Greece

Greece (officially the Hellenic Republic) is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans Peninsula. The country has borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east.

Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece, generally considered to be the cradle of Western civilization. As such, it is often said to be the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama, including both tragedy and comedy.

Literary comment
Harry Turtledove makes some use of modern Greece. However, far more of his stories are set in Ancient Greece. Information for stories set in Greece before AD 600 will be found on that page.

Greece in Gunpowder Empire
The Koine variety of Greek was still a major language in one of the timelines where the Crosstime Traffic company maintained a secret presence. Jeremy Solters knew people who learned Koine via implants in order to travel to that timeline. In the home timeline itself, Koine Greek had developed in the Hellenistic period and was still spoken in Roman times but was then superseded by later varieties of Greek.

Greece in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Greece fell to Italy during World War II, and became part of the Italian Empire.

Greece in Joe Steele
Greece was invaded by Italy early in World War II. When that invasion floundered, Germany sent troops into Greece to aid the Italians in 1941.

At the 1943 Basra Conference, Prime Minister Winston Churchill blocked Soviet leader Leon Trotsky's plans to occupy Greece by threatening a naval bombardment of any Red Army positions in Greece if necessary. Trotsky yielded, and Greece fell under British influence after the war.

Greece in "Les Mortes d'Arthur"
By the late twenty-second Century, Greece had merged with other Western European countries to form United Europe. As such, it had its autonomy reduced to something comparable to that of a state in the United States. Nevertheless, it continued to compete separately at the Olympics to keep its place of honor as the homeland of the Olympic ideal. It was able to send four athletes to Mimas, a moon of Saturn, for the sixty-sixth Winter Olympic Games. The athletes' space suits were painted in the national colors of blue and white.

Greece in Noninterference
Greece was an autonomous area of United Earth, itself an autonomous Member Planet of the Federacy. Greeks had taken part in the great outward migration of humanity, settling the planets New Thessaly and Alexander, both of which kept a distinct Greek culture even after thousands of years.

Greece in "The Emperor's Return"
On June 7, 2003, the Socialist government of Greece turned on its former NATO ally, Turkey, and joined the Soviet Union in attacking Turkey. Greece demanded the return of Constantinople, now the city of Istanbul. The city fell to the Greek and Soviet forces three days later.

Greece in The Two Georges
Greece was a province of the Ottoman Empire. It fell under the de-facto control of the British Empire when the Ottoman Empire became a British protectorate.

Greece in The War That Came Early
Greece announced its neutrality when the Second World War broke out in October, 1938. A Greek freighter carried various Czechoslovakian refugees from various points in Eastern Europe to France, including Vaclav Jezek.

Greece was able to maintain that neutrality up to the end of the war, which was waged in the Soviet Union to its north and in Egypt and Libya to its south but never came near to Greek territory.

Greece in Worldwar
Greece was conquered by Germany in 1941 (having previously defeated an Italian invasion at the outset of World War II) and absorbed into the Greater German Reich. Many Greek refugees fled to Britain, which had sent troops to defend their country.

Under the terms of the Peace of Cairo, Greece was recognized as German territory.

Greece in "Occupation Duty"
The Ellenes were distantly related to the Philistinians, whose ancestors migrated eastward from Crete, 3000 years prior. The two languages were recognized as being related, but were not mutually intelligible. There were some contacts between Ellenes and Philisitinians, but they were not particularly tight. At one point, the Ellenes even allied with the Turks of Babylon, chief enemies of the Philistinians.