Chronography of Greece &Turkey
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10 January 2023, King Constantine II, last
King of Greece, died aged 82.
10 July 2020, The Turkish Council of State voted unanimously to
reconvert the Hagia Sofia museum back into a mosque.
There were protests from Greek Christians, noting that the building had been
built as a church in AD 537 for Byzantine Emperor Justinian, before
conversion to a mosque in 1470, and then a museum in 1934 as Turkey secularised
under Attaturk. There were suspicions that the move
by Turkish President
Erdogan was intended to distract from Turkish economic problems.
10 August 2018, US President Trump announced a doubling of
tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium. The US was in dispute over the
detention of a US pastor on dubious charges of terrorism. There were concerns
over Turkish
President Erdogan�s increasingly authoritarian rule. Erdogan
refused to raise interest rates, and the Turkish lira plummeted in value.
16 April 2017, A referendum in Turkey was narrowly won by President
Erdogan, with 51.3% of the vote. The victory gave him wider powers.
31 December 2016, A nightclub in Istanbul packed with New Year�s Eve
revellers was attacked by a gunman who killed 39 and injured 69.
19 December 2016, The Russian Ambassador to Turkey was shot dead in
an art gallery in Ankara by an Islamist gunman in revenge for the Russian
intervention to support pro-Assad forces in Syria. Turkey was in opposition to
the Russian policy in Syria, being very anti-Assad.
10 December 2016, An explosion at a football match in Istanbul
killed 35 people and injured 155. Kurdish militants were blamed.
15 July 2016, A military coup began in Turkey. The military wanted to preserve the secular nature of Turkey and were
against the Islamist policies of President Erdogan. However by 16 July 2016 the
coup had failed, with 161 dead, over 1,400 injured and some 3,000 arrested.
24 November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian jet fighter that was
taking part in Russia�s pro-Assad campaign in Syria, against both ISIS and
non-ISIS rebels. Turkey said the aircraft had transgressed into Turkish
airspace, and was warned several times. Russia denied the warnings, and it
appeared the jet had at most been in Turkish airspace for 2 or 3 seconds as it
(might have) crossed a finger of Turkish territory jutting into Syria.
Greek Debt Crisis 2010 (2002, 1992) - 2015
5 July 2015, A referendum
in Greece solidly rejected the austerity measures demanded by the IMF and
Brussels as a condition of further loans to Greece to rescue its economy.
However these measures were largely implemented after the Greek banks and stock
exchange closed and drastic limits were imposed on cashpoint withdrawals.
25 January 2015, In Greece the
Left-Wing populist party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, won the elections. Greece was
suffering the effects of an austerity programme having gone through a major recession
and owing massive debts to the EU. Syriza now
threatened to default on Greece�s repayment schedule, much to the consternation
of Germany. Greek debts in 2015 amounted to 175% of its GDP, with 25%
unemployment.
27 October 2011, An emergency meeting in Brussels concerning
the Greek Debt Crisis.� A writedown of 50%
of Greek bonds was agreed, recapitalisation of European banks, and an increase
in the bailout fund of the European Financial Stability facility.
2 May 2010, The EU and the IMF
agreed a Euro 110 billion bailout for Greece; Greece would adopt austerity
measures.
2002, Greece adopted the Euro.
2 December 1992, The Prime
Minister of Greece, Constantine Mitsotakis,
dismissed his entire Cabinet after dissent over austerity measures broke out.
29 October 2014, 150 Kurdish fighters set off from Erbil (Kurdish
Iraq) to travel through� Turkish
territory to reinforce Kurdish fighters across the Turkish-Syria border
battling ISIS in the Syrian border town of Kobani.
ISIS began to lose ground there, as Syrian Kurds were reinforced by US arms drops
and US air strikes against ISIS. The fight for Kobani
assumed increased importance as the global TV media focussed on the battle from
just across the border in Turkey. The issue of Turkey allowing Kurdish
reinforcements across its territory was sensitive because Turkey has its own
Kurdish minority region in the south-east.
2013, The European
Court of Human Rights demanded that Turkey pay Euro 90 million compensation in
damages to Greek Cypriots. Turkey refused to comply.
31 May 2013, Turkish police burnt down a protestors camp in Gezi Park, Istanbul. The protests were
against plans to redevelop the park, one of the few green spaces in the city,
for commercial uses.
6 December 2008, Rioting
in Greece after Greek police shot a 15 year old in the head, killing him.
2007, Turkish-Armenian community leader Hrant
Dink was assassinated.
22 July 2007, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected President of
Turkey. There were concerns that his Islamic sympathies might threaten the
secularism of Turkey.
2006, Talks on Turkey joining the EU broke down over the northern Cyprus
issue.
28 November 2006, Pope Benedict XVI
began a visit to Turkey He expressed support for their bid to join the EU, but
also spoke of the need to respect freedom of worship, an oblique reference to
the freedom of Christian worship there.
2003, Mr
Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the AK Party became
President in Turkey. Restrictions on using the Kurdish language in Turkey were
eased.
Erdogan took power
20 November 2003, Suicide bombers struck again in Istanbul at the
British Consulate and the headquarters of the HSBC bank. They killed 27,
including the British
Consul, Roger
Short.
1/3/2003, Turkey refused to allow
the US to use its territory for attacks on Iraq.
8/2/2000, In Turkey, Kurdish
supporters of Abdullah
Ocalan declared a ceasefire, and Ocalan was granted an indefinite
stay of execution.
29/6/1999, In Turkey, Kurdish
separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death.
15/2/1999, Turkish agents in Kenya
captured Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan and took him to Turkey to
stand trial. His supporters then planted bombs in Turkey, in 3/1999.
23/6/1996, Andreas Papandreou, Greek statesman, born
1919, died.
2 July 1993, In
Turkey, 40 died in an arson attack on a hotel by Islamist terrorists protesting against Salman
Rushdie�s book The Satanic
Verses.
14/6/1993, Tansu Ciller
became Turkey�s first woman president.
1991, Turkey relaxed some laws that repressed Kurdish culture.
Speaking Kurdish was now allowed, but publishing or broadcasting in Kurdish
remained banned; it was also an offence to own a recording of Kurdish music.
1987, Turkey applied to join the EEC.
6 December 1983, Turkey�s
National Security Council dissolved, ending three years of military rule.
24 April 1983. Turkey restored political parties.
18 October 1981. The first Socialist government in Greece was
elected under Andreas
Papandreou.
1 January 1981. Greece
became the 10th member of the European Community.
12/9/1980, General Kenan Evren
headed a military takeover in Turkey. Demirel was ousted.
15 October 1979, Bulent Ecevit, leader of the governing leftist
secular Republican People�s Party, resigned amidst growing unrest in Turkey. At
the start of 1979, martial law was in force in 13 of Turkey�s 67 provinces, due
to clashes between Sunni and Shia Muslims. In April 1979 unrest in Kurdish
regions caused martial law to be instituted in a further 6 provinces. There
were also Left-Right wing clashes. The Turkish Army began to ally with the
Right wing opposition Justice Party, led by Suleyman Demirel. Demirel took over
governing Turkey, and announced that during Ecevit�s 22-month rule, there
had been 2,444 murders by terrorists. However the killings continued. The US
was hoping to store nuclear weapons at its bases in Turley, but Ecevit
had not allowed this, without USSR approval, which was not given.
24 August 1975, The officers
responsible for the military coup in Greece
were sentenced to death in Athens
� this was later commuted to life imprisonment.
12/6/1975. Greece
applied to join the EEC.
8 December 1974, Greece voted against restoring the monarchy
by 62%.
17 November 1974. The rule of the colonels ended in Greece,
and Karamanlis
became Prime Minister.
19 August 1974, The US Ambassador to Nicosia, Rodger Davies, was shot dead
during a Greek Cypriot demonstration outside his Embassy.
1 August 1974, Restoration of the 1952
Constitution in Greece.
27 July 1974.� Greek military leaders handed political power
to a civilian government.
23 July 1974, The Greek �Colonels� military junta resigned.� Civilian rule returned to Greece, under President
Karamanlis.
25 December 1973, Ismet Inonu, Turkish statesman, died aged
84.
14 November 1973, Greek students, in a protest against the
military rule of the Colonels, occupied the Polytechnical
School of Athens. The protest was ended by brutal police violence.
5 August 1973, A terrorist attack at Athens Airport
left 3 dead and 55 wounded.
1/6/1973. The Greek
monarchy was abolished and George Papadopoulos
became first president of the Republic.�
The Greek Colonels (see 21 April 1967 and 13 December 1967) alleged that
ex-King Constantine
II was plotting to overthrow their regime from exile.
15 April 1973, Naim Talu, former civil servant, formed the new
Turkish Government.
23 May 1973, The Greek Government foiled a naval mutiny.
10 April 1970, The Greek
government relaxed martial law.
17/9/1968, Marie-Chantal,
Crown Princess of Greece, was born
1 November 1968, Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece,
died.
13 December 1967, King
Constantine II
fled Greece
after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the military junta, see 21 April 1967,
and 1/6/1973.
21 April 1967. Colonels in Greece under Papadopolous took power
in a military coup; parliamentary democracy was suspended. King
Constantine II initially collaborated with the colonels until 13
December 1967� but then unsuccessfully
attempted a counter coup.� He later fled
to Rome.
17 August 1964, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO because of
tension with Turkey over Cyprus.
6/3/1964, Constantine II
became king of the Hellenes, succeeding his father Paul I.
29 October 1961, General elections in Greece were won by the
National Radical Union. Constantine Karamanlis became Prime Minister.
17/9/1961. The ex-President of Turkey,
Menderes,
(see 27 May 1960) was executed at the prison on Imrali
island, having been accused of breaking
the Turkish Constitution.
27 May 1960, President Adnan
Menderes (1889-1961)
of Turkey was ousted in an army coup.� He
founded the Democratic Party in 1945 and became Prime Minister in 1950.
Pro-Western, he took Turkey into NATO in 1952. However he was also sympathetic
to Islam, and the Turkish army, very secularist, found this intolerable. The
Army believed that Menderes posed a threat to the secularisation
of Turkey begin by Ataturk in the 1920s. Ultimately, severe
inflation from 1954 eroded Menderes�s support in the towns; Menderes
relied on rural peasant support.� Menderes
was forced to assume dictatorial powers in April 1960, just before his
overthrow. See 17/9/1961. In September 1990 Menderes
was posthumously �rehabilitated� and given a State Funeral, attended by the
Turkish President.
14/6/1959, The US agreed to provide Greece with nuclear information
and supply ballistic missiles.
27 October 1957, Celal Bayar was re-elected President
of Turkey.
16 October 1957, Syria declared a State of Emergency
following Turkish troop movements on the Syrian border. US Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles warned the USSR against attacking Turkey.
5 October 1955, Karamanlis became Prime Minister of Greece,
succeeding Alexander
Papagos on his death.
6/9/1955, Anti-Greek riots
in Istanbul and Izmir.
24/2/1955, Turkey and Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact. This was an alliance
of mutual support against Communist activity within their borders or as an
external threat. Iran joined later in 1955.
27 November 1954, Istanbul�s ancient bazaar was devastated in
a� fire that
destroyed 2,000 shops and caused �178 million damage.
23 August 1954,
Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey signed a treaty of mutual assistance.
16 November 1952,
In Greece, Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos formed a government after the success of
Greek Rally in the elections.
18/2/1952, Greece and Turkey joined NATO.
20/9/1951, NATO
invited Greece and Turkey
to join.
2 April 1950 Recep Peker, Prime
Minister of Turkey 1946�1947, died aged 61
16 October 1949, The Greek civil war ended with the defeat of the
rebels.
20 August 1948, Greek Communists were
defeated by Government forces.
27 December 1947, The Greek Government banned the Communist Party.
22 May 1947, US Congress agreed aid for
Greece and Turkey.
1 April 1947. King George II of
Greece died aged 56, and was succeeded by his brother, 45, as King Paul I.
28/9/1946, King George II returned to Greece. A referendum had shown a majority in favour of
restoring the monarchy.
1/9/1946. A Greek plebiscite favoured return the of the monarchy.
27/6/1946, Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to
Greece.
23/2/1945, Turkey, reluctantly, declared war on Germany
� only because the Allies had announced that only those nations who did so
would be invited to take part in the United Nations Conference at San
Francisco.
Post War civil conflict in Greece
12/2/1945,
The Treaty of Varkiza was signed. The Greek
resistance agreed to disarm and relinquish control of all the territory it
occupied in exchange for legal recognition, free elections, and the removal of
Nazi collaborators from the armed forces and police.
20 December 1944,
British troops rescued 350 military personnel from Greek ELAS Communist
fighters at Kifissia, near Athens. Since Greece was liberated from the Nazis,
there has been a vicious power struggle between Communist and Nationalist
factions.
18 December 1944,
British troops in Greece began an offensive against ELAS rebels
17 October 1944,
Rival partisans in Athens began to fight each other.
End of
World War Two in Greece
13 October 1944, Athens
was liberated from the Germans, who occupied it on 27 April 1941.
4 October 1944, Allied troops landed on the Greek mainland,
at Patras.
2 October 1944. British troops landed on Crete.
2 August 1944. Turkey
broke off relations with Germany,
reluctantly, under pressure from the United Nations to fulfil its treaty
obligations.
3/1944,
The EAM (National Liberation Front)
of Greece, a Leftist coalition dominated by the KKE (Communist Party of Greece), set up the PEEA (Political Committee of National Liberation). This was effectively a
rival to the Greek Government-in-exile; the PEEA ran, in areas liberated from
the Nazis, systems of healthcare, education and ustice.
It was vehemently opposed to the return of King George II. In 1945 the EAM disintegrated
and the KKE took over. After the War, the Communists, Republicans and Royalists
started a civil war that lasted until 1949.
See France-Germany, World War Two for main European events of World War Two
4 December 1943, Allied leaders tried to persuade Turkish
Prime Minister Ismet Ionu
to join the War. Turkey however, being weak, feared a German invasion if it did
so, and he only gave a vague promise to possibly allow British aircraft to
operate from Turkish bases.
18/6/1941, Turkey
concluded a two-year non-aggression pact with Germany.
29 May 1941. Axis forces took the capital of Crete, Canea.
20 May 1941. Germany began an aerial invasion of Crete. King George II of Greece
fled Crete on 23 May 1941. By 1/6/1941 the
German occupation of Crete was complete.� Guerrilla
action continued on Crete until its liberation in 1945.
14 May 1941. Germany
began a week-long bombing of Crete. On 20 May 1941 German paratroopers
attacked the islands three airfields. They
managed to seize only one airfield, Maleme, but
this was enough, and the British had to
evacuate Crete, leaving 13,000 wounded behind.
27 April 1941. The Germans occupied Athens.
They held it until 12 October 1944.
22 April 1941. British forces left Greece.
9 April 1941, Salonika was taken
by the Germans.� This cut off Thrace from Greece
and divided Macedonia
in two.
28/3/1941, The
Battle of Matapan, off the coast of Crete. The
British navy beat an Italian fleet, sinking seven warships for no loss of its
own.
2/3/1941, Turkey made passage of the Dardanelles by permit only.
22 November 1940. The Greeks routed the Italians at Koritza.
29 October 1940, British troops landed in Greece.
28 October 1940. Italy invaded Greece, from Albania.� This opened a Balkan Front, and was a
complication to Hitler�s plans to invade Russia, as the British would become
involved.
2/6/1940, Constantine I, King of the Hellenes, was born
the son of King
Paul.
24/6/1939, Turkey concluded a pact of mutual assistance with France,
see 12 May 1939.� Turkey enedeavoured
to remain neutral in the unfolding conflict.� Its army was poorly equipped.
23/6/1939. Hatay, formerly the
Syrian town of Alexandretta, was incorporated
into Turkey.
It had been part of Ottoman territory until 1919, and had been the subject of a
Franco-Turkish dispute which was settled at the League of
Nations in 1937. This said that Alexandretta was to be its own
entity controlling its own internal affairs, with Syria controlling its foreign
policy. Iskenderun is the Turkish name; a city
near this site was established by Alexander the Great in 333 BC to commemorate
his victory over the Persians at Issus.
