Greek History of the 20th Century

The dawn of the 20th century found Greece in a state of turmoil. The country was still smarting from its ignominious defeat in the brief but disastrous war of 1897, against what were then the last vestiges of the Ottoman empire, while its economy was crushed by the huge war indemnities it had been obliged to pay to Turkey after its defeat.
This defeat had come as a shock for the relatively new Greek nation, established just a few decades before in 1832 when Greece threw off the yoke of the Ottoman Turks, and sparked a process of deep self-examination. A major part of this process centered on whether and to what extent the newly founded Greek state could succeed in liberating those Greeks that were still subjugated, as well as how to expand the borders of the nascent state to make it an economically viable entity.
The 1897 debacle had begun when, early in that year, the Greek government was forced into becoming embroiled in a revolt on Crete, which was then still part of the Ottoman empire, after a massacre of several native ethnic Greeks by local Turks. In addition, the government of Theodoros Deligiannis had to contend with the activities of the "National League" (known as Ethnike Etairia in Greek) - a secret military society founded in 1894 with the aim of expanding Greek territories. A "wildcat" attack by League members on Turkish posts on the Macedonia-Thessaly border allowed Turkey to precipitate a conflict for which it had been preparing methodically, whereas Greece was in a state of near chaos.
On April 5, Turkey declared war, after first having placed its military forces at strategic points along the border. The Greek army led by Crown Prince Constantine, lacking formal training and equipment and scattered along the length of the border, was forced into retreat. First the city of Larisa fell to the Turks once again and, as Turkish troops continued to advance further into Greek territory, their commander Etem Pasha boasting that he would soon be "drinking his coffee in Athens."
The threat of total disaster with the seizure of Athens seemed imminent. The Deligiannis government resigned and the new prime minister, Dimitris Rallis, turned to diplomacy to check the Turks' advance.

Committee for Financial Supervision

Total disaster was prevented by action of the major European powers, then chiefly France, Great Britain and Russia, which forced the Turks to accept a truce. A humiliated Athens authorised the major powers to negotiate the end of the war and after the Lamia truce signed the treaty of Constantinople. Upon losing the war, Greece was required to pay Turkey a large indemnity of 100 gold francs and surrender a fort located near Mt. Olympus.
The major powers loaned this exorbitant sum but, in order to ensure the payment of this and past loans (which had led to the country's bankruptcy in 1893), they assigned an international commission to supervise Greek finances (International Financial Supervision), giving it control of state monopolies and customs revenues.
The terms of the - humiliating for Greece - truce led to the fall of the Rallis government, which was replaced by that of Alexandros Zaimis, who signed the final peace treaty with Turkey.
The defeat of 1897 and the precarious state of Greek finances determined the country's course in the following years. The entire nation began to question the reasons for the country's misfortunes, as well as questioning the monarchy itself, while an attempt to assassinate King George I occurred at that time. This public discourse did not abate even when the fort at Mt. Olympus was reclaimed after Turkey's voluntary withdrawal, nor was it affected by fluctuations over the Cretan issue.
The desire for change, though shared by the sum of the Greek people, lacked the vim to turn into revolution. During that time, Greece lacked what the French call "un homme d' etat" and the British, a statesman.

A shamed army

According to Greek historian Georgios Ventiris, "the oligarchic regime of that period could have easily been overthrown by any coup. Such was the degree of humiliation and disgrace felt by the nation. No attempts, however, were made to overthrow the government. The middle class was still developing politically, although they were not yet a "leadership class". The army officers, who were usually responsible for organising revolutions, were still suffering the consequences of the defeat. They became the object of unjust and general ridicule. Overall, the army had lost its prestige.
In the elections of February of 1899, the party founded by Harilaos Trikoupis (the opposite political pole from the irredentist Deligiannis) won the elections on a "Reform and Progress" ticket and formed a government under Georgios Theotokis.
Greece's predicament at the turn of the century was disastrous. The army was in shambles, with only 12,000 men remaining, as was the navy. The rule of law was absent and the entire judicial system was in disarray, with more than 300,000 cases pending in a total population of some 2.7 million. The Greek countryside, meanwhile, had become a haven for bandits.
In fact, political leaders made no protest when the new prime minister introduced legislation that made it easier for outlaws to emigrate, mainly to the United States.
The Theotokis government was succeeded by those of Zaimis and Deligiannis up until 1909. The measures taken by all three, however, for reconstruction and to reorganise the armed forces - tentative and of limited scope - lagged behind the needs of the time. An increasing tide of nationalism was then sweeping the Bal-kans, especially among the Slavs, and this was creating problems for ethnic Greeks outside the borders of the free Greek state, particularly in Macedonia.

