Chronography of Greece &Turkey

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Demography of Greece

Demography of Turkey

 

Click Here for map showing frontiers of Greece, 1830 � present day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres Possible territorial effects of the Treaty of Sevres.

 

See also Cyprus

See also Islam

 

28 May 2023, In Turkey, Recep Erdogan won the run-off vote by the margin of 52% to 48%.

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 throughTurkish 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 March 2003, Turkey refused to allow the US to use its territory for attacks on Iraq.

5 November 2001, Turkey introduced its new 20 million lira banknote. It was worth about �8.50.

8 February 2000, In Turkey, Kurdish supporters of Abdullah Ocalan declared a ceasefire, and Ocalan was granted an indefinite stay of execution.

29 June 1999, In Turkey, Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death.

15 February 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 June 1996, Andreas Papandreou, Greek statesman, born 1919, died.

2 July 1993, In Turkey, arson attack on a hotel in Sivas by Sunni Islamist terrorists protesting against Salman Rushdie�s book The Satanic Verses. The Turkish writer Aziz Nesin had publiushed excerpts from Rushdie�s book, as was then staying in the hotel. He escaped the fire, but 36 people, mainly Shia intellectuals, died.

14 June 1993, Tansu Ciller became Turkey�s first woman president.

17 April 1993, President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, who oversaw the country�s rapid economic development in the 1980s, died.

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.

19 March 1985, Turkey lifted martial law in 11 of its 67 provinces, but it remained in force in 23 provinces.

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 September 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 June 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 June 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 September 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 June 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 1967but 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 March 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 September 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 September 1961. In September 1990 Menderes was posthumously �rehabilitated� and given a State Funeral, attended by the Turkish President.

14 June 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 September 1955, Anti-Greek riots in Istanbul and Izmir.

24 February 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 afire 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 February 1952, Greece and Turkey joined NATO.

20 September 1951, NATO invited Greece and Turkey to join.

14 May 1950, First free elections in Turkey. Voters ousted President Ismet Inonu�s Republican People�s Party, which had held power since the Turkish Republic was founded by Kemal Ataturk in 1923. The 5-year-old Democratic Party, led by Celal Bayer, gained power. The Democrats wanted more free enterprise, and blamed Republican economic policies for the high cost of living.

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 September 1946, King George II returned to Greece. A referendum had shown a majority in favour of restoring the monarchy.

1 September 1946. A Greek plebiscite favoured return the of the monarchy.

 

27 June 1946, Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece.

 

23 February 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.

2 March 1944, The Allies stopped Lend-Lease to Turkey because of its reluctance to help the Allied war effort.

 

Post War civil conflict in Greece

12 February 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.

See France-Germany, World War Two for main European events of World War Two

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.

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 June 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 June 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 March 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.

22 March 1940, Turkey called for all large Turkish ships in foeign waters to return home as soon as possible.

2 March 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 June 1940, Constantine I, King of the Hellenes, was born the son of King Paul.

21 March 1940, Britain and Turkey held secret talks at Aleppo, Syria.

See France-Germany, World War Two for main European events of World War Two

19 October 1939, In Ankara, Allied commanders Maxime Weygand and Archibald Wavell signed a mutual assistance pact with Turkey.

24 June 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 June 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 June 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 ayear, 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 February 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 March 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 June 1935, General election in Greece. The Populists (Monarchists) won 243 seats, although the Liberal party boycotted the election,

5 May 1935, Former Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and General Nikolaos Plastiras were sentenced in absentia to death for their roles in the Greek coup d'�tat attempt.

 

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.

11 June 1930, The Turkish Central Bank was founded, with a remit to implemnent strict monetary policies against inflation.

28 March 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 September 1927, Mustafa Kemal made Turkey a one-party state.

1 September 1926, Civil marriage was established in Turkey.

17 February 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 February 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 March 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 March 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 June 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 June 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.