12 May 1939, Turkey concluded a pact of mutual assistance with Britain.� See 24/6/1939.
18 November 1938, Twenty people were trampled to death at the funeral of Kemal
Attaturk.
11 November 1938. Ismet Inonu succeeded Kemal
Ataturk, who died the day before, as President of Turkey.
10 November 1938. Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic in 1923, died aged 57. Ismet Inonu, 54, was elected to
succeed him.
31 July 1938. Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Greece.
3 July 1938, By agreement with France, the district of Alexandretta was
established as an autonomous part of Syria,
but with a legal system conforming mainly to Turkey.� It was called Hatay,
after the Hittites, which Turkey
considered its ancestors.� Within a� year, Hatay was ceded to Turkey.
27 April 1938. A friendship treaty was signed between Greece and Turkey.
25 October 1937, Celal Bayar became Prime Minister of
Turkey.
15/2/1937, The Balkan
Entente Conference was held at Athens.
5 August 1936, The Greek Communist Party attempted to call a General
Strike.� However this precipitated a Right Wing dictatorship which broke up
the Communist Party.
13 April 1936, After the inconclusive
Greek general elections of 26 January 1936, a period of uncertainty, and the
death of Prime
Minister Demerdjis, General John Metaxas became
Greek Prime Minister.
18/3/1936, Eleutherios Venizelos,
Greek politician, died.
25 November 1935, The monarchy was
restored in Greece.
3 November 1935, Plebiscite in Greece favoured the
restoration of King
George II, with 97% voting in favour.
9/6/1935, General election in
Greece.
The Populists (Monarchists) won 243 seats, although the Liberal party boycotted
the election,
Turkish secularisation
programme under Ataturk
1 January 1935. Mustafa
Kemal changed his name to Kemal Ataturk.
25
November 1934. Mustapha Kemal told all Turks to adopt a
surname by 1 January 1935. His was to be �Ataturk�, or �Father of the Turks�. He also banned hereditary titles in Turkey.
Turkey decreed that the Hagia Sofia mosque in
Istanbul was now to be a secular museum.
20 April 1931. The
Republican party of Mustapha Kemal won a landslide in the Turkish
national elections.
28/3/1930.
Constantinople had its name changed to Istanbul,
and Angora to Ankara,
by Kemal Attaturk.
3
November 1928. Turkey abolished the use of the Arabic script
and adopted the Roman alphabet. The Turkish Post Office was ordered to
return to sender all post not bearing the new-style �correct� addresses.
9
April 1928. Turkey abolished Islam
as the State religion.
2/9/1927, Mustafa Kemal
made Turkey a one-party state.
1/9/1926, Civil
marriage was established in Turkey.
17/2/1926,
Polygamy was prohibited in Turkey.
25 November 1925, In
Turkey, Kemal
Ataturk, as part of his Westernisation program, outlawed the traditional fez and substituted western hats.
25/2/1925, Kurdish
rebellion broke out in Turkey.
20 April 1924, Turkey
continued its modernisation plan, with the abolition
of tithes and the shortening of military service.
3/3/1924, Mustafa Kemal
formally abolished the caliphate, and exiled all memnbers
of the House of Osman. This ended the
Ottoman Dynasty, founded in 1290.
2/3/1924, The
Turkish National Assembly abolished the caliphate, disestablishing the Islamic religion.
29
October 1923. Mustapha Kemal proclaimed Turkey a
Republic and himself as its first President, called Kemal Ataturk.
12
October 1923. The Turkish capital was officially moved from Istanbul to Ankara.
13 August 1923. Mustapha Kemal,
(Ataturk), was elected President of
Turkey.
1
November 1922. Mustafa Kemal announced a new Turkish Republic.
5
August 1921, Mustafa Kemal became ruler of Turkey and
Supreme Commander of the army.
16 January 1933, Eleutherios Venizelos
again became Prime Minister of Greece.
31 October 1932, In Greece, after an inconclusive general election,
Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos resigned and was
replaced by Panyoti Tsaldaris,
a moderate Royalist.
1930, The Balkan Entente was set up. It included
Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia; it was essentially a defensive alliance
against the expansionist aims of Bulgaria, which was seeking to regain
territories lost to Greece and Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Neuilly (1919).
In the 1930, as authoritarian regimes gained power in all members of the Balkan
Entente, the entire region moved politically closer to Germany and Italy.
30 October 1930. Greece and Turkey signed a treaty of
friendship.
12 August 1930. Turkish and Iranian forces launched attacks on
Kurdish rebels.
27/6/1929, In Turkey, President Kemal outlawed Communist propaganda.
19 August 1928, Greek elections produced a victory for the
Liberals under Venizelos.
3 July 1928. In Greece, Eleutherios Venizelos
was again appointed Prime Minister, following his return in March.
30 October 1927, Admiral Paul Kondouriotis,
the President of Greece, survived an assassination attempt by a 25-year-old
waiter. Zafioios Goussies
shot President Kondouriotis in the head as the he was
leaving a conference of Greece's mayors in Athens.
5/6/1926, At the Treaty
of Angora, Turkey accepted the
Brussels Line, setting the northern boundary of Iraq,
and including Mosul within Iraq.� Turkey
was to receive a share of oil revenues from Mosul
for the next 25 years, and to be compensated for public works carried out around
Mosul.
3 January 1926, In Greece, Pangalos
assumed dictatorial powers; in April 1926 he was elected President.
16 December 1925, The League of Nations voted to uphold the Brussels Line, dividing Mosul villayet, see 21 November
1925, 29 October 1924.
21 November 1925, The Permanent Court of International
Justice agreed to the Brussels Line,
dividing Mosul
villayet, see 29 October 1924, and 16 December 1925.
29 October 1925, Greek troops withdrew from Bulgaria, on orders from the League
of Nations.
22 October 1925. Border dispute flared between Greece and Bulgaria.
26/6/1925, Coup in Greece; General Theodoros
Pangalos seized power.
16 April 1925. In Turkey, the Kurdish uprising ended.
2 April 1925, France and Turkey agreed on the autonomy of
Alexandretta.
28/2/1925. Kurdish uprising in Turkey.
20 November 1924, Kurds
in Turkey rebelled; they were suppressed with considerable force.
29 October 1924, The
Council of Brussels drew the Brussels Line, dividing the villayet of Mosul into Turkish and Iraqi areas.� See 21 November 1925, 16,12,1925.
27 January 1924. Rauf Denktash,
Turkish-Cypriot politician, was born.
Return of King Constantine. Turks pushed back Greek forces.
King andicates and Greece
becomes a Republic
11 January 1924, Eleutherios Venizelos
accepted the Premiership of Greece under the National Assembly.
25/3/1924, Greece
was proclaimed a Republic, as conformed by plebiscite on 13 April 1924. Admiral Pavlos Koundouriotis
became President.
19 December 1923, King George II
left Greece at the request of the ruling Revolutionary Committee.
17 December 1923. The
Greek Army deposed King George II.
23 August 1923, The
last Allied troops left Istanbul.
11 January 1923, Constantine,
King of the Hellenes, died of a brain haemorrhage in Palermo (born 2 August 1868).
13 October 1922, The Armistice of Mudanya
ended the Greek-Turkish War. Relations between Ankara and the Allies wree settled, and the Allies now allowed Turkish troops to
enter Istanbul.
27/9/1922.
Following Greece�s defeat in
Turkey,
King
Constantine abdicated (see more at 18/3/1913). He was succeeded by King George II.
26 August 1922. Turkey began an
offensive against Greece
to recover land lost after World War One. The Russian government was sending
military aid to Turkey.
On 9/9/1922 Greece
lost Smyrna,
ending its presence on the eastern Aegean coast. Turkish forces now
threatened British forces occupying the southern Dardanelles at Chanak; the British government authorised an ultimatum to Turkey, but the
local British commander delayed its delivery until local Turkish agreement to
respect the British zone had been secured.�
As the Greek Army retreated it burnt Turkish towns.
29 July 1922. The Allies forbade Greece to occupy Constantinople.
18 December 1920 King Constantine was restored to
the Greek throne.
5 December 1920, A Greek referendum result
called for the return of King Constantine, deposed by the Allies in
1917.
31 August 1923. Italy seized the Greek island of Corfu.� This followed an incident in which an Italian
General and 4 members of his staff were shot
whilst determining the Albanian-Greek border on 27 August 1923.� Mussolini saw the incident as a national
insult.� Greece
appealed to the League of Nations on 3/9/1923, and under pressure from France and the UK,
Italy withdrew from Corfu on 27/9/1923.�
Greece was compelled to pay a
considerable indemnity to Italy.
24 July 1923. The Treaty
of Lausanne was signed. This restored Adrianople to Turkey after
the Greco-Turkish was of 1923. Turkey
regained the territories lost after World War One, including the eastern Aegean
and Armenia.
11/9/1922. The British
Mandate in Palestine began; Britain took
over rulership from the Ottoman Turks.
9/9/1922, The Turkish Army entered Smyrna, and its Christians fled in
chaos.� Central
Smyrna was burnt on 13/9/1922.
1921, The chief organiser of the
Ottoman massacre of Armenian Christians, Talaat Pasha,
was himself assassinated by a survivor of that genocide. Pasha had rfecorded
that the population of Armenians under Ottoman rule had fallen from 1,265,000
in 1915 to just 284,157 in 1917.
20 October 1921, France recognised the Turkish Government in
Ankara.
13 October 1921, Turkey, Russia,
and the Caucasian Republics signed a treaty in Kars.� Turkey retained Kars,
Ardahan, and Artvin, and Russia took
Batum.
4 April 1921, Greek forces defeated the Turks at Eskiskehr.
3 January 1921, Turkey
concluded a peace with the Republic of Armenia at Alexandropol.� Armenia
had been raiding Turkish frontier villages, which had led Turkey to attack Armenia.� Turkey
took Kars and Alendropol.
2 December 1920, Armenia
was forced to conclude a peace treaty with Turkey
that not only annulled the Wilson Line but gave the district of Kars, formerly Russian/Armenian,
to Turkey.� This treaty also stated that
�there were no Armenian majorities anywhere in Turkey�.
22 November 1920, US President Wilson
set a proposed border (The Wilson Line) between Turkey and Armenia that would
have given Armenia lands as far west as Trebizond, Erzingan,
and Bitlis.� However on the ground both Turkey and the USSR
were advancing into Armenia
and the Wilson
line never materialised.� See 2 December 1920.
17 November 1920, Dowager Queen Olga became Regent of Greece.
25 October 1920, King Alexander
of Greece died of blood poisoning after being bitten by a monkey.
His father, who abdicated in 1917, resumed the throne, continuing the struggle
against Turkey.
14 November 1920, In
Greece, supporters of Venizelos were heavily defeated in general
elections.
10 August 1920. The Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Sevres, ceding 80% of
its land area. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres
for possible dismemberment of Turkey as proposed by Sevres. Syria became a French mandate (including Lebanon,
see1/9/1920), Palestine and Mesopotamia became British mandates, Rhodes and the
Dodecanese islands went to Italy, and the other Aegean Islands went to Greece.
25 July 1920, The
Greeks took Adrianople.
9 July 1920, The
Greeks took Bursa.
24/6/1920. The Greeks defeated the Turks at Alashehr.
22/6/1920, With British
support, Greek forces attacked Turkish Nationalist troops.
20/3/1920. In response to the Syrian claim of 8/3/1920, the
Lebanese Christians proclaimed their independence, choosing as their flag the
French tricolour with a Lebanese cedar at its centre.
16/3/1920. Allied
troops occupied Istanbul; Turkey arrested the Nationalists and the Sultan
closed Parliament. Some Nationalists escaped to Ankara.
8/3/1920. Syria proclaimed
independence from Ottoman Turkey, with Emir Faisal, hero of the Arab
revolt, as King. He claimed not just the smaller Syria
agreed by Britain and France,
but of �natural Syria�,
extending to the Euphrates and including Lebanon
and Palestine. See 20/3/1920.
12/2/1920, A conference began in London to
settle the main frontiers of Turkey
to be demarcated in the Treaty of Sevres.� This conference ended on 23/2/1920, see 19
April 1920.
28 January 1920, The new Turkish
Parliament, with a Nationalist majority, issued the Pact of Ankara affirming
the integrity of Turkish territory, based on the resolutions of the Nationalist
Congress of 1919.
Campaign by
Mustapha Kemal against
further loss of Turkish territory
23 April 1920. Turkish Nationalists set up a provisional government at Ankara, with Mustapha
Kemal as President.
5 August 1919, Kemal
declared Turkey independent of the Sultan at the Turkish Nationalist Congress.
23 July 1919, Turkish Nationalists met
at Erzurum to resist Allied plans to carve up Turkey.
11 July 1919, The Turkish Sultan
outlawed Kemal.
8 July 1919, The new Turkish Sultan Mohammed
VI dismissed Mustapha Kemal.
19/6/1919, In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
and other nationalist leaders signed the Amasia
Protocol, declaring their resistance to the Allied plans for Turkey and the
Sultan�s co-operation with these plans.
19 May 1919, The Turkish war hero Mustapha Kemal
resisted the further reduction of Turkish territory, organising military
resistance.
15 May 1919, The Greek
Army landed at Smyrna, under the
protection of British,
French,
and US
fleets, beginning an occupation of the area by massacring Turkish civilians.
5/2/1919, Andreas
Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, was born.
2 January 1919, 1.5
million Armenians in Turkey were massacred by Turks.
26 December 1918, George Rallis,
Prime Minister of Greece, was born (died 2006).
17 November 1918, The
Communist Party of Greece was founded.
End of World War One
1 November 1918, Anglo-French troops took Constantinople.
31 October 1918. Ottoman Turkey
surrendered to the Allies; the Dardanelles
were reopened to Allied shipping. Anglo-French troops occupied Constantinople.
30 October 1918. (1) An armistice was concluded aboard the British warship Agamemnon, at Mudros, between Britain and Turkey.� However Turkey
was to face some four more year�s fighting with Greece, and effectively with the
Western Allies.
(2) Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lawrence, �Lawrence of Arabia�, shocked King George V
by turning down the Order of the Bath and Distinguished Service Order. Lawrence
was disappointed at how the Arabs had not achieved independence after World War
One but their land had been carved up between Britain and France.� France, Catholic, took the Christian sites of
Lebanon and Syria; Britain took Jordan and Iraq.
26 October 1918. Aleppo, Syria, was captured from the Turks
by British and Arab troops advancing from the south.
13 October 1918, British troops occupied Tripoli, Lebanon.
7 October 1918, British troops took Beirut and Sidon.
1 October 1918. Arab forces under Emir Faisal,
including the British officer T E Lawrence, captured Damascus
from the Turks.
22/9/1918. Turkish resistance in Palestine
collapsed.
20/9/1918. The British captured Nazareth.
18/9/1918, The British under General Allenby started a major
offensive against the Turks, pushing them north out of Palestine, starting with
a British victory at Megiddo. This offensive pushed the Turks out of Palestine,
captured Damascus, and forced the Turks to accept an armistice on 30 October 1918.
9/9/1918. Allied victory at Megiddo.
29 July 1918. Germany severed diplomatic
relations with Ottoman Turkey.
13/6/1918. A Turkish offensive in Palestine was halted.
26 April 1918, The Turks captured Kars, Caucasus, from Russia, however
their cause was doomed as General Allenby made major gains in Palestine.
14 April 1918, Following
the collapse of the Russians, Turkey
captured Batumi on the Black
Sea.� See 26 April 1918.
10/2/1918, Abdul-Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey from 31
August 1876, died (born 21/9/1842).
9 December 1917. Jerusalem was surrendered by the Turks to the British under General Allenby, who had advanced from
Gaza in 10/1917 into Judaea and on to Jerusalem. The Turks had ruled Jerusalem
since its capture from the Crusaders in 1244.
14 November 1917. Jaffa (Joppa) was
captured by the British, under General Allenby, from the Turks.
9 November 1917. Arthur Balfour, the British
Foreign Secretary, unveiled plans for a
Jewish national homeland in Palestine.