The Macedonian issue

Though its background lay in earlier times, the Macedonian issue entered a more acute phase after that of Crete was settled with the granting of autonomy to the island.
The discussions by the major powers culminated, in 1898, with a decision by the Cretan Assembly to accept the solution of self-rule (as opposed to annexation with Greece). Turkey was then compelled by Russia to accept Prince George, the second son of King George I of Greece, as High Commissioner of Crete under the protection of the European powers and a Constitution of the Cretan State was drafted and came into effect the following April.
In the meantime, the British doctrine regarding the Ottoman empire's territorial integrity was disintegrating. Bulgaria, the main expression of the German Kaiser's ambitions for an "advance to the East," attempted to take advantage of the declining Ottoman empire and secure a route to the Aegean - either by annexing part of Macedonia or by creating a new protectorate under Sofia's control.
In fact, various "Macedonian" associations were founded in Sofia, while public money was used to set up armed bands led by Bulgarian army officers that terrorised the Greeks of Macedonia.
In 1902, 187 Greek elders (members of local community councils in the Ottoman empire) in Macedonia were murdered, followed by 283 in 1903 and 365 in 1904. At this point, the Greek government reacted by sending officers of the Greek army to western Macedonia to examine the situation and suggest ways to conduct the battle. Among them were Alexandros Kontoulis, Anastasios Papoulas, Pavlos Melas and Georgis Kolokotronis.
In Athens, the Macedonian Commission was formed which - with the help of Greek consulates in Thessaloniki, Monastiri and other cities of the area - organised the Greek counter-attack on the Macedonian front.
From 1905-1907, the Greek military helped raise the spirits and morale of both subjugated and free Greeks, who realised that the army had a great deal to offer and that the defeat of 1897 wasn't a result of weakness but of disorganisation. During this time, Bulgarian aggression in most areas of Macedonia was either limited or completely wiped out.

The 'Japanese' group

On May 31, 1905, Prime Minister Deligiannis was assassinated at the entrance of Parliament by Costas Gerakaris, a gambling house owner whose interests had been affected by the government measures against gambling. His death exacerbated the already difficult situation in the country, for in his absence the government proved incapable of dealing with the country's problems, despite having an overwhelming parliamentary majority.
New elections were held in 1906, in which Georgios Theotokis was the winner. The new blood elected to Parliament, however, kept a watchful eye on the Theotokis government. A sensation was caused by the parliamentary presence of a group of young politicians, officially headed by Stephanos Dragou-mis and in actuality by Dimitris Gounaris, who earned themselves the nickname "the Japanese group". Commentators of the time compared their forcefulness, as they presented their radical positions and revolutionary solutions for the country's chronic problems, with that of the Japanese in the recent Russo-Japanese war. Its members also included Emmanuel Repoulis, Petros Protopapadakis, Harilaos Vozykis, Andreas Panagiotopoulos and Apostolos Alexandris.
In 1908, after a cabinet reshuffle, the prime minister appointed Gounaris as minister of finance and the "Japanese Group" ceased to exist as an organised entity. On an individual level, however, former members would later become prime ministers (Stephanos Dragoumis, Dimitris Gounaris and Petros Protopapadakis), while others, such as Emmanuel Repoulis, played an important role when the Cretan politician Eleftherios Venizelos came to power.
From that time, the banner of change was destined to fall to Venizelos, but before this the country would have to endure the revolution of 1909.

Eleftherios Venizelos' rise to power

The authoritarian style of Prince George, High Commissioner of Crete, and his strategy for the island's union with Greece, which differed from that of his advisor (minister) of judicial affairs Eleftherios Venizelos, brought the two men into direct conflict.
Venizelos believed that the High Commissioner should not renew his term if Crete wasn't united with Greece when it ended. This development, Venizelos thought, along with a declaration of Crete's complete autonomy, would lead much more quickly and safely to union with Greece.
In 1901, the prince adopted an intransigent policy that conflicted directly with that proposed by the major powers and at a time when Greece was diplomatically and militarily impotent.
Venizelos stressed the need for "wisdom" and "realism" at the precise moment. "The fulfilment of our national goals does not depend to a great extent on our actions but rather on international circumstances over which we have no influence," said Venizelos in 1901.
Disagreements between Prince George and Venizelos came to a peak when, in early March of 1901, Venizelos wrote a series of articles in two Athenian newspapers with the headline "Let there be light."
The High Commissioner fired Venizelos, after having previously refused to accept his resignation. The High Commissioner then adopted a strategy that attacked Venizelos on a personal level. In fact, during the 1903 elections, Prince George toured the island with Archbishop Evmenios in order to ensure - which he did - that Venizelos would lose. The prince's tactics, however, rather than harming the Cretan politician's image, added to his popularity.
In the elections of 1905, Venizelos united the Cretan main opposition and, shortly afterwards, its representatives signed a protocol of action. On March 10, a revolution broke out in Therisso under the leadership of Venizelos, which led to the departure of Prince George.
The revolution increased Venizelos' fame within Greece and abroad. He was the new, decisive politician with a vision and the determination to fight and enforce his ideas.

Next Week:: Modern Greece comes off age 1909 - 1910