 

22 August 1926, Theodore Pangalos, Greek dictator, was deposed and imprisoned in Crete.

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 June 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 February 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 March 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 September 1922. Following Greece�s defeat in Turkey, King Constantine abdicated (see more at 18 March 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 September 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.

16 July 1921, Encouraged by the British., King Constantine of Greece began a puch against Turkisjh Nationailsts. Greek forces initially made territorial gains in Turkey but the Turks then rallied.

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 September 1923, and under pressure from France and the UK, Italy withdrew from Corfu on 27 September 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 September 1922. The British Mandate in Palestine began; Britain took over rulership from the Ottoman Turks.

9 September 1922, The Turkish Army entered Smyrna, and its Christians fled in chaos.Central Smyrna was burnt on 13 September 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.

13 September 1921, Battle of Sakariya. The Turks blocked a Greek force which was advancing towards Ankara.

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 September 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 June 1920. The Greeks defeated the Turks at Alashehr.

22 June 1920, With British support, Greek forces attacked Turkish Nationalist troops.

20 March 1920. In response to the Syrian claim of 8 March 1920, the Lebanese Christians proclaimed their independence, choosing as their flag the French tricolour with a Lebanese cedar at its centre.

16 March 1920. Allied troops occupied Istanbul; Turkey arrested the Nationalists and the Sultan closed Parliament. Some Nationalists escaped to Ankara.

8 March 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 March 1920.

12 February 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 February 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 June 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 February 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 September 1918. Turkish resistance in Palestine collapsed.

20 September 1918. The British captured Nazareth.

18 September 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 September 1918. Allied victory at Megiddo.

29 July 1918. Germany severed diplomatic relations with Ottoman Turkey.

13 June 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 February 1918, Abdul-Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey from 31 August 1876, died (born 21 September 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 June 1917. Greece declared war on Germany.

12 June 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 March 1917. British attack the Turks at Gaza (First Battle of Gaza).

17 March 1917. The British heavily defeated the Turks near Gaza.

11 March 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.

30 September 1916, Venizelos, in Crete, began efforts to form an alternative pro-Allied government to the one in Athens.

27 September 1916. Greece declared war on Bulgaria, which itself had declared war on Rumania earlier in the month.

10 September 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 June 1916, The Ottoman garrison at the Red Sea port of Jeddah surrendered to the Arabs.

9 June 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. Francewould 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 March 1916, The Russians took Bitlis, in Turkestan, from the Ottoman Turks.

16 February 1916, The Russians captured Erzurum, in the Caucasus, from Turkey.

13 February 1916, In the Erzurum Offensive Russian forces advanced on the Ottoman Third Army, which was too small to defend against the assault.

7 February 1916, The Erzurum Offensive. Russiacaptured the Turkish towns of Hınıs and Mus,

4 February 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 September 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 September 1915. The British defeated the Turks at Kut El Amara in Mesopotamia.

23 September 1915. King Constantine of Greece began mobilising against Bulgaria, in aid of Serbia.

15 September 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.

19 July 1915, In Greece, the Venizelists gained support, against the pro-German policies of Gounaris.

13 June 1915, Greek General Elections. Venizelists won 193 of 316 seats.

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 February 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 February 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 Constantinopleon 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 September 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 June 1914, Greece annexed the islands of Chios and Lesbos from Turkey.

12 June 1914, 100 Greeks in Phocaea were massacred by Turkish irregular troops.

14 March 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 September 1913, The Treaty of Constantinople, an addition to the Treaty of Bucharest (see 10 August 1913), settled the frontier between Bulgaria and Turkey.

21 September 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; againterritory 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 September 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.

4 July 1913, In the Second Balkan War, Greek and Serbian armies defeated Bulgaria at Kilkis, Central Macedonia, which later became part of Greece.

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 June 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 June 1913. Greece and Serbia broke their alliance with Bulgaria over a border dispute. On 29 June 1913 Greece and Serbia were attacked by Bulgaria.