The message was conveyed to the Zionist representative, Baron Rothschild. The
British Wear cabinet, under David Lloyd George, believed that Zionist support would help the war effort,
especially against the Ottoman Turks. Arabs outnumber Jews by ten to one in
Palestine but
Zionist leaders like Dr Chaim Weizmann would try and build up their numbers.
31 October 1917. British forces under General Allenby
captured Beersheba from the Turks. This opened the way for the British capture of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine.
Meanwhile in 1916 Britain and France
had secretly signed the Sykes-Picot agreement
to divided up the Ottoman Lands in the Middle East
after the War. France was to get the north-western half of the Fertile Crescent, that is Syria and Lebanon; Britain was to get the
south-east, Jordan and Iraq. The Catholic church
wanted French control of the Mediterranean coast, where many Maronite
Christians lived, and Britain wanted French lands between them and the Russians
to the north. Britain retained an air corridor to Iraq through Jordan; Britain
was dropping poison gas on rebellious Iraqi Arabs. France divided off Lebanon
as a Christian Republic from Syria; it also divided off Hatay
and gave that to Syria, due to lobbying from Hatay�s
Turkish minority. The Allies also considered giving Palestine to Belgium. They
also, at the Treaty of Sevres (10 August 1920) backed the formation of a
Kurdish State, but refused to allow the Kurds in Iraq or Syria to be part of
this State; the idea never materialised.
22 July 1917, In Greece, King
Constantine was forced to abdicate.
12 July 1917, First Battle of Ramadi. Unable to organize any attack on open ground due to
searing heat, British forces were forced to retreat during the night while
hounded by a force of 1,500 pro-Turkish Arabs.
4 July 1917, Lawrence of Arabia reassured the Arabs, who
were wary of attacking the Turkish fort of Kethira
under a full moon, that �for a while there will be no moon�. Lawrence knew a
lunar eclipse was due. Turkish defenders panicked as the moon vanished, and the
fort fell to the Arabs.
29/6/1917. Greece
declared war on Germany.
12/6/1917. The pro-German
King
Constantine of Greece,
who dismissed the pro-Allied government of Venizelos, was himself forced to abdicate by
the Allies.
26/3/1917.
British attack the Turks at Gaza (First
Battle of Gaza).
17/3/1917. The British heavily defeated the Turks near Gaza.
11/3/1917. The Allies captured Baghdad
from Ottoman Turkey.
17 October 1916, The Allies formally
recognised the Greek Venizelos Government.
16 October 1916. The Allies took Athens.
9 October 1916, In Greece, Venizelos
formed a provisional government at Salonika.
27/9/1916. Greece declared war on Bulgaria, which itself had declared
war on Rumania
earlier in the month.
10/9/1916. The Allies launched an offensive in Salonika.
See France-Germany
for main events of World War One
20 August 1916. The Allies began an
offensive against Turkey in Mesopotamia.
5 August 1916. The British defeated the
Turks in a naval battle off Port Said.
16/6/1916, The Ottoman garrison at the Red Sea port of
Jeddah surrendered to the Arabs.
9/6/1916. Sherif
Hussein of Mecca led a revolt against
the Ottoman Turks. The Arabs were angered by the Young Turks nationalist and secular
policies.
16 May 1916, French diplomat Francois-Georges Picot and British diplomat Mark Sykes
began a secret correspondence to decide how the Middle East would be divided up
after World War One (see also 30 October 1917). The Western Powers had already
decided that the Ottoman Empire was too vast and too corrupt to be allowed to
survive. Britain would claim Jordan, most of Iraq, and the port city of Haifa. France� would take SE
Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Palestine would be jointly
administered between Britain and France. Russia would be granted the city of
Constantinople and several Armenian-dominated regions. In fact the Russian
Revolution of 1917 and further diplomatic developments meant that not all these
provisions became reality, but the Sykes-Picot agreement set the scene for many
of the issues of the Middle East during the 20th century.
29 April 1916. British troops surrendered
to the Ottoman Turks after a siege of 143 days at Kut-el-Amara in Iraq.
See 22 November 1915.
14 April 1916. The Allied bombarded
Istanbul.
2/3/1916, The Russians took Bitlis, in Turkestan, from the Ottoman Turks.
16/2/1916, The Russians
captured Erzurum,
in the Caucasus, from Turkey.
13/2/1916, In the Erzurum Offensive Russian forces advanced on
the Ottoman Third Army, which was too small to defend against the assault.
7/2/1916, The Erzurum
Offensive. Russia�
captured the Turkish towns of Hınıs
and Mus,
4/2/1916, In Turkey, Crown Prince Yussuf Izzedin was assassinated.
17 January 1916. Russia began an
offensive against Turkey.
Gallipoli
Expedition
8 January 1916. Gallipoli was evacuated
by Allied troops. This was the end of an unsuccessful attempt to capture
Constantinople. See 20 December 1915.
20 December 1915. Australian, New Zealand, and British troops were
evacuated from the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition. See 25 April 1915. The aim
had been to capture the Dardanelles and Constantinople, and so knock Turkey out
of the war, and link up with the Russian Black Sea Fleet. However disease,
flies, fever, and mosquitoes, and the incompetence of the Allied commanders,
were compounded by the fact that landings were not made until two months after
Turkish positions here had been bombarded. Hence the element of surprise was
lost, and the Turks had ample time to prepare strong defences. Evacuation was
completed by 8 January 1916, without casualties. An ingenious plan involved
loading provisions onto the Gallipoli beaches in daylight, but at night men,
guns and horses were evacuated, leaving rifles set to fire automatically at
intervals. At the last moment an Allied destroyer trained a searchlight on the
Turkish lines, the Turks fired back, and under this exchange of fire the Allies
slipped away undetected.
15 August 1915, The Allied landings at Suvla,
Dardanelles, were completed.
6 August 1915. New Allied
landings on Gallipoli. See 8 January 1916.
26 April 1915. Allied forces
established themselves on the Gallipoli Peninsula, having landed the previous
day, 25 April 1915. This was an attempt
to take control from the Dardanelles from Turkey, and open up a supply route to
Russia. The Allies hoped, against all evidence, that the landing itself would
provoke a coup in Turkey and remove it from the War. Russian Jews, who saw the ottoman Empire as a barrier to a Jewish Homeland, supported
the exercise. Forces landed included 27,500 British, 18,100 ANZACs, and 16,800
French. However the landing site was fully exposed to Turkish fire,
and evacuation of Allied troops was the only option. Also on 25/9/1915 the
Germans attacked Serbia and Allied forces had to go to Salonika to buttress
Serbian resistance (see 5 October 1915). Evacuation began on 8 December 1915
and was completed by 9 January 1916. The Dardanelles expedition cost 70,700 British casualties (26,000
dead), 25,700 Australians (7,800 killed), 23,000 French (8,000 killed), 7,100
New Zealanders (2,445 killed) and 5,500 Indians (1,682 killed). However
the evacuation was managed with very little loss of life.
22 November 1915. General Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend was advancing by boat on Baghdad with a force of 9,000 men of
the 6th Indian Division. The land was roadless,
an �arid billiard table� as he described it. At Ctesiphon, 20 miles short of Baghdad, Townshend came up against a
large, well supplied force. He was short of supplies
because a stingy and over-optimistic government in India expected him to get
all the supplies he needed in Baghdad.�
Townshend�s forces drove out the Turks
but at a loss of 40% of his men. He was now unable to withstand any Turkish
counter-attack, let alone advance further, so he retreated to Kut with 1,600 Turkish prisoners of war
and 4,500 wounded from both sides.� The
Invasion of Mesopotamia was to secure the oil but that only required the
occupation of a small area around Basra. This would, keep the Turks away from the Iranian port of
Abadan, terminus of the Anglo-Iranian pipeline which supplied the Royal navy
with oil. Kut was besieged by
the Turks, from 8 December 1915. Townshend had 13,500 inside to
feed, including some 2,500 Indian non-combatants and 2,000 sick and wounded.
There were also 6,000 Arabs. They had to contend with freezing cold and
torrential rain. A relief force never got near enough; three relief attempts
were made, at a cost of 23,000 casualties. The Indians would not eat meat,
although the oxen were slaughtered for food by the British, then the camels,
horses, and finally cats, starlings, dogs, and hedgehogs. Gallipoli had
been evacuated by the British on 8 January 1916 and elated by this, and now
with troops to spare from there, the Turks
refused a ransom of �2million (�67million in 2002 prices) to let the defenders
leave. Kut was the first siege in which supplies were dropped by air,
including flour for the Indian�s chappatis. However
the Turks and their German allies had more and better
aircraft. Finally Kut
surrendered on 27 April 1916, with rations down to seven ounces of grain
a day for the 12,000 men there. More Indian and British soldiers died during
the forced march from Kut to captivity in Mesopotamia or even all the way to
Turkey. However Townshend was in relatively comfortable captivity near
Constantinople.� Kut finally
fell to the Allies in February 1917, and Baghdad fell in March 1917.
5 October 1915. Allied troops landed at Salonika, Greece,
to help Serbia
(see 26 April 1915). These troops probably dissuaded Greece
from joining the German side, and in 1918 took part in an offensive against Bulgaria, but
otherwise played little role in the war.
28/9/1915. The British defeated the Turks at Kut El Amara in Mesopotamia.
23/9/1915. King Constantine of Greece
began mobilising against Bulgaria,
in aid of Serbia.
15/9/1915, The Entente (France, UK) promised Bulgaria part of Macedonia if she declared war on Turkey.
21 August 1915. Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
27 May 1915. The Turkish government decided to deport the
entire Armenian population to Syria
and Mesopotamia, suspecting them of lack
of loyalty. The deportation involved much cruelty against the Armenians. Of the
total Armenian population of 1.8 million, a third were
deported, a third escaped deportation, and a third were killed. The Russians
conquered Turkish Armenia in 1916 and proclaimed �the liberation of the
Armenian people from the Turkish yoke� but prevented the Armenians from
returning to their homeland as they planned to settle the area with Cossacks.
24 April 1915. The arrest in Constantinople (now Istanbul) of 235 Armenian academics, politicians,
lawyers and journalists. Another 600 were later detained. All were sent to
Anatolia, most of them slaughtered. Turkey feared they would collaborate with
Russia. On this day the Ottoman Interior Minister, Talaat Pasha,
gave the order for the Armenian Massacre.
Many Armenians were deported to the Syrian desert to die.
19/2/1915 �The Dardanelles
campaign began. A Franco-British fleet began shelling Turkish fortifications
along the Dardanelles, to open up the strategic waterway to get munitions to
Russia via the Black Sea, and deliver Russian grain to France and the UK.
Spotter planes from the aircraft carrier HMS
Ark Royal were directing the gunners by radio.
2/2/1915. The Turks were
defeated on the Suez Canal.
See France-Germany for
main events of World War Two
14 November 1914. The Sultan of Turkey
declared a Jihad, or Holy War,
against the Allies.
6 November 1914, British troops landed at Fao (now Iraq)
and captured the Turkish fort there.
5 November 1914. Following Russia, Britain and France
declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Britain
annexed Cyprus. However the Dardanelles were now closed to Allied shipping, and it was vital to be able to get supplies to
support Russia. The ports of Archangel and Vladivostock
were ice-bound, so an attempt was made to seize the Dardanelles
by the Gallipoli campaign (see 25
April 1915).
4 November 1914. The Russians declared war on Turkey and invaded Armenia, part of the Ottoman
Empire.
29 October 1914, Turkish
warships bombarded the Russian ports of Sevastopol, Odessa and Novorossiysk. This provoked a declaration
of war by Russia against Turkey on 4 November 1919; also by Britain and France on 5 November 1914. In Turkey
the Young Turks, in 1908, had had two aims; to
pull together the disintegrating remains of the Ottoman Empire, and to recover land lost to Russia. However they found the Turkish Treasury in debt to
European banks by the then-colossal sum of �200 million. They sought an
alliance with a wealthy European nation that could help rebuild the Turkish
economy. Britain, which had helped found Turkey�s National Bank in 1908, was approached,
as an enemy of Germany with whom the former Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid had
been friendly. Britain declined the approach, believing that an alliance with
Turkey would unite Europe against it. Turkey again approached Britain during
the Balkan War (1912-13) and was again rebuffed. In July 1914 France also
rejected overtures by Turkey. Moreover on 1 August 1914 Winston Churchill ordered the
requisition of two warships being built in Britain for the Turkish Navy.
Meanwhile the German General Otto Liman von Sanders was assisting
the modernisation of the Turkish Army. Germany hoped that Turkey, possibly
allied with Bulgaria, would threaten Russia without direct German involvement.
The Young Turk,
Ismail Enver Pasha, Minister for War, approached the German
Ambassador in Constantinople�
on 22 July 1914 to propose a formal alliance. The German
Ambassador, Freiherr von Wangenheim,
declined; Germany assessed that an alliance with Turkey would exacerbate
tensions with Russia, and therefore be of advantage to
Britain and France, but be of no gain to Germany because of the weak state of
the Turkish Army, and the parlous state of the Turkish economy that retarded
the development of the Turkish military. However Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of
Germany, on learning of Enver�s approach, overruled Wangenheim
and instructed Chancellor
Theobald von Bethmann to open negotiations
with Turkey. A secret treaty of alliance
between Germany and Turkey was signed on 2 August 1914, essentially a
mutual guarantee of defence against, only, any attack by Russia. The secrecy
allowed Enver to hedge his bets and only intervene against Russia when it suited him. Therefore
although Germany had mobilised against Russia on 1 August 1914 Enver
did not attack immediately. German Admiral Wilhelm von Souchon
sailed two German ships, the SMS Goeben and SMS
Breslau, past British ships in the Mediterranean just hours before Britain
declared war on Germany, on 4 August 1914. Britain chased these ships but did
not prevent their arrival at Constantinople, where they became part of the
Turkish navy, replacing the ships confiscated by Britain. They were renamed the
Yavuz Sultan Selim
and the Midilli,
and Turkey also received 20 million marks in gold by train from Germany, to
assist in updating Turkish military capabilities. Once the gold was received,
and Turkey had witnessed German successes against the Russians in East Prussia
(following initial defeats inflicted on Germany at Tannenbirg
and the Marne) the Yavuz Sultan Selim
and the Midilli,
complete with German crews, bombarded the Russian ports. Churchill was not too perturbed
by Turkey�s entry into the Great War on the German side. Almost all the Turkish
Army�s 43 divisions were only on peacetime strengths of 4,000 men, not the
wartime basis of 10,000. The Turkish divisions based in Mesopotamia (now Iraq),
also Arabia and the Levant, were manned by local recruits of dubious loyalty to
the Ottoman Empire. The British enjoyed easy victories against these divisions
in the Basra area, where the local oilfields were secured. However later in the
war the Young
Turks reinforced the fighting capabilities of the army, giving
Britain a harder battle.
1 October 1914. Turkey closed the Dardanelles.
2/9/1914. The Ottoman Empire mobilised its forces, in
World War One.
Start of World War One
13 August 1913, Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus 1960-77, was born near Paphos,
the son of a farmer.
Second Balkan War
13/6/1914, Greece annexed the islands of Chios and
Lesbos from Turkey.
12/6/1914, 100 Greeks in Phocaea were massacred by
Turkish irregular troops.
14/3/1914, Peace was concluded between Turkey and Serbia.
14 December 1913, Greece formally annexed
Crete.
13 November 1913, Peace was concluded between Turkey and Greece.� Greece
acquired Crete and the Aegean Islands, excepting Tenedos and Imbros; also the Dodecanese Islands remained under Italian
occupation.
17 October 1913. Serbia invaded Albania.
29/9/1913, The Treaty
of Constantinople, an addition to the Treaty
of Bucharest (see 10 August 1913), settled the frontier between Bulgaria and Turkey.
21/9/1913. Turkey and Bulgaria
settled their border dispute; Turkey
kept Adrianople.
10 August 1913. The Third Treaty of Bucharest ended
the Second Balkan War.� Rumania gained
the fertile area of Southern Dobruja, which had been Bulgarian since 1878, whilst
Serbia and Greece divided Macedonia between them; again� territory that Bulgaria wanted.� Greece received Salonika, a major port.� Bulgaria
merely received the mountainous areas of Pirin and Dospat, and two small Mediterranean ports called Dedeagach and Lagos; Bulgaria was left resentful.� Turkey�s
possession in Europe were limited to the area around
Constantinople and Adrianople.� Albania was created.� See 6/9/1915.� In the First World War, the losers by this
Treaty (Turkey and Bulgaria) fought on the German side; the gainers
(Greece, Romania, Serbia,
and Montenegro)
fought on the Allied side.
