What Was the Megali Idea? | The Growth of Greece Explained

What made Greece grow?
Right after securing its independence from the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Greece contained only a quarter of the world's Greeks. The remainder still lived under the Ottomans or would come to be colonial subjects of other powers. That situation was obviously untenable. Amongst the Greeks, the notion of Greater Greece―the Megali Idea―took root and was at the center of their politics for a century.
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Sources Consulted:
Jelavich, Charles, and Barbara Jelavich. The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnq62.
Karpat, Kemal H. “Ottoman Population Records and the Census of 1881/82-1893.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 9, no. 3 (1978): 237-74. www.jstor.org/stable/162764
Ker-Lindsay, James. The Cyprus Problem: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2011.
books.google.com/books/about/...
Miller, James Edward. “Introduction: Manifest Destiny Meets the Megali Idea.” In The United States and the Making of Modern Greece: History and Power, 1950-74, 1-22. University of North Carolina Press, 2009. doi.org/10.5149/9780807887943....
Miller, Stuart T. Mastering Modern European History. London: Macmillan Education LTD, 1990.

[@iwannisbalaouras1687]

Thank you from a Greek, you cover a subject that don't take a lot of spotlight

[@mehmetbartuyalcn4109]

weak greek no megali idea

[@iwannisbalaouras1687]

@@mehmetbartuyalcn4109 ok

[@giddy9831]

@@mehmetbartuyalcn4109 nuh-uh

[@1Source]

Do you think the greek empire expanded with peace? This video falls to address ancient greek history.

[@VladTevez]

Another great video!

[@chriskw4362]

For those interested, at the beginning, the idea was to demand more rights by the sultan so Greeks could enter the Ottoman parliament and try to take control of the state from there as all major trade and production was controlled by Greeks and Armenians.

[@user-yd7rh1zk1j]

Yup, that's how the greeks did achieve to take control of Eastern Roman Empire.

[@chriskw4362]

@@user-yd7rh1zk1j Not quite. In the Roman Empire, the Greeks were considered equal to the Romans. Hence, when the Romans conquered the Greek world, some cities had small armies and some form of autonomy. The Roman world was based on the Greek so integration came fast as basically for the Greeks nothing changed.

[@christosferizis-synodinos8851]

Ok ok Hear me out SPY GAMING

[@guitarvass7]

@@user-yd7rh1zk1j That is not true at all. From 212 all free men in the Roman Empire obtained Roman citizenship. From then on all (free) greeks were roman citizens. That's why they kept calling themselves romans and not greeks/hellenes during the Eastern Roman Empire period aka byzantine empire.

[@FranzJoh]

@@christosferizis-synodinos8851 Nuh uh Engineer Gaming

[@bbenjoe]

The 20th century was quite turbulent for Greece. There were many coups, revolutions and even a civil war. The monarchy was abolished in 1973. The last king, Constantine II died in January, 2023.

[@thegamingrhino5864]

I see the inspiration from History Matters. Love the video 👍

[@MrHOPETOSEEYOU]

The Megali Idea or Turan (Unity of All Turkic Peoples) is nowadays quite frustrating and unrealistic. There should be only one idea acceptable to all people living peacefully in one world

[@matthew7027]

gay.

[@kadircanyldran1849]

yarrak malaka aynı şeymi??? they are already independent ours is united 1 ethnics not being 1 country.. u want to unite or what? :D bitchy bitch seniii D:

[@Yasemin95857]

Why? Then why do EU exist?

[@thanasis-_-]

Btw instanbul comes from the Greek phrase "εις την πόλιν" which means to the city.

[@gozcubukcu1]

There are a lot of places in Turkey that are a variation of the old names. I think Izmir is from to the sea. For example, there is a type of cherries in Turkey that are called Napoleon Cherries. The original name was Apollon Cherries somehow in time the name changed.

[@KlaviersAnthology]

​@@gozcubukcu1of course, cause the older Ottomans didn't have enough vocabulary to describe and name their cities once they were conquered so they used as names what they were perceiving from hearing others saying occasionally about these cities. Of course they wouldn't accept preserving their old names though too.

[@gozcubukcu1]

@@KlaviersAnthology I believe the wanted to keep something similar. For example, Istanbul's name wasn't officially changed until 28 March 1930. After the Turkish Republic was founded. The Ottomans used Kostantiniyye for some time. Which was a variation of Constantinople.

[@mikel3359]

​​​​@@gozcubukcu1I think that izmir is just from the "i smyrni" (the smyrna), i smyr, i zmir. The same also for "i constan tinoy poli" (the constantinople) perhaps, i constan poli , i stan boli. poli,boli = city.

[@cornplastics]

The remark about freedoming Balkan slavs as priority of Russian Empire in wars with Porta is quite strange. As Russian myself, i had to say, that the most valuable thing for us is not nationality or roots. It's Orthodoxia, nothing more, it's principle thing. Yes, we love Serbs and Bulgarians as slavic brothers but orthodox unity is way more important for sure. And you can easily find out the same point in political post of our ambassadors in Porta, for example, in times of Hellenes resistance or Balkan wars. In school, we were studying about all that stuff and i remember about "Greek Project" of Ekaterina II which was based excatly on liberation of Hellas, giving them back their lands occupied by Porta and Constantinople too. Some of this plans were realized in 1770-s, on Hellenes islands (Paros, as far as i remember). Shame then were nothing more. Also, there were a lot of Hellas in Russian Empire: in goverment, army, church, etc. They leave their unforgettable mark in our history, and this is besides that Hellas (Romeis would be more accurate but for us it's all Hellas) give us christianity and alphabet earlier :) They gifted us loads of civilisation, in fact. Many Hellenes descendants live in Russia by now, amazing people with great culture. It's rather fun fact, but every person in Russia that i've met within my whole life said only positive stuff about Hellas and Hellenes and all are sad about Romei Empire (which is directly accotiated with Hellas for us), national resistance in XIX and XX, enosis in Cyprus and other historical things. Maybe it's because we are all orthodox christians. Anyway, it's a great video, thank you. And send love to Hellenes from Russia ❤ Zito Ellada!

[@creativehorse7907]

I wouldn't speak for all.

[@angelosdaresis1477]

"The fact is that, following that of the USA the Greek Revolution was the first liberal and national movement to succeed in Europe and developed simultaneously with similar movements in South America, while it preceded the well-known large national unifications in Europe of Italy and Germany. The Greeks did not invent the nation-state, but they were the first in Europe to implement it." Roderick Beaton, "The Greeks: a global history", New York: Basic books 2021

[@justsefa1843]

"The Greeks did not invent the nation-state, but they were the first in Europe to implement it."" That doesnt really make sense. The French created a nation-state with the French revolution. Their ideas were exported across Europe, which is why the idea of nation-states became popular in the first place. Specifically among minorities.

[@OneRichMofo]

The first revolution in Europe was the French and Napoleon's actions were what sparked independence movements throughout.

[@highevan]

@@OneRichMofo Many people tend to forget, that the French revolution of 1789 was eventually UNSUCCESFULL. The first republic didn't last long and later on Napoleon utterly lost and the Bourbon monarchy was reinstated for another 80 or so years. Even during Napoleon's reign one can't speak of a French Nation-state but of an empire with an emperor. I think that's why Beaton states that "they were the first in Europe to implement it".

[@justsefa1843]

@@highevan The French had a nation state under Napleon and literally spread the ideas of a nation-state across Europe. Like what "unsuccesfull" nonsense are you talking about? Napleon was eventually defeated, but this does not invalidated the decades of a french nation-state.

[@highevan]

@@justsefa1843 Napoleon was the leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then of the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and briefly again in 1815... And then the Bourbons took over again. So basically the French Nation-state lasted until 1804. When the Greek nation-stated was created in 1830 there was no French nation-state. Roderick Beaton is a very respected and recognized expert historian and he must have his reasons for making the above mentioned statement. I think that is the actual reason...

[@emilianohermosilla3996]

Great video!

[@troncdenadal2816]

Hey I really liked the videos you do on how former empires or countries worked and since you also did a video on how the Kingdom of Yugoslavia worked I was wondering if you could also make one about how the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia worked? Thank you for these videos they're really well done and informative!

[@LookBackHistory]

I find Yugoslavia fascinating so that's definitely a possibility. Thanks for the great comment!

[@voskreglavincevska7080]

It was entuziastic time when statistical records were well exsamined and the new World was to be build . Everybody was free to declare themselves what is their ethnicity and republics were made democratically. But neighbouring countries didn't like to realise and supprt it as example of unique of society which was supposed to become one nation Yugoslavian by time like new Europe was deserving ! Something like USA is ! Like today we are all preparing to become one European nation and live behind great colonial desires ! We became great prospective unit , and shame to everybody who is not understanding that it is good to be different but united . We have still that strong feeling and going forward to European Unity . Big shame to Bulgarians who are still dreaming on Tsar Boris 's Great Bulgaria on Three Seas ! The last classical Empire dreaming to convert all Slavian nation to Bulgarian one !

