Southern Europe · GRC

Greece

The story · 11 chapters

How it was drawn

Minoans and Mycenaeans, then city states, then Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman provinces; modern Greece began small in 1832 and grew in steps until 1947.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Greece fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Achaemenid Empire499 BC to 449 BC
The Persian Empire ruled the Greek cities of Ionia and twice invaded mainland Greece. The Greeks won at Marathon in 490 BC and at Salamis and Plataea in 480 and 479 BC. Fighting in the Aegean went on until about 449 BC.
Roman Republic215 BC to 146 BC
Rome fought four wars with the kingdom of Macedon from 215 BC and won at Pydna in 168 BC. When the Achaean League rose in 146 BC, Rome destroyed Corinth and took control of Greece.
Visigoths395 to 397
Alaric's Visigoths rampaged through Greece in 395 and 396, sacking Corinth, Argos and Sparta and sparing Athens. The general Stilicho trapped them in the Peloponnese, but they escaped north to Epirus.
First Bulgarian Empire894 to 1018
Bulgaria and Byzantium fought for the Balkans for over a century. Tsar Simeon reached the walls of Constantinople, and Tsar Samuel ruled much of Macedonia. Emperor Basil II won at Kleidion in 1014 and completed the conquest of Bulgaria in 1018.
Republic of Venice1204 to 1715
After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Venice took Crete and many Aegean islands and ruled them for centuries. Its interests often clashed with Greek rulers, and Venice lost its last major holdings in the Aegean and the Peloponnese to the Ottomans by 1715.
Serbian Empire1342 to 1355
Stefan Dusan of Serbia took Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly from the weakened Byzantines and was crowned Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks in 1346. His empire broke up after his death in 1355.
Ottoman Empire1354 to 1913
The Ottomans crossed into Europe at Gallipoli in 1354, took Thessaloniki in 1430 and Constantinople in 1453. The Greek War of Independence began in 1821, and later wars, ending with the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, won back most Greek lands.
Kingdom of Bulgaria1912 to 1944
Allies against the Ottomans in 1912, Greece and Bulgaria fought each other over Macedonia in the Second Balkan War of 1913. Bulgaria occupied parts of eastern Macedonia and Thrace in both world wars.
Turkish National Movement1919 to 1923
Greece landed troops at Smyrna in 1919 and advanced deep into Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal's forces stopped them at the Sakarya in 1921 and drove them out in 1922. Smyrna burned, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 fixed the border.
Kingdom of Italy1923 to 1947
Italy held the Dodecanese from 1912 and bombarded Corfu in 1923. It invaded Greece from Albania in October 1940 but was pushed back. Italy occupied much of Greece from 1941 to 1943 and gave up the Dodecanese in 1947.
Nazi Germany1941 to 1944
Germany invaded Greece in April 1941 and took Crete by airborne assault in May. The occupation brought famine, reprisals against villages such as Distomo and Kalavryta, and the deportation of most of Greece's Jews. Athens was freed in October 1944.
Republic of TurkeySince 1974Still open
Greece and Turkey dispute Aegean airspace, territorial waters and the continental shelf, and came close to war over the Imia islets in 1996. Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, after a coup backed by the Athens junta, still divides the island.

Today

Greece now

Greece won independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830 and became a kingdom. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In World War II, Greece was first invaded by Italy (1940) and subsequently occupied by Germany (1941-44); fighting endured in a protracted civil war between supporters of the king and other anti-communist and communist rebels.

Capital: Athens
Government: parliamentary republic
Head of government: 9811205000
Head of state: Konstantinos Tasoulas
Languages: Greek
Area: 131,960 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population10.2 million2023 · 7.7 million in 1950
Life expectancy81.9 years2023 · 66.2 years in 1950
GDP per person$25,2832022 · $3,052 in 1950
Living in cities79%2025 · 52% in 1950
Literacy94%2009 · 73% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending3.0% of GDP2025 · 6.0% of GDP in 1950
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

Cyprus
United States

Tensions

Turkiye

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Greece fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Achaemenid Empire499 BC to 449 BC

The Persian Empire ruled the Greek cities of Ionia and twice invaded mainland Greece. The Greeks won at Marathon in 490 BC and at Salamis and Plataea in 480 and 479 BC. Fighting in the Aegean went on until about 449 BC.

Roman Republic215 BC to 146 BC

Rome fought four wars with the kingdom of Macedon from 215 BC and won at Pydna in 168 BC. When the Achaean League rose in 146 BC, Rome destroyed Corinth and took control of Greece.

Visigoths395 to 397

Alaric's Visigoths rampaged through Greece in 395 and 396, sacking Corinth, Argos and Sparta and sparing Athens. The general Stilicho trapped them in the Peloponnese, but they escaped north to Epirus.

First Bulgarian Empire894 to 1018

Bulgaria and Byzantium fought for the Balkans for over a century. Tsar Simeon reached the walls of Constantinople, and Tsar Samuel ruled much of Macedonia. Emperor Basil II won at Kleidion in 1014 and completed the conquest of Bulgaria in 1018.

Republic of Venice1204 to 1715

After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Venice took Crete and many Aegean islands and ruled them for centuries. Its interests often clashed with Greek rulers, and Venice lost its last major holdings in the Aegean and the Peloponnese to the Ottomans by 1715.

Serbian Empire1342 to 1355

Stefan Dusan of Serbia took Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly from the weakened Byzantines and was crowned Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks in 1346. His empire broke up after his death in 1355.

Ottoman Empire1354 to 1913

The Ottomans crossed into Europe at Gallipoli in 1354, took Thessaloniki in 1430 and Constantinople in 1453. The Greek War of Independence began in 1821, and later wars, ending with the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, won back most Greek lands.

Kingdom of Bulgaria1912 to 1944

Allies against the Ottomans in 1912, Greece and Bulgaria fought each other over Macedonia in the Second Balkan War of 1913. Bulgaria occupied parts of eastern Macedonia and Thrace in both world wars.

Turkish National Movement1919 to 1923

Greece landed troops at Smyrna in 1919 and advanced deep into Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal's forces stopped them at the Sakarya in 1921 and drove them out in 1922. Smyrna burned, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 fixed the border.

Kingdom of Italy1923 to 1947

Italy held the Dodecanese from 1912 and bombarded Corfu in 1923. It invaded Greece from Albania in October 1940 but was pushed back. Italy occupied much of Greece from 1941 to 1943 and gave up the Dodecanese in 1947.

Nazi Germany1941 to 1944

Germany invaded Greece in April 1941 and took Crete by airborne assault in May. The occupation brought famine, reprisals against villages such as Distomo and Kalavryta, and the deportation of most of Greece's Jews. Athens was freed in October 1944.

Republic of TurkeySince 1974Still open

Greece and Turkey dispute Aegean airspace, territorial waters and the continental shelf, and came close to war over the Imia islets in 1996. Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, after a coup backed by the Athens junta, still divides the island.

Greece now

Capital

Athens

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

9811205000

Head of state

Konstantinos Tasoulas

Languages

Greek

Area

131,960 km²

Then and now

Population10.2 million2023 · 7.7 million in 1950

Life expectancy81.9 years2023 · 66.2 years in 1950

GDP per person$25,2832022 · $3,052 in 1950

Living in cities79%2025 · 52% in 1950

Literacy94%2009 · 73% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending3.0% of GDP2025 · 6.0% of GDP in 1950

War deathsNone2025