18 July 1913, Turkish forces recovered
Adrianople from the Bulgarians, who took the city in March 1917.
12 July 1913, Turkey seized Adrianople.
11 July 1913, Romania invaded Bulgaria.
10 July 1913. Russia declared war on Bulgaria.� 500,000 Romanian troops crossed the frontier
into Bulgaria, occupied
southern Dobruja, and advanced on Sofia.
3 July 1913. Romania mobilised its
troops. in response to Bulgaria�s attack on its neighbours.
1 July 1913. Greece and Serbia
declared war on Bulgaria.
29/6/1913. Bulgaria launched a surprise attack on Serbia and Greece, thereby starting the Second Balkan War.� Bulgaria
was then invaded by Romania
and Turkey.� See 10 August 1913.
24/6/1913. Greece and Serbia broke their alliance with Bulgaria over a
border dispute. On 29/6/1913 Greece
and Serbia were attacked by Bulgaria.
18/3/1913, George I, King of Greece from 1863, was assassinated in Salonika by a Greek
called Schinasi.� Constantine I became King of Greece, in the
newly-occupied city of Salonika.� Constantine opposed the pro-Allied policy of Venizelos,
and in June 1917 the Allies forced his abdication in favour of his second son, Alexander,
who ruled until dying from a monkey bite in October 1920.� A plebiscite two months later voted
overwhelmingly for the return of Constantine I.�
However Constantine
was unfairly blamed for Greek military failure in action against Turkey in Anatolia and Smyrna, and he abdicated on 27/9/1922.� He died in exile in Sicily a year later.
1912, Electric lighting was
introduced in Istanbul.
First Balkan War
30 May 1913. Turkey signed a peace treaty with the Balkan League (the Treaty of
London), ending their war.� Under this
Treaty Salonika was formally assigned to Greece. The Great Powers formally
recognised Albanian sovereignty.
22 April 1913. Montenegro captured Scutari
after a 6 month siege.
16 April 1913, Turkey signed an armistice
with Bulgaria.
1 April 1913, The Turkish government
approved the terms of peace to end the
First Balkan War, losing 60,000 square miles of territory to the Balkan
nations.
26/3/1913. The Balkan allies took Adrianople from Turkey
after a 155 day siege.
6/3/1913. Hostilities resumed in the Balkans; the
Greeks took Janina, capturing 32,000 Turks.
7/2/1913, 5,000 Turks died in a battle with Bulgaria.
3/2/1913. Bulgaria re-stared the Balkan War. On
7/2/1913 a Turkish-Bulgarian battle left 5,000 Turks dead, and on 26/3/1913 the
Bulgarians captured Adrianople from Turkey.
22 January 1913, Turkey accepted a ceasefire
ultimatum.
17 January 1913, Serbian troops massacred Muslims.
9 January 1913. Turkey breached the
armistice by attacking Bulgaria.
6 January 1913, A
peace conference in London broke down when Turkey refused to cede Adrianople,
the Aegean Islands and Crete.
2 January 1913. Turkey agreed to give up
almost all its European territories.
16 December 1912, The Balkan Peace Conference began in London.
4 December 1912. Turkey concluded an
armistice with Bulgaria and Serbia; Greece also ceased fighting.
30 November 1912, Bulgaria and Turkey signed
an armistice.
28 November 1912. Albanian independence
was proclaimed and confirmed in London
on 20 December 1912 in principle and the new state�s borders were confirmed on
29 July 1913. However these borders
included less than half of the ethnic Albanians.
18 November 1912. The Serbs occupied
Monastir.
8 November 1912. The Greeks occupied Salonika.�
This was during the First Balkan War, and ended 482 years of Turkish occupation.
5 November 1912, The Serbs and Greelks routed the Turkish Army at Monastir. Turkey lost
some 20,000 men.
3 November 1912. Turkey appealed for
mediation in the war with Italy, by the great European powers.
1 November 1912. The Greeks occupied Samothrace.
31 October 1912, Bulgarian forces defeated
the Turks at Lule Burgas.
24 October 1912, Serbian forces defeated the
Turks at Kumanovo.
23 October 1912. The Greeks routed the Turks
at Sarandaporos.
19 October 1912. Allied Balkan armies invaded Turkey.
18 October 1912. The Ottoman Turks agreed
to cede Tripoli and Cyrenaica (now Libya) to Italy, at the Peace of
Lausanne.� Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia
declared war on Turkey. The Greek Army had been well-equipped under Venizelos,
and the Turks were pushed back, to the point where Istanbul itself was
threatened; the city was only saved by bad weather making the roads impassable
and a cholera outbreak, halting military operations.
15 October 1912, Turkey made peace with Italy at
Ouchy.
14 October 1912. The Turks invaded Serbia.� Greece,
Serbia, and Bulgaria issued ultimatums to Turkey
demanding the demobilisation of the Turkish Army in the Balkans.
8 October 1912. Montenegro declared war
on the Ottoman Empire.
1 October 1912, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia prepared to fight Turkey.
30/9/1912, Russia mobilised its forces in response to
unrest in the Balkans.�
29/9/1912, British and French forces quelled riots on
Samos, after Turkey withdrew troops from there.�������� ������
3 August 1912. The Ottoman
Turks granted Albania limited
autonomy.
2 July 1912, Serbia allied
with Greece and Bulgaria
against Ottoman Turkey, see 29 May 1912.
29 May 1912. Greece signed an
anti-Ottoman alliance with Bulgaria.
Serbia
joined this alliance on 2 July 1912.
First Balkan War
25/3/1912, The Greek Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos won a majority of seats in
elections in Greece.
13/3/1912, Under Russian
influence (wanting to undermine Austro-Hungary), Serbia and Bulgaria buried
their territorial rivalries for the time being (but see 29/6/1913), and, along
with Greece and Montenegro, formed the Balkan League. Originally directed
against the large multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire (which contained many
ethnic Serbs within its borders), the League redirected its efforts against
Ottoman Turkey, ultimately aiming to oust the Turks entirely from all its
European territories. Serbia and Bulgaria signed a mutual defence pact. Balkan
nationalism was on the rise. The pact also divided northern Macedonia between
them. It was assumed that southern Macedonia would be divided between Bulgaria
and Greece. On 30 May 1913 the Treaty of London divided up the Balkans amongst
the members of the Balkan League, leaving Ottoman Turkey with only a sliver of
European territory immediately west of Istanbul.
Italian conquest of Turkish lands
4 May 1912. The Italians occupied the island of Rhodes,
formerly held by the Ottoman Turks.
5 November 1911. Italy
announced that it had taken from Turkey the territories of Libya, Tripolitania,
and Cyrenaiaca.
20 October 1911. Italy
defeated the Turks at Tripoli,
Libya.
30/9/1911. Italian troops attacked the Turks in Tripoli harbour.
29/9/1911. Italy declared
war on Turkey, having been assured
of the neutrality of other European countries.� The Italian Navy bombarded Preveza, and
Italian forces landed at Tripoli
and in Cyrenicia. This was in retaliation for the
alleged mistreatment of Italians in Libya. The Italians expected the Arabs to
welcome them as liberators from Turkish rule, but instead the Arabs sided with
the Turks in resisting Italian rule. In May 1912 Italy invaded some islands off
Turkey, including Rhodes, to put further pressure on Turkey. Then Italy had
some unexpected good fortune when in 1912 Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and
Greece started the Balkan War against Turkey, forcing the Ottomans to surrender
Libya to Italy. However Arab resistance continued and despite a permanent
Italian garrison of 50,000 troops Italian rule only covered Tripoli and other
major towns. At least, though, Italy could now claim to have its own African
colony.
See also Italy
6/2/1911. A large part of Constantinople
was destroyed in a fire.
9 December 1910, The Turks suppressed an Arab uprising in
Palestine.
28 August 1910. Montenegro
declared independence from Turkey under King Nicholas I, 69, who ruled
for 9 years.
11 December 1910, In elections for
the Greek National Assembly, supporters of Venizelos received 300 seats out of 364.
18 October 1910, Elentherios
Venizelos became Prime Minister of Greece.
21 August 1910, First meeting of
the Greek National Assembly (officially opened by the King on 14/9/1910).
27 April 1909, Mehmed V (1844-1918) succeeded his father, Abdul Hamid II
(born 1842, died 1918; Sultan from 1876 � 1909) as Sultan of the Ottoman
Empire.
24 April 1909, The Turkish Army coup of 13 April 1909 was
suppressed, and its leaders executed.
23 April 1909. Moslem fanatics backed by the sultan massacred
at least 30,000 Armenians.
19 April 1909. Turkey
recognised Bulgarian independence. On 27 April 1909, Germany, Austria,
and Italy
also recognised Bulgarian independence.
13 April 1909, Army insurrection in Constantinople. The First Army Corps deposed
Hussein Hilmi Pasha. See 24 April 1909.
13/2/1909, In Turkey, Kiamil Pasha,
76-year-old Ottoman Grand Vizier, was deposed and replaced by Hussein Hilmi Pasha.
12 January 1909. Turkey accepted Austria�s offer of 2.5 million
Turkish Pounds for Bosnia-Hercegovina.
1 December 1908, Italy demanded that Austria pay compensation for
the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
see 7 October 1908.
7 October 1908. Austria annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina,
taking advantage of instability within the Ottoman Empire. Though formally part
of the Ottoman Empire, its Serb-Croat population favoured union with Serbia. Other
European countries were shocked at Austria�s move. Serbia was
especially angry that Serbs in the region had not got autonomy. However Russia
agreed with Austria not to oppose this annexation in return for Austria
supporting the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships. Turkey accepted
cash compensation for the loss of Bosnia and Hercegovina on 12
January 1909. See 1 December 1908.
27 July 1910. Turkey
threatened Greece with war if it accepted Cretan representatives in Parliament.
6 October 1908. Crete
declared itself independent of Turkey and
joined Greece.
28 January 1906, Markos Vafiadis,
Greek General and politician, was born (died 1992).
16/3/1900, On Crete, British archaeologist Arthur Evans
discovered a previously unknown Bronze Age civilisation. He called it �Minoan� after a legendary Cretan king.
6 November 1898. Turkey evacuated its forces from Crete.
5 October 1908. Prince Ferdinand declared Bulgaria independent of Ottoman Turkey. Russia wanted
Turkey weak so as not to block its plans for expansion.
Young Turks
23 January 1913, Enver Pasha,
leader of the Young
Turks, entered the principal council chamber of the Sublime Porte
with Talat and Kemal and shouted �Death to Kamil Pasha�.
They forced the Grand Vizier to resign at gunpoint and shot dead the Minister
of War, General
Nazim. Enver
then forced the Sultan to appoint his ally, Shevket,
as Grand Vizier. The British ensured safe passage for Kamil
out of Turkey but he was never reinstated as Grand Vizier. Enver,
Talat and Kemal went on to establish a
military junta to govern Turkey.
4 April 1909, The Young Turk, Mahmud Shevket,
entered Constantinople, and imposed his will
on the National Assembly and the Old Turks.
24 July 1908, Sultan Abdulhamid
II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, was forced to implement
reforms by the Young
Turk (Jonturkler) Movement. This included
the reinstatement of the 1876 constitution and the recall of Parliament, both
suspended under the Sultan�s autocratic rule. The Young Turk Movement
began in 1889 when a group of medical students at the Istanbul Academy started
a campaign to overthrow the Sultan. The Movement spread to other colleges, and
the authorities tried to suppress it; they exiled many Young Turks to Paris, where they
continued to plan for a revolution.
6 December 1901, The secret Turkish organization Committee of Union and
Progress, composed of members of the Young Turks movement, approved a plan to
assassinate Abdul
Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan. One of the persons at the meeting,
however, was a spy for the Sultan, and informed security forces, who shut down the CUP's centre in Istanbul.
10 January 1900, The Young Turks
published their manifesto in Cairo. It called for the modernisation of Turkey
and an end to �ineffective� Ottoman rule.
1891, The Young Turks
organised in Geneva. They wanted a return to the 23 December 1876 Constitution.
1889, The Young Turk movement was founded by an Albanian, Ibrahim Temo.
3 July 1908, In
Ottoman Turkey, Major
Ahmed Niyazi revolted against the
provincial authorities, under the autocratic rule of Sultan Abdulhamid
II. The rebellion quickly spread to other army divisions, forcing
concessions by the Sultan.
8/2/1908. Czar Nicholas II ordered Russian troops to the
Iranian border after Turkey made
incursions into Iran.
13/6/1905, Theodoros Delyanni, Greek statesman, born 1826, was
murdered in revenge for the strict measure shad had taken against gambling
houses.
21 April 1905, The Crete Assembly voted for Union with Greece.
10 October 1904. Kurdish tribesmen massacred Armenians in Turkey.
26/3/1904, Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece, was born.
18/2/1904, Turks
besieging Shemshi Pasha massacred 800 Albanians.
17/9/1903, Turks massacred 10,000 in Macedonia.
8/9/1903. Turks massacred 50,000 Bulgarians.
2 August 1903, The revolutionary organisation VMRO (Vnutrasnja
Makedonska Revolucionarska Organizacija, or Internal Revolutionary Macedonian
Organisation) staged the Illinden Uprising against
Ottoman rule. They hoped to bring in the major European powers, but the
rebellion was badly organised and its leader, Gotse Delchev, was captured and executed before it
even began. The European powers avoided involvement in the uprising and it was
brutally suppressed by the Ottomans. However post-event the Austrian Emperor
Francis Joseph, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
�forced the Ottoman Government to pay
compensation to Macedonia and allow in foreign observers.
14
December 1901, Paul I, King of
Greece, was born.
9
November 1901, The Sultan of Turkey accepted a French ultimatum to stop
interfering with French interests in Turkey.
Greco-Turkish
War 1897
4 December 1897. Greece and Turkey signed a peace treaty.
20 May 1897, With Greek troops demoralised and
on the retreat, the Czar of Russia appealed to Turkey, and an armistice was
arranged.
17 May 1897, Only now did Turkish troops attack
Domokos (see 6 May 1897), this delay having given the Greeks time to entrench
good defences.
6 May 1897, The Turks drove the Greeks from
their defensive positions in front of Pharsala. The
Greeks retreated to Domokos.
27 April 1897, Turkish forces only now reached
Larissa. Neither side showed great military skill, with political considerations
interfering with good strategy.
23 April 1997, Turkish forces reached Deliler. The Greeks could have retreated in good order to
Larissa, where a defensible position was available, but instead fled south in
disorder towards Pharsala.
19 April 1997, Turkish forces occupied the Meluna Pass, threatening the Greek frontier town of Larissa
just 10 miles to the southeast.
18 April 1897, Easter Sunday; Edhem Pasha, Turkish military leader, began a
general advance from his headquarters at Elassona
against Greece. Turkish troops began bombarding Arta.
17 April 1897. War
broke out between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.� Turkey accused Greece of fomenting revolt in
Crete.� On 19 May 1897, after several
defeats by Turkey and having been forced to withdraw from Crete, Greece signed
an armistice with Turkey at Thessaly. Support for Greece by France and the UK saved it from total defeat, but
Greece had to pay large war indemnities to Ottoman Turkey, bankrupting the
country.
10 April 1897, Greek irregular troops crossed the
frontier into Macedonia, then under Turkish rule, hoping to provoke
insurrection there.
10/2/1897. Greece
sent ships and troops to Crete, 4 days after Crete�s proclamation of union with
Greece.
4/2/1897, Christians in Canea, Crete, protested over
the slow pace of reform by the island�s Turkish Governor, which reforms were
intended to safeguard their rights. Turkish troops fired at the
demonstrators, many of who took refuge on European naval ships just offshore,
and part of the town was burnt down.