[@KenanTurkiye]

Heres something you may find interesting. :) The name of my country has nothing to do with the interesting and delicious bird ''turkey''. Name of my country has always been Turkiye, that is Turk-iye, where the -iye suffix means ''land of/belonging to''... ...just like the Latin suffix -ia in such countries as Latv-ia, Roman-ia, Eston-ia, Austr-ia, Austral-ia etc etc. Another example; decades ago Czechoslovakia Republic changed it's name to Czech Republic and a few years ago changed that to Czechia (that is Czech-ia). Anyways, most likely the Latin -ia suffix was derived from the Turkish version -iye, as Turkish is much much older. Because in old times people of different languages could only pronounce it as their languages allowed them, we got various differences in spelling like Turchia (in Italian), Turquie (in French) and Turkey (in English) all trying to resemble the pronounciation of ''Turk-ia'' thus Turkiye. Mind you this was way BEFORE the animal we currently know as 'turkey'' was found by the europeans when they explored the north americas.... ...they came across the bird and thought it was a specie of the fowl/chicken they had been buying from the country of Turkiye at the time, so they named the bird ''Turkey Fowl'' meaning ''Turkish Chicken''..... ....just like how a dog breed is known as German Shepherd (because it's from Germany), Rhodesian Ridgeback (because it's from Rhodesia), American Bulldog, British Terrier, Greek Harehound etc etc. In time you don't get to call the Greek Harehound as simply as ''Greek''; or you don't call the British Terrier as ''British''; or the German Shepherd as ''German'', but in time the Turkish Fowl started to be called just ''turkey'', and has been going on for hundreds of years. Now in 2023, this is causing confusion, especially when we have people across the world unable to point to their OWN country on the atlas, this ''confusion over the naming'' needed to be corrected. So my country decided to rectify this confusion that has been going on for so long and corrected the name in other languages to Türkiye, which it always was, we basically didn't change the name of our country, we changed the mistake made in the English language. : ) So, there's some tid bit information for you to have a great day, if you read upto this point you have a great night too, ohh just have a wonderfull life. : ) Best wishes. ;)

[@Emmnoyhl]

Thank you remind them we're all Humans ​@@voskreglavincevska7080

[@Emmnoyhl]

​@@KenanTurkiyeUnfortunately that's Can't be Corect it for every nation, Dog Breed etc as most people this days only care for Likes, Views etc. Dear Turkiye from your Hellenic Neighbour

[@angelosdaresis1477]

According to Theodoros Kolokotronis, the commander-in-chief of the Greek Revolution: "OUR KING (Constantine XI Palaiologos) was killed and never surrendered to the Turks, he never signed a treaty (of surrender) with them." Aristides Hatzis, "The Noblest Cause: The 1821 Greek War of Independence", p.p. 112

[@nenenindonu]

Not your king 😂 There wasn't any Greek political entity up to the 1800's when Britain, France, & Russia decided to establish an artifical ethno-state ruled by a German Dynasty to drain Ottoman influence, the previous two millennia of "Greece's history" were spent under continuous Roman-Turkish yoke ; The London Conference of 1832 was an international conference convened to establish a stable government in Greece. Negotiations between the three Great Powers (Britain, France & Russia) resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece under a Bavarian Prince. The decisions were ratified in the Treaty of Constantinople later that year.

[@kalez963]

You are delusional@@nenenindonu

[@highevan]

@@nenenindonu "With the collapse of the empire in the west, its eastern counterpart became, in reality, an entirely new and independent state, at once Greek by language and Roman in name: 'A GREEK Roman empire'." Roderick Beaton, "The Greeks: a global history", New York: Basic books 2021, pp. 212 "The Byzantine empire was clearly, despite its multinational dimension, a GREEK empire while its neighbours considered it so, and whose unity was based on the power of authority, in the dominance of Orthodoxy and the use of Greek as the official language." Sylvain Gouguenheim, "La gloire des Grecs", 2017, pp. 73

[@highevan]

@@nenenindonu "In his »Comparison of the Old and the New Rome«, addressed to emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391-1425), Manuel Chrysoloras presented Rome as the mother and Constantinople as the daughter which was founded by the two most powerful and wise peoples of the world, the Romans and the Hellenes, who had come together there in order to create a city that would be able to rule over the whole world. In a sermon to the same emperor, he stated that the Rhomaioi were the offspring of the Romans and the Hellenes, thus being entitled to use both names." Yannis Stouraitis, pp. 86-87, "Reinventing Roman Ethnicity in High and Late Medieval Byzantium" medieval worlds • No. 5 • 2017 • 70-94

[@highevan]

@@nenenindonu In the "Souda" Lexicon (10th century) Graikos=Hellene and also Graikos=Romaios [Graikoi (plural) =Hellenes (plural) (Γραικοί : Οι Έλληνες. Εκ του Γραίξ, Γραικός.) and Raikos=Rhomaios (Ῥαικός : Ρωμαίος)] In the "Zonaras" Lexicon (12th century) Romaios=Graikos=Hellene. [Graikoi (plural) = Hellenes (plural) (Γραικοί. οἱ Ελληνες. ἀπὸ κώμης τινός. παρὰ τὸ ῥαῖσαι ῥαικὸς καὶ γραικός. καὶ γὰρ διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀνδρείαν οἱ Ελληνες ουτως ἐκαλοῦντο.) and Raikos=Rhomaios=Graikos (Ραικός. ὁ ̔Ρωμαῖος. ̓Επίχαρμος· φιλεῖ ειναι γραικὸς, ἀποβολῇ τοῦ ˉγ ῥαικός.)]

[@georgios_5342]

5:06 eh it's not exactly that way. Greece and the Greeks had staged rebellions in Thessaly, Epirus and Naousa during 1878/1881, and Greece threatened the Ottomans with war if they didn't surrender those regions.

[@filanfistiku7419]

Yep, thanks to Albanians

[@EML..]

@@filanfistiku7419 bullshit. No albanian helped. All were Greeks.

[@southepirote7676]

@@EML.. All were Albanians. No Greeks were present in the region. Greece aka Former Arvanite Republic belongs to Albanians 🇦🇱🦅

[@zaratustras1000]

@@southepirote7676 Albanians were fighting for turks

[@Tsortso1]

@@southepirote7676 They didn't even revolt in their own country so chill out mister. I don't know why some of you have this false belief about Albanians started the Greek revolution...are you so much insecure about your identity? Relax and take a breath, this belongs to history and surely there were Albanian fighters amongst the revolters! P.S. If you wrote those lines because you are a fascist or an extremist, I probably lost my time.

[@Giorgos-ee5kn]

I am Greek and thank you very much that you dedicated time to create a video about our greatest ambition of our modern history !!

[@abdullatifakay4404]

​@@AW-oh4qm🏊‍♂️🏊‍♂️🏊‍♂️

[@cenk.3467]

@@AW-oh4qm nice dream

[@denizmergen418]

​@@AW-oh4qm😂😂😂😂

[@marshallsilverstar9636]

@@AW-oh4qm they started spamming you poor man .

[@Giorgos-ee5kn]

Amen brother@@AW-oh4qm

[@ahennessy7998]

Sounds like it was pretty mega in scale

[@2pacAliveSrbija]

bro didnt even watch the video and still commented

[@ahennessy7998]

Yes

[@Teapoid]

@@2pacAliveSrbijahey

[@2pacAliveSrbija]

@@Teapoid i was helping a friend of mine with an inicijalni test from it and now were making jokes about dritan abazović. truly an online school moment

[@joshleggett4551]

Wonderful video! Could you do a video on The Russian Civil War?

[@LookBackHistory]

Maybe! It was certainly pretty important! 😅

[@joshleggett4551]

@@LookBackHistory thanks man! I can’t tell you what a gem your channel is. :)

[@TheLink91]

@@LookBackHistory Heck lots of youtubers have already covered that. Could you instead cover the territorial formation of Poland after ww1?

[@msicvbes4977]

I noticed that this time your pronuncuation of Venizelos was "the correct" after some ppl pointed this out in an older video😂

[@LookBackHistory]

Yeah, that old pronunciation is pretty terrible. I tried harder this time, thanks for noticing!

[@msicvbes4977]

@@LookBackHistory Haha personally I didn't even mind. People are not supposed to know how others pronounce their names in their native language, that's why I used "correct". But in any case, amazing video👍

[@sonnymak6707]

The enmity btw Greece and Turkey pales in comparison with others. After the population exchange. Venizelos was feted by Kemal Ataturk in Ankara in the late 20s. Remember also Kemal was born and raised in Thessaloniki in now Greece. And Aristotle Onasis was born and raised in what is now Turkey.

[@lachbullen8014]

I always had a curiosity over the roman empire in general and always wondered what if the Eastern Roman Empire survived the siege of the Ottomans or was restored in some formal manner..

