Greece Events

1650BC
to 1450BC
Minoan Eruption of Thera
The eruption of Santorini in Greece in 1,650 B.C. was one of the largest (VEI=6) in the last 10,000 years. About 7 cubic miles (30 cubic km) of rhyodacite magma was erupted. The plinian c...
776BC First Olympic Games Held in Olympia, Greece
The most widely accepted date for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, of the winners of a footrace held every four years star...
550BC Temple of Artemis Completed
The Temple of Artemis (Greek: Ἀρτεμίσιον, or Artemision), also known less precisely as Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis that was com...
432BC Statue of Zeus at Olympia Built
The great statue of Zeus at Olympia was sculpted by the Athenian artist, Pheidias. After completing his work on the Acropolis in 438 BC, Pheidias was commissioned by the Olympian priesth...
226BC Rhodes Earthquake
The Colossus only stood for 56 years before it was levelled by an earthquake in 226 BC. The force of the earthquake was such the statue snapped off at the knees and fell over on to the la...
1940 Apr 13 Greek Forces Withdraw to Pindus to Fight Pitched Battle against Italian Invaders
The position of the Greek First Army, still fighting in Albania, was seriously jeopardized by the rapid advance of the XL Panzer Corps via Florina and by the British withdrawal to posit...
1940 Oct 28 Italian Forces Invade Greece
On 28 October 1940, after Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding the occupation of Greek territory, Italian forces invaded Greece. The Hellenic Army counte...
1940 Nov 14 Greek Forces Launch Counter-offensive on Italians
Greek reserves started reaching the front in early November, while Bulgarian inactivity allowed the Greek High Command to transfer the majority of its divisions from the Greco-Bulgarian b...
1941 Mar 27
to 1941 Mar 29
 Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan (Greek: Ναυμαχία του Ταίναρου) was a World War II naval battle fought from March 27 to March 29, 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnes...
1941 Apr 6 Battle of Fort Roupel
Like the Maginot Line on the Franco-German border, the Metaxas Line was outflanked by German forces specifically when the Germans invaded Greece in April 1941 through Yugoslavia. The Germ...
1941 Apr 9 German Forces Seize Thessaloniki
On the dawn of April 6, the German armies invaded Greece, while the Luftwaffe began an intensive bombardment of Belgrade. The XL Panzer Corps—which had been intended for use in an attack ...
1941 Apr 11
to 1941 Apr 12
 Battle of Vevi (1941)
The Klidi Pass is between 100 metres (0.062 mi) and 500 metres (0.31 mi) wide, a winding defile, with steep, rocky and treeless sides up to 1,000 metres high. On April 11, Vasey's thre...
1941 Apr 23 Official Surrender of Greek Forces in Albania to Axis Powers
On April 20, the commander of the Greek forces in Albania, General Georgios Tsolakoglou, realized the hopelessness of the situation and offered to surrender his army, which then consisted...
1941 Apr 24
to 1941 Apr 25
 Battle of Thermopylae (1941)
The Battle of Thermopylae during World War II occurred in 1941 following the retreat from the Olympus and Servia passes. British Commonwealth forces began to set up defensive position at ...
1941 Apr 27 Athens Falls to Axis Powers
Few Greeks cooperated with the Nazis and most chose either the path of passive acceptance or active resistance. Active Greek resistance started immediately as many Greeks fled to the hill...
1941 May 20 Germany Launches Airborne Attack on the Island of Crete
The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta; Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης) was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. The battle began on the morning of 20 May 1...
1941 May 21 British Forces Launch Naval Attack through the Kaso Strait
Admiral Andrew Cunningham, determined that no German troop transports should reach Crete, sent Admiral King's Force C (three cruisers and four destroyers) into the Aegean through the Kaso...
1941 May 23 Allies Begin Retreat Southward Across Crete
Fighting against a constant supply of fresh enemy troops, the Allies began a series of retreats working southward across Crete. The 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of Kelly, Kipling...
1941 May 28 Evacuations of Allied Forces from Crete Begins
Over four nights, 16,000 troops were evacuated to Egypt by ships including the light cruiser HMS Ajax. The majority of these troops embarked from Sphakia. A smaller number were withdrawn ...