 

18 March 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 September 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 March 1913. The Balkan allies took Adrianople from Turkey after a 155 day siege.

6 March 1913. Hostilities resumed in the Balkans; the Greeks took Janina, capturing 32,000 Turks.

7 February 1913, 5,000 Turks died in a battle with Bulgaria.

3 February 1913. Bulgaria re-stared the Balkan War. On 7 February 1913 a Turkish-Bulgarian battle left 5,000 Turks dead, and on 26 March 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 September 1912, Russia mobilised its forces in response to unrest in the Balkans.

29 September 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 March 1912, The Greek Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos won a majority of seats in elections in Greece.

13 March 1912, Under Russian influence (wanting to undermine Austro-Hungary), Serbia and Bulgaria buried their territorial rivalries for the time being (but see 29 June 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 September 1911. Italian troops attacked the Turks in Tripoli harbour.

29 September 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 February 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 September 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.

 

Bulgaria gains independence from Turkey, 1903-09

19 April 1909. Turkey recognised Bulgarian independence. On 27 April 1909, Germany, Austria, and Italy also recognised Bulgarian independence.

5 October 1908. Prince Ferdinand declared Bulgaria independent of Ottoman Turkey. Russia wanted Turkey weak so as not to block its plans for expansion.

8 September 1903. Turks massacred 50,000 Bulgarians.

 

13 April 1909, Army insurrection in Constantinople. The First Army Corps deposed Hussein Hilmi Pasha. See 24 April 1909.

13 February 1909, In Turkey, Kiamil Pasha, 76-year-old Ottoman Grand Vizier, was deposed and replaced by Hussein Hilmi Pasha.

 

Crete moves away from Turkish rule towards union with Greece, 1898-1910

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.

24 September 1906, Prince George of Greece resigned as High Commissioner of Crete. Alexander Zaimis succeeded him.

21 April 1905, The Crete Assembly voted for Union with Greece.

16 March 1900, On Crete, British archaeologist Arthur Evans discovered a previously unknown Bronze Age civilisation. He called it �Minoan� after a legendary Cretan king.

26 November 1898, Unrest in Crete against Turkish rule (from 1669) prompted the European Powers to demand that Turkey give Crete autonomy under a High Commissioner appointed by those Powers. This day Prince George, younger brother of the King of Greece, was appointed. George now tried to gain European support for a union of Crete with Greece, which was achieved in 1913.

6 November 1898. Turkey evacuated its forces from Crete.

 

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.

30 December 1911, Turkey's Grand Vizier and all the ministers resigned after opposition members of the Chamber of Deputies boycotted the Assembly.

4 April 1909, The Young Turk, Mahmud Shevket, entered Constantinople, and imposed his will on the National Assembly and the Old Turks.

17 December 1908, The new Turkish Parliament convened, with a Young Turk majority. The various ethnic groupos within the Ottoman Empire now resisted centralised government, however kiberal it was, and resented the Turkish language

16 August 1908, The Committee of Union and Progress, the �Young Turks�, announced a programme of reform and respect for the rights of all within the Otto,man Empire, regardless of race or religion.

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 February 1908. Czar Nicholas II ordered Russian troops to the Iranian border after Turkey made incursions into Iran.

28 January 1906, Markos Vafiadis, Greek General and politician, was born (died 1992).

13 June 1905, Theodoros Delyanni, Greek statesman, born 1826, was murdered in revenge for the strict measure shad had taken against gambling houses.

10 October 1904. Kurdish tribesmen massacred Armenians in Turkey.

26 March 1904, Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece, was born.

18 February 1904, Turks besieging Shemshi Pasha massacred 800 Albanians.

17 September 1903, Turks massacred 10,000 in Macedonia.

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.

5 March 1903, A revised German-Turkish Treaty regarding the Berlin to Baghdad railway was agreed. Construction of the Turkish section was to begin in July 1903.