[@LookBackHistory]

To be honest, I don't think surviving the siege in 1453 would've changed too much. By then it was much too late for the Byzantines. I suppose another Crusade could've been called, but in the incredibly unlikely timeline where that happens I doubt it would succeed, particularly after the Varna Crusade was smashed just a few years before Constantinople's fall. Then, even if it had worked, it would've resulted in the restoration of the Latin Empire rather than anything authentically Greek. Makes for great alternate history scenarios though, haha!

[@lachbullen8014]

@@LookBackHistory there is a lot of factors involved in the 1453 siege of Constantinople like the fact of raising another army to try and relieve the city and essentially getting their ass hammer to them by the Ottomans or because of some egotistic Glory seeking knight in shining armour I paid for this arm up with my daddy allowance thank you very much Mr French night😅😅😅.. Or an alternate history the allies after World War I gave Constantinople back to the Greeks well you probably get a Greek and a Turk steering competition and terrible dad jokes at the same time🤣🤣🤣..

[@aaronTGP_3756]

1453 was far too late for Byzantium. It was the sack in 1204 that made the long-term fall inevitable. When it was restored in 1261, it was more of a half-complete rump state than a true Empire. So for good alternate history scenarios, any realistic way to save Byzantium in the long term involves preventing the sack of 1204 in some way.

[@HusZat]

Well .... Mehmet II. actually proclaimed himself to be "Kayseri-i-Rûm" after he besieged Constantinople and conquered a huge part of the former Greek Empire ... Unfortunately, we don't really know who his mother was. But there was always the rumor that she was Greek ... So he would have been both the successor to the Byzantine / Roman Emperors as well as of Greek descent.

[@history_repeats8201]

@@HusZat if you know anything about core values of the Eastern Roman empire (Byzantium) you will know that a Moslem could not be a "Kayseri-i-Rum" even if his mother was Greek. At the time religion and state were one. There could not be a Byzantium without the orthodox faith. The fact that there is Greece today is due to the orthodox plus nationality factor. Do you think there will be a Greece today if all Greeks have converted to Islam? See what happened to the Kurds.

[@billy-bo_]

Ελλάδα! ❤

[@SorolopTheOriginal]

There wasn't ever a big Turkish population in Cyprus they were about 1/10

[@leopoldtselig5593]

No! Turks are 0,00004% in Cyprus

[@1Source]

The Venetian empire had Cyprus before the ottoman empire. Try reading more.

[@Trophonius]

the "funniest" thing is that many, even westerners want to believe and present Byzantium still today (Greek East Roman Empire ) and think of it as only some kind of dark conservative "regressive" "theocratic" "Christano-taliban" thing and state that had no relation to ancient Greece. They have brainwashed them with different stereotypes to think like that (even many modern Greeks think like that) . While the Byzantines did not have any "dark middle ages" like the westerners and no feudalism in the sense of the more western Christianity, and they do not know that in the Byzantine universities the Greeks were taught ancient Greek texts like Homer and ancient Greek philosophy, poetry, rhetorics, sciences etc.etc. and that in Byzantium they had contributed and continued a form of direct democracy in each city of the Byzantium and its local communities, that the great political historian and scientist and intellectual Giorgos Kontogiorgis calls "The Hellenic Cosmosystem" (he has write many many pages on this subject) Also the Greeks of the Byzantium that studied in the Byzantium schools and universities could read and understand almost perfectly, all or most of the ancient Greek texts. There was a very high education system on learning well the Hellenic language. Some of this (real) democratic structures or spirit/ culture of every day life, Greeks continued it even under the rule of the Ottoman empire and stopped only when those western powers imposed their political systems on Greeks that Greeks didn't wanted it cause they wanted to continue their political democratic system of the Byzantium and ancient Greece, that they continued it from ancient Greece, just in a slightly new form and under the new context of "Monotheistic" era of the Hellenic Christianity and culture (with its positives and negatives). There is a lot of falsification and distortion from Westerners (and Easterners also anyway) of Greek history and culture so that Northern Europeans and other Westerners claim the continuity of the Greek spirit and culture for themselves and not the Greeks. And this is not only in the political system but in arts and everything. Byzantium had many characteristics of an organical living continuation of the ancient Greek spirit and culture and not an absolute discontiouty as some want to think or present that

[@angelb.823]

To be fair, the aftermath of WW1, before the Asia Minor catastrophe, was the pinnacle of Greece's territorial expansion. Had the Greeks consolidated their gains in the Zone of Smyrna and kept fighting the Turks in entreched warfare, while also having Venizelos on the premiership, things could have turned different than the current reality. Even if the Turks succeeded in breaking through the Greek forces, had the Greeks remained at Venizelos' side, they would had better bargaining chips in the negotiating table, like staying out of Asia Minor but keeping Eastern Thrace and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Too bad the Germanophille-Greek royalists played politics even at the momentum of crisis, and tossed the only chance of having the Megali Idea fulfilled for the most part. Edit: Seems I have triggered Turks in the comments. Watch at your own risk.

[@justsefa1843]

"Had the Greeks consolidated their gains in the Zone of Smyrna and kept fighting the Turks in entreched warfare," The turks were fighting on multiple fronts, while being severly undersupplied. The reason why the greeks pushed, was because they knew of the situation of the independence army. Stalling for time would have resulted in a much larger mobilized turkish army, which would be far better supplied. During the independence war the turkish army beat the greeks multiple times, while severly undersupplied and outnumbered. Really baffling to me that people come to the conclusion that it could have gone better for the greeks, when they couldnt win with such a massive advantage.

[@wankawanka3053]

​@@justsefa1843you just explained why the greeks would have been able to take on the turks better had they consolidatd their gains in Smyrna,the turks were undersupplied as you said and purely relied on guerilla warfare ,had the greeks kept it inside of smyrna they would have forced these very same undersupplied turks to try and fight them without guerrilla tactics so meaning the turks would have had a much harder time

[@angelb.823]

@@justsefa1843 That's a key factor, but not the decisive one for sure. It depends on a lot of factors that a a war can be won, not but sheer size or mobilization alone. I mean, the Poles won against the Soviets in the same period. Heck, even the modern Ukranian soldiers can push out the vast majority of Russian soldiers from occupied territories. Yes, the Greek soldiers mobilized to strike at Ankara (and only under the command of the Greek royalists who returned to power in 1920, not by Venizelos), but back then (before the Greek elections) no one in both camps knew the outcome of the war. Both armies were exhausted during the final months of 1922. It was only after the ousting of Venizelos that Greece effectively lost the war (militarily and diplomatically) and only prolonged the inevitable.

[@justsefa1843]

@@wankawanka3053 "better had they consolidatd their gains in Smyrna,the turks were undersupplied as you said and purely relied on guerilla warfare" This is complete horseshit. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The independence army faced each and every front. They even took a defensive position in Antep and Maras and both provinces defended against the French so well, that they were renamed as Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras (basically Hero + name). When the independence army redirected their efforts towards the greek army, they had already defeated the french and the armenians and were getting steady and constant supplies of weapons. Their numbers were getting bigger and bigger. So no, the greeks had their chance, when the turkish army was distracted on other fronts. They lost their chance, the moment the turkish side was able to focus on the greeks. The greeks taking a defensive role would have resulted in the independence army winning the other fronts far easier and faster.

[@justsefa1843]

@@angelb.823 I am not saying numbers and supply is enough. I am saying: The turkish side had far superior generals, battle hardened and experienced from decades of warfare with a world war just before. Atatürk was a brilliant commander and thinking that an army under a brilliant leader with enough weapons and units would have been easier defeated, if the leader had more time to organize even more weapons and units, is absolutely insane. The Greek side simply had no Atatürk or all the other battle hardened commanders on the scale the turkish side. I am not saying the greek side had bad commanders, but that they were simply not good enough compared to the turkish side. Just check a few of the battles. In karabogaz they wipped out the french without any losses. In Malgac 60 men raided an entire battalion. In Erikli 40 men raided another batallion. In Inönü the turkish side defeats 3 times the greek side. It is absolutely nuts, how the independence army is crushing and raiding the enemy left and right.

[@empousa8680]

What was the megali idea? Based, it was based! A great video man i applaud you.

[@TheIronHordesman2]

it was based until one man alone rooted it from the ground and tossed you over the aegean🤣

[@adem14159]

​@@TheIronHordesman2Yeah, but the funniest thing is when they no longer have a solid argument they starting to say based 😂

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

@@TheIronHordesman2Except the Greeks drowned you in the Aegean & turned it into a Hellenic Lake. You are a great Scuba Diver! 🤿🦃🤿 🐟 glu glu glu 🥇 -Seitan Vapor

[@revinhatol]

Wittelsbach/Oldenburg

[@georgios_5342]

7:02 and also don't forget Northern Epirus, which became autonomous after a revolt, but the Italian imperialists pushed for its incorporation into their Albanian protectorate, despite being a majority Greek region

[@aae7233]

They are albanian land and all the people are albanian. The Great Albania is much better idea.

