Military history of Greece
Encyclopedia
The military history of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

is the history of the wars and battles of the Greek people in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 and the Greek colonies in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 and the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 since classical antiquity.

Medieval Period

  • Iberian War
    Iberian War
    The Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia.-Origin:After the Anastasian War, a seven-year truce was agreed on, yet it lasted for nearly twenty years...

     (526-532)
    • Battle of Dara
      Battle of Dara
      The Battle of Dara was fought between the Sassanids and the Byzantine Empire in 530. It was one of the battles of the Iberian War.- Background :...

       (530)
    • Battle of Callinicum
      Battle of Callinicum
      The Battle of Callinicum took place Easter day, 19 April 531, between the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire under Belisarius and the Sassanid Persians under Azarethes. After a defeat at the Battle of Dara, the Sassanids moved to invade Syria in an attempt to turn the tide of the war...

       (531)
  • Vandalic War
    Vandalic War
    The Vandalic War was a war fought in North Africa, in the areas of modern Tunisia and eastern Algeria, in 533-534, between the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Vandal Kingdom of Carthage...

     (533-534)
    • Battle of Ad Decimum
      Battle of Ad Decimum
      The Battle of Ad Decimum took place on September 13, 533 between the armies of the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, and the Eastern Roman Empire , under the command of general Belisarius. This event and events in the following year are sometimes jointly referred to as the Battle of Carthage, one...

       (533)
    • Battle of Tricamarum (533)
  • Gothic War
    Gothic War
    Gothic War can refer to several periods of warfare between the Roman empire and the Goths, including:*Gothic War – Greuthungs and Thervings against the Eastern Roman Empire*Gothic War – Visigoths against the Western Roman Empire...

     (535-554)
    • Battle of Taginae
      Battle of Taginae
      At the Battle of Taginae in June/July 552, the forces of the Byzantine Empire under Narses broke the power of the Ostrogoths in Italy, and paved the way for the temporary Byzantine reconquest of the Italian Peninsula.From as early as 549 the Emperor Justinian I had planned to dispatch a major army...

       (552)
    • Battle of Mons Lactarius
      Battle of Mons Lactarius
      The Battle of Mons Lactarius took place in 552 or 553 in the course the Gothic War waged on behalf of Justinian I against the Ostrogoths in Italy....

       (553)
  • Byzantine-Arab Wars
    Byzantine-Arab Wars
    The Byzantine–Arab Wars were a series of wars between the Arab Caliphates and the East Roman or Byzantine Empire between the 7th and 12th centuries AD. These started during the initial Muslim conquests under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs and continued in the form of an enduring...

     (634-717, 800s-1025, 1169)
    • Battle of Yarmouk
      Battle of Yarmouk
      The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...

       (636)
  • Roman-Persian Wars
    Roman-Persian Wars
    The Roman–Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranic empires: the Parthian and the Sassanid. Contact between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 92 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued...

     (92 BC-627)
    • Battle of Nineveh
      Battle of Nineveh (627)
      The Battle of Nineveh was the climactic battle of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628. The Byzantine victory broke the power of the Sassanid dynasty and for a period of time restored the empire to its ancient boundaries in the Middle East...

       (627)
  • Muslim conquests
    Muslim conquests
    Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...

     (632-732)
    • Siege of Constantinople (674–678)
  • Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
    Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
    The Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD...

     (680-1355)
    • Battle of Anchialus (917)
    • Battle of Pliska
      Battle of Pliska
      The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I Genik, and Bulgaria, governed by Khan Krum...

       (811)
    • Battle of Kleidion
      Battle of Kleidion
      The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...

       (1014)
  • Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)
    Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)
    The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria...

  • Siege of Constantinople (1204)
    Siege of Constantinople (1204)
    The Siege of Constantinople occurred in 1204; it destroyed parts of the capital of the Byzantine Empire as it was confiscated by Western European and Venetian Crusaders...

  • Battle of Pelagonia
    Battle of Pelagonia
    The Battle of Pelagonia took place in September of 1259, between the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus, Sicily and the Principality of Achaea...

  • Byzantine–Seljuk Wars (1048–1308)
    • Battle of Manzikert
      Battle of Manzikert
      The Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...

    • Battle of Myriokephalon
      Battle of Myriokephalon
      The Battle of Myriokephalon, also known as the ', or in Turkish, was a battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks in Phrygia on September 17, 1176. The battle was a strategic reverse for the Byzantine forces, who were ambushed when moving through a mountain pass...

  • Byzantine–Ottoman Wars (1265–1453)
    • Fall of Constantinople
      Fall of Constantinople
      The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...