Greco-Turkish War 1897
Armenian massacre
29 August 1896. Many Armenians, perhaps 3,000 or more, were being
killed in Turkey three days after the Armenians seized the Ottoman Bank in
Istanbul, to draw the world�s attention to their fight against Ottoman rule. The Armenian uprising began in 1894, and they
hoped to break free of Turkish rule as Bulgaria had done. Some 200,000
Armenians were killed in Anatolia. Britain�s
support for Armenia threatened the favoured position it had held for over 40
years in Istanbul. Germany began to
manoeuvre to take Britain�s place, eager to secure concessions for its Berlin
to Baghdad Railway project.
26 August 1896, Christian Armenian Nationalists
attacked the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. This provoked a Turkish campaign
against the Armenians.
1 October 1895, In Constantinople, Muslim Turks
massacred Christian Armenians. In response, Russia made plans to take the city.
1894, The Armenians within the Ottoman
Empire, numbering some 2.5 million, refused to pay greatly increased taxes
demanded by Sultan Abdu l Hamid II. From the late
1880s, Russia had been encouraging these Armenians to demand greater autonomy
from Turkey. This refusal of the tax demands precipitated a massacre of
thousands of Armenians by Turkish soldiers. In turn this sparked off the raid
by Armenians on the Ottoman Bank in Istanbul, see 29/8.1896.
30
January 1890, Khaireddin,
Turkish statesman, died.
19//6/1886, Pasha Hobart, naval commander for Britain and
Turkey, died (born 1 April 1822).
9/3/1883, Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek
statesman, died.
Former Turkish lands in
Balkans redistributed
7/1881, The Greek frontier was adjusted
northwards at the expense of Turkey, adding some 300,000 people and 34,700
square kilometres to Greece.
12/3/1881, Kemal Attaturk, Turkish President, was born in Salonika,
Greece as Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
13 July 1878. At the
Congress of Berlin, (Treaty of
Berlin) Britain, Russia, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and the Ottoman
Empire reached agreement on the future of the Balkan states, superseding the
Treaty of San Stefano.� Northern
Dobruja, formerly part of Bulgaria under Turkish rule, was given to
Romania.� At the same time, Romania ceded
Bessarabia to Russia.� Bessarabia was
more desirable than Dobruja, and Romania wanted Transylvania, which belonged to
Hungary but had a mainly Romanian population. The independence of Romania, Serbia, and
Montenegro were recognised by Turkey; Bulgaria was also divided into two
parts, one of which, Eastern Rumelia, was to be a self-governing Turkish
Province.� In 1885 an uprising in Eastern
Rumelia resulted in the union of that province with Bulgaria. Russian naval expansion
was limited, Austro-Hungary was allowed
to occupy Bosnia-Hercegovina, the location of Sarajevo.
Russia
attacks Turkey; Western Europe alarmed at Russian expansionism
22/6/1878, At Shumen
the Turks capitulated to the Russians; the town of Shumen was ceded by Turkey
to Bulgaria.� It was renamed Kolarovgrad in 1950.
4/6/1878. Britain and
Turkey signed a secret agreement by which Britain was allowed to occupy Cyprus
in return for protecting Turkey against Russian advances in Anatolia.
3/3/1878. The Treaty of San Stefano ended the
war between Russia and Turkey. Bulgaria, Russia�s ally, was enlarged to include
much of Thrace and Macedonia, with ports on the Black Sea and Aegean. Britain
objected.� The arrival of a British fleet
on 15/2/1878 as the Russians stood at the gates of Istanbul persuaded the
Russians to make� peace. Russia and Britain were now on the brink of
war.
15/2/1878. A British fleet arrived at Istanbul in
support of the faltering Ottoman Empire. An earlier decision to send a
fleet had been reversed in January 1878.
8/2/1878. Britain dispatched a fleet to Constantinople.
A Conference concerning the growth of Russian influence in the Balkans and
the waning of Turkish power there had broken down without agreement.
In the summer of 1877 war broke out between Russia and Turkey. Britain was concerned that if Russia
advanced to the Bosphorus, British interests in the
Mediterranean would be threatened so she intervened in favour of Turkey.
2/2/1878, Greece declared war on Turkey.
31 January 1878. Following the capture of Plevna (see 15 January 1877), and also Plovdiv and Adrianople, the
Russians closed in on Istanbul. The Ottoman Turks opened truce negotiations at
Adrianople.
25 January 1878, The first torpedo was fired in warfare; a Russian
boat sank a Turkish steamer.
20 January 1878, Russian forces attacking Turkey captured
Adrianople, threatening Constantinople and the Straits.
10
December 1877, Russian forces captured the Turkish city of Plevna (now in northern Bulgaria) after a
long siege. Turkey appealed to the European Powers to mediate.
11/9/1877, The Third
Battle of Plevna.
30 July 1877, The second
Battle of Plevna.
21 July 1877, The British Cabinet resolved to
declare war on Russia if it occupied Constantinople.
24 April 1877, After the Turkish Parliament had
met on 19/3/1877 and rejected Russian demands, Russia declared war on Turkey.
18 November 1877. In the
Caucasus, Russia captured the fortress of Kars from Ottoman Turkey.
15 January 1877. Russia and Austria agreed that
Austria was to be neutral in any war in the Balkans between Turkey and Russia. The two states rejected the idea of a
Slav state in the Balkans. Russia declared war on Turkey on 24 April 1877.
Rumania entered the war on the side of Russia in May 1877 and a joint
Russian/Rumanian army laid siege to the Bulgarian town of Plevna. The Turks in Plevna surrendered in December 1877. See 31 January 1878.
23
December 1876, Grand Vizier Midhat Pasha, aged 54, proclaimed a new Turkish Constitution, allowing for
representative Parliamentary Government, and also stated that the Ottoman
Empire was �indivisible�.
Serbia,
Montenegro, attack Turkey but are defeated
31 October 1876. Under
pressure from Russia, Turkey agreed to
an armistice with Serbia and Montenegro.
6/9/1876, British public opinion was turned
against Turkey by a pamphlet published by Gladstone, �The
Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East�. Russia prepared to attack
Turkey, see 1877.
1/9/1876, Serbian forces were heavily
defeated by Ottoman Turkey at Alexinatz.
31 August 1876, Accession of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Sicceeding his brother Abdul
Aziz, Abdul Hamid gained
prestige at home for defeatingGreece in 1897, and
followed a pro-German foreign policy.
9 August 1876. The
Turks invaded Serbia and defeated the Serbs
at Aleksinac. On 1/9/1876 the Turks again defeated
the Serbs at Aleksinatz.
1 July 1876 Montenegro
also declared war on Turkey.
30/6/1876. Serbia
declared war on Ottoman Turkey.
�
30
May 1876, Abdul Aziz, 32nd
Sultan of Ottoman Turkey, born 9/2/1830, was
forced to abdicate. Succeeding his brother, Abdul
Mejid, in 1861, he promised economic and political reform, but instead wasted money on
personal luxuries and grand building projects. Insurrections occurred in
Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875. He was assassinated on 3/6/1876.
31
January 1876, The �Andrassy
Note� (see 30 December 1875) was handed to the Ottoman Sultan in
Constantinople.� The Sultan promised, but
did nothing.
30
December 1875, Russia, Germany,
and Austro-Hungary agreed on the terms of a note to Constantinople calling for Ottoman Turkey to deliver on
its promises of equality for Christians with Muslims and measures to protect
Christians in the Balkans from persecution.�
This was the so-called �Andrassy
Note�, see 31 January 1876.
16/9/1875. Following
the anti-Turkish uprising in Bosnia and Hercegovina on 29 July 1875, the
Bulgarians rebelled against the
Turks, led by Khristo Botev, in Stara Zagora.
14/6/1873. King Priam�s treasure of 8,7000
priceless pieces was discovered in Turkey by the German � American Heinrich Schliemann. In disinterring this
treasure he destroyed what was left of ancient Troy.
6/9/1871, Death of Pasha Aali Mehmet, Turkish
statesman (born 1815). He strongly promoted Western style reforms of his
country.
1870, Heinrich Schliemann began excavating the site of ancient
Troy.
1869, Ottoman rule under Sultan
Abdul-Hamid continued
to disproportionately benefit the 10% minority Muslim population of Crete. A
further rebellion by Cretan Christians started civil conflict. European powers
intervened, and after the British Vice-Consul was killed by Muslims, Britain
forced the independence of Ctete under Prince George (1863-1913) of Greece.
6/2/1869, Greece
agreed to withdraw its forces from Crete, after threats from Ottoman Turkey.
11
December 1868, Greece and some European nations had sent aid to the
Christians in Crete; this day Turkey threatened to blockade Greece unless it
stopped this aid. Greece, to avoid another war, complied, but see 1896.
2
August 1868, Constantine, King of the
Hellenes, was born in Athens (died 11 January 1923 of a brain haemorrhage in
Palermo).
26
July 1867. King Otto I of Greece died.
18/6/1867, Turkey passed
a law allowing, for the first time, foreigners to own land within Turkey,
except in Hejaz.
1866, Christians in Crete, resentful
at Ottoman rule, rebelled. Christian raids from the Sfakua
area in the White Mountains of Ctrete angered the
Turks, and the Christians forced the surrender of an entire Turkish army onh the Plains of Apokoronas in
1866. In 1867 Turkish revenge raids on the fortified monastery of Arkadi caused its powder store to explode, killing hundreds
of refugee women and children there. See 11 December 1868.
18
August 1865, Alexander Mavrocordato, Greek statesman, died (born
11/2/1791).
29
October 1864, The Greek Constitution was adopted. It provided for a
single-House Assembly elected by universal male suffrage. In 1911 a second
Chamber was added.
23 August 1864, Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek
politician, was born in Crete.
6/6/1864, King George of Greece entered the Ionian Islands. They had been ceded by Britain to
Greece.
2/2/1864, Greece occupied Corfu.
14
November 1863. Britain ceded the Ionian Islands to Greece.
29
October 1863, The new King of Greece, George
I, arrived in Athens.
4/6/1863 A protocol
between Britain, France, and Russia provided for the incorporation of the Ionian Islands with Greece.
23
October 1862, King Otto I, King of
Greece, second son of Louis of Bavaria, was
overthrown. He had been elected King in 1832. However his pro-German policies
caused disputes. He spent the latter part of his life in Munich.
25/6/1861, Sultan Abdul Mejid died. Born
23 April 1823, he succeeded his father, Mahmud
II, as Ottoman ruler in 1839. The Ottomans had then just been defeated by
the Egyptians at the Battle of Nisib under Ibrahim Pasha and they
would have advanced to take Constantinople, where they had sympathisers, had
Europe not intervened.
9/6/1861, Turkey agreed with the French that Lebanon
was to have autonomy, under a Christian Governor to be appointed with the
consent of both European Powers and Turkey.
19/9/1860, Andreas Metaxas, Greek politician, died in Athens.
28/2/1857. British and French troops ended their occupation of Piraeus, which began on 26 May 1854.
18/2/1856, Abdul Mejid, the Ottoman
Sultan, issued the Hatt-i-Humayun Edict. This
guaranteed full civic rights for his Christian subjects, abolished torture and
reformed prisons. These reforms were effectively forced upon the Sultan by the
western European Allies.
1829-54, Prelude to Crimean
War (see Russia); Western powers concerned at
Russian intervention in Turkey
26 May 1854. Franco-British forces
occupied the port of Piraeus to prevent Greece from joining the Crimean
War with Russia against Turkey. See 28/2/1857.
27/3/1854. Crimean War began; Britain and
France declared war on Russia.� On
12/3/1854 the British and French formally allied with Turkey. See 30 November 1853.
The ostensible cause of the Crimean War was a dispute between Russia, France,
and Turkey over control of the Christian Holy Places in Turkish-controlled
Palestine. The Turks refused Russia�s demands and Russia marched into the
Turkish vassal states of Wallachia and Serbia. This threatened Russian
occupation of Istanbul and hence Britain�s communications with its Indian
Empire, so Britain entered the war against Russia.
20/3/1854, Russia sent
troops southwards across the Danube, threatening Ottoman Turkey. Ultimately
this posed the threat of Russia on the Mediterranean, putting communications
between Britain and India at risk, and so was unacceptable to the UK.
12/3/1854, Britain and
France made an alliance with Ottoman Turkey.
3 January 1854, An Anglo-French squadron entered the Black Sea, and insisted that the
Russian fleet withdraw from attacking Turkey.
30 November 1853. The Russians destroyed a Turkish fleet at
Sinope. On 3 January 1854 British and French fleets entered the Black Sea to
protect Ottoman Turkish coasts and shipping. See 4 October 1853, and
23/3/1854.
4 October 1853. The Russians refused to withdraw
from the Danubian Principalities, and Turkey declared war on
Russia. On 23 October 1853 the Turks, under Omar
Pasha, crossed the Danube into Wallachia. See 30 November 1853.
23/9/1853. The British
fleet was ordered to Istanbul.
22/6/1853, A Russian Army attacking Turkey, under Prince Mikhail Gorchakov, invaded
Turkey�s Danubian Principalities.
31 May 1853, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia despatched troops to
protect Christian minorities in Ottoman-ruled Moldavia and Wallachia.
15 January 1850, The British
fleet blocked the Greek port of Piraeus to force the Greek Government to pay compendsation to Gibraltar-born Jew Don Pacifico, whose home
had been ransacked during an anti-Semitic riot in 12/1849. The Greek Government
agreed to pay on 26 April 1850. However the episode annoyed France and Russia,
who were also guarantors of Greek independence. This marked a new level of
British imperialism abroad.
24 December 1845, George
I, King of Greece, was born.
15/9/1843, Military revolt against King Otto�s absolute rule. A constitution was
introduced, limiting his powers.
1/6/1835, Otto
I assumed the Kingship of Greece.
21/9/1842, Abdul-Hamid
II, Sultan of Turkey from 31 August 1876, was born (died 10/2/1918).
13 July 1841, The Straits Convention, signed by the five great European powers,
guaranteed Ottoman sovereignty and closed the Bosporus and Dardanelles to all
foreign warships. This was directed at
preventing Russian expansion.
8 July 1833. Turkey, by signing the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi,
gave Russia the right to close the Dardanelles Straits in times of war.
This treaty was signed by the Ottoman Sultan due to the threat faced by the
Ottoman Empire from the revolt in Egypt. Europe
became very concerned at growing Russian influence over Ottoman Turkey.
14/9/1829. The Treaty of Adrianople preserved
the Ottoman Empire. Reeling under a
series of defeats, the Turks faced occupation of Istanbul by the Russians; they
held back from this for fear of destroying the Turkish Empire entirely and
starting another European War. The Turks retained nominal sovereignty over
Wallachia and Moldavia, but Russia has the real power here. Europeans grew
anxious over the growing power of Russia.
11/6/1829. The Russians defeated the Turks at
the Battle of Kulecheva, opening up a route to the
Balkan Mountains.
1831-41, Rebellion in Egypt
against Ottoman rule; Russia offers to help Turley whilst Europe hesitates
1/6/1841, Mehmet Ali became hereditary
Viceroy of Egypt.
13/2/1841, The Ottoman
Sultan issued a decree confirming Mehemet Ali as
ruler of Egypt, also Nubia and Darfur.
27 November 1840, Under the Convention of Alexandria,
drawn up by Napier, Mohammed Ali of Egypt
agreed to return the Ottoman fleet and renounce claims over Syria, in return
for hereditary rule over Egypt.
3 November 1840, Acre was taken by British forces.
10 October 1840, Beirut fell to British forces. The
French decided not to support Mehmet Ali of Egypt.
6 October 1840. France, Britain, and Russia entered the war between Turkey and Egypt on Turkey�s side. They occupied
the Syria-Palestine coastland to cut off the Egyptian Pasha from the route to
Anatolia. On 4 November 1840 the British fleet bombarded the ports of Beirut
and Acre.
9/9/1840, British gunboats bombarded Beirut
and landed troops there.
15 July 1840, The Treaty of London. Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia agreed to
form a military alliance against Egypt, which was being pressured to give up
the Ottoman fleet it held, and abandon claims on northern Syria, Medina, Mecca
and Crete.
3 October 1839, Beirut fell to the French, and Ibrahim, surrounded
by a hostile population and cut off by sea, retreated hurriedly.