[@Gamesbozz]

It was not a Greek majority region every census says so Greeks just say this stupidly😂

[@akhsdenlew1861]

@@aae7233 albanians didn't even fought the ottomans in the balkan war.. they fought WITH the ottomans and when the realised that the ottomans were gonna lose, they quickly enstablished a country and got WAYYYYY more land than they should've.

[@DanielDaBest45]

​@@aae7233Natural Albania*

[@aae7233]

@@akhsdenlew1861 Really! Like Greek in Cyprus 1974 .

[@tudicul13131]

How did the most in debt european country grew ?

[@EML..]

That is supposed to be an insult? WE GREW WITH BETTER HISTORY THAN YOU, SURELY😂

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

Ψευδείς ειδήσεις γράφεις

[@sprc155]

Money ain't shit. Spirit, history and historical continuaty are

[@timosmes]

I am Greek and I love this video although you made a couple of mistakes.

[@mariovladimirozuni]

Greece is fake country made of anadolian turkish and dark skin gypsies

[@JustinianG]

Can we do a collaboration?

[@realdaggerman105]

You certainly know how to pick a topic that’s guaranteed to cause friction in the comments!

[@Teapoid]

You didn’t really go into too much detail about it, But Pontus (roughly the region spanning from Sinop to Adjara along the Black Sea coast with its capital in Trebizond) was a big question, whether or not it was a viable idea to integrate it into Greece, or if it should gain independence as a greek divergent state (the way Cyprus is today) as the region was still largely Greek & orthodox right up until the Turkish perpetrated Pontic Genocide which largely destroyed the Greek population in the region, though a few Romeika (Roman Greek) villages still remain.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

What about the Greeks in Crimea?

[@cenk.3467]

"pontic genocide" bro is trying to create fake genocides lol, also its called trabzon not trebizond

[@cenk.3467]

@@GwainSagaFanChannel tatars turks lived in crimea until putin moved them to siberia, crime is TURKIC

[@toast2300]

​@@cenk.3467turk tries not to deny genocide: impossible challenge

[@Moses_VII]

@@toast2300 Wait till you see the Japanese talking about China and Korea... Turks always trying to deny Ottoman genocides and also denying that Ataturk was against Islam. There are Turks who debate Muslims, and the Turks say Ataturk was a practicing Muslim! Not just with genocide, but with anything to do with Turkey, Turks try to deny reality to make Turkey seem like a perfect utopia.

[@redomer91]

"Claimed Roman authority" They were a direct continuation of Rome. Rome never ended in the east until much, much later.

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

The truth is that the Hellenes are the Last of the Greco-Romans! 🇬🇷 Charlemagnic Imposters will be Prosecuted in the Future! 👍🏻

[@TABSman1]

In greece these things are either taught to us through national holidays annualy or through the school System in middle school... Which makes me wonder why i watch these videos, I already know this.

[@ifitzimitrea8956]

in 2:40 minutes you forgot northen ipirous or how it's called in english i don't know as i am greek, apart from that great video

[@Tommuli_Haudankaivaja]

Man, I wish Ataturk was way less compitent and the Greek military far more compitent.

[@DotDotDot0272]

he grew up in thessalonika so uh yeah, wha'd ya expect

[@bt7348]

@@DotDotDot0272 Selanik* :)

[@Moses_VII]

I like that he made Turkey independent, I hate everything else he did. Banning all languages except Turkish, getting rid of all Arabic and Persian words in Turkish, banning hijab, making Azan Turkish, banning letters used in Kurdish.

[@justsefa1843]

Considering the war-crimes the greeks committed: I entirely disagree. Maybe learn to live with your neighbour. Would be far more productive.

[@bt7348]

@@Moses_VII still very reasonable for it's time. We are talking about 1920s

[@yusufardagures5490]

I waited a pro-greek bias but you were objective. So I subscribed. 😄

[@Iamjustabirdinthesky]

Good for you. So everything that doesn’t fit in your view of thing is biased. What is pro-Greek for you

[@yusufardagures5490]

@@Iamjustabirdinthesky Umm you know since you w*stoids like to preach how super civilized your greek daddies were and I see it on a daily basis since liberals think they are the founders of w*stern “civilization” and liberalism. Is that enough?

[@eliteplier]

Why is there so much hate in the comments?

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Whoa! I learn something new every day.

[@lucianoosorio5942]

“Kudos! Greek for the glory I got, for winning every single war that I fought!” Alexander the Great Edit: Ik it causes controversy about Alexander the Great. And yes, he was Macedonian

[@LookBackHistory]

Definitely one of ERB of History's best videos 😂

[@TheBlackzman]

That time, Macedonians are Greeks, bc Slavs haven't migrated to the Balkans. But now, n.macedonia is Slavic, it's total different ppl

[@TheBlackzman]

I mean a type of Greek

[@CaptainConditor]

If you mean Macedonian as the ancient Macedonian tribe that was a Greek kingdom that evolved into the biggest empire of its time, then yes. Otherwise no. North Macedonia is not related or has anything to do with Alexander the Great.

[@akhsdenlew1861]

@@CaptainConditor yea ofc, slavs came to the region.. MUCH later.. like 800 years later, not even close to alexander the great's era.

[@2SSSR2]

I do not see how is population exchange a bad idea if it is going to bring peace in the future as there will be much less national tensions between the nations. Greece and Turkey are prime example, after population exchange there has been no major wars after WW1 between the two (Cyprus does not count).

[@eminderindeniz1959]

It didnt have to be that way greek ambitions caused millions of people being ripped apart from their homeland

[@eleni73]

the exchanged populations were refugees, not guests in their respective new countries. For many that meant poverty and alienation, being ripped away from your home due to a tense political situation and war does that to people.

[@thematthew761]

While it could be argued that it stopped another war, the areas had been filled with Greeks since before ancient times.

[@Moses_VII]

​@@thematthew761people always move. Who cares about ancient history? What's important is that population exchange saved people from genocide. Imagine if Uyghurs of China could leave for Muslim countries in a similar population exchange. Would be very good.

[@justsefa1843]

"how is population exchange a bad idea if it is going to bring peace in the future " Greeks and turks coexisted on the same land, the same region and the same cities for centuries. CENTURIES. The issue was not inter-religious conflicts, but nationalist mindset. You could have also had peace without a population exchange and both people would have a far better understanding of each other and be more mindful and senstivie towards each other. "after population exchange there has been no major wars after WW1 between the two (Cyprus does not count)" Turkey/The Ottomans were only involved in defensive wars since Napoleon invaded Egypt. There would have been no war regardless. The Balkan itself didnt see proper war for centuries. No idea why you pretend that this is a new thing that happened. It is novel to Europe in general, not the Balkan.

[@Colenin.]

I kinda prefer to pronounce it like "McGalley"

[@danielm6319]

Can you do video about Croatian national revival and Illyrian movement?

[@gallouelenegallouelne2908]

🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷

[@ryoka1g]

To be honest we should have aimwd at eastern thrace and should have accepted cyprus as a gift from the british in 1914. That was the peak we could have reached maybe including black sea coastal up until varna at tops. But we wanted to march into central Anatolia. A land where even komnenos failed at myriocephalon

[@mikem8211]

As a Greek Cypriot I don't know why Greece started attacking mainland Turkey which had a low Greek population compared to Cyprus which was 85% Greek. Obviously the British were occupying us at the time excluding Cyprus from the last Greece Turkey war ensuring once Britain left without being part of Greece we were screwed

[@serhaneroglu5402]

No expansion continues forever

[@serhaneroglu5402]

@@mikem8211 You Greeks failed to understand that your expansion against Turkey ended in 1912. This was your biggest mistake. Then there was the Asia Minor disaster for the Greek Army. Then you experienced another disaster in 1974.

[@mikem8211]

@serhaneroglu5402 Yeah but in 1800 we had nothing not one bit of Greek land. We won 80% of our historical homeland from nothing. Istanbul (Constantinople) and Izmir (Smyrna) are Turkish now but Cyprus never ever will be

[@serhaneroglu5402]

@@mikem8211 Look, these statements of yours cause Turks to hate Greeks, and this is used very well by our government, which is how they seized power in Turkey. They are nationalists like you, and they dream of the days when the Ottomans will rule again. Whatever you feel towards the Turks, they feel the same towards you.It is stupidity to want to die for dreams that will not come true.

[@KratosGR]

what is exactly portrayed in the pic at 3:05?

[@LookBackHistory]

A poster showing the Kingdom of Greece in possession of Constantinople. The title is "The Panhellenic Dream."

[@Jalayir]

The Abbasid caliphs found out that the Greeks and the Armenians made inferior mamluks compared to the Turks (Ayalon 1996: 309). This was because of the Turks' superior horsemanship and skill with the composite bows.