       (1453)

Ottoman Greece

  • Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479)
    Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479)
    The First Ottoman–Venetian War was fought between the Republic of Venice and her allies and the Ottoman Empire from 1463 to 1479. Fought shortly after the capture of Constantinople and the remnants of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans, it resulted in the loss of several Venetian holdings in...

  • Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540)
    Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540)
    The Ottoman–Venetian War of 1537–1540 was one of the numerous Ottoman–Venetian Wars of the period. The Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent had been angered by a treaty signed between the Republic of Venice and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V...

  • Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573)
    Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573)
    The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus was fought between 1570–1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the latter joined by the Holy League, a coalition of Christian states formed under the auspices of the Pope, which included Spain , the...

  • Battle of Lepanto
    Battle of Lepanto
    The Battle of Lepanto normally refers to the 1571 Holy League victory over the Ottoman fleet. There were also three earlier battles fought in the vicinity of Lepanto:*Battle of Naupactus in 429 BC, an Athenian victory during the Peleoponnesian War...

     (1571)
  • Epirus peasant revolts
    Dionysius the Philosopher
    Dionysius the Philosopher was a Greek monk who led two farmer revolts against the Ottoman Turks.-Life and career:Dionysius was born in c. 1560 AD in Paramythia, Thesprotia. He was of Greek descent, from Macedonia with Epirotian parentage...

     (1600), (1611)
  • Cretan War (1645–1669)
    Cretan War (1645–1669)
    The Cretan War or War of Candia , as the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War is better known, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, fought over the island of Crete, Venice's largest and richest overseas possession...

  • Morean War
    Morean War
    The Morean War is the better known name for the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War. The war was fought between 1684–1699, as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire...

     (1684–1699)
  • Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)
  • Orlov Revolt
    Orlov Revolt
    The Orlov Revolt was a precursor to the Greek War of Independence , which saw a Greek uprising in the Peloponnese at the instigation of Count Orlov, commander of the Russian Naval Forces of the Russo-Turkish War...

     (1770)
  • Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1770)
  • Siege of Kastania
    Siege of Kastania
    The Siege of Kastania was fought in 1770 between the Maniots and the klephts under Kostantinos Kolokotronis and Panagiotaros Venetsakis and the Ottoman Empire under Ali Bey.-Prelude:...

     (1770)
  • Battle of Chesma
    Battle of Chesma
    The naval Battle of Chesma took place on 5 -7 July 1770 near and in Çeşme Bay, in the area between the western tip of Anatolia and the island of Chios, which was the site of a number of past naval battles between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice...

     (1770)
  • Battle of Vromopigada
    Battle of Vromopigada
    The Battle of Vromopigada was fought between the Ottoman Turks and the Maniots of Mani in 1770. The location of the battle was in a plain between the two towns of Skoutari and Parasyros. The battle ended in a Greek victory.-Prelude:...

     (1770)
  • Sfakia revolt
    Daskalogiannis
    Ioannis Vlachos , better known as Daskalogiannis was a wealthy shipbuilder and shipowner who led a Cretan revolt against Ottoman rule in the 18th century.-Life and career:...

     (1770)
  • Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1803)
    Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1803)
    The 1803 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was the only region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of Maniots...

  • Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1807)
    Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1807)
    The 1807 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was the only region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of Maniots...

  • Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1815)
    Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1815)
    The 1815 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was the only region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of the Maniots. The Maniots caused damage to the Ottomans by allying...


19th century

  • Greek War of Independence
    Greek War of Independence
    The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

     (1821–1829)
  • Epirus Revolt of 1854
    Epirus Revolt of 1854
    The 1854 revolt in Epirus was one of the most important of a series of Greek uprisings that occurred in the Ottoman-occupied Greek world during that period. When the Crimean War broke out, many Epirote Greeks, with tacit support from the Greek state, revolted against the Ottoman rule...

  • Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)
    Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)
    The Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869 or Great Cretan Revolution was a three year uprising against Ottoman rule, the third and largest in a series of Cretan revolts between the end of the Greek War of Independence in 1830 and the establishment of the independent Cretan State in 1898.-Background:The...

  • Epirus Revolt of 1878
    Epirus Revolt of 1878
    The 1878 revolt in Epirus was the part of a series of Greek uprisings that occurred in the Ottoman-ruled Greece during the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War . Although Greek officials individually supported the revolt, the Greek Government, being aware of the international situation in eastern...


20th century

  • First Balkan War
    First Balkan War
    The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...