11 August 1839, The French fleet appeared off
Beirut, hostile to Ibrahim, and this encouraged a revolt by the
Syrians against the tyranny of Ibrahim.�
See 3 October 1839.
2 July 1839, Mahmud
II, Sultan of Turkey, died, aged 54. He had been poisoned, after his fleet surrendered to Egypt at
Alexandria.� He was succeeded by his
16-year-old son, Adbul Mejid I.
24/6/1839. Ottoman Sultan, Mahmud II, launched another offensive against Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt. However this day at
the Battle of Nezib
Egyptian forces under Ibrahim Pasha defeated the
Ottomans. The battle took place near the present day Turkish-Syrian border.
21 April 1839, A revolt
against Mehemet Ali of Egypt began in Hauran, Arabia. �The Ottoman Army
invaded Syria, only to be heavily
defeated by Ibrahim at Nezib.
27 May 1833, See 1 November 1831, Mehemet Ali of Egypt captured the Ottoman garrison of Acre.
4 May 1833. A peace treaty between Turkey and
Egypt gave Egypt the territories of Syria and Cilicia, ending the war
between them that began in 1832, see 21 December 1832.
20/2/1833, At Constantinople�s invitation, a Russian squadron entered the Bosphorus.� The
Russians had promised to protect the Ottoman capital against Mehemet of Egypt and Russia got to be effective
gatekeeper of the entrance to the Black Sea.�
The western European powers had
procrastinated about helping Constantinople, whilst Russia had come up with
concrete assistance.
23 December 1832, Mehemet
Ali of Egypt continued to advance towards Constantinople, defeating the Turks at Konia.
21 December 1832. Russia
offered military assistance to Turkey against Egyptian forces who were 50 miles
from Istanbul. The Egyptians had invaded Turkish lands after Turkey
broke a promise to give Syria to Egypt in return for help during the Greek
war of Independence. See 4 May 1833.
1 August 1832, Ibrahim Pasha captured the city
of Antioch from Ottoman Turkey
during the Syrian War.
9 July 1832, Mehmet
Ali crushed an Ottoman Army at Homs, and on 17 July 1833 defeated the main
Ottoman Army at the Pass of Beilan.
15/6/1832, Mehemet
Ali captured Damascus.�
1 November 1831, Mehemet
Ali, Pasha of Egypt, began a revolt against Sultam Mahmud, Ottoman ruler in Constantinople.�
1830-32 Formation of the
Kingdom of Greece
8 August 1832, Independent Greece established a
monarchy. Otto I, son of King Ludwig of Bavaria, became King
of Greece.
21 July 1832, The Greek frontier was fixed,
running from the Gulf of Arta to the Gulf of Lamia.
7 May 1832, Greece
was proclaimed an independent kingdom, with Otto
I as King. Britain, France and
Russia guaranteed protection. Otto ruled as an absolute monarch, surrounded by Bavarian advisors, and his
rule was unpopular.
Mehemet had helped to suppress initial rebellions by the Greeks
in Morea (southern Greece) but now feared that Constantinople would not reward
but dispose of him.� On this day Mehemet entered Syria and began a siege of the Ottoman
garrison in Acre.� See 27 May 1833.
9 October 1831, The first Greek
President, Ioannes Kapodistrias, aged 55,
was assassinated. His brother Avgoustinous was made
provisional President.
3/2/1830. At the London conference, Britain, France, and Russia guaranteed
Greek independence as a kingdom, under the Protocol of London.
27/9/1829, Mount
Ararat was first climbed.
16/6/1826, The insurrection of the Janissaries
in Istanbul ended.
10/6/1826, The final revolt of the Janissaries
in Turkey began. They objected to the formation
of a new military corps to replace them, by Mahmud.
4 April 1826, The Anglo-Russian protocol was issued. It proposed that Greece be
an autonomous State within the Ottoman Empire, paying a tribute to the Porte,
with its ruler appointed by the Sultan. In return Ottoman Turkey was to
withdraw its troops from Greece. However Sultan
Mahmud II believed he was winning against the secessionist Greeks
and would render the negotiations moot by soon reconquering Greece. Meanwhile
the British negotiator, Foreign Minister
George Canning, was in failing health and due to retire; his successor,
the Duke of Wellington, was much
less concerned about the fate of Greece.
18 July 1823, The Treaty of Erzerum
was signed, between the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey and the Qajar Shah of Persia; this Treaty defined their
common frontier in lower Iraq. However the two powers continued to dispute
possession of the town of Muhammara, at the mouth of the Karun River, a
disagreement dating from 1812. In 1847 a second Treaty of Erzerum
was signed, giving Muhammara to Persia.
Agreement on
creation of the modern State of Greece
22/3/1829. At a
conference in London, the boundaries of
the independent state of Greece were agreed, after nearly 400 years of
Ottoman rule.
16 November 1828, By the London Protocol, Btritain, Russia and France recognised the independence of
Greek Morea (Peleponnese) and the Cyclades Islands.
26 April 1828. In support of the Greek struggle
for independence, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
On 8/6/1828 the Russians crossed the Danube, and took Varna on 12 October 1829.
18 January 1828, Ioannis Kapodistrias was elected the first President of
Greece.
20 October 1827. In response to the rebuffed
ultimatum of 6 July 1827, British, French, and Russian forces destroyed the
Turkish fleet at the Battle of Navarino. Over 50 Turkish and Egyptian ships were sunk.
This ensured the creation of an
independent Greek State, whose exact boundaries had yet to be established.
8/9/1827, Egyptian troops landed at Navarino (now in
southern Greece).
6 July 1827. At the Treaty of London,
France, Britain, and Russia threatened to use force against Turkey if the
Ottoman Empire did not agree to an armistice with Greece. In August 1827 the
Turks refused this. See 20 October 1827.
5/6/1827. Athens
was captured by the Ottoman Turks.
11 April 1827, The Greek National Assembly elected
Capo d�Istria as
President.
23 April 1826, The Turks captured Missolonghi. This town was
famous in Europe because the poet Lord
Byron had died there in 1824, after a
lifetime promoting the cause of an independent Greece. After a
prolonged siege that began in 4/1825 the Greeks attempted a break-out, but most
were massacred. This incident appalled liberal opinion in western
Europe, which led to the intervention at Navarino 20
October 1827.
19 April 1824, Lord
Byron died at sunset of marsh fever (malaria) at Missolonghi,
helping the Greeks during their struggle
for independence from Ottoman Turkey; he was 36. See
22/3/1829.
23 April 1823,
Sultan Adbul Mejid was born, see 25/6/1861.
25/3/1823, Britain recognised the Greek insurgents as
a belligerent party.� This was
despite fears that the Greek rebellion would spark another Turkish-Russian war.
19/6/1822. The Greeks under Constantine Kanaris destroyed an
Ottoman Turkish fleet. A large Ottoman army invaded Greece in July 1822. In
January 1823 the Ottomans failed to capture the key fort of Missolonghi
at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth and were forced to withdraw.
13 January 1822. Greek rebels proclaimed
independence from the Ottoman Turks at Epirus.
19/6/1821, At the Battle of Dragashani, a Greek uprising
against Turkish rule was defeated.
2 April 1821, The Greeks under Turkish rule
began a revolt under Archbishop Germanos of Patras.� The Greek
population rose en masse, captured the capital of the
Morea Peninsula, Tripolitza, and the revolt then
spread north, and to the Greek Islands. These
islands were the main recruiting ground of the Ottoman Navy, so Turkish sea
power was weakened.
5 November 1815, By The
Treaty of Paris Britain gained the Ionian Islands, including Corfu.
11/2/1791, Alexander
Mavrocordato, Greek statesman, was born (died 18
August 1865).
11/2/1776, Giovanni
Capo d�Istria, President of the Greek Republic,
was born (died 9 October 1831).
End
of period of conflict between Ottoman Turkey and the central European� powers, also Russia. Turkey was losing
power to Russia
5 April 1826, Russia demanded the cessation of
Ottoman military operations on the Danube.
12 May 1812, A peace
treaty was signed between Russia and Turkey.
5/6/1809, A peace
treaty was signed in Chanak between England and
Turkey.
1808,� Ottoman Grand Vizier Mustafa Bairakdar, aged 33, marched on Constantinople
to restore Sultan Selim III. The Janissaries then strangled Selim; Baraikdar had the new Sultan
Mustapha IV deposed and
assassinated. Baraikdar then installed Selim�s 23-year-old nephew as Sultan, and Baraikdar himself then committed suicide, to
avoid being captured by the Janissaries.
The new Sultan began a 31-year reign as Mahmud II.
28 May 1807, Ottoman Sultan Selim III was deposed
by the Janissaries. He was succeeded by the 28-year-old son of Sultan
Abdul Hamid, who ruled as Mustapha IV.
1/3/1799, Ottoman and
Russian forces evicted the French from the Ionian islands.
These islands now came under Ottoman protection.
28/6/1797, France
occupied the Ionian Islands, off the western coast of Greece.
For Napoleonic campaign in Syria, 1790s, see France-Germany
9 January 1792, Russia
and Turkey signed the Peace of Jassy.
8 January 1792. The
Ottoman Turks bowed to the
inevitable and accepted Catherine the Great�s Russian sovereignty over
Georgia. Britain feared further Russian
expansion in the Black Sea as this could threaten British Mediterranean
interests.
7 April 1791, Selim
III (1761-1808) became Sultan of Ottoman Turkey.
22 December 1790, Russian Field-Marshal Count
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov captured the Ottoman fortress of Ismail, at the
mouth of the Danube.
6 October 1789, Austrian forces under General Gideon von Lauden took
Belgrade form the Ottoman Turks.
22/9/1789, Austrian and Russian troops under Francis Duke of Coburg and Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov defeated the
Ottoman Turks at Martinesci, on the River rymnik in Moldova.
31 July 1789, Austrian and Russian troops under Francis Duke of Coburg and Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov defeated the
Ottoman Turks at Fokshany (now, Focsani, Romania).
7 April 1789, Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid (born 1725) died aged 64. He had
succeeded his brother Mustafa III in 1773.
6 January 1784, Under the Treaty of Constantinople,
Ottoman Turkey ceded the Crimea to Russia.
16 July 1774. The
Russians and Turks signed the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji,
ending their six-year war. Moldavia and Wallachia were returned to
Turkey and the Crimea became independent. Russia gained control of much of the
northern Black Sea coast. The Sultan was allowed to remain spiritual leader of
the Crimean Moslems; however Russia gained the right to build and protect an
Orthodox church in Istanbul. Russian merchants were to have unrestricted access
to the Black Sea and Mediterranean across Ottoman territories. This gave Russia a pretext to intervene in
Turkish internal affairs.
25 December 1773, Mustafa
III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died. He was succeeded by his brother, Abdul Hamid I.
6 July 1770, Battle of Cecme; the entire Ottoman fleet
was destroyed by the Russians in the Aegean Sea.
28 May 1740, Mahmud I, ruler of Turkey, agreed to respect
Christian rights in the Holy Land.
20/9/1730, Mahmud I succeeded Ahmed III as Ottoman Sultan.
17/9/1730, The Ottoman Grand Vizier was
strangled in a revolt by the Janissaries. Sultan
Ahmed III (1673-1730) was forced to abdicate, having suffered serious defeats by the Austrians.
21 July 1718, The Peace of Passarowitz ended the conflict
between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.� The position of the two Empires was
stabilised in the Balkans until �well into the nineteenth century.
5 August 1716, The Ottoman Turks were defeated by Eugene of Savoy at Peterwardein.
21 July 1711, Peter
the Great of Russia had to sign the Treaty
of Pruth after his defeat ,
alongside his Wallachian and Moldavian allies, by the Ottoman Turks. Turkey
recovered the Fortress of Azov, and King Charles XII of Sweden was
permitted safe return to Stockholm.
23 August 1703, Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III was deposed.
13/6/1700, Peter the Great concluded a peace with Turkey. Under the Treaty of Constantinople, Turkey ceded the Black Sea fortress
of Azov to Russia, and Russia and Turkey made a 30-year truce.
26 January 1699, Prince Eugene, having invaded Serbia and Bosnia, forced the Turks to conclude the Peace of Carlowitz.� This
restored the entire Kingdom of Hungary, with the exception of the Banat of Temesvar, to Austria from Turkey.� This
was the start of the rise to power of the Hapsburg Dynasty.
16 November 1698, A congress
began in Sremski Karlovici
to discuss an end to the war between The
Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.
11/9/1697, At the Battle of Zenta,
Prince Eugene of Savoy, leading an Austrian army, defeated the Ottomans under Mustafa II, see 26 January 1699.
22
August 1696, Forces of Venice and Turkey fought near Molino.
28
July 1696, Russian forces under Peter the Great captured the
fortress commanding the Sea of Azov from its Ottoman defenders.
1691, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman III died aged 50 as his army was
defeated in Morea (Greece, Peleponese).� He was succeeded by his 49-year-old brother
who ruled until 1695 as Ahmed II.
19
August 1691, Louis of Baden won a major
victory overt the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Szelankemen. Louis had continued the war against the
Ottomans after his ally Austria had been diverted inti fighting France as part
of the League of Augsburg. Grand Vizier Zade Mustafa Kuprili, aged 54,
died in the battle, which led to the expulsion of the Ottomans from Hungary.
8
October 1690. Belgrade was
retaken by the Ottoman Turks.
6/9/1688, Austrian
forces captured Belgrade, Serbia, from the Turks. The Austrians went on to
occupy Bosnia, Serbia and Wallachia.
26/9/1687. The
Parthenon and the Propylea were destroyed when the
Venetians bombarded Athens. The Venetian army was besieging the Turks when a
mortar bomb fired by the Venetians set off Turkish gunpowder stored in the
Acropolis.
High point of Ottoman
advance into Europe; halted at Vienna
6/2/1695, Ottoman
Sultan Ahmed II died (born
1642, acceded 1691, succeeding his brother Suleiman
II). He was defeated by the Austrians at Slankamen (20 August 1691), which denied possession of Hungary to the
Ottomans, This battle established the Danube as the boundary between
Austria and Ottoman Turkey.
2 November 1687, Ottoman Sultan
Mohammed IV, aged 46, was deposed after a reign of nominally 43
years. This nwas a consequence of
the Turkish defeat by Austria in Hungary. He was succeded
by his 45-year-old brother who reigned until 1691 as Suleiman III. He introduced liberalising reforms.
12 August 1687, At the
Second Battle of Mohacs (Hungary), Charles of
Lorraine defeated the Ottoman Turks.
11/9/1683. The conquering armies of Islam
under Vizier Kara Mustafa were defeated at the gates of Vienna. The Turks
had been besieging Vienna since July 1683. Relief came under Poland�s King John III and Charles,
Duke of Normandy. The Ottoman Sultan ordered Mustafa to commit
suicide.
7/9/1683, German reinforcements arrived outside the besieged city of Vienna.
31 July 1683, Invading Turkish forces reached the
gates of Vienna.�� If Vienna
fell, Germany would be open to a Turkish invasion.
1 August 1664. The Ottoman Turkish advance into Austria
was halted by Hapsburg (Austrian) defences at the Battle of St Gotthard.
16
October 1676, The Treaty of Zuravno ended the 4 year war between Poland and the
Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Turkey acquired Podolia and much of the Polish Ukraine,
thereby bringing Ottoman territory up to
the border with Russia.
27/9/1669. Candia, the capital of Crete, was captured by
the Ottoman Turks from the Venetians after a 21 year siege. Spain,
Britain, France, the Pope, Tuscany, and Malta, had all supplied troops to the
Venetians but to no avail. Towards the end the
Ottoman Turks intensified the blockade and disagreements broke out between the
allies leading to the withdrawal of some of the Europeans.
13
May 1654. The Battle of the Dardanelles took place. The Venetian navy defeated
Turkish forces.
8 August 1648, In Constantinople, the Janissaries deposed Sultan
Ibrahim after he ordered the lifting of the siege of Candia (Heraklion), Crete. On 18 August 1648
Ibrahim was
strangled by his own executioner and replaced by his eldest son, 9-year old Mohammed IV.
