Greece
Modern-day Countries in this region
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in Greece was the era of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, both of which played foundational roles in Greek history. The Minoans, centered on the island of Crete, built sophisticated palace complexes like Knossos and established a maritime trade network across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
The Mycenaeans, based on mainland Greece, absorbed Minoan influences and built fortified citadels such as Mycenae and Tiryns. They developed the early form of the Greek language, Linear B, and were the likely protagonists of the Trojan War, immortalized in Homeric epics. The Bronze Age ended with the collapse of these civilizations, often attributed to a combination of natural disasters, invasions, and internal decline.
Coastline Changes
Important changes to the coastlines throughout History.
Greek Poleis
Independent Greek poleis in the Mediterranean Basin between the 8th and 4th century BC.
Bronze Age
Mesopotamian Bronze Age
Mycenean Greece
Mycenean kingdoms that flourished between 1750 and 1050 BC.
Iron Age
The Iron Age, also known as the Greek Dark Ages, followed the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. This period saw a decline in population, trade, and literacy, though it laid the groundwork for the resurgence of Greek culture.
By the 8th century BC, Greece began its Archaic Period, marked by the emergence of city-states (poleis) like Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. Greek colonization spread across the Mediterranean and Black Seas, leading to cultural exchange and economic growth. The creation of the Greek alphabet, inspired by Phoenician script, allowed for the recording of epic poetry, such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
This period also saw the establishment of the Kingdom of Macedon
Iron Age
Rise of Macedon
Antiquity
The classical period of Greek antiquity began with the rise of Athens and Sparta as dominant powers. Athens developed democracy under leaders like Solon and Pericles, while Sparta cultivated a militarized society. The Persian Wars (499-449 BC) united Greek city-states against a common enemy, culminating in victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.
The 5th century BC saw a cultural flourishing, with achievements in philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), drama (Sophocles, Euripides), and art. However, the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) between Athens and Sparta weakened Greece, paving the way for Macedonian dominance under Philip II and Alexander the Great.
Alexander’s conquests spread Greek culture across the known world during the Hellenistic Period (323-31 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Empire fragmented into several successor states (the states of the Diadochi). By the 2nd century BC, Greece fell under Roman control, becoming the province of Achaea. Despite losing political autonomy, Greek culture profoundly influenced Roman art, philosophy, and governance.
With the Division of the Roman Empire, Greece became part of the Eastern part of the Empire.
Antique Greek Leagues
In Archaic and Classical Greece (between the Eighth and Fourth centuries BC), city-states often united into Leagues. Initially relatively democratic political organizations, in later centuries many were ruled by individual Poleis, some more powerful than others, such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth.
Ancient history
Rome
Greco-Persian Wars
Greco-Persian Wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states.
classical period of Ancient Greece
Fragmentation of the Odrysian Kingdom
Polities that emerged from the fragmentatione of the Odrysian Kingdom (2nd and 1st century BC).
Achaemenid Period
Wars of the Diadochi
Were a series of conflicts that were fought between the generals of Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, over who would rule his empire following his death.
Celtic Polities
All the Celtic polities that ever existed (covering Anatolia, Brittany, Ireland, Great Britain etc).
Seleucid Secessionist States
Polities that emerged during the dynastyc wars of the Seleucid Empire (312-62 BC).
Hellenistic Period
Roman Republic Classic Wars
Roman-Persian Wars
Were a series of Wars between Rome (first the Roman Republic then the Roman Empire and finally the Eastern Roman Empire) and Persia (the Parthian Empire, and then its successor, the Sasanian Empire). The wars were ended by the early Muslim conquests, which led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and huge territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire.
Roman Republic Internal Wars
Principate Times of Rome
Early Barbarian Invasions
Gothic Wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Roman Empire and the Goths.
Civil wars of the Tetrarchy
Factions during the Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy (306-324 AD).
Tetrarchy
Constantinian dynasty
Civil war of the Constantinian Dynasty
Polities ruled by the successors of Constantine The Great after his death (337 AD).
Late Roman Empire
Eastern Roman Empire
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western roman empire
Definitive Division of the Roman Empire
After the death of Theodosius I, the last Emperor of the whole Roman Empire, the empire was divided between his two sons in a Western and Eastern part.