[@sprc155]

Ofc. Greeks are naval force

[@achourfreepalestine]

Still waiting for the algeria video 😅

[@pelasgeuspelasgeus4634]

You should also make a video on how Greece ended up to have Mongolians as neighbors.

[@dronur6194]

You are neighbors with the Turks. Not with the Mongols. Mongols and Turks are a separate race. Additionally, Mongols and Turks fought many times throughout history.

[@pelasgeuspelasgeus4634]

@@dronur6194Turks are Mongols. Go read a book. Your ignorance should prohibit you from posting history videos. But I guess it's Turkish propaganda that drives you, right.

[@matthew7027]

@@dronur6194 he's just butthurt greek nationalist do not give these insects atention.

[@pelasgeuspelasgeus4634]

​@@GhjkoplokkpTurkey doesn't have history (Greek word). Turkey has criminal record. And arvanites are Greeks (Christians) and not albanians (Muslims).

[@matthew7027]

@@pelasgeuspelasgeus4634 you live in 200 years old state. Half of your nation live 1000 years under Turks other half almost 500. Speak with recpect to your overlords kapıkulu. Only reason you and your culture still exsists because of Turks tolerance to you. Be greatful and respectful or shut your inferior mouth.

[@user-uj7ut5np9p]

This is totally normal that greeks want to unite with constatinouple and parts of asian turkey given that they always controled those territories. Serbia(today) has the same idea:to unite macedonia,montenegro and bosnia to serbia because those territories were taken away from serbia by communist after ww2. This comment will probably attract the attention of some bosnians and macedonians and i have to say one thing: When a country you made is rulled by a person from a nationality that you have a conflict with ofc that that person will try to weaken your country by separating it and making new nationalities. Same thing happend to russia in 1917 when they separated estonia,belorussia,latvia and ukraine from russia even tho those countries never existed.

[@LilBriskoTV_]

All those lands belong to the Illyrians the original inhabitants. There was no such thing Greek or Serbia back then.

[@serhaneroglu5402]

Trying to expand militarily in a region where you are not the majority population is suicide. I'm sorry, but justifying the mistake Greece made in 1919 is defending a crazy suicide.

[@Paulynyc]

How did Turkey grow??

[@macedonianetymology4069]

NICE SKIP OF THE BUCHAREST TREATY IN 1913 :))))

[@Metron_Ariston]

Greek expanding program was based upon freeing the enslaved Ionian lands of Anatolia. The Greek presence on Asia Minor was great and deeply rooted since neolithic era when Aeolias started creating the first city states across the Aegean! Visiting modern Turkey you see the remnants of those Greek cities everywhere, in archeological sites, museums, even the modern day Turkish cities have kept their ancient Greek names. Greeks had a strong population for many centuries after the fall of Byzantine empire which in fact was a Greek empire mostly, having the Greek population as the majority among its citizens! That campaign was not sparked from nationalism, but from the deep emotions of freeing the brothers across the Aegean and the holy to us Ionian cities!

[@voskreglavincevska7080]

The same reason that it was Roman Empire divided on Eastern and Western parts is your different Guptian and stubborn mentality that stud on a side of Orthodoxy ! You are the main reason for Shizma as a different colonial entities of gamblers and pirates in Mediterranean lately called "Greek civilisation" Ha ha ha All ancient artefacts found there have nothing to do with you Greeks of today . It is the same as we can call Inka and Mayan civilisation , Peruvians !

[@Metron_Ariston]

@@voskreglavincevska7080 keep these inaccurate nonsenses for you, noone cares! I would expect people to acknowledge the truth and historical facts at the age of information! Especially from people whose history is minimal and merely new to other more ancient civilizations. There are no excuses for uneducated people in the year 2023. History has shown us hatriot feelings, inferior syndromes and fascist thoughts bring only havoc. It is not late for anyone alive to try move on the right way. Slavs, Turks and Albanians better looke this way.

[@issith7340]

It grew, for the same reason why, it will keep growing.

[@Emmnoyhl]

Apart we aren't Greek's but Helline's great work

[@tasosGRvocals]

Really good video, it would be good if you had also spoken about the genocide of the Greeks in Anatolia

[@stoneruler]

Greece should have aimed for eastern Thrace during the Greco Turkish war. A much more defensible and realistic goal. Going for Anatolia was just nuts.

[@Trophonius]

Greeks would have conquered all Anatolia back then if the great powers didn't wanted that. They stopped sending supplies and food to the Greek military and soldiers (and not only that, Russia for example helped much Turks and Great Britain also secretly, and much more to mention here). Greeks had stepped just outside of today Ankara and Turks didn't had the necessary power not the military , economical and political background and organisation and capabilities to face them! (Don't forget also that this time Anatolia and Minor Asia was with million of Greeks). Most of the wealth and the urban and cultural development of the Ottoman empire was in the coasts of the Minor Asia - as the same happens today on Turkey - but those places were under the Greek control easily as they were centers full with Greeks and much Greek Cosmopolitan Greek Constantinoupolitan culture. The more eastern Turkey was more with poor underdeveloped farmers. They weren't much organised in big urban cities nor didn't had the development and so the ability to defend themselves. Greeks would have send Turks back to their real lands, back to Mongolia! But for geopolitical reasons the great powers of the time didn't want Greece to have it's lands back, and so to become great power again! It was a danger for them. Then some mistakes from the Greek side also, added to not the best outcome.

[@stoneruler]

@@Trophonius hey bro, wow too long for a comment. As the war dragged on, it was apparent that the great powers weren’t fully committed,and the Greeks had their chance to change strategy instead of just pushing with all their force.

[@user-zs3gd8fr3p]

​@@stoneruler also a lot of excellent majors and colonels were removed for political reasons,as always leaving an idiot german- danish king and some stupid monarchist officers

[@rhaella90]

if greeks would have conquered all Anotolia back then why would Greeks wait to end WW1? they could fight against turks before the WW1. I tell you why. Because greeks never had that power to invade Anotolia. They waited Turks to decrease power and become weak. When the ottoman empire lost the great war and had so many casualties then greeks started to armament against turks with the help Britian of course because if britts did not support the greeks, they would not have that courage to declare war against turks whose army was scattered by armistice of moudros. so heroic(!) then greeks fought against some undisiplined turkish gerillas. Even then, you could not win. @@Trophonius

[@knowlege_doctor]

The first sentence of the video is already incorrect. The idea did not come about in 1821. The Greeks fought for their land from around 1450 until about 1750, and even after that, there were years of partisan warfare until 1820. There was rebellion happening throughout this time, supported by many historical documents. Operations were conducted underground, and there was a proper war for 350 years. However, the Turks could not recover, while the Greeks slowly but surely reclaimed everything. It's important not to forget that the Greeks advanced as far as Ankara. They would have definitively defeated the Turks there, but they ran out of ammunition, whereas the Germans aided the Turks with weapons and logistics. That's the only reason they won the war. But the alliance between Germans and Turks is not new. During World War II, Turkey supported the Nazis as well.

[@berk.hatipoglu]

Well yes, there was rebellions here and then. Even in the hills of Peloponnese island, there was Greek gangs that fought a non-stop war againts Turks for centuries. But they weren't big scale rebellions, they weren't well-supported by the people and they weren't effective. In the Greeco-Turkish War, Greeks didn't advance as far as Ankara, they advance to the river Sakarya which is an huge river it's very hard to cross and Greeks couldn't because of a poor strategy that was foreseen by Turkish commenders. This was in 1922 when Germany didn't even have any guns and their military was disolved and guns were seized by British and French in 1919. I guess you were mistaken Soviets with Germans because Germans couldn't even support themselfs at the time and Soviets supported Turks with everything in the Greeco-Turkish war. Also during the ww2 Turkey was neutral untill 1945 which joined to Allies side, not the Germans. During to time of neutrality, Turkey traded with both sides. Supplied allies with military equipment and Axis with food. Very similar to Switzerland. Also during the Holocaust, Jews seek refuge to Turkey which Hitler was very furios about but he couldn't afford to open a new front.

[@knowlege_doctor]

yes, it was an underground rebellion. there are several books about it, how the greeks organised themselfs and managed to teach greek language, religion and planing the strike back. What actually worked really well. @@berk.hatipoglu

[@berk.hatipoglu]

@@Ghjkoplokkp it's another thing. Greeks running out of ammunition is abloutely a lie. Greeks were supplied by the UK and had almost ×2 more guns and ammunition than Turks as well as almost ×5 more machinery (such as trucks and aircaft) and cannons. Even if it wasn't from the UK, they couldn't even occupie any terretory in Anatolia.

