The termination of Ottoman rule in the Balkans was a long and bloody process. After Greece gained its independence, other Balkan states followed. However, the recently independent states were not ethnically homogeneous. In almost every state, an ideology emerged proposing that all ethnic communities belonging to the nation but residing outside national boundaries should be incorporated. The ambition to expand over neighboring states’ territories, amplified by the fact that national identities in the region had not yet fully crystallized, caused a strained situation. In Greece, this irredentist ideal, known as the “Megali Idea”…
