Greece

Greece was a human nation located in Southeastern Europe on Earth in the Sol System. Other countries bordered by Greece included Turkey and Bulgaria.

Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre and the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. The subsequent Hellenistic period saw the height of Greek culture and influence in antiquity. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, which was culturally and linguistically predominantly Greek.

Greece fell under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-15th century after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to Ottoman conquest in 1453. Greece became independent from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence, with the establishment of the Hellenic Republic being declared in 1822 and its independence being recognised by the European great powers (Great Britain, France and the Russian Empire) in 1830.

In 1831, the assassination of the first Governor of Greece, Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, created political and social instability that endangered the country's relationship with its allies. To avoid escalation and in order to strengthen Greece's ties with the Great Powers, Greece agreed to become a Kingdom with the signing of the Treaty of London in 1832. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was initially the first candidate for the Greek throne; however, he turned down the offer. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria was chosen as its first King.

Greek discontent with the undemocratic rule of a Bavarian absolute monarch led to the outbreak of a revolt in Athens in 1843. Otto agreed to grant a constitution, and convened a National Assembly which met in November. The new constitution created a bicameral parliament, consisting of an Assembly (Vouli) and a Senate (Gerousia). Power then passed into the hands of a group of politicians, most of whom had been commanders in the War of Independence against the Ottomans.

At the urging of Britain and King George I of Greece, the country adopted a much more democratic constitution in 1864. The powers of the King were reduced and the Senate was abolished.

The National Schism was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreign policy of Greece from 1910, of which the tipping point was whether Greece should enter the Great War. Venizelos was in support of the Allies and wanted Greece to join the war on their side, while the pro-German King wanted Greece to remain neutral, which would favour the plans of Germany and its allies. Greece never entered the Great War, and the efforts of King Constantine I to keep Greece out of the conflict were vindicated after the war ended in a mutually destructive exchange of orbital weapons in 1916 which devastated much of Europe. The vindication of Constantine I's efforts to maintain Greek neutrality greatly increased the legitimacy of the monarchy in the eyes of the Greek population, allowing the Greek monarchy to survive until the late 20th century.

In 1918, Greece took advantage of the political instability in the Ottoman Empire as it was collapsing after the end of the Great War and invaded parts of western and northwestern Anatolia, before the new Republic of Turkey had even been established. Volunteer Turkish nationalist militia groups comprised of former soldiers from the Ottoman Turkish military attempted to defend Anatolia from invading Greek forces, but the Greek invasion was ultimately successful due to the weakened and disorganised state of the militias and the post-Great War Turkish military. The Kingdom of Greece annexed the cities of Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydın, Kütahya, Bursa and Eskişehir before their advance was stopped by Turkish forces at the Battle of Sakarya in 1920. The greatly weakened Turkish military found itself unwilling and unable to retake these cities, given that many of them had already been destroyed and depopulated as a result of Allied orbital weapon strikes during the Great War. Greece ended the military campaign in Turkey in 1920 after successfully annexing much of western and northwestern Anatolia, although Greek forces were unable to achieve long-held national ambitions to capture the city of Constantinople.

While the Kingdom of Greece escaped enemy orbital strikes on its territory due to its neutrality in the Great War, the devastation of the economies and populations of Europe resulted in a global economic depression which would suppress Greek economic growth for decades to come. Many refugees from war-devastated parts of the world also flooded into Greece, putting a strain on national resources.

Greece joined the League of Nations in 1921, two years after the founding of the organisation.

Diplomatic relations between Greece and Turkey dramatically improved in 1940, when the two countries agreed to create a passport-free travel zone between Turkey and the former Ottoman areas of Anatolia that had been annexed by Greece after the Great War.

In 1961, Greece and Turkey joined the European Union (EU). In 1965, the member states of the European Union made the decision to unify their military forces under a single European command. The Greek military was dissolved, and the resources of the Greek military forces were integrated into the newly-formed European Union Defense Force.

In 1968, the supranational political and economic structures of the European Union and the Commonwealth of Nations were combined to form the United Commonwealth. The resources of the European Space Agency and the separate space agencies of Commonwealth of Nations member states were combined to form the United Commonwealth Space Agency. The European Union Defense Force of the former European Union and the separate Earth and space military forces of Commonwealth member states were also reorganised into the United Commonwealth Defence Force. The Euro was replaced as the currency used in Greece by the newly-established currency of the United Commonwealth, the Commonwealth credit.

In the wake of the start of the Allied-Cramori War and the Cramori Empire's attempted invasion of the Sol System in 1976, in 1988 the citizens of the member states of the United Commonwealth voted to give the United Commonwealth Parliament and the United Commonwealth Secretariat the powers of a federal government, effectively transforming the United Commonwealth from a supranational political and economic union to a single federal republic. It was thought that granting the United Commonwealth greater economic, political and military control over the resources of its constituent states would be more effective for planetary defence against the Cramori. The Greek government was therefore effectively absorbed into the United Commonwealth Government in 1988, and Greece is largely regarded to have ceased to exist as a separate nation-state on that date.