1941 Jun 1 Island of Crete Surrenders to Germany
"Of course, General you know that after Crete we shall never do another Airborne operation. The parachute arm is one that relies entirely on surprise. That surprise factor has now exhauste..." —Adolf Hitler
1943 Mar 15 Germans Begin Deportations of Thessaloniki Jews
On March 15, 1943, the Germans began deporting the Jews from Thessaloniki. Every three days, freightcars crammed with an average of 2,000 Thessaloniki Jews headed toward Auschwitz-Birken...
1943 Sep 21 Germany Commences Weeklong Massacre of the Acqui Division (Cephalonia Massacre)
The massacre started on 21 September, and lasted for one week. After the Italian surrender, Hitler had issued an order allowing the Germans to summarily execute any Italian officer who re...
1943 Sep 26 Battle of Leros Begins with German Attack
The German forces assembling for Unternehmen Leopard ("Operation Leopard") under the command of Generalleutnant Müller, comprised III./Infanterie-Regiment 440, II./IR 16 and II./IR 65 of ...
1943 Nov 16 British Surrender to Germany at Leros
On the morning of 16 November it became apparent to the British commander, Brigadier Tilney, that their situation was untenable and he surrendered. 3200 British and 5350 Italian soldiers ...
1943 Dec 13 Massacre of Kalavryta
The Holocaust of Kalavryta (Greek: Ολοκαύτωμα των Καλαβρύτων), or the Massacre of Kalavryta (Σφαγή των Καλαβρύτων), refers to the extermination of the male population and the subsequent t...
1944 Feb 29 British Agents in Greece and Occupying Germans Agree to Ceasefire with the Signing of the Plaka Agreement
When the German offensive abated somewhat, General Zervas sent his EDES fighters to counterattack ELAS in the hopes of regaining ground lost in the earlier fighting. In early January 1944...
1944 Mar 25 Deportation of the Jews of Ioannina
While detained, [Dr. Moses Koffinas] learned of German plans to deport Jews, and smuggled a note out to Sabetai Kabelis, a prominent member of the Jewish Community Board, advising the Jew...
1944 Jun 10 Distomo Massacre
At that point the tragedy of Distomo begins. The residents, that did not accomplish to slip from Diaskelo earlier, the only unguarded crossing towards the sea, are closed terrified in t...
1944 Jul 3 EDES-German Truce Ends as German Occupiers Begin Evacuation of Greece
When Italy surrendered to the Allies in the fall of 1943, German forces actively hunted down and, in some cases executed, the Italian soldiers and simultaneously began serious attacks on ...
1944 Oct 12 Liberation of Athens from German Occupation
As the last German soldiers take the swastika down from the Acropolis and begin to drive through the city towards the road north they pass through crowds of Athenians in a state of joy, w...
1946 Mar The Greek Civil War Reignites Following Attack on a Police Station in Litohoro
The Greek Civil War (Greek: ο Eμφύλιος [Πόλεμος], "the Civil War") was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by Britain and the USA, and the Democratic Army...
1978 Oct 12 Spyros Tanker Disaster
FORTY-EIGHT people were killed and nearly 100 injured, most of them seriously, in an explosion and fire on board the Greek tanker Spyros at Jurong Shipyard yesterday -- the worst disaster...
1999 Sep 7 Athens Earthquake
The 1999 Athens earthquake, registering a moment magnitude of 6.0, occurred on September 7, 1999, at 2:56:50 pm local time and lasted approximately 15 seconds. The tremor was epicentered ...
2004 Aug 13
to 2004 Aug 29
 Games of the XXVIII Olympiad Held in Athens, Greece
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004...
2011 Oct 30 Greek Prime Minister Papandreou Announces Referendum on EU Bailout
The Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, stunned Europe's leaders on Monday after he proposed that his country should hold a referendum on the landmark European debt deal reached last...
2011 Nov 3 Reports Indicate Greek Prime Minister Ready to Drop Referendum on EU Bailout
Officials close to Greek prime minister tell the Associated Press and Reuters that the controversial bailout referendum has been scrapped.
2011 Nov 4 Greek Prime Minister Papandreou Survives Confidence Vote
Prime Minister George Papandreou, fresh from winning a confidence vote, will attempt to shore up support for an international rescue after Greece’s main opposition party rejected his offe...