Crete, more northern areas and most of the Aegean Islands. King George I assassinated – King Constantine XII

1917: Greece joins the Allies in WW I

1919-1922: Greece is awarded the administration of Smyrna, a Greek stronghold in Asia Minor. Kemal Ataturk defeats Greek Army and pushes the Greek out. George II ascends to the throne

1922: Sack of Smyrna. Hundreds of thousands are uprooted from their homelands during one of the most extensive population exchanges in history

1924-1935: King George II deposed and a Republic declared. The monarchy is eventually restored

1936-1940: Dictatorship of General Metaxas

1940: Italy declares war on Greece. The Greek army resists victoriously and drives the invaders deep into Albania

1941: German troops invade Greece. The government goes into exile

1941-1944: German occupation. Communists lead resistance and prepare to seize control of post-war Greece

1946-1949: Bloody civil war. Communists are finnaly defeated

1947: US votes aid to Greece as part of the Marshallplan; defeated Italy cedes the Dodecanese Islands to Greece; George II dies and his brother Paul becomes king

1952: Greece joins NATO; Greek women win the right to vote

1955-1963: Long dispute with Turkey over Cyprus

1974: Turkey invades Cyprus; the junta collapses; monarchy is abolished and a democratic republic is established

1981: Greece joins the EU

2002: Greece enters the Eurozone

2004: Athens hosts the Summer Olympics

Category: Stiati ca?