[@knowlege_doctor]

its not true. its written everywhere, maybe except in turkey propaganda books. without the germans there would be no turkey today. this is a fact you should face.@@berk.hatipoglu

[@berk.hatipoglu]

@@knowlege_doctor everywhere=only in Greek propaganda books for you. There isn't even 1 English article about Germans helping Turks after ww1. And it's extra funny since Greek was founded and mostly ruled by a family of a Danish "Germanic" monarch for decades including the ww1 and ww2 until 1975.

[@dolorezdamini5058]

Con tutto il rispetto per il vostro video ritengo che mancano molto parlare del signor GJERGJ KASTRIOT SHKENDER BEU.Comunque ognuno è libero di parlare di ciò che vuole però essere più informati e meglio;)

[@revinhatol]

Sultan-I-Rum

[@lulitafa4784]

Greek Kurdistan Serbian Russia Brothers

[@soumyajitsingha9614]

Support Greece from India And also much love and respect to Alexander The Great our late emperor It's great to imagine and appreciate how lucky I am to be an Indian because having opportunity to be part of Alexander The Great's great empire

[@lurkinturk4284]

Yeah I'm sure your ancestors appreciated being raped, pillaged, and slaughtered. How lucky they were.

[@EML..]

​​@@lurkinturk4284nice try kebab. Cry more over the glorious Greece. No need to cry in a vid abt greek history, alexander owned you when you were still in mongolia hunting animals and greeks were making empires and legacy🥱🥱🥱👑🇬🇷👑🇬🇷👑🤫

[@georgebourlos1430]

Any video on Greek geography and history is pure clickbait treasure.... How many Greeks live in English speaking countries? 2.5 million and growing.....

[@JeaNz0r]

And 1 million in Cyprus. We are more than 14-15 Million worldwide. Not to mention the thousands or not millions of Greeks who are living in Turkey not even knowing they are Greeks since their ancestors were forced to transit to Islam and they have lost their identity over the years.

[@serhaneroglu5402]

@@JeaNz0r What you are saying creates hatred in my country, Turkey. The majority of the population in Turkey does not think they are Greek. Turks say this as an insult to each other. Please change your statement.

[@turkcukayi]

I want to give some information. If you noticed, there is no Eastern Black Sea on the Megali Idea map. That region was left to Armenia. The reason is that, contrary to popular belief, the people of that region were never seen as Rum by the Eastern Roman Empire. The reason was that most of the people of that region were Laz and the rest were Georgians and Armenians. The rulers of the Trebizond Empire, referred to as the "Laz Border State" by Eastern Roman historian Yeoryos Pahimeris, were also referred to as "Laz Kings". Pontic Rum discourse is a political discourse that emerged in the 20th century. Additionally, Pontus was historically used for the more western part of the Black Sea. The Eastern Black Sea region was known as the Colchis or Armenia region. In other words, most of the people you know as Pontic Rums today are the grandchildren of the Laz.

[@tomm9963]

Cyprus didn't "divide", the North of Cyprus is illegally occupied by a Turkish backed Junta

[@tomm9963]

@@cenktuneygok8986 There's no extermination on Cyprus by Greeks on Turks, or Turks on Greeks. However, even if there was, Turks lost the right to cry about exterminations a century ago

[@t.durustein2185]

Do you know "Bloody Christmas"? The Greeks gave this name. They called the day when they raided Turkish villages in Cyprus, killed civilians and massacred children in bathtubs, bloody Christmas. We do not tell lies, we do not cry, we do not beg for mercy from anyone like you, the Kurds, the Greeks and the Armenians. We will do what is necessary when the time comes. Just like we did in Cyprus and Karabakh

[@UfukNalbant]

@@tomm9963 tomboy… I’m turkish cypriot, my family line is here for centuries. There were violent massacres both sides between63-74, search for instance Balikitra (turks killed a village full of Greek ppl), or Murataga (Greeks buried a whole willage alive)… Yes, some serious shit tainted our past, but we don’t want any of that shit no more. We want to live in peace, may be not in harmony as it used to be, but at least in peace. War never did us good, and never will… And FFS that junta was not turkey backed, Turkey just waited 11 years for a politically acceptable way to land here, and yes by the 2nd operation in Aug 74’ is accepted as ‘invasion’, yes turkey occupies de facto north; however, for those 11 years we were about to extinct here, people were living in a conditions like Gazza strip, my grandparents weren’t allowed to buy wool/metal/coal etc. with the pretext of ‘can be used to make bomb’ , that’s anorher fact, but don’t write down something nonsense without having a gram of knowledge.

[@emreyldz4324]

Cyprus was legally occupied by Turkey. Because Greeks committed atrocities against Turks in the island.

[@notgonnalie5963]

@@emreyldz4324 You cannot say legally and occupied at the same sentence 🤣

[@highevan]

From early 1821 until 1826, literally everybody was against the Greek revolution. All the European empires of the time were opposed to it, because they were afraid that in case the Greeks succeeded, that would inspire and give ideas of nation building to their own multiethnic subjects. The Greeks for 6 whole years had no help whatsoever (apart from that of privateers) fighting against a huge empire, but lasted militarily and managed to maintain a de facto state till the very end. Gradually from 1827 onwards Russia and England realized the inevitability of the official recognition of the de-facto Greek nation-state, since the Greeks simply couldn't be decisively defeated and changed policy to support them mostly diplomatically, in order to have an influence on the new nation-state. Btw none of the great powers of the time supported Greece and its allies for the Balkan wars. As a matter of fact all the great powers opposed this idea, but that was the one time Balkan nations blatantly ignored them... The USA would never have gained independence without the financial, political and even military help of France. Kemal would never have created Turkey without the vital support of the Soviet communists who provided him with supplies of guns, food and even money, in order to keep the western superpowers as far as possible from the Soviet borders, etc.

[@TheBlackzman]

The Hellenic can be reunited again!

[@justsefa1843]

"The USA would never have gained independence without the financial, political and even military help of France. Kemal would never have created Turkey without the vital support of the Soviet communists who provided him with supplies of guns, food and even money, in order to keep the western superpowers as far as possible from the Soviet borders, etc." Not sure why you are making this into a dick measuring competition, smearing other peoples history. The greeks didnt just rebell out of the blue with no support, preparation or affiliation. It was a planned revolution. Also like what are you high on? Contrary to the Greek army, which was fully equipped, supplied and armed with an initial number advantage, the turkish side had to scrap as many weapons as possible, while fighting multiple wars across Anatolia and they still won. By your logic, the superior Übermenschen of greek soliders should have stomped Turkey. Turkey didnt win because of sowjet weapons. It won because of superior tactics and fierce moral.

[@marshallsilverstar9636]

​@@justsefa1843thought to be fair the revolution was planned for much later but due to an unfortunate turn of events it started in 1821 . But ypu are right we cant compare histories.

[@angelb.823]

Geopolitics played a key factor to any country in the globe (empire or a short state). Back in 1821, every major power was not only afraid of Greece's inevitable independence, but also the rising threat and influence posed by the other foreign powers that put pressure to the Greek rebels in the ongoing war of independence. Russia intervened on the side of Greece under the premise of defending the Balkan Orthodox Christians from the Muslim Turks, while Britain and France intervened on the side of Greece to stop Russia from gaining a new Orthodox satelite state bound to the capital of St. Petersburg, allowing Russia to become a powerful country with vassal states. This is among the reasons that Athens, when it was liberated, became more of a Western-oriented city (the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens is a prime example), instead of remaining in the old Byzantine Orthodox-Muslim Ottoman multicultural metropolis.

[@justsefa1843]

@@marshallsilverstar9636 The greeks had monopolies on trade and there was a relatively rich and influencial greek diaspora. There were also plenty of greekophiles, since the early 19th century was like a second renaissance. It is not like the greek didnt have support. They just didnt have offical support by a country. Pretending that the weapons of the greek revolutionaries popped out of the blue or pretending that the greeks fought against the Ottomans bare hand, is not really fair or accurate.

[@CoverCode]

good nothing bad ever happened because of the of Turkish and Greek population of Cyprus

[@SkynetGeneral]

Ever heard of "Bloody Christmas"?

[@shaifunnessa7816]

Dude British and American how become friends history please make video

[@_YouTube-User_]

Containment of German expansion,boxer Rebellion,trade,WW1,WW2, Cold War

[@stankodjurdjic]

I Love Greece Life Greece

[@macedonianetymology4069]

NICE SKIP OF THE BUCHAREST TREATY IN 1913 :)))

[@greekdriver9173]

Ελληνικη Επαρχία !

[@Jalayir]

😂😂😂😂

[@greekdriver9173]

@@Jalayir και ΚΟΥΡΔΙΚΗ !

[@erggolly7984]

I heard that majority of Athens are refugees from Istanbul

[@velja.357]

Serbia and Greece one country!

[@s2ci_onaim]

Pffffffff fart :D

[@RegentOfGreece]

Our borders are just fine the way they are, however, the spirit of Hellas shall never fade. For Liberty, Democracy, and Venizelism!! Amazing work, my man. ^^

[@LookBackHistory]

Thanks!