Western Roman Empire
Barbarian kingdoms
Polities created by Germanic people (and a few other like the Alans) during the early Middle Ages.
Early Middle Ages
During the Early Middle Ages Greece was under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire. Centered in Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire maintained Greek as its dominant language and preserved many classical traditions.
This period was marked by an initial phase of expansion, when the Eastern Roman Empire was able to reconquer territories in Italy, Spain and North Africa. However, the Arab invasions led to the loss of Egypt and the Levant, the Bulgarians and Avars pushed from the north and the Turks in Anatolia. By the Year 1000 the Byzantine Empire was reduced to the core Greek territories of Greece and western Anatolia.
Barbarian Invasions
Early Eastern Roman Empire
Early Middle Ages
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Avar-Byzantine wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Avar Khaganate.
Early Muslim conquests
Were the military campaigns by the first three Islamic Caliphates (the Caliphate of Muhammad, the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate) that led to the Islamic conquest of most of the Middle East as well as the Iberian Peninsula.
arab caliphate
Arab-Byzantine Wars
Were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th century. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century.
Early Middle Ages
Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD.
Maritime Republics
Thalassocratic city-states of the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle Ages. Founded around the 9th century, in some cases they lasted until the 18th and 19th centuries (Venice, Genoa, Ragusa).
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The Franks
Rus'-Byzantine Wars
Were a series of military conflicts between the Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire.
Norse/Viking Polities
Polities created by the Norsemen in Europe and North America during the Middle Ages.
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Hungarian invasions
High Middle Ages
Byzantine Greece thrived as part of a revitalized empire under rulers like Basil II. The empire regained territories and fostered trade, particularly with Venetian and Genoese merchants.
However, the Fourth Crusade (1204) led to the sack of Constantinople and the fragmentation of Byzantine Greece. Western powers established the Latin Empire, and Frankish, Venetian, and Genoese rulers controlled various Greek territories, including the Duchy of Athens and the Despotate of Epirus. This period was called "Frankokratia" by the Greek population.
In 1261 the Nicaean Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos reconquered Constantinople and re-established the Byzantine Empire.
Holy Roman Empire
Polities that at some point were part of the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806).
Byzantine-Norman Wars
Were a series of wars between the Byzantines and the Normans in southern italy and the Balkan Peninsula.
Norman Polities in Southern Italy
All the polities founded by the Normans in Southern Italy between 860 and 1150 AD.
Byzantine-Seljuq wars
Were a series of conflicts in the Middle Ages between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire.
Conquests of Malik Shah I
Expansion during the rule of Malik Shah I in the Seljuk Empire.
Anatolian Beyliks
Turkish principalities in Anatolia that resulted from the fragmentation of the Seljuk Empire in the second half of the 13th century.
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Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the Medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291.
High Middle Ages
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Byzantine Fragmentation
Greek polities that succeeded the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade (1204).
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Bulgarian-Latin wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire.
Mongol invasions and conquests
Were a series of military campaigny by the Mongols that created the largest contiguous Empire in history, the Mongol Empire, which controlled most of Eurasia.
Military Campaigns of the Nicaean Empire
Were the military campaigns of the Nicaean Empire, the largest of the rump states that succeeded the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade, aimed to reconquer the territories of the Byzantine Empire. The Nicaean Empire was succesful in the reconquest of Constantinople and refounded the Byzantine Empire, but the former territorial extent of the Empire was never achieved.
Successors of the Mongol Empire
Polities emerged after the fall of the Mongol Empire (1206-1368).
Conquests of Michael VIII
Expansion during the rule of Michael VIII in the Byzantine Empire.
High Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages saw the gradual decline of Byzantine influence in Greece. The rising Ottoman Empire began encroaching on Greek territory, capturing key cities and territories. The Byzantine Empire was reduced to a shadow of its former self, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
By the end of the 15th century, most of Greece was under Ottoman rule, though some areas, like Crete, remained under Venetian control. Despite foreign domination, Greek culture and Orthodox Christianity endured, preserving the legacy of Hellenism.
Late Middle Ages
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Conquests of Orhan
Expansion during the rule of Orhan in the Ottoman Beylik.
