Ottoman Occupation

A “dark age” started for the Greeks with the arrival of the Ottomans and the collapse of the Byzantine empire. When the Ottomans arrived, two Greek migrations occurred.

The first migration mostly involved the Greek intellectuals who mostly migrated to Western Europe and influencing the advent of the Renaissance. Some of them also migrated to Russia and other eastern European countries The second migration involved Greeks leaving the plains of the Greek peninsula and resettling in the mountains so that they cannot be easily reached by the Ottomans (and hence live a relatively more free life).

When they Ottomans occupied the Greek mainland they introduced the millet system which contributed to the ethnic cohesion of Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the Ottoman Empire based on religion.

The Greeks revolted several times while their land was occupied by the Ottomans, but none of these revolts were succesful. All this changed with the creation of Filiki eteria in 1814 which expanded rapidly and was able to recruit members in all areas of the Greek world. This time the Greek revolution proved successful, not only because the timing chosen was right (with the Ottomans weakened and preoccupied with other revolts in their area of influence), but also because this time the Greek revolt aroused widespread sympathy throughout Europe because of the Greek origin of the West’s classical heritage. Many wealthy Western European aristocrats (mostly British and French), such as the renowned poet Lord Byron and later the physician Samuel Howe, helped finance, and in some cases also took up arms themsleves, to join the Greek revolutionaries.

Greece finally gained its independence and create the first Greek Republic initially in 1830, which later evolved into the Kingdom of Greece in 1832.