On this day in 1898, the last Ottoman soldiers left Crete, sailing out of the port of Souda and ending 229 years of Turk...

On this day in 1898, the last Ottoman soldiers left Crete, sailing out of the port of Souda and ending 229 years of Turkish occupation of the island. The Ottomans had first seized Crete in 1669, after a siege that began in 1645 with the attack on Chania. For more than two centuries, Cretans lived under heavy taxation, seized land, and conditions that reduced farmers to serfs. Uprisings were frequent, brutal, and repeatedly crushed. The final break came after the Great Powers, Britain, France, Italy, and Russia, forced the issue. Even after losing the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, the Ottomans could not hold Crete. The Great Powers declared the island autonomous and ordered all Ottoman forces out. The Ottomans stalled for weeks before the last garrison finally boarded ships at Souda on November 3, 1898. Prince George of Greece was appointed High Commissioner of Crete. The island would go on to formally unite with Greece, closing a chapter that had lasted longer than the United States has existed as a country. The rebellion did not end with one uprising. Daskalogiannis launched the first major revolt in 1770. The Great Cretan Revolution of 1866 followed. Cretans fought alongside Greeks in the 1821 War of Independence, even as Greece was formally established in 1832 without Crete included. The island's freedom came 66 years later, carried out through the port of Souda on a November morning. #Crete #OttomanHistory #GreekHistory