The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY
OF ATHENS
1834-1911
The first capital of Greece was Nafplio in the Peloponnese. Very
soon, however, Athens took over this role. The choice of Athens
had several symbolic and practical advantages. The city had been
the focus of ancient Greek civilization, which dominated the ideology
of the newly founded Greek State. Furthermore, since Athens had
been largely destroyed during the campaigns of the Greek War of
Independence, it could develop into a new city, unburdened by
the Ottoman past.
Town
planning studies were started to enable Athens to function as
the new capital. The first study by the architects Stamatis Kleanthis
and Eduard Schaubert aimed to promote the ancient heritage and
the new public buildings of the kingdom. The fact that Otto, son
of Ludwig of Bavaria, an admirer of ancient Greek civilization,
had been selected as the first king of Greece emphasized the identity
of the capital as the symbol of the glorious past and as the administrative
centre of an organized modern state.
Kleanthis
and Schaubert envisaged the creation of a city that would
be equal to the other European capitals and that suggested
the remodelling of the urban environment with plenty of wide,
open spaces and gardens, wide streets and boulevards. Their
plan included the demolition of the old Ottoman City and the
suggestion to transfer the centre of Athens to the area between
the Omonia and Syntagma Squares.
The
city’s population changed both in quantity as in quality
from 6.000 people in 1832 to 41.000 in 1870. Athens was attracting
people from other urban centers in Greece and in the Ottoman Empire
and Greeks of the diaspora who came to work in the public services,
as well as immigrants coming to work as laborers and small-scale
merchants and manufacturers.
The
city was expanding without any specific planning and there was
only a spontaneous separation of the different social classes
in different areas. The lower classes settled in the southern
and south-western areas, in the old Ottoman part of the city,
in Thissio, Psirri and later in Metaxourgio and Gazi. People from
the middle and upper classes settled in today’s city centre
and around Vasilissis Sofia Avenue.
3 September Revolution
As
the country’s capital, Athens was closely related to events
that shaped the history of the newly founded Greek state. King
Otto had tried to function as an absolute monarch, as Thomas Gallant
writes, he "was neither ruthless enough to be feared, nor
compassionate enough to be loved, nor competent enough to be respected.".
By
1843, public dissatisfaction with him had reached crisis proportions
and there were demands for a constitution. Initially Otto refused
to grant a constitution, but as soon as German troops were withdrawn
from the kingdom a military coup was launched.
On
3 September 1843, the infantry led by Colonel Kallergis and the
respected revolution captain Ioannis Makriyannis, assembled in
the square in front of the Palace in Athens. Eventually joined
by much of the population of the small capital, the rebellion
refused to disperse until the King agreed to grant a constitution
which would require that there
be Greeks in the Council, that he convene a permanent national
assembly and that Otto personally thank the leaders of the uprising.
Left
with little recourse, now that his German troops were gone, King
Otto gave in to the pressure and agreed to the demands of the
crowd over the objections of Queen Olga. The square was renamed
Syntagma (Constitution) Square to commemorate the events of September
1843. For the first time the king had Greeks in his council and
the French party, the English Party or the Russian Party (according
to which of the Great Power culture they most esteemed) competed
for rank and power.
Troubled times
Athens
suffered in the years between 1854 and 1857 when the port of Piraeus
was blocked by British and French forces to prevent Greece from
participating on the side of Russia in the Crimean War. The situation
became even worse with an outbreak of cholera in Athens.
In
the following years there was increasing discontent with Otto’s
interference in political affairs in Greece, which resulted in
a widespread movement against him that continued until 1862 when
he was exiled and left Greece.
In
the period before King George I, his successor to the throne,
arrived in 1863, different parties competed for political control
resulting in the violence outburst of June 1863, known as “Iouniana”,
when many people lost their lives. These conflicts ended with
the appointment of a temporary government, which remained in power
until the arrival of King George 1.