1640, Ottoman Sultan Murad IV died aged 31 after a 17-year reign
during which he had re-established order by a reign of terror. He was succeeded
by his brother Ibrahim I, aged 25, who began an 8-year reign, dominated by his mother Kusseem Sultana, and hos
story-teller, Sheker-Pare.
20 May 1622, Ottoman Sultan Osman II was murdered. He had alienated the
powerful Janissaries by
attempting to eliminate them; instead, he was imprisoned in his own palace by
them, before being strangled this day.
Sultan Ahmed
I
22
December 1617, Ottoman Sultan Ahmed
I died (born 1590, acceded
1603). He fought a long and losing war against Persia, 1602-12. He was
succeeded by Mustafa I.
1616, The Blue Mosque, Constantinople,
was completed.
11 November 1606, The Treaty of Zsitvatorok
ended the Long War between the Hapsburgs and the Ottoman Empire.
1603, Sultan Mohammed III died aged 37. He was succeeded by
his 14-year-old son who ruled until 1617 as Ahmed I.
18 April 1590, Ahmed
I, Ottoman Emperor, was born.
1595, The last killings under the Law
of Fratricide, see 1481. Sultan Mohammed III ordered the execution of his 19 brothers. The succession now automatically
went to the eldest male member of the ruling House. The system of sending
Ottoman princes to the provinces to learn how to rule now ended. Instead they
spent their lives in the kafe (cage), a group of
buildings in the royal palace, from which they emerged only to rule or when
dead. They lived lives of ;uxurious
imprisonment, surrounded by concubines. This resulted in a significant decline
in the quality of the Sultans, who often came to rule feeble on body or mind.
26 October 1595, Hungary defeated Ottoman Turkey at
Giurgiu, Wallachia (modern-day Romania).
21 May 1590, The Ottoman-Safavid
Peace Treaty extended the borders of the Ottoman Empire to the Caucasus and the
Caspian.
Selim II, ruled 1566 - 74
12 December 1574, Selim
II, Sultan of Turkey, died,
aged 50. He was succeeded by his eldest son, 27-year old Murad
III, who had
his brothers strangled in
his presence.
7/3/1573. Venice concluded a peace with the
Turks by which Venice recognised Turkey�s sovereignty over Cyprus.
7 October 1571. The Ottoman Turkish fleet under Ali Pasha was defeated
by the navies of Spain, Venice, and the Pope at the Battle of Lepanto, in the
Gulf of Corinth. Christendom was
concerned at the fall of Cyprus to Turkey, under Selim II, Suleiman
the Great�s successor. This
was the last battle fought between galleys. The Turks used ramming tactics,
but allied ships used firepower to defeat the Turks. Although Ottoman Turkey retained control of Cyprus, its western
expansion in the Mediterranean was halted. The Ottomans lost 230 galleys to
the Christians 17.
1 August 1571, Ottoman forces captured the port of
Famagusta, Cyprus, from Venice.
Suleiman the Manificant, ruled 1520 - 66
6/9/1566. Suleiman the
Magnificent, leader of the Ottoman Empire for 46 years, died. He had
brought the Ottoman�
Empire to the peak of its power, ruling an area from Hungary to
Mesopotamia, and promoting justice and culture. His eldest surviving
son, the incompetent drunkard Selim, succeeded
him. All other potential rivals had been eliminated by intrigue and murder.
8/9/1565, The Great Siege of Malta was raised.
18 May 1565. The Ottoman Turks arrived at Malta to try and capture it, see 21
December 1522. However the island held
out until relieved by a Christian fleet from Sicily arrived in September 1565.
Casualties had been heavy for both the Turks and the Maltese; however the Turks
had been riven by disputes between their naval and army commanders. The Turks
returned to Istanbul, their hopes of
dominating the western Mediterranean dashed.
14 August 1551, Ottoman Turks captured the port of
Tripoli, in modern-day Libya, from the Order of Knights of St John, a Christian
Order based in Malta.
4 July 1546, Death of Ottoman Admiral Khair el Din, better known as Barbarossa (born ca. 1478).
28/9/1538, At the Battle of Preveza, the Turkish
fleet under Suleiman the
Magnificent, commanded by Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, defeated the Holy League forces of Charles V, commanded by Andrea Doria.
24/2/1538, The Treaty of Nagyvarad; peace was declared
between King Ferdinand and the Turks.�
John Zapolya was
recognised as King of Hungary, whilst Ferdinand retained
northern and western Hungary and was recognised as heir to the Hungarian
throne.
31 December 1534. The
Ottoman army captured Baghdad.
By 1546 they controlled Yemen,
gateway to the Red Sea.
13 July 1534. Ottoman armies captured Tabriz in north western Persia.
25/6/1532, Suleiman
I attempted another invasion of Hungary, but failed.
15 October 1529. The Ottoman Turks withdrew from their siege of Vienna, as
winter approached.
23/9/1529, Turkish forces began a siege of Vienna.
8/9/1529, Invading
Turkish forces captured the city of Buda.
See also Islam � North Africa
& Middle East
27
May 1529, Ad-Din Barbarossa completed his conquest of Algeria, bringing the Ottoman Empire to its peak.
10 May 1529, The Turkish Army under Suleiman I left
Constantinople to invade Hungary.
29 August 1526, The Battle of Mohacs.� The
Turkish army under Suleiman I defeated the
Hungarians under King Loius II, who was
killed whilst retreating.� Suleiman took Buda, whilst Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and John Zapolya, Prince of Transylvania, disputed over the
succession. As a result of this dispute, Dubrovnik
achieved independence, although it recognised Turkish overlordship.
The Hapsburgs now ruled Bohemia and Hungary.
21 December 1522. Rhodes, formerly the base of the Knights of St John, was conquered
by the Ottoman Turks, led by Suleiman, after a
six-month siege.� The Knights of St John,
driven out of Rhodes, were given permission by Emperor Charles V in 1530 to settle in Malta.� See
18 May 1565.
18 December 1522, The
Turks finally broke into Rhodes, but the Knights continued fierce resistance in
the streets.
28 July 1522, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman
I began a siege of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes.
21/9/1520, Ottoman Sultan
Selim died, aged
53. He was succeeded by his 24-year old son, Suleiman
I (The Magnificent).
2 October 1518, A major political triumph for Cardinal Wolsey of England. He got all
major European powers (England, The Papacy, France, the Holy Roman Empire and
Spain) to sign the Treaty of London, uniting them to fight Ottoman Turkey.
24
August 1516, Selim I, Ottoman Sultan, defeated and killed
Mamluk Sultan Kansu
al Guari of Egypt, near Aleppo in Syria. Selim I now took control of Syria.
25
May 1512, Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II died shortly after abdicating. He
was succeeded by his youngest son, Selim, who successfully defeated his two
brothers in the ensuing civil war.
6
November 1494, Suleiman the Magnificant, Ottoman Sultan, was born
1518,
Ottoman Turkey
took Algiers.
1517,
Ottoman Turkey
captured the city of Acre.
20
January 1517, The Ottomans conquered Cairo, Egypt.
1516, The Ottoman Turks captured
Damascus.
5
July 1515. The Ottoman Turks, led by Sultan Selim, invaded Egypt. The Mameluke
dynasty was destroyed.
23
August 1514, At the Battle of Chaldiran, Selim I , ruler of
the Shia Muslim Ottoman Empire, defeated the Sunni Muslim Persians under Shah Ismail I. Drawing on lessons learnt from
fighting European armies, the Ottoman Army was well disciplined and equipped
with heavy cannon and musket-armed infantry. In contrast the smaller Persian
Army relied on the cavalry charge and possessed no artillery. The Safavid capital at Tabriz was taken by the Ottoman Turks,
forcing the Persians to move their capital further east. This battle was instrumental in fixing the present day frontier between
Turkey and Iran.
1512, Death of Bayezid I (1448-1512), Ottoman Sultan
1481-1512. He succeeded his father, Mehmed II. he fought wars against Hungary, Poland,
Venice, Egypt and Persia, establishing further the power of the Ottoman Empire.
25
August 1499, The Venetian fleet was defeated at the Battle of Zonchia by the Ottomans. This was the first time cannon had
been used in a naval battle. The Venetian-Ottoman War, 1499-1503, started.
Venetian sea-power in the Mediterranean was an obstacle to Ottoman expansion.
Ottoman Turkey gained the upper hand, and by 1503 Ottoman cavalry raids were
reaching into Venetian territory. Venice was forced to recognise Turkish gains.
17 July
1490, Lightning struck an old Greek church in Constantinople in which the
Ottoman Turks were storing gunpowder; the ensuing explosion killed 5,000.
3
May 1481, Mehmed II, Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire, died and was
succeeded by his 34-year old son Bayezid II.Mehmet II promulgated the Law of Fratricide � that whichever son inherited the
Sultanate should assassinate all his brothers, to preserve order. This law
lasted for over 100 years, see 1595.
13
October 1479, The Battle of Kenyermezo.� The Hungarian army under Pal Kinizsi and Istvan Bathori defeated the
Ottoman army in Transylvania,
Hungary.
24
January 1479, The Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire signed a peace treaty.� Venice ceded Argo, Negroponte, Lemnos, and
Scutari, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of 10,000 golden ducats.
11
August 1473, Ottoman Turkey defeated the Turkomans at the Battle of Otlukbeli. The �White Sheep Turkomans�, under Uzun Hasan, had comprised the most significant
threat to the Ottomans since the
Mongols under Timur in the early 1400s. However at Otlukbeli
the overwhelming firepower of the Ottoman Army comprehensively defeated the Turkomans.
1468, The Ottomans took Karaman in south-central
Turkey.
1467,Ottoman Turkey conquered Albania.
15
August 1461, The Ottomans took Trebizond.
See also Serbia for wars against Ottoman Tirkey in what is now
Yugoslavia
1456, The Ottoman Turks conquered Athens.
2/2/1451, Ottoman
Sultan Murad II died in
Edirne. He was succeeded by his 19-year-old son Mehmed
II.
17 October 1448, Battle
of Kosovo: Hungarian forces under John Hunyadi were defeated by
the Turks.
10
November 1444, Christian forces were heavily defeated at Varna by
Ottoman Turks.
12
December 1443, Murad II, Ottoman
Sultan, won a decisive victory at the Battle of Zlatica.
This halted the advance of the Hungarians iunder Janos Hunyadi into Thrace, northern Greece.
10
November 1443, Ottoman forces invading Bulgaria were defeated by the
Hungarians under Janos Hunyadi, who was
voivode 9military viceroy) of Transylvania. Hunyadi went on to
take Sofia.
27
October 1439. Death of King Albert II of Hungary at Langendorf.
He reigned less than two years and spent this in the defence of Hungary
against the Turks.
6
July 1439, Emperor John III of Constantinople
(by then he ruled very little outside Constantinople, Salonika and Morea, and
was known in western Europe as �Emperor of the
Greeks�, not as he was officially, Roman Emperor) travelled to an
Ecumenical Council in Florence and accepted papal primacy and union with Rome.
The Decree of Union (Laetentur Caeli) formally uniting the Latin and Greek churches was issued. This was a last-ditch
attempt to save his dominions from the Ottoman Turkish advance. However the
Greek clergy rejected this union; there were too many fundamental differences
of doctrine between the two Churches. Those who had formally accepted the union
recanted upon return home. They preferred, in the words of a Byzantine
dignitary, �the power [in
Constantinople] of the Turkish turban rather than the Latin tiara.
1430, The Ottoman Turks took
Thessalonica, holding it for nearly 500 years.
26 May 1421, Mehmed
I, Ottoman Turkish Sultan, died aged 34 after an 8-year reign, at Erdine. He was succeeded by his 8-year-old son Murad II, who ruled until 1451 and continued
the policy of Tiurkish expansion I nto the Balkans.
1416, At the
naval Battle of Gallipoli, Venice defeated the Ottoman fleet.
7
July 1413, The Ottoman Tiurkish succession dispute was
resolved when Prince Mehmet defeated and
killed his brother Prince Musa at Jamarlu, Serbia.
8/3/1403, Bayezid I, Sultan of Turkey 1389-1492,, died in captivity in Akehir. He
succeeded his father, Murad I, who died at
the Battle of Kosovo. Within three years of his accession he had conquered
Bulgaria, parts of Serbia, Macedonia and Thessaly, and most of Asia Minor. A
succession struggle followed, won in 1413 by his son Mehmed I.
21 July
1402, The Ottoman Turks were decisively defeated by Timur at the Battle of Ankara. The Ottomans lost control of Anatolia. However they had expanded territorially into Europe, and were able to
recover Anatolia after Timur departed.
17
July 1394, Turkish troops took Trnovo, a
town in Bulgaria 124 miles ENE of Sofia.
For more on Ottoman Turkey in Europe, see Bulgaria, also Serbia
28 August 1389, A captured Serb noble
assassinated the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. he was
succeeded by his son Bayazid I.
15/6/1389. Serbia was crushed by the Ottoman Turks. At a battle in Kosovo,
at the �field of the blackbirds�, the entire
Serbian nobility was wiped out. The Ottomans
had already invaded Bulgaria.
1362, Edirne
(Adrianople) was captured by the Ottoman Turks from Byzantium.
6
April 1326. Orhan, son of Osman, the founder of the Ottoman
Empire, captured Bursa from the Byzantines and made it his
capital. By 1341 Orkhan had reinforced his influence
in the Byzantine Empire by marrying twice into it;
first to Theodora, daughter of
Byzantium�s new joint Emperor John Cantacuzene, whom he had
lent 6,000 troops for his coup. Secondly, Orkhan�s
new sister in law, Helen, married the
other joint Emperor and coup victim, John
Paleologus.
See also Roman Empire, 1326
6
April 1324, Ghazi Orkhan succeeded
his father Osman I as ruler of
the Ottoman Turks.
27
July 1302, The Ottoman Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire in the Battle
of Bapheus, heralding the Turkish conquest of
Bithynia.
1221, Sultan Osman I acceded as Ottoman ruler.
9/9/1141, Seljuk
Sultan Sanjar was defeated
at Samarkand by the Kara-Khitai, who built an empire
from China to the River Oxus (now, Amu Darya).
23
November 1072, Death of Alp Arslan, Seljuk Sultan
26
August 1071. The armies of the Byzantine leader Emperor Romanus Diogenes and the
Turkish leader Mohammed Ibn Da�ud clashed at Manzikert, or Malazagird, north of Lake Van. The Byzantines had entered
Armenia with the French and Normans, and some Turks from the Uzes tribe, and the Turkish leader had to abandon a
campaign in Syria and hurry north to meet this invasion. The Turkish cavalry
under Alp Arsalan routed the
enemy. Ibn Da�ud died on 24
November 1072.
4
October 1063, Death of Tughril, founder of
the Seljuk Empire.
393, Emperor Theodosius outlawed the Olympic
Games, which has been held for
1,000 years.
191 BCE, Roman forces routed Antiochis III at Thermopylae.
192 BCE, Syrian forces under Antiochus
III invaded Greece at the
invitation of the Aetolians.
See also Roman Empire
197 BCE, At the Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly, the Romans under T Quinctius Flaminius defeated the Macedonians under Philip V. The Romans forced Philip V to surrender Greece to Rome, reduce
his army to 5,00 men and his navy to five ships,
promise not to make war without Rome�s permission, and to pay Rome 1,000
talents over ten years.
17 July 268 BCE, Death of Arsinoe
II, Queen of Macedonia and Thebes, in Egypt.
272 BCE, Antigonus II defeated an invasion by Pyrrhus of
Epirus.
275 BCE, The Achaean League, of northern Peleponnesian cities, managed to defeat Sparta.
276 BCE, Antigonus II Gonatus
became King of Greece.
279 BCE, Celtic tribes plundered Delphi,
also making raids into Anatolia. The Celts in Anatolia later became the Galatians.
300 BCE, The poor of Athens subsisted mainly on beans,
greens, beechnuts, turnips, wild pears, dried figs, barley, and grasshoppers.
Welfare assistance was sporadic and nugatory.
305 BCE, The Macedonians under Demetrius attempted to capture Rhodes, After an unsiccsesful seige, however, they withdrew.
307 BCE, Athens now under Macedonian
control.