Byzantine civil war of 1341-1347
Was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir, John V Palaiologos.
Late Middle Ages
Albanian Principalities
Medieval principalities founded by Albanian nobilty between 13th and 15th century, covering nowadays Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Macedonia and Montenegro (including the league of Lezhë).
Serbian Principalities
Principalities that emerged from the fragmentation of the Serbian Empire (1346-1371 AD).
Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars
Were a series of wars between the Ottomans and the Bulgarians that resulted in the Ottoman conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Ottoman-Venetian Wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice
Conquests of Charles I Tocco
Expansion during the rule of Charles I Tocco in the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.
Ottoman Interregnum
Interregnum that followed the war with Timur (1402-1413 AD).
Early modern period
During this period Ottoman rule in Greece was consolidated. The remaining territories controlled by Italian Maritime republics fell to the Ottomans.
Ottoman-Habsburg Wars
Were a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Domains. The conflicts started with the partition of Hungary between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs after the Battle of Mohács (1526).
Conquests of Selim II
Expansion during the rule of Selim II in the Ottoman Empire.
Conquests of Murad III
Expansion during the rule of Murad III in the Ottoman Empire.
Early modern period
Early modern period
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Period (1789-1815)
Greece was only marginally involved in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This period saw the establishment of a first indipendent Greek polity on the Ionian islands.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Were a series of conflicts between France and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1803 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They include the Coalition Wars as a subset: seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France - later the First French Empire - and its allies.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Polities
Napoleonic creations. It includes also principalities created in Germany but not German polities that already existed and just changed name or form.
19th Century
With the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) Greece, supported by European powers like Britain, France, and Russia, won independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of London (1830) established Greece as a sovereign state. This period also saw the establishment of minor Greek polities like the Cretan State and the Principality of Samos which were soon absorbed by the Kingdom of Greece.
XIX Century
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Greek War of Independence
Was the war of indipendence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.
XIX Century
From 1900 to the End of World War II
The 20th century began with Greece pursuing territorial expansion during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). World War I brought further gains, but the Asia Minor Campaign (1919-1922) ended in disaster, with the Greek population expelled from Turkey in the Greco-Turkish War.
During World War II, Greece resisted Axis forces, achieving a notable victory against Italy in 1940 before succumbing to German invasion.
After the end of World War II and the German Occupation, Greece also acquired the Dodecanese, a group of islands that were under Italian control.
World War I
Was a global conflict between two coalitions, the Allies (primarily France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States) and the Central Powers (led by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire). It was mainly caused by the competition of the western countries over domain in Europe and in the rest of the world with their colonial empires. The war ended with the defeat of the Central Powers. The war also caused the Russian Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War.
1900-1945
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1900-1945
Italo-Turkish War
Was a war beteen the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire caused by Italian colonial ambitions. It resulted in the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and of the Libyan coast (the interior was nominally ceded to Italy but not under its control).
World War I
Austria-Hungary Fragmentation
Turkish War of Independence
Was a series of military campaigns waged by the Turkish National Movement after parts of the Ottoman Empire were occupied and partitioned following its defeat in World War I. The war led to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.
World War II
Was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945 (it started sooner in certain regions) between the Axis Powers (mainly Germany, Japan and Italy) and the Allies (mainly the Soviet Union, the U.S.A., the U.K., China and France). It was the war with more fatalities in history. The war in Asia began when Japan invaded China on July 7, 1937. The war in Europe began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. The war ended with the complete defeat of the Axis powers, which were occupied by the Allies.
World War II
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Cold War Period
After World War II, Greece faced a civil war (1946-1949) between communist and anti-communist forces. The conflict left Greece aligned with the West during the Cold War, joining NATO in 1952.
The post-war period saw rapid economic growth and modernization, though political instability persisted. A military junta ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974, ending with the restoration of democracy and the establishment of the Third Hellenic Republic.
Cold War
Post-Cold War Period (1990-2010)
The post-Cold War era brought economic integration into the European Union. Greece adopted the euro in 2001 and experienced initial prosperity. However, the 2008 global financial crisis exposed underlying weaknesses in Greece’s economy, leading to a debt crisis and austerity measures.
