Kingdom of Greece

The Kingdom of Greece was the Greek state established in 1832 by the Treaty of Constantinople, which recognised Greece as an independent monarchy after the War of Independence and nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule. It succeeded the First Hellenic Republic, and its guiding ambition for most of its life was the Megali Idea, the recovery of all lands with large Greek populations. Otto ruled as an absolute monarch from 1835, until the revolution of 3 September 1843 made the kingdom a constitutional one, with a prime minister as head of government, universal male suffrage and a constitution. A rising in 1862 deposed Otto, and the assembly's election of George I in 1863 brought in a Danish dynasty, the transfer of the Ionian Islands from Britain in 1864 and the annexation of Thessaly in 1881. Eleftherios Venizelos, who came to power after the Goudi coup of 1909, carried through sweeping reforms and presided over the victories of the Balkan Wars. Crown Prince Constantine became king after George I was assassinated, and the wars of the early twentieth century enlarged and then exhausted the kingdom. The monarchy was finally abolished in 1973 after an interruption: a republic had been proclaimed in 1924 and the king restored by referendum in 1935.