[@LondonPower]

Greeks made the revolution of 1821 to resurrecte the byzantine empire with capital the Constantinople. After all the revolution didn't make it and we stuck with small Greece So the megali idea is the continuing of the 1821 revolution

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

Μπερδεμένα τα γράφεις

[@costasyiannourakos6963]

It's not entirely true that the Greek revolution would have failed if it weren't for the Navarino intervention to save them from Ibrahim. Ibrahim lost in Mani, and would have never established his conquer to the Peloponnese grounds.

[@Pachi9-]

Nothing mentioned on the Genocides and the Catastrophe on Smyrna. Other than that good video.

[@EML..]

I just see sooo many kids crying and insulting greece in comments, the only thing i can say is that all our neighbours are just jealous bcz we have the best history in existence. Glorious ancient greek days till greek independence in 1821, we are GREEKS. Not gypsies, not albanians, not turks. *GREEKS*. Just all of our neighbours think they deserve our land or history, just bcz we were so good... *COME AND GET THEM* 😈

[@southepirote7676]

Greece is Albanian land liberated by Arvanites

[@EML..]

@@southepirote7676 history knowledge from McDonald's? 😂😂😂 have you ever opened a book? Greece IS GREECE AND SOUTH ALBANIA IS NORTH EPIRUS🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷

[@EML..]

@@southepirote7676 arvanites are not albanians☠️ not to mention that arvanites is a greek word 🤣🤣🤣

[@southepirote7676]

@@EML.. Western Greece is Southern Epirus 🇦🇱🦅

[@southepirote7676]

@@EML.. So why don't you come and take it? 😂

[@leoflorida95]

To sad they never recovered Constantinople and the fact they stoped identifying as Romans in the XIX century

[@Fritzy1234]

The reason was Britain. They helped the turks sothat greeks did not attack constantinople. Its now Istanbul, a big bazar with a lot of poverty and islamistic extremists, who destroyed the roots of christs the hagia sofia.

[@djfottiredhot7157]

Please inform my fellow countrymen Greeks that megali idea (invasion in Anatolia) was devestating because of Russian assistance to Turkey's army.. Because some of them still believe that our "orthodox brothers" were on our side…

[@mkurai5802]

Megali idea its expansion based o. Genocide

[@Fritzy1234]

On the Genocide of turks at greeks and armenians maybe.

[@ZeRo-bx7lp]

The population exchange was the least bad option. Turks had either genocided, forcibly converted or expelled the vast majority of the Christian population of Anatolia as the modern Turkish identity grew. Greece also needed to be culturally and ethnically unified in order for the state to function without political pressure from minorities. In the end, Greece and Turkey established a difficult peace that guaranteed both state's survival.

[@sayidadam3728]

The genocide are both way, not just turk i think.

[@Moses_VII]

If population exchange was done with Xinjiang, then the Uyghurs could finally live in peace.

[@Moses_VII]

​@@sayidadam3728Wikipedia said it was both ways.

[@justsefa1843]

"Turks had either genocided, forcibly converted or expelled the vast majority of the Christian population of Anatolia as the modern Turkish identity grew." This is a very disingenous way of describing this period of time. No, the Ottomans didnt give 2 cents about the ethnicity or religion of their subjects. The "modern turkish identity" grew with the young turks and they came to power in 1910. No "murdering" or "genocide" happened between 1910 to 1915, because it was an insane thing to do. This of course doesnt mean that the turkish triumvirat didnt care to emphasize being turkish, but the butchering happens during WW1 and for a specific reason, because people used religious identifications to kill each other. According to Just McCarthy there were 1 mil muslim civilian victims in eastern Anatolia alone. 500 000 civilians starved to death in Syria due to bad harvest and another 1 mil died in western Anatolia. The death toll was further fueled by the greek army committing war crimes on their march to Ankara. Add the terrorism of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation 2 decades prior to WW1 and we have about 3-4 mil muslim civilians dying. Directly or indireclty caused by the invasion or nationalism of the orthodox people. So yeah, I agree that the population exchange was the least bad option, because what happened in Anatolia was multiple times worse. Both ways I may add.

[@bt7348]

"Turks had either genocided, forcibly converted or expelled the vast majority of the Christian population of Anatolia as the modern Turkish identity grew" I find this statement very harsh. Before these events Turks were massacred in Balkans and only handful of them were able to escape with their lives. I am originally from Yalova, Turkey and you can easily get an idea of how bloody these wars were by searching Yalova Peninsula Massacres. Population exchange was the ONLY option to stop the bloodshed.

[@erickbehari6740]

And the best part is : The creator of Megali Idea was not Greek

[@JohnoftheWesternlands]

Ioannes Koletis was a greek as they get

[@Dalex1910]

Great video! There's also still a big Muslim community in Thrace, + Istanbul had a much larger greek population until the pogrom in 1955. I think it was part of the agreement that these 2 places wouldn't be affected by the population exchange

[@TartarusPyro]

So w8 turks live on occupied land since 1453 ? Hmmmmm

[@elesad1910]

so w8 greece was always turkish? hmm

[@user-ob7tw1mt8g]

Yes occupied by the Greeks and celts since 10000bc. You must be 🇹🇷 so I’ll spell it out for you. 12 thousand years is a little bit longer than 570

[@user-ob7tw1mt8g]

12000 years is longer than 570. Go back to the steppes

[@Jalayir]

People's awareness of Greek civilization and identity came away gravely damaged after the decline of the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman rule. “Hellene,” the appellation that defined the Greek people, had been abandoned: because Byzantium was part of the Roman Empire, the Greeks had taken to calling themselves Romans, Ῥωμαίοι. At the turn of the nineteenth century, as Ottoman rule waned and Greece regained a sense of its own identity, the language situation was, to put it mildly, paradoxical. The traditional written language had remained largely faithful to ancient Athenian-based Koine, yet it was so removed from the language then spoken that people no longer understood it. And there was no one cultural, political, or social identity strong enough to impose its language on the new Greek society. The only center to safeguard Greekness over the centuries had been the Church, which had done so by conserving ancient Koine. So, people looked to it to provide the revival of Hellenism with a common language. When the Greek War of Independence came to an end, the one way to recover a common outlook was to take a step back in time- two thousand years back. In fact, in its infancy, modern Greece established its identity by returning to its roots in Pericles' Athens of fifth century BC. Therefore, the written language that originated from Hellenistic Koine, which itself originated from the lonic-Attic dialect, gave Greece a united language that corresponded to their reacquired sense of national unity. Modern Greek pronunciation was achieved by keeping what was common to the majority of Hellenes and eliminating all local quirks. The vowel sounds of Koine remained intact, as did its written form. Modern Greek phonetics is the same as Hellenistic phonetics, though some consonants are pronounced differently. Although the grammatical forms that had disappeared thousands of years before, like aspect, dual number, the optative, and the dative, could not be resurrected, in many regards modern Greek remained ancient. The current language continues to draw a distinction between the present and aorist, retaining all of that distinction's semantic value, and still uses the accusative, nominative, genitive, and vocative cases (though the plural genitive is rarely used, and the nominative and vocative are often mixed up). Modern Greek made two surprising innovations. It got rid of infinitive verbs-a feature it shares with the languages of the Balkans-and invented a future tense by paraphrasing the verb "to want": "I will judge" is expressed as a кpivo, "I want to judge"-and therefore "will judge."

[@Ironic954]

The secular use of Hellene revived in the 9th century, after paganism had been eclipsed and was no longer a threat to Christianity's dominance. The revival followed the same track as its disappearance. The name had originally declined from a national term in antiquity, to a cultural term in the Hellenistic years, to a religious term in the early Christian years. With the demise of paganism and the revival of learning in the Byzantine Empire it had regained its cultural meaning, and finally, by the 11th century it had returned to its ancient national form of an "ethnic Greek", synonymous at the time to "Roman". Accounts from the 11th century onward (from Anna Komnene, Michael Psellos, John III Vatatzes, George Gemistos Plethon and several others) prove that the revival of the term Hellene (as a potential replacement for ethnic terms like Graikos and Romaios) did occur. For example, Anna Komnene writes of her contemporaries as Hellenes, but does not use the word as a synonym for a pagan worshiper. Moreover, Anna boasts about her Hellenic classical education, and she speaks as a native Greek and not as an outsider/foreigner who learned Greek. The refounding of the University of Constantinople in the palaces of Magnaura promoted an interest in learning, particularly in Greek studies. Patriarch Photius was irritated because "Hellenic studies are preferred over spiritual works". Michael Psellos thought it a compliment when Emperor Romanos III praised him for being raised "in the Hellenic way" and a weakness for Emperor Michael IV for being completely devoid of a Hellenic education, while Anna Komnene claimed that she had "carried the study of Hellenic to the highest pitch". Also, commenting on the orphanage her father founded, she stated that "there could be seen a Latin being trained, and a Scythian studying Hellenic, and a Roman handling Hellenic texts and an illiterate Hellene speaking Hellenic correctly". In this case we reach a point where the Byzantines are Romans on the political level but Hellenic by descent. Eustathius of Thessalonica disambiguates the distinction in his account of the sack of Thessaloniki in 1185 by referring to the invaders with the generic term "Latins", encompassing all adherents to the Roman Catholic Church, and the "Hellenes" as the dominant population of the empire. After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders, Greek nationalism accentuated. Niketas Choniates insisted on using the name "Hellenes", stressing the outrages of the "Latins" against the "Hellenes" in the Peloponnese and how the Alfeios River might carry the news to the barbarians in Sicily, the Normans. Nikephoros Blemmydes referred to the Byzantine emperors as Hellenes, and Theodore Alanias wrote in a letter to his brother that "the homeland may have been captured, but Hellas still exists within every wise man".The second Emperor of Nicaea, John III Doukas Vatatzes, wrote in a letter to Pope Gregory IX about the wisdom that "rains upon the Hellenic nation". He maintained that the transfer of the imperial authority from Rome to Constantinople was national and not geographic, and therefore did not belong to the Latins occupying Constantinople: Constantine's heritage was passed on to the Hellenes, so he argued, and they alone were its inheritors and successors. His son, Theodore II Laskaris, was eager to project the name of the Greeks with true nationalistic zeal. He made it a point that "the Hellenic race looms over all other languages" and that "every kind of philosophy and form of knowledge is a discovery of Hellenes […]. What do you, O Italian, have to display?"

