On February 3, 1895 (Julian), representatives of the Cretan provinces (Apokoronas, Kydoniai, Sphakia, Rethymno and Agios Vasileios) met in Klema, near Chania.

To show goodwill to the European powers, the Ottomans replaced the Muslim governor with a Christian, Alexander Karatheodoris.

In September 1895, the Greek Cretans formed a revolutionary assembly at the instigation of the Consul General of Greece.

The revolutionary assembly demanded the declaration of Crete as an autonomous entity, paying an annual tribute to the Ottomans.

On November 27, 1895, armed conflict broke out at Vryses between Greek Cretan members of the "Transition Committee" and 3,000 Ottoman troops commanded by Tayyar Pasha.

After a day long battle, the Greek Cretans forced the Ottoman troops to retreat after losing 200 men and failing to capture any assembly members.

[7] On May 11, Turkish Cretens starting robbing and killing Christians in Chania, later extending the violence to Kydonia and Kissamos.

In September, the Ottomans appointed George Berovich Pasha, former governor of Samos, as the new wāli (governor-general) of Crete.

Yielding to pressure from the opposition and public opinion, he placed Prince George of Greece at the head of a fleet tasked with blockading Ottoman ships from supplying Crete.

That same day, British Admiral Harris, suspecting the Greeks of supplying the insurgents, forced Prince George to return to Greece.

On February 19, a group of 600 men, composed of Cretan rebels and volunteers along with Greek soldiers, stormed and captured the Turkish fortress of Voukolias.

In March 1897, the French and British fleets settled in positions opposite Akrotiri, making the blockade even stricter.

The British formulated the idea of autonomy, which would prevent the annexation of the island by Greece and thus preserve the principle of Turkey's integrity.

On March 20, the European powers declared the autonomy of Crete, placed under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire and, with their fleets, blockaded the island from the 21st.

The admirals learned that the occupants of an Ottoman fort in Malaxa were on the verge of starvation after they had found themselves surrounded by the Cretans, despite the white flag hoisted for several days.

On hearing the news, many of the Greek volunteers at Akrotiri' wanted to return to face a possible Ottoman invasion.

On 13 May, Venizelos declared that he and his forces would not lay down their arms until the last Ottoman soldier had left the island, so the conflict continued.

On March 16, 1898, Germany announced that it was withdrawing from Crete and would not oppose or approve the choice of Prince George as governor.

On April 12 Austria-Hungary also dropped opposition to Prince George, The remaining European powers now organized an administrative council on Crete and asked for the gathering of Ottoman troops in certain points of the island.

On 1 July, the administrative council of admirals gave the Cretan Assembly the power to elect an executive committee.

On 17 October 1898, Great Britain and the other European allies issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman government to withdraw Its troops and citizens from Crete within 30 days.

Prince George's government appointed a sixteen-member committee (twelve Christians and four Muslims) to draft a constitution, the first on the island.

It was led by Venizelos, who denounced the corruption of Prince George's entourage and the latter's inability to make the great powers accept the idea of annexation of Crete by Greece.

The beginning of the First Balkan War in 1912 opened the doors of the Greek Parliament to Cretan deputies, but did not yet mean formal union.