The Kingdom of Greece (Greek: Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Vasíleion tīs Elládos) was a state established in 1832 in the Convention of London by the Great Powers
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
July Monarchy France and the Russian Empire). It was internationally recognized in the Treaty of Constantinople, where it also secured full independence from the Ottoman Empire. It succeeded from the
Greek provisional governments of the Greek War of Independence, and lasted until 1924, when the monarchy was abolished, and the
Second Hellenic Republic declared. The Kingdom was restored in 1935,
and lasted until 1974, when, in the aftermath of a seven-year military
dictatorship, the current Third Republic came into
existence.
House of Wittelsbach
Otto, the first king of modern Greece.
The Greeks had risen up against the Ottoman Empire in 1821, leading to a struggle
which lasted until 1829. Greece had been led since 1828 by Count John Capodistria, but
after his assassination in 1831 the country descended into civil war. At this stage, the Great Powers stepped in and decided to
make Greece a kingdom. At the London Conference of 1832, Great Britain, France and
Russia (the Great Powers at the time) offered the
Greek throne to the 17-year-old Bavarian Prince Otto of
the ruling House of Wittelsbach, who became the first King of Greece. Otto was a minor when he arrived in Greece and thus a Council of
Regents ruled in his name until 1835. In 1835, Otto began a period of absolute
monarchy in which he selected an advisor (usually Bavarian) to serve as the President of the
Council of State. At times, he himself was his own chief councilor.
September 3 revolution
By 1843, public dissatisfaction with Otto and the "Bavarocracy" had reached a tipping point, and the people were starting to
make demands for a constitution. Initially Otto refused to grant a constitution, but as soon as German troops were withdrawn from the kingdom, a military coup was launched. On 3 September 1843, the infantry, led by Colonel Dimitrios Kallergis and the respected
Revolution captain Ioannis Makriyannis assembled in the square in front of the palace
in Athens. The rebellion refused to disperse until the king agreed to grant a constitution, which would require that there be
Greeks in the council, that he convene a permanent national assembly, and that Otto personally thank the leaders of the uprising.
King Otto gave in to the pressure and agreed to the demands of the crowd.
House of Oldenburg-Glücksburg
George I, King of the Hellenes.
After King Otto was deposed in 1862, 17-year-old Prince William of
Denmark was elected to the throne as a constitutional
monarch, known as George I. He reigned for 50 years, and his tenure is remembered for expanding the boundaries of Greece
(upon his accession to the crown, Britain ceded the Ionian Islands to Greece), its
economic progress and the acceptance of the concept that the government should be headed up by the leader of the party that
received the most votes in the previous election, not whichever minister was most favored by the king. Nevertheless, King George
I was quite politically active. He was assassinated in 1913 in Thessaloniki, which had
recently been annexed to Greece as a result of Greek victory in the First Balkan
War.
King George I was succeeded by his son, King Constantine I, who had
distinguished himself as a military leader in Greece's drive to add territory to her demesne. He was educated in Germany, and married Sophia, the daughter of the Kaiser. Constantine
was perceived as pro-German, in opposition to Eleftherios Venizelos' support for
the Triple Entente. Further bolstering this view was the king's overt efforts to keep
Greece neutral in the First World War. The Entente
Powers backed Eleftherios Venizelos and after a period, known as the National
Schism, where separate governments were established in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece joined the Entente and King Constantine was
forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Alexander in 1917. Greece was rewarded for her support of the winning side in the war with territories in Asia Minor including Smyrna. King Alexander died in 1920 from a monkey bite and
his father returned as king. After the disastrous Greco-Turkish War
(1919-1922), King Constantine was deposed again and he died in exile in Sicily.
Greek stamp printed in 1963 on the 100th Anniversary of the accession of the
House of Oldenburg-Glücksburg in Greece, depicting 5 of the 6 Greek
kings of that House
(Constantine II is not included, as he had not yet ascended the throne).
King Constantine was now succeeded by his eldest son, King George II, who left
the country in 1924 when the Second Hellenic Republic was declared. In
1935 a military coup headed by General Georgios Kondylis abolished the Republic, and
staged a plebiscite which approved the restoration of the monarchy. King George
II returned to the country, where he subsequently actively supported the dictatorial Metaxas Regime. During the German invasion of Greece in
1941, he fled with the government to Egypt. He returned to Greece in 1946 and reigned until his death in 1947.
King George was followed by his last brother, King Paul who reigned from
1947 until his death in 1964. His son, King Constantine
II was king until he was exiled by a military junta in December
1967. The Junta eventually staged a carefully controlled plebiscite in 1973,
which led to the abolition of the monarchy. Georgios Papadopoulos became the new
President of Greece on 1 June
1973.
The reign of the military junta effectively ended the following year but Constantine II was not restored to the throne. The
matter of his restoration was set in another plebiscite in December 1974, where
69% of Greeks voted for the final abolition of the monarchy.
See also
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