315 BCE, The Macedonian port city of
Thessalonica was founded by Cassander. It was named after his wife, whom
her father, Philip II of Macedon, had named Thessaloniki to commemorate his victory (Niki)
over Thessaly in 2 August 338 BCE.
Alexander the Great
13/6/323 BCE. Alexander the Great died, of a fever, at Babylon; he was just 32 years old.. His body was taken to Alexandria, but the location of his
grave is unknown. His son, born to Alexander�s wife Roxana in August 332
BCE, was killed in 310 BCE by one of the Generals competing for Alexander�s
Empire.
324 BCE, Alexander the
Great organised a mass wedding
between his Generals and Persian princesses, in an attempt to create a Greek-Macedonian-Persian nobility.
30 January 330 BCE, After
gaining the Pass of the Persian Gates, Alexander the Great entered Persepolis. There he ceremonially burnt down the palace of Xerxes I, as a symbol that the Panhellenic
war of revenge was at an end
20 January 330 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated the Persians, led by satrap Ariobarzanes.
1 October 331 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated the
Persians under Darius III at the
Battle of Gaugamela (Arbela).
20/9/331 BCE. The Macedonian
army under Alexander the Great crossed the Tigris River.
7/332 BCE. Alexander the Great sacked Tyre, a
trading city located in present-day Lebanon.
11/333 BCE, Alexander the Great�s army defeated Darius III, the Persian King, at Issus.
336
BCE, Philip II of Macedon was killed by an assassin named Pausanius; in turn Pausanius was cut down by Philip�s bodyguards
as he ran for his horse. Alexander the Great then
mounted military expeditions to cement his claim to the throne, but these were
expensive, requiring a war on Persia to secure loot and refill the Macedonian
royal treasury.
356 BCE, Alexander
the Great was born, only son of King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias of Epirus (now, Albania).
2 August 338 BCE, Philip II of Macedon defeated an Athenian-Theban alliance at the Battle of Chaeronea, so ending the
last Greek struggle for independence.
359 BCE, King
Philip II of Macedon acceded to
the throne, after his brother Amyntas III was killed
in battle. Macedonia was then an unimportant border State, with
aggressive Danubian tribes to the north and west, and
the Persian frontier not far to the east. The cultural centre was Greece to the
south. Macedonian governance was weak, with independent warlords following the
monarch�s direction as and when it suited them to. However King Philip
revolutionised the Macedonian Army with the latest weaponry, making the region
a powerful State by 345 BCE. The Danubian tribes wqere then defeated, and
the Greek city states forced to ally with Macedonia for self-preservation.
4 July 362 BCE, Battle of Mantinea. The Thebans, having been
victorious at Leuctra, were now faced by an alliance of other Greek city
states, including Sparta and Athens. The Theban leader Epaminondas took the
offensive to Sparta�s ally, the city of Mantinea. Epaminondas decided on a� repeat of the flank
attack that had worked well at Leuctra,371 BCE. He did indeed rout the army of
Mantinea, but in the fighting Epaminondas himself was killed. This caused the Thebans, now
leaderless, to withdraw as if they had been defeated. Greece was now open to
the assertive Philip II of
Macedon, and 27 years later Thebes itself was devastated by Philip
II�s son, Alexander the
Great.
6 July 371
BCE, Battle of Leuctra. Thebes was leader of a groups of Boetian city-states
that Sparta, the dominant power in the region, saw as a threat to be squashed.
The Spartan Army moved
on Thebes, which was outnumbered and her
allies were unreliable. However Epaminondas, the Theban leader, placed his best troops to his left flank and used
these to deliver a surprise attack to the Spartan�s right flank
As the Spartans pressed forward on the Theban centre. This
resulted in a Theban victory, and
Sparta never recovered
her dominance after this.
Final fall of Athens tro
Sparta
25 April 404 BCE, Athens, under starvation
from siege, capitulated to Spartan forces, so ending the Peleponnesian
Wars. The Spartans allowed Athens
to retain some autonomy, as Theramenes secured terms
that saved the city from destruction. The walls of Athens were demolished. Alcibiades was murdered in Phyrgia
at the request of Sparta.
9/405 BCE, The Spartan General Lysander captured the Athenian fleet without
resistance in September; just 25 ships escaped under the command of Conon. The Spartans, aiming to cut the grain supplies to
Athens, captured the Athenian city of Lampsacus after
a siege. The Athenian fleet sailed out to meet the Spartans but a
standoff ensued with SAthens unable to lure the Spartans into battle. Finally, against the
advice of Alcibiades, with the Athenian fleet poorly positioned off the Gallipoli Pensinsula, the Athenians went ashore in large numbers
to confront the Spartan forces. Lysander now mounted a surprise attaclk on the Athenian
fleet, capturing 180 of its ships. Athens had now lost its fleet amnd its grain supply route, and had lost its allies, apart
from Samos.
Meanwhile the
Spartan King Pausanius laid siege
to Athens,
and Lysander�s fleet
blockaded Piraeus. In Athens, Cleophon was executed and Athens
endured severe food shortages for 6 months as the siege progressed. Corinth and
Thebes demanded the
total destruction of the city.
8/406 BCE, Alcibiades was replaced by a Board of
Governors. An Athenian fleet was blockaded in Mitylene
harbour by a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas. Athens
sent a larghe fleet to relieve Mitylene,
and Callicratidas was drowned in August at the Battle
of Arginusae. Sparta again attemnpted
to negotiate peace with Cleophon and again Cleophon spurned them.
407 BCE, The Spartan General Lysander refused to be lured out of the port
of Ephesus to do battle with Alcibiades, who then ran low on supplies and had to sail north to plunder enemy
towns. Alcibiades left a
squadron at Ephesus under the command of his boyhood friend, Antiochus; however Antiochus, against orders, taunted Lysander; provoking the Spartans to sail out and rout the Athenian
fleet at Notium. This gave the enemies of Alcibiades in Athens a chance to strip
him of his command.
16/6/408 BCE, Alcibiades entered Athens
in triumph after seven years absence. He was appointed General,
woth autocratic powers, and then left for Samos to rejoin his fleet. Meanwhile, however, the Spartan Admiral
Lysander arrived in Ephesus and began to build up a huge fleet
with assistance from the new Persian satrap, Cyrus.
409 BCE, Alcibiades recaptured Byzantium (which had frebelled against Athens). This opened up a supply route
for grain to Athens from the Euxine (Black) Sea, through the Bosphorus.
410 BCE, A Spartan army, with its Persian land army
reinforcements, was heavily defeated by Alcibiades at Cyzicus
on the Sea of Marmora. Sparta attempted to negotiate an end to hostilities with the Athenian
ruler, Cleophon, but Cleophon passed the opportunity by.
411 BCE, The Athenian democratic
government was overthrown in a revolt by the oligarchs Antiphon, Peisander and Phrynichus, who then opened treasonous
negotiations with Sparta. However these oligarchs were themselves deposed by the moderate Theramenes,
who then recalled Alcibiades from Sardis, who was elected ruler of Athens.
9/411 BCE, A Spartan fleet in the Hellespont at Cynossema was defeated by Athens.
412 BCE, Alcibiades fell out with King Agis and retired to the court of the
Persian Satrap, Tissaphernes. He urged Tissaphernes to withdraw his support for Sparta. Other Spartan allied cities broke
away in a series of revolts.
9/413 BCE, The Athenian fleet was
destroyed in the Battle of Syracuse; Demosthenes and Nicias were executed. The foot soldiers
fled into the hills; many were captured and died as slaves in the stoine quarries.
27 August 413 BCE, A lunar eclipse aroused
superstitious fears amongst the Athenians occupying Syracuse and Demosthenes and Nicias decide to
remain in the city.
7/413 BCE, Demosthenes� fleet arrived at Syracuse but was
attacked by night and suffered heavy losses. Demosthenes urged Nicias to evacuate his forces.
414 BCE, Athens captured Syracuse
and fortified it by land and sea. However (commnded
by Nicias) the
Athenians ran short of supplies; meanwhile Sparta reinforced the Syracusans. Athens sent out a supply fleet of 73 ships
under Demosthenes.
11/415 BCE, Athenian forces landed at Dascom, near Syracuse, but their victory was of little use.
22 May 415 BCE, A bad omen in Athens; the Hermae Statues
were found to be mysteriously damaged. Despite this bad omen, Athens
started its plan to conquer Sicily. Whilst away in Sicily, Alcibiades was recalled for trial in Athens;
instead he defected to Sparta, and was
sentenced to death in absentia.
416 BCE, Alcibiades urged Athenians to conquer
Syracuse, Carthage and Sicily, so gaining extra resources in order to crush Sparta.
417 BCE, Athenian forces were
defeated at Chalcidice.
8/418 BCE, Battle of Bantinea. The largest battle in
the Peloponnesian Wars; Sparta won a major victory over Argos, which had broken its treaty with King Agis.
419 BCE, King Agis of Sparta gathered an army at Philus and attacked Argos, with his Boetian
allies. The Boetian forces proved to be weak, but Agis managed to conclude a treaty with
Argos.
11 April 421 BCE, The Peace of Nicias temporarily
halted the Peloponnesian War. Alcibades, however, then set up an anti-Sparta alliance between Athens
and the democracies of Argos, Mantinea and Elis. Sparta then allied
with Corinth and Boetia.
431 BCE, The Peleponnesian War began, between Athens and Sparta.
430 BCE, Plague devastated Athens.
438 BCE, In Athens, the Parthenon was completed, and
consecrated, after 9 years of construction.
448 BCE, The Acropolis was rebuilt under Pericles, repairing the damage done by
the Persians in 480 BCE.
450
BCE, Death of Cimon, (born 510 BCE) who directed the
Greek victories against Persia.
461 BCE, Pericles (ca. 495-429 BCE), having failed to
have Cimon prosecuted
for missing a chance to invade Macedonia, did manage to have him ostracised/
469 BCE, Athenian forces won a
major victory over Persia on the River Eurymedon,
establishing Athenian hegemony on the region.
470 BCE, Greek forces captured Carystos on the Euboea River, a place that had submitted to
Persian rule earlier.
476 BCE,Greek forces captured Eion,
on the Strymon River in Anatolia, from Persia.
27 August 479 BCE, Battle
of Plataea. Although Xerxes had returned to Asia, and the Persian fleet now moved to the eastern
Mediterranean, the Persian General Mardonius remained in the area. He had an army still larger
than the Greeks, and he established a base in the territory of Thebes, which was allied to Persia. The Greeks, commended
by the Spartan Pausanius, assembled on the hills above the Persian camp. The
Persians raided the Greek supply lines and blocked up some of the springs the
Greeks used for water supplies, so Pausanius decided to move camp at night. The Persians attacked
at this time but the disordered nature
of the Greek position gave them the advantage over the Persians, with the
hoplites infantry picking off individual Persian soldiers. The Persian Army
was routed and�
withdrew north into Thessaly. Skirmished between the Greeks and
Persians continued for years afterwards, but Persia never again attempted a
full scale invasion of Greece.
Persian
General Mardonius routed by
the Greeks, Persian advance into Greece halted.
25/9/480 BC Battle of
Salamis. King
Xerxes of Persia, after his victory at Salamis, now advanced on Athens. The outnumbered Greek Alliance under Themistocles withdrew across the narrow isthmus
of Corinth into the Peloponnese. Athens was evacuated by its citizens, who moved to the
island of Salamis nearby. Xerxes should perhaps have blockaded the Greek fleet where
it had assembled inside the Bay of Salamis, then taken his army across into the Peloponnese and outflanked the
Greek Army, routing it on land., Instead,
Xerxes
opted for a naval battle, ordering his fleet to attack the Greek fleet., Xerxes even set up a throne on a nearby hill to watch the naval battle unfold.
In fact choppy seas and the cramped nature of the Bay sent the Persian naval lines into disarray, whilst the smaller and more
manoeuvrable Greek ships carried out pinprick attacks on individual Persian
vessels, eventually causing it to retreat in chaos. Xerxes now realised winter was approaching and his supply
lines were vulnerable to Greek attack, so he took most of his army home to
Persia. Some Persian forces remained in
Greece, but were routed at Plataea the following year. This proved to be
a turning point in history, with Greece now left in control of the eastern
Mediterranean, not Persia; a position maintained until the rise of Rome.
11 August 480 BCE, Battle of Thermopylae. Persian
forces under Xerxes defeated the
Spartans. However the
heroic Greek defence, at this narrow pass, against a superior Persian force,
bought time for Athens to be evacuated (it was burnt by the Persians) and
for Greek forces to regroup and subsequently fight off the Persians.
28/9/490 BCE. The original Marathon was run by a breathless
messenger who ran 24 miles from the scene of the Battle of Marathon to the city
of Athens. �Rejoice, we
conquer� he gasped, the dropped dead. The Athenians had beaten a huge Persian fleet. Athens then expanded its own fleet and military power. By 500 BCE the Persian Empire had expanded
to encompass modern-day Turkey and Macedonia, whilst Greece was split into
small city-States. Persia now resolved to conquer Greece too. To accomplish
this conquest, Persia sent a huge army and 600 ships which landed at Marathon,
24 miles from Athens. Athens sent its smaller army of 10,000 men, supported by a
contingent from Plataea, to meet them. After a 5-day stand-off, the Greeks
attacked. Their tactics were based on the hoplite; a soldier with a large
shield and long stabbing spear. They charged at the Persians, through a hail of
Persian arrows, taking them by surprise. Persia could not believe the Greeks
would attack, in smaller numbers, without support of cavalry or archers. In
fact the Greeks got the upper hand in the close combat, and the Persians,
routed, retreated to their ships. Persian casualties amounted to 6,000 out of
20,000; Greek casualties were 200 out of 10,000.
527 BCE, Peisistratus died and was succeeded by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus.
546 BCE, Peisistratus regained power for a third time in Athens;
he had the support of Thessaly and also from Lydarnis
of Naxos. He exiuled his opponents,
redistributed land to peasants, and encouraged insudtry
and trade.
556 BCE, Peisistratus was removed from power a second time, having split with Megacles. He went on
to make a fortune from his mines in Thrace.
559 BCE, Peisistratus was restored to power with the support
of Megacles.
561 BCE, The Athenian
General Peisistratus made himself dictator, but was then
deposed by the city nobility under Lycurgus. He introduced the cult of Dionysius.
594 BCE, Solon reformed government in Athens.
Aristocratic rule was ended and a (male) citizen based rule intituted.
Women and slaves remained excluded.
650 BCE, At the 33rd
Olympic Games, a new
event was added; the pancratium, a freestyle no-holds-barred combination
of boxing and wrestling.
682 BCE, At the 25th
Olympic Games, the first equestrian even was added. A four-horse chariot
race was held at the new Hippodrome.
690 BCE, At the 23rd
Olympic Games, boxing was added as an event.
704 BCE, At the 19th Olympic
Games, wrestling was added as an event.
708 BCE, The 18th
Olympic Games. A pentathlon event was now added, comprising a
long jump, a javelin throw, a 200 yard sprint, a
discus throw and wrestling, was added.
720 BCE, A third event was added to the 15th
Olympic Games, a 2.5 mile
long distance race of 12 circuits around the stadium.
724 BCE, The 14th
Olympic Games. The games
now comprised a second foot race (see 23 July 776 BCE), of 880 yards, twice
around the stadium.
750 BCE, First recorded use of Greek
alphabet, adapted from Phoenician and Semitic alphabets.
23 July 776 BCE. The first
Olympic Games (see also Sports for modern Olympic Games) opened
in Olympia (in some form, the Olympic Games may have been staged since 1350
BCE). The games, consisting only of a 200 yard foot race (see 724 BCE), was won
by a cook called Coroibos. These Games
lasted just 1 day but later grew to a 5 day event.
24 April 1184 BCE, Greeks
stormed the city of Troy after hiding inside the Trojan Horse.
6,500
BCE, Copper smelting began at
Catal Huyuk,
7,000 BCE, Estimated date of foundation of Catal Huyuk, Anatolia, largest Neolithic site in the Near East. Greek seafarers were sailing to
Milos, 75 miles across the sea, to obtain obsidian.
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