Athens grows
In
the following decades, until the end of the 19th century, succeeding
governments tried to modernize and strengthen the country’s
economy. This was the time when the first vital infrastructure
was put in place:
•
Athens-Piraeus railway
• the gas factory (Gazi, now Technopolis)
• Evangelismos Hospital
• numerous public buildings
It
also was in this period that increasing waves of urban migrants
made the population of Athens grow to 123.000 by 1896. The city
expanded to the south and south-west (Metaxourgio and Gazi) and
to the north and north-west (Neapoli, Exarchia and Kolonaki).
The
first industrial developments didn’t alter the city’s
character. Athens remained a city of merchants and manufacturers
with a large number of public servants. The port of Piraeus, on
the other hand, developed rapidly into an industrial zone.
Athens
was not only the capital of the Greek State but also a national
focus for Greeks all over the world. This was combined with Greece’s
irredentist (annexation of territories administered by another
state on the grounds of common ethnicity and/or prior historical
possession) aspirations in those parts of the Ottoman Empire with
Greek-speaking communities.
Athens’
institutional framework, particularly the education system, and
its European aura, attracted both the Christian Orthodox population
and Greeks worldwide. Wealthy Greeks living abroad made significant
contributions to the creation of an industrial infrastructure
and to numerous educational and cultural organizations.
The Greco-Turkish war
In
late 1896 a rebellion broke out on Crete and on 21 January 1897
a Greek army landed in Crete to liberate the island from Ottoman
control and unite it with Greece. The European powers, however,
intervened, and proclaimed Crete an international protectorate.
The Greek army retreated to the mainland, where it attempted to
advance northwards into Thessaly and Epirus. This was the start
of the Greco-Turkish War.
In
Thessaly the Turks had concentrated six divisions of about 60.000
men under Ethem Pasha, with a seventh division joining a little
later. The Greeks, led by crown Prince Constantine, numbered just
under 46.000. The Greeks controlled the sea, outnumbering and
outgunning the Turkish navy.
In
early April Greek troops crossed the border, trying to start an
uprising in Macedonia. The armies met at Mati. The Greeks were
outnumbered and retreated past Larissa, which was evacuated. Near
Farsala the Greeks re-established order and a counter-attack was
planned. However, Greek morale failed, and they were only saved
because the Ottoman Sultan ordered a cease-fire on 20 May.
In
Epirus, the Greeks numbered 15.000, against 30.000 Turks under
Ahmet Hifzi Pasha. On 18 April the Turks began bombarding Arta
but they failed to take the city. Retreating to Philippiada, the
Turks entrenched themselves and Greek forces counter-attacked
but, on 15 May, they had to retreat with heavy losses because
reinforcements failed.
Peace
was signed on 20 September, arranged by European powers. Turkey
received a large amount of money as indemnification, and gained
a small amount of land on the Thessaly border. This was the only
occasion during the century of conflict between Greece and the
Turks that Greece was forced to cede land to the Turks.
The
beginning of the 20th century in Athens was marked by a series
conflicts. The first, “Evangeliaka” in November 1901,
concerned the translation of the Bible into Demotic Greek. The
second, “Oresteiaka” in 1903, was about the translation
of Aeschylu’s Oresteia. Both conflicts reflected the ideological
gab between the supporters of Katharevousa, an official language
that resembled ancient Greek, and those who supported the use
of Demotic Greek. The conflicts also reflected a large feeling
of social unrest in Athens.
Modernization
The
disappointment caused by serious economic difficulties, the defeat
in the Greco-Turkish war of 1897 and a general distrust of the
political establishment, resulted in the Goudi movement of 1908.
Its aims were to reorganize the army and to improve the country’s
military capability and state institutions and functions.
The
movement was a landmark in the modernization process in Greece.
It brought Eleftherios Venizelos to Athens and the development
of new national and internationals policies aiming at social,
political and economic modernization and the expansion of the
State.
In
the same period, the first years of the 20th century, additional
vital infrastructure was completed in Athens as the supply of
electricity throughout the city gradually increased, the public
transport system developed, roads were opened up, municipal administrative
services provided by the municipality of Athens (founded in 1835)
were reshaped and municipal abattoirs constructed to improve public
hygiene. Much of this endeavor was achieved through the mayors
Spiros Merkouris and Emmanouil Benakis.