[5] Following the Allied victory, Venizelos secured new territorial concessions in Western Anatolia and Thrace in an attempt to accomplish the Megali Idea, which would have united all Greek-speaking people along the Aegean Sea under the banner of Greece.

[citation needed] Later the Pact was included in the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin, which was supplementing previous concessions granted to the Cretans — e.g. the Organic Law Constitution (1868) designed by William James Stillman.

A Greek force of about 2,000 men had landed at Kolymbari on 3 February 1897,[21] and its commanding officer, Colonel Timoleon Vassos declared that he was taking over the island "in the name of the King of the Hellenes" and that he was announcing the union of Crete with Greece.

[23] The Great Powers sent a verbal note on 2 March to the governments of Greece and the Ottoman Empire, presenting a possible solution to the "Cretan Question", under which Crete to become an autonomous state under the suzerainty of the Sultan.

Even though no progress was made at the meeting, he persuaded the admirals to send him on a tour of the island, under their protection, in order to explore the people's opinions on the question of autonomy versus union.

However, irregular Greek forces, who were members of the Ethniki Etairia (followers of the Megali Idea) acted without orders and raided Turkish outposts,[33] leading the Ottoman Empire to declare war on Greece on 17 April.

The Great Powers (Britain, France, Russia, and Italy), following the massacre of Greeks in Heraklion on 6 September,[16][35][36] imposed a final solution on the "Cretan Question"; Crete was proclaimed an autonomous state under Ottoman suzerainty.

[citation needed] Venizelos played an important role in this solution, not only as the leader of the Cretan rebels but also as a skilled diplomat with his frequent communication with the admirals of the Great Powers.

[37][38] The disagreements continued on other topics; the Prince wanted to build a palace, but Venizelos strongly opposed it as that would mean the perpetuation of the current arrangement of Governorship; Cretans accepted it only as temporary until a final solution was found.

[citation needed] The Great Powers assigned the authority for selecting the island's new High Commissioner to King George I of Greece, thereby de facto nullifying the Ottoman suzerainty.

[37] Following the Young Turk Revolution, which Venizelos welcomed, Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1908, and one day later Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria announced the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

An inaugurating period of direct military pressure upon the Chamber followed, but initial public support for the League quickly evaporated when it became apparent that the officers did not know how to implement their demands.

[citation needed] Venizelos tried to advance his reform program in the realms of political and social ideologies, education, and literature by adopting practically viable compromises between often conflicting tendencies.

[54] Subsequently, although the Greek army won the Battle of Giannitsa situated 40 km west of Salonika, Constantine's hesitation in capturing the city after a week had passed, led into an open confrontation with Venizelos.

Venizelos, having accurate information from the Greek embassy in Sofia about the movement of the Bulgarian army towards the city, sent a telegram to Constantine in a strict tone, holding him responsible for the possible loss of Thessaloniki.

The tone in Venizelos' telegram and that in the answer from Constantine that followed to announce the final agreement with the Turks, is widely considered as the start of the conflict between the two men that would lead Greece into the National Schism during World War I.

A small Bulgarian unit, which soon became a full division, moved into the city and immediately started an attempt to establish a condominium in spite of initial assurances to the contrary, showing no intentions to leave.

[citation needed] Once the campaign in Macedonia was completed, a large part of the Greek army under the Crown Prince was redeployed to Epirus, and in the Battle of Bizani, the Ottoman positions were overcome and Ioannina taken on 22 February 1913.

Thus, after two successful wars, Greece had doubled its territory by gaining most of Macedonia, Epirus, Crete and the rest of the Aegean Islands,[59] although the status of the latter remained as yet undetermined and a cause of tension with the Ottomans.

Despite German assurances that the integrity of the Kingdom of Greece would be respected, they were unable to restrain the Bulgarian forces, which had started dislocating the Greek population, and by 4 September Kavala was occupied.

[66] On 16 August 1916, during a rally in Athens, and with the support of the allied army that had landed in Thessaloniki under the command of General Maurice Sarrail, Venizelos publicly announced his total disagreement with the Crown's policies.

Venizelos, along with Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis and General Panagiotis Danglis agreed to form a provisional government, and on 9 October, they moved to Thessaloniki and assumed command of the National Defence to oversee the Greek participation in the allied war effort.

The Allies wanted further demobilization of the Greek army as a counterbalance to the royalist government's unconditional surrender of Fort Rupel and the military evacuation of Thessaly to ensure the safety of their troops in Macedonia.

[69] The Franco-British use of Greece's territory in co-operation with the Venizelos government[ii] throughout 1916 was opposed in royalist circles and therefore increased Constantine's popularity, and caused much excitement and several anti-Allied demonstrations took place in Athens.

[80] The Allies, unwilling to risk a new fiasco but determined to solve the problem, established a naval blockade around southern Greece, which was still loyal to the king, and that caused extreme hardship to people in those areas.

[81] In June, France and Great Britain decided to invoke their obligation as "protecting powers", who had promised to guarantee a constitutional form for Greece at the time the Kingdom was created, to demand the king's resignation.

[95] Following the defeat of the Greek army by the Turks in 1922 and the subsequent armed insurrection led by Colonels Nikolaos Plastiras and Stylianos Gonatas, King Constantine was dethroned (and succeeded by his eldest son, George), and six royalist leaders were executed.

[citation needed] In 1929, the Venizelos government, in an effort to avoid reactions from the lower classes whose conditions had worsened due to the wave of immigration, introduced the so-called Idionymon (#4229), a law that restricted civil liberties and initiated the repression against unionism, left-wing supporters and communists.

[103] The character of Constantine Karolides, the able and charismatic prime minister of Greece in John Buchan's 1915 adventure spy novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, is a thinly disguised version of Venizelos.

Advised by police to be wary of assassination attempts, they held the religious ceremony in private at Witanhurst, the mansion of a family friend and socialite Lady Domini Crosfield.