At the beginning of the twentieth century, Greece was in important respects a genuinely modern country. Whereas most Europeans were subjects of empires, two of which, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, had only recently adopted constitutions, generations of Greeks had already been accustomed to regular elections, a parliament and universal male suffrage. Greece’s constitutional monarchy was formally dedicated to the interests of a sovereign people or ‘nation’. The constitution certainly did accord enormous powers to the crown. King George I (reigned 1863–1913), of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and only Greece’s second monarch, controlled the military and could appoint and dismiss governments. But his was also a ‘crowned democracy’ or ‘crowned republic’ (vasilevomeni demokratia): he was ‘King of the Hellenes’ (the Greeks), not ‘Hellas’ (Greece). The political party with the largest number of representatives in the national parliament (vouli) could form a government, and all adult males had the right to vote well before they did in France (1874) or Britain (1918). Greece was among the first states to introduce compulsory primary school education (1834), which accounted for the fact that Greek nationals were, on average, more literate than subjects of neighbouring countries. The state had redistributed land to peasants without significant social upheaval or political backlash. Beyond the parliament, one would have found a very lively ‘public sphere’ of middle-class males who frequented urban cafes, and a dynamic press that did its best to stimulate public interest and excitement in politics. To be sure, this ‘public’ was exceedingly small, and the social base of the political system was extremely narrow. Most of the population (84 per cent) consisted of illiterate farmers, tradesmen, shepherds and mariners, who in voting followed the lead of local patrons and provincial notables. Women were not granted political rights until the mid-twentieth century. Nevertheless, by the standards of the age Greece could be classed as a progressive polity. It belonged to the world’s very exclusive group of liberal democracies.

Greece was also a small country in a world dominated by vast empires. It was 63,211 square kilometres, less than half its present-day size (131,957).