18 March 1902, Turkey granted Germany permission to build a railway through its territory, which would ultimately link Berlin to Baghdad.

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.

 

GrecekTurkish 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.

10 April 1897, Greek irregular troops crossed the frontier into Macedonia, then under Turkish rule, hoping to provoke insurrection there.

 

Greek-Turkish conflict over Crete

18 June 1901, The Four European powers controlling Crete rejected the initiative for union with Greece.

31 May 1901, The Greek National Assembly opened with Prince George, High Commissioner for Crete, asking it to endorse a union with Greece. The Greek delegates passed this resolution.

9 August 1900, Massacre of 200 people in the village of Sagani, Anatolia.

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 February 1897. Greece sent ships and troops to Crete, 4 days after Crete�s proclamation of union with Greece.

4 February 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.

6 February 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.

Greek-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/ June 1886, Pasha Hobart, naval commander for Britain and Turkey, died (born 1 April 1822).

9 March 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 March 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 June 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 June 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 March 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 February 1878 as the Russians stood at the gates of Istanbul persuaded the Russians to makepeace. Russia and Britain were now on the brink of war.

15 February 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 February 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 February 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 September 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 March 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 September 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 September 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 defeating Greece in 1897, and followed a pro-German foreign policy. His regime was autocratic and political dissent was crushed.

9 August 1876. The Turks invaded Serbia and defeated the Serbs at Aleksinac. On 1 September 1876 the Turks again defeated the Serbs at Aleksinatz.

1 July 1876 Montenegro also declared war on Turkey.

30 June 1876. Serbia declared war on Ottoman Turkey.

30 May 1876, Abdul Aziz, 32nd Sultan of Ottoman Turkey, born 9 February 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 June 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 September 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 June 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 September 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.

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 June 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 February 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 June 1864, King George of Greece entered the Ionian Islands. They had been ceded by Britain to Greece.

2 February 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 June 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 June 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 June 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 September 1860, Andreas Metaxas, Greek politician, died in Athens.

28 February 1857. British and French troops ended their occupation of Piraeus, which began on 26 May 1854.

18 February 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 February 1857.

27 March 1854. Crimean War began; Britain and France declared war on Russia.On 12 March 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 March 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 March 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 March 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 September 1853. The British fleet was ordered to Istanbul.

22 June 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 September 1843, Military revolt against King Otto�s absolute rule. A constitution was introduced, limiting his powers.

1 June 1835, Otto I assumed the Kingship of Greece.

21 September 1842, Abdul-Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey from 31 August 1876, was born (died 10 February 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 September 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 June 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 June 1841, Mehmet Ali became hereditary Viceroy of Egypt.

13 February 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 September 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 June 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 February 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 June 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 February 1830. At the London conference, Britain, France, and Russia guaranteed Greek independence as a kingdom, under the Protocol of London.

 

27 September 1829, Mount Ararat was first climbed.

16 June 1826, The insurrection of the Janissaries in Istanbul ended.

10 June 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 March 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 June 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 September 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 June 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 March 1829.

23 April 1823, Sultan Adbul Mejid was born, see 25 June 1861.

25 March 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 June 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 June 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 February 1791, Alexander Mavrocordato, Greek statesman, was born (died 18 August 1865).

11 February 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 Europeanpowers, 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.

26 September 1809, Ottoman forces at the fortresses of Brailoff and Silestria, in the Danubian Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, were defeated by the Russians.

5 June 1809, A peace treaty was signed in Chanak between England and Turkey.

5 January 1809, Britain, now in opposition to Russia, concluded the Treaty of the Dardanelles with Ottoman 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.

27 December 1806, Russian troops sacked Bucharest in the Ottoman Danubian province of Wallachia.

16 October 1806, War started between Ottoman Tiurkey and Russia. The French had persuaded Sultan Selim III to loosen his rule over the Danubian Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, but Russia then invaded them.

11 November 1804, Austria and Russia made a joint declaration to maintain the shaky Ottoman Empire against French expsjnsion in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.

