Greece History

Greece was the birthplace of European civilization. The period from 700BC saw the rise of the great city states of Athens, Corinth and Sparta, frequently engaged in long struggles for supremacy, and uniting only when faced with the common threat of invasion by the Persian Empire. The zenith was reached in the fifth century BC when Athens became the cultural and artistic center of the Mediterranean, producing magnificent works of architecture, sculpture, drama and literature. Athens lost her empire through a mutually destructive struggle with her arch rival Sparta. The nation was then forcibly united under Alexander the Great. After defeating the sagging military might of Persia in a number of major battles, the expansion of the empire spread Greek influence through the East as far as India and through Egypt. The empire fragmented after Alexander’s death in 323 BC, and the fall of Greek hegemony was completed when the country came under the sway of Rome. Under the Roman emperor Constantine, the empire gained a new capital in Constantinople, and Greece came under the control of the Eastern Empire when the empire divided. The Byzantines were, however, unable effectively to defend the whole of their empire from invaders, and only occasionally did Greece enjoy the security of effective imperial rule. The major beneficiaries of this were the Venetians, who increased their influence in Greece and other parts of the empire.

Byzantium finally fell to the Turks in 1453, although the process of conquest was already well underway by the end of the 14th century. For the next 350 years, Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire. Many attempts were made to shake off the yoke of the Ottomans, such as the rising of 1770, which was supported by Catherine the Great. After a bitter War of Independence from 1821, a free state was declared in 1829. The effective consolidation was a gradual process, the last territory to be handed back being the Dodecanese Islands in 1945. Until 1967, Greece was a monarchy but the country then endured the rule of the Colonels. After their fall in 1974, elections gave the New Democracy Party (ND) a majority. A subsequent referendum rejected the idea of a return to monarchical rule. However, since 1981, with the exception of a single spell from 1990 to 1993 when ND regained power, Greece has been governed by the center-left Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). From 1981 until his death in 1996, the dominant figure both in PASOK and in Greek politics was Andreas Papandreou, a charismatic and highly effective politician who maintained, for the most part, a firm grip over his party. In his later years, both he and the party were tainted by repeated allegations of corruption. Nonetheless, since his death, the new PASOK leader, Costas Simitis, has managed to keep PASOK in office through two general elections: firstly, soon after Papandreou’s death and, most recently, by virtue of a wafer-thin majority at the April 2000 poll. The main objective of the second Simitis administration was to steer Greece into the euro-zone. This was done successfully but at the cost of domestic unpopularity due to the necessary economic measures.

The EU has also been at the heart of Greek foreign policy and although Greece has occasionally found itself at odds with its partners on a number of important issues, it has derived important dividends from this approach. One of these has been a slow but steady improvement in relations with Turkey, which itself aspires to EU membership: despite common membership of NATO, bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece have historically been among the worst between any two European countries. The principal causes are the continuing division of Cyprus (see Cyprus section) and control of territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. But the accession of Greek-controlled Cyprus to the EU in 2004 may act as a catalyst to a final resolution of that problem: indeed, Greece has now explicitly backed Turkey’s own EU application.

Greece also keeps a wary eye on the Balkan states to its north. Independence for the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM) was initially blocked by Greece before a complete settlement between the two countries was agreed in 1995 (see Macedonia section). During the conflict in the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro), Greece was actively involved in finding a peaceful political settlement although it objected strongly to the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo against the Serbs. Instability in Albania is another irritant and Greece has come close to closing its border on several occasions to prevent mass illegal immigration.

Another constant irritant in relations with the UK and the US has been the 25-year assassination campaign by the far-left November-17 guerrilla organization, which targeted prominent Greeks and foreign nationals. By the end of 2002, cooperation between Greek and foreign agencies - which had previously been lacking - finally brought about the demise of November-17. For the Greek authorities, the elimination of the domestic terrorist threat was an essential precursor to the success of the 2004 Olympic Games.

Government
Greece is a unicameral parliamentary democracy. The 300-member parliament is elected for a maximum four-year term by adult suffrage. The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party. The President is Head of State and is elected for a five-year term but has no executive powers.

Economy
Traditionally agricultural, accession to the EU gave a new impetus to the Greek economy, particularly the industrial sectors of textiles, clothing and shoes, cement, mining and metals, chemicals, steel and processed agricultural products. Nonetheless, 12% of the working population still work the land - a very high proportion by EU standards.

Tourism, the most important service industry, has boomed since the 1980s, with upwards of 14 million tourists now visiting the country annually, providing 15% of the GDP. Shipping is also an important source of income: Greece has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world. The country exports large quantities of wheat, barley, maize, tobacco and fruit to the rest of the EU and elsewhere. 

The Greeks have benefited substantially from transfers of funds within the EU and support for its large public-sector debt. Growth is around 4.1%, with inflation nearly 3%, and unemployment hovering around 8.8% in 2006. Greece’s huge public-sector deficit prevented it from meeting the convergence criteria for the European single currency and the country entered the Euro zone in January 2001. The EU accounts for about 65% of Greek trade.


Next Page »

Related Greece Content