History of Greece
In Greece, history starts approximately 12 thousand years back in time during the Palaeolithic era (11.000-3000 BC).The oldest human skull in Europe has been found in Petralona Cave, in Chalkidiki.
All over Greece, jewels, tools, and domestic remains witness the history of the area, and the cultural progress till the Bronze Age.
During the Bronze Age, three important civilisations developed in Greece.
1) The Cycladic civilisation on the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea and the surrounding coasts.
2) The great civilisations of the Minoan on the island of Crete,
3) The Mycenaean civilisation on the mainland Greece.
The cultural progress succeeded during the Geometrical Ages and the Archaic period, led to the golden years of the Greek History known as The Classical Period of Greece (6th -4th centuries BC).
Art, Science, Sports, Philosophy, Architecture as every other basic element of our Modern Western Civilisation and History was invented or developed to its modern form at that time of history.
The victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great, formed a strong Empire during the Hellenistic period, and spread the Greek Language and Civilisation, all over the Mediterranean Sea and up to the Caspian Sea and India.
200 years later, the Romans beat the Macedonians, triumph over the divided states of the Empire, and, the Pax Romana rule the entire Ancient Greek world.
In 324 BC, Emperor Constantine, transfers the Roman Empire capital from Rome to Byzantium, a city located at the northern bank of Bosporus. The capital renamed as Constantinople, the official religion converted to Christianity, and later on, the 4th Century AC when the Empire officially divided to the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Civilisation raises.
The collapse of the Western part of the Empire triggers the transformation of the Eastern Roman Empire into the Greek Byzantine Empire which lasted for over 11 centuries.
The end of the Greek Byzantine Empire comes in 1453, when the Ottomans conquer Constantinople, and gradually establish The Ottoman Empire for the next 400 years.
Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. The Greek War for Independence started from the Peloponnese in 1821 and ended on March 1831. Gradually the next 100 years, Greece reunited with the Greek islands and most of the neighbouring territories with the Greek-speaking populations.
In World War II (1940), Greece was first invaded unsuccessfully by Italy, but later on occupied by German forces. till.
The end of the World War II (1944), triggers in Greece, a civil war between the right wind Government forces and the Communist rebels which were finally defeated in 1949. Greece joined NATO in 1952.
In 1967 a military dictatorship, suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country.
In 1974, the democratic elections and a referendum, created a parliamentary republic called the Greek Democracy, and abolished the foreign monarchy.
Greece joined the European Community in 1981 and became the 12th member of the euro zone in 2001.