1 March 1799, Ottoman and Russian forces evicted the French from the Ionian islands. These islands now came under Ottoman protection.

28 June 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 September 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 September 1730, Mahmud I succeeded Ahmed III as Ottoman Sultan.

17 September 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 June 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 September 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 September 1688, Austrian forces captured Belgrade, Serbia, from the Turks. The Austrians went on to occupy Bosnia, Serbia and Wallachia.

26 September 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 1662-95

6 February 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.

2 September 1686, Charles of Lorraine captured the Turkish capital of Hnngary after a siege of nearly 2 months.

11 September 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 September 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.

11 August 1664, Peace of Vasvar. A 20-year peace was agreed between Hapsburg Austria and Ottoman Turkey. Turkey retained sovereignty over Transylvania, also keeping the brder fortresses it had captured.

1 August 1664. The Ottoman Turkish advance into Austria was halted by Hapsburg (Austrian) defences at the Battle of St Gotthard.

22 January 1662, Battle of Nagyszollos. Janos Kemeny, Prince of Transylvania, was defeated and killed by a Turkish army under Mehmed Kucuk. Turkey regained control of Transylvania.

 

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 September 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.

20 September 1620, Battle of Jassy. Hetman Stanislaus Zolkiewski with 10,000 men decisively defeated a larger Turkish force. However the Ottoman Sultan, Osman II, now approached with a much larger force, and Zolkiewski retreated.

 

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.

 

3 April 1596, Sinan Pasha, Turkish soldier and statesman, died (born 1515)

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 March 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.

22 September 1571, The Allied Christian Fleet was formed. It consisted of 300 ships at Messina, under the command of Don Juan of Austria. On 23 September the fleet sailed to attack the Turks.

1 August 1571, Ottoman forces captured the port of Famagusta, Cyprus, from Venice.

18 September 1570, Ottoman Turkey began a siege of Famagusta, Cyprus. Most of the civilian population and all the garrison were massacred.

9 September 1570, Ottoman Turkey took Nicosia, Cyprus, The defenders were not numerous enough to fully man the defences. Most of the civilian population and all the garrison were massacred.

22 July 1570, Ottoman Turkey began a siege oif Nicosia, Cyprus.

 

Suleiman the Manificant, ruled 1520 - 66

6 September 1566. Suleiman the Magnificent, leader of the Ottoman Empire for 46 years, died. He had brought the OttomanEmpire 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 September 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 September 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 February 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.

6 September 1537, As Venetian reinforcements approached corfu, and with Holy Roman Empire atatcks on the Ottomans in Hungary, Suleiman abandoned the siege of Corfu.

18 August 1537, Suleiman began a siege of Corfu. He was assisted by the French navy, against Holy Roman Empire and Venetian forces defending Corfu.

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. See Iran for more details

25 June 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 September 1529, Turkish forces began a siege of Vienna.

8 September 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.

 

Rhodes conquered by Ottoman Turks

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.

20 December 1522, Honourable surrender at Rhodes. Both sides had suffered heavy losses. Just 150 Knights, plus 1,500 other troops, were left as defenders, and most of these were wounded. The Turks had suffered 50 � 1000,000 dead out of total attacking force of 200,000. Suleiman pulled 1 mile back form the walls, and fighting ceased. Had Christian Venice or Spain provided assistance, Rhodes might have held out indefinitely.

18 December 1522, The Turks finally broke into Rhodes, but the Knights continued fierce resistance in the streets.

15 December 1522, Negotiations over surrender at Rhodes broke down.

1 December 1522, Suleiman, confident of victory in the siege of Rhodes but facing heavy losses of his own men, began negotiating for surrender of Rhode on honourable termns. The defenders could stay or leave, and their religion would be respected.

28 July 1522, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I began a siege of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes.

