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March 25, the Independence Day in Greece
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March
25 is both a national (revolution against the Turks) and religious
holiday (Annunciation).
March 25 is the nameday for Vangelis or Evangelos
and Vangelio or Evangelia or Eva.
The Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453 and the Greeks remained
under the Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years.
During this time their language,
their religion and their sense of identity remained strong.
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On March 25, 1821 the bishop Germanos of Patras raised the Greek flag
at the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Peloponnese and one more revolution
started against the Turks.
The people of Greece shouted "Freedom or Death" and
they fought the War of Independence for 9 years (1821-1829) until a small
part of modern Greece was finally liberated and it was declared an independent
nation.
The struggle for the liberation of all the lands inhabited by Greeks
continued. In 1864, the Ionian islands were added to Greece; in 1881
parts of Epirus and Thessaly. Crete, the islands of the Eastern Aegean
and Macedonia were added in 1913 and Western Thrace in 1919. After World
War II the Dodecanese islands were also returned to Greece.
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Read more about the March 25, the Independence Day in Greece:
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