Greece

The Kingdom of Greece was first made independent following the Greek War for Independence of 1821 to 1830. This saw the formation of the first Hellenic Republic, which was reformed as the Kingdom of Greece during the London Convention. Prince Otto of Bavaria was selected as King of Greece.

Otto's reign was marked by many troubles. His regency attempted to impose German ideas onto the Greeks, as well as Otto remaining Roman Catholic while the Greeks were Orthodox. Greece remained without a constitution until 1843, and Otto's interference in Greek governing drew discontent from many officials and politicians. His dismissal of the popular Prime Minister in 1862 saw a breakout of a military rebellion that saw him overthrown. Though Greece at first elected Alfred, son of Queen Victoria, to be king, he instead took the throne of Canada. Instead Prince William of Denmark became George I, King of the Hellenes.

George proved to be a more popular monarch than Otto, signing a new constitution in 1964. This period, however, also saw the rise of Greek nationalism and what had become known as the Megali idea, or the idea to unite all Greeks. In 1881, following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, Greece managed to receive lands in Thessaly despite being too impoverished to officially enter the war. Despite losing some land to the Ottoman Empire in 1897, much of Greece remained adamant of the Megali Idea, particularly in Crete.

The first major attempt at expansion came during the First Balkan War in 1912, wherein the Balkan League, made up of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, successfully defeated the Ottoman Empire, seeing Greece expand their territory and independence for the latter three. The next came during the Second Balkan War, in which Greece recieved Western Thrace and Crete, doubling the size and population of the country.

During the The Great War, Greece sided with the German and Russian Empires against Bulgaria. There, they recieved Eastern thrace, as well as southern regions of Bulgaria. However, Greek politicians wished to push further, desiring to aid the Arab Revolt and attempt to head to Istanbul. However, international pressure saw them not pursue this desire. In order to ensure this, Germany granted Greece the island of Cyprus from Great Britain.

Following the Great War, Greece joined with Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey into the Balkan League. This saw considerable push back from nations such as Italy and Hungary, who both had ambitions on Yugoslavia and the Balkans, as well as Bulgaria, who had ambitions of uniting Macedonia from Yugoslavia and Greece.

Italy put a wedge between the Balkan alliance when they negotiated a two state solution between Hungary and Romania in terms of Transylvania. As a result, Romania dissolved the Balkan League, allowing Italy to threaten an invasion of Greece. The German Empire supported Greek independence, and sent a considerable naval force to support the Greeks.