25 June 1522, Ottoman Turks established a beachhead on Rhodes Island.

Ottoman Turks attack Rhodes

 

21 September 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.

7 September 1514, Ottoman Sultan Selim I captured Tabriz, previously the capital of the Safavid Persian Shah Ismail I.

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.

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.

28 April 1512, Ottoman Sultan Bayezid abdicated after his two sons successfully revolted, in favout of his youngest son Selim, Governor of Trebizond, who became Selim I.

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.

 

War between Ottoman Turkey and Venice

20 August 1503, A peace was concluded between Venice, Hungary amnd Ottoman Turkey. Venice gave up Lepanto, Modon, Coron and Navarino in Morea (Peleponnese, Greece), also Durazzo in Albania. Venice retained Cephalonia., Hungary agreed a 7-year truce woith Turkey.

30 August 1502, Venice seized the Adriatic island of Santa Maura from Tiurkey.

1501, Mehmet Bey, Ottoman Governor of Elbasan, central Albania, took the Adriatic port of Durazzo from the Venetians.

15 August 1500, The Venetian port of Navarino (now Pilos) and Coton in Morea (Peleponnese, Greece), fell to the Ottoman Turks.

9 August 1500, The Ottoman Turks captured the Venetian fortress of Modon, in Morea, Peleponnese, Greece.

29 August 1499, Ottoman forces captured the fortress of Lepanto from Venice.

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.

 

29 May 1453. THE TURKS CONQUERED CONSTANTINOPLE, following a siege of over a year.

12 May 1453, The Ottoman Sultan ordered the walls of Constantinople be bombarded with huge cannon balls fired from an 8 metre long, 1.05 metre calibre, cannon.

6 April 1453, The Turkish attack on Constantinople began. 80,000 Turkish troops were faced by just 7,000 in Constatinople, and the city�s walls had been under-maintained for years due to lack of funds.

 

2 February 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 March 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 June 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.

 

Sultan Orkhan

1359, Ottoman Sultan Orkhan died aged 70 and was succeeded by Murad I, aged 40. Murad continued the Ottoman expansion in the Balkans

2 March 1354, The Ottoman Turks seized Gallipoli from Byzantium.

2 March 1331, Ottoman ruler Orkhan took Nicea from the Byzantines.

1326, The first Ottoman Emperor, Osman I, died aged 67 after a 36-year reign. He was succeeded by his 47-year-old son who ruled as Orkhan until 1359. Orkhan extended Ottoman rule from Angora, central Turkey, out into Thrace in Europe.

 

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.

 

Founding of the Ottoman Empire

1290, Bithynian King Osman al Ghazi, aged 31, who succeeded his father Ertogrul as ruler of the Seljuk Turks in 1288, now established the Islamic Principality of Osmanli (Ottoman), so founding the Ottoman Empire. He ruled until 1326.

 

Mongol conflict; defeated by Mamluk Turks

29 October 1281, Second Battle of Homs: Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeated an invasion of Syria by Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan.

3 September 1260, The Mamluks defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut (Goliath�s Spring) in Galilee, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. Damascus had fallen to the Mongols in 1259 and Hulegu, Mongol leader, now turned on Egypt, the major military power in the region. The Mongols now ruled an area from the Pacific to the Mediterranean, The Mameluke rulers of Egypt responded to Hulegu�s demands for capitulation by killing Hulegu�s envoys and marching into Palestine to fight. Mameluke cavalry was crucial in the Mongol defeat.

23 August 1244. Jerusalem was taken by a mercenary force of Turks. On 17 December 1244 the Turks joined with Egypt in routing the Latins at Gaza.

26 June 1243. The Mongols routed the Seljuk Turkish army.

 

1221, Sultan Osman I acceded as Ottoman ruler.

9 September 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 June 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 September 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 arepeat 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 June 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 andwithdrew 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 September 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 September 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. The Persians, however, pushed through the Greek centre � and this facilitated the two Greek wings to attack the Persian flanks. The Persians were routed, a third of them killed and they, 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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