[@veljkopetkovic5393]

where was macedonia aftet the turks? "oo because it has always greek"

[@rudolfohisena5701]

The “Megali Idea”, grew up of an idea stealing lands from its weaker neighbors. That is until they met Mustafa Kemal, who spoiled the Greek party. Why didn’t the British come to the rescue, when Greeks yelled for help?

[@gabriels6795]

Stealing land? How do Greeks steal land from Greeks?

[@rudolfohisena5701]

@@gabriels6795 stealing lands from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, which Greeks successfully succeed, when it came to the Turkish land, they not only failed miserably, they got smashed.

[@TimelordDelta]

@@rudolfohisena5701 No such a nation as 'Macedonian' existed, it was Bulgarians and other Balkan invaders who stole the original Greek lands.

[@Sneikki]

Fun fact, when the Greeks took over some of the greek majority islands in the aegean sea during the early 1900s, the locals still called themselves "Romanoi" or "Romans". To them the word "Hellene" was mostly a new term and identity the mainlanders brought with them. People fight over when the Roman empire stopped existing, but the identity lived for far longer than people think.

[@highevan]

"Romaioi" (pronounced Romei) and not "Romanoi".

[@someonethatlikesyou7713]

It's romaioi bruh 💀

[@Dynamo_Kyiv_Fans_Peristeriou]

This is the biggest myth that people keep spamming in every comment senction beacuse they get horny listening it. Its just a joke about prople from Lemnos island living isolated and have no touch with reality or with time, there a lot of jokes like that and have nothing to do with actual events.

[@angelos2305]

Biased video. The Great Powers were not in favor of intervening in other empires, only when they thought it would work thanks to the sacrifices of the greek people, they did to claim their own interests Also in the Balkan wars they betted on Ottoman Empire to win. Do your research.

[@Debb4h]

Geldikleri gibi gittiler😏

[@ardian_g]

🇦🇱❤️🇹🇷☪️🏴☝🏼

[@serhaneroglu5402]

♥♥♥♥♥ Aynen Atatürk ün söylediği gibi de oldu.

[@thegreekguy1124]

The Greek revolution would have succeeded even without the battle of Navarino. As the Greeks were already beating the Ottoman and Egyptian armies in the field,the battle of Navarino wasn't planned either. The allied fleet was supposed to just stay there to keep peace in the seas(because even if the Soultan didn't want to admit it,it had already been decided that he lost)the only reason the battle happened was because an Egyptian ship accidentally fired at the British,who started firing back and then as the Brits fired back the French and Russians did too and that was that. The narrative that Greece wouldn't have succeeded without the battle of Navarino is heavily pushed,in Greece,to justify the Greek idea that we can't do anything on our own and always have ti rely on help from others. I am also surprised you didn't talk about the Greek genocide which featured more than a million dead Greek civilians from 1913 to 1922. Almost every family coming from Asia Minor or Thrace has lost at least one member in the genocide,including mine

[@Estelleeeeee]

Constantinople almost had a 50-50% of muslim/christian population! Damn! Plus ,it's also the area of Pontum which was inhabited by a million if not more Greeks, 300k of them were mascraded by Kemal. There are still a few living there, speaking Pontic Greek.

[@s2ci_onaim]

No! Not 300k but 300 trillion... A cheap understanding of history that is sourceless, unfounded and completely hearsay. You are truly disgusting...

[@serhaneroglu5402]

Only 1500 people

[@Erato7]

Constantinople is the Capital of Greece .The only European capital that is still under the occupation.Sooner or late it will return back.The wheel is turning.

[@serhaneroglu5402]

If you continue with the idea of ​​re-establishing Byzantium, this idea will only come back to you as war, blood, tears and death. Do not perceive these words of mine as Turkish Nationalism chauvinism. This is just a friendly warning, nothing more.

[@serhaneroglu5402]

@kikikiki9307 The current population of the city of Istanbul is 20,000,000, which is twice the population of Greece. This is an idea that will never happen, and this idea of ​​yours makes us Turks hate you. It is nothing else.

[@hasinabegum1038]

Greeks are not very European

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

​@@hasinabegum1038You rest..

[@Erato7]

@@hasinabegum1038 Before Greece there was no Europe The Greeks made Europe a continent.The first country that has the right to be called Europe is Greece.Without the Greeks Europe would not exist it would still be Asia.

[@unregierbar7694]

I wish for Greeks and Armenians to get Anatolia back. One day.

[@mokenn]

🤣

[@t_y_2192]

I wish for Turks, bosnians, macedonians and albanians to get balkans back. One day.

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

Τώρα πλέον ο καθένας έχει τα σύνορα του... Αλλά την ιστορία ποτέ δεν ξεχνάμε

[@t.durustein2185]

Don't lose the land you own while dreaming of this.

[@t.durustein2185]

@@katerinatsoliakou235 While we were fighting the war of independence, we do not forget the villages raided by Armenian gangs and the civilians they killed, the recent Khojaly massacre, and the Turks massacred by Greeks in Cyprus. We don't cry, we wait and take revenge when the time comes

[@Iamjustabirdinthesky]

The biggest problem isn’t turkey it’s the Greeks fighting each other as always even back when there was no Greece. Greek city states fought each other. The Cretan Venizelos was not good if you ask somebody in Greece. He did make Greece 5 times bigger but still he wasn’t good. They fought him multiple times

[@karetsin265]

Megali idea was an great dream. An too great dream. So it will never be the reality until the Legacy of Ataturk perishes. great video btw.

[@armandalikaj]

”When King Otto of Greece came in Greece in 1830, he hardly heard anyone speak in Greek and so he asked: "Where are the Greeks in Athens?" His court looked at each other and answered: "There are no Greeks, but do not be troubled because this Albanian population will always be faithful to your monarchy". Zaharias Papantoniou, "King Otto" Under Otto the socio-political power of Greece also depended on the Albanians, who at that time their population was located at the beating heart of the Greek state. According to the census made, the Greek state had just over a million inhabitants, of which a quarter were Albanians.

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

Τοτες δεν υπήρχε η Αλβανία...

[@s2ci_onaim]

Well said!

[@katerinatsoliakou235]

​@@s2ci_onaimγαργαλησου λιγο ακόμη

[@s2ci_onaim]

​@@katerinatsoliakou235 Daha fazlasını da yapabilirim ;)

[@johnniewalker7512]

It is called hellenic Megalomania, not Megalidea🤨.

[@elesad1910]

Sounds more like an IDEA 🤣 wet dreams

[@EML..]

Kids....

[@immortal2534]

Don't ever underestimate the Greeks, look how small was Greece in 1832 and look at it today! Maybe in a next war Greece grow even further

[@atillayurumez7533]

nüfusunuz öyle demiyor ama orta ölçekli bir sehir kadarsınız,sizin yerinize kim savaşacak,@@immortal2534

[@jellymemo6384]

I’m Turkish And I approve this

[@Max-ts5mw]

Why's he saying idea like that 😭

[@zoldik8890]

because "idea" is a greek origin word and the original is spelled like that

[@Max-ts5mw]

@@zoldik8890 it doesn’t matter where the word has it’s origins in English it’s not pronounced like that and he’s speaking English

[@zoldik8890]

@@Max-ts5mw dude, i guess he wanted to emphasize the name of the operation "Megali idea" which is a greek phrase otherwise he would had to say " Big idea" instead all the time. it's not a big deal.