     (1912–1913)
  • Second Balkan War
    Second Balkan War
    The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

     (1913)
  • World War I
    Greece during World War I
    At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Kingdom of Greece remained a neutral nation. Despite being neutral, in October 1914, Greek forces moved in and occupied the areas of southern Albania that it claimed at a time when the new Principality of Albania was in turmoil...

     (1917–1918)
    • Balkans Campaign
      Balkans Campaign (World War I)
      The Balkans Campaign of World War I was fought between Central Powers Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, and Germany on one side and the Allies Serbia, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Montenegro on the other side.-Overview:The prime cause of World War I being the hostility between Serbia and...

    • Macedonian Front
      Macedonian front (World War I)
      The Macedonian Front resulted from an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by the internal...

  • Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)
    Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)
    The Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign or the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, was a series of military events occurring during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May...

  • World War II
    Military history of Greece during World War II
    Greece entered World War II on 28 October 1940, when the Italian army invaded from Albania, beginning the Greco-Italian War. The Greek army was able to stop the invasion and even push back the Italians into Albania, thereby winning one of the first victories for the Allies...

    • Greco-Italian War
      Greco-Italian War
      The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...

       (1940–1941)
    • Battle of Greece
      Battle of Greece
      The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...

       (1941)
    • Battle of Crete
      Battle of Crete
      The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...

  • Greek Civil War
    Greek Civil War
    The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

     (1945–1949)
  • Korean War
    Greek Expeditionary Force (Korea)
    The Greek Expeditionary Force in Korea was formed in response to the United Nations appeal for assistance in the Korean War. It comprised a reinforced Hellenic Army infantry battalion and a Royal Hellenic Air Force flight of 7 transport planes....

     (1950–1953)
  • Turkish invasion of Cyprus
    Turkish invasion of Cyprus
    The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...

     (1974)
  • Kosovo Force

Frankish & Crusader

  • Passavas
    Passavas
    Passavas or Las is situated on the Mani Peninsula. In ancient times Las was a Spartan possession and in 218 BC the citizens of the city fought and routed and group of Philip V of Macedon's army. Las became part of the Union of Free Laconians in 195 BC when it separated from Sparta. The Spartans...

  • Beaufort Castle (Mani)
  • Tigani
    Tigani
    Tigani is a small peninsula in the landscape of Mani in southern Greece. The name is Greek for "frying pan". Tigani is surrounded by the sea except for a narrow strip of land that connects to the mainland. The ruins of a probable medieval castle can be found there...

  • Kastro tis Orias
  • Kelefa
    Kelefa
    Kelefa is a castle and village in Mani, Laconia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Oitylo.-History:Kelefa was built by the Ottomans to contain the Inner Mani in 1670. 15 years later in 1685, the Maniots besieged the castle. They sent messengers to Venice so the Doge could send a fleet to...


Venetian

  • Kastro Larissa at Argos
    Argos
    Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

  • Kastro Palamidhi at Nafplio


List of Greek military institutions

  • Hellenic Military Academy
    Hellenic Military Academy
    The Evelpidon Military Academy is the oldest tertiary level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the modern Greek State....

  • Hellenic Naval Academy
    Hellenic Naval Academy
    The Hellenic Naval Academy is a military academy with university status and has the responsibility to educate and suitably train competent Naval Officers for the Hellenic Navy. Its full name is Hellenic Naval Cadets Academy and was founded in 1845. The academy is one of the oldest educational...

  • Hellenic Air Force Academy
    Hellenic Air Force Academy
    The Hellenic Air Force Academy is a military academy responsible for supplying the Hellenic Air Force with professionally trained pilots, aircraft engineers and air defence inspectors. It was founded in 1919 as the Military Academy of Aviation and renamed in 1967 as the Icarus School in reference...


See also

  • Military of Greece
    Military of Greece
    The armed forces of Greece consist of:* The Hellenic National Defense General Staff* The Hellenic Army* The Hellenic Navy* The Hellenic Air ForceThe civilian authority for the Greek military is the Ministry of National Defense....

  • History of the Hellenic Army
    History of the Hellenic Army
    -Greco-Turkish War of 1897:The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 was a war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, also known as "The Thirty Days' War". Turkey won the war within five years...

  • History of the Hellenic Navy
    History of the Hellenic Navy
    The History of the Hellenic Navy begins with the birth of modern Greece, and due to the maritime nature of the country, this force has been the premier service of the Greek Armed Forces.-The navy during the Revolution:...

  • History of the Hellenic Air Force
    History of the Hellenic Air Force
    The Hellenic Aviation was first established in 1911, with help from French experts. The Hellenic Air Force participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, the Asia Minor War, World War II, the Greek Civil War and the Korean War....

  • List of wars involving Greece
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