113 Years Ago, Greece Took Thessaloniki Back
On October 26, 1912, Greek forces entered Thessaloniki and ended over four centuries of Ottoman rule in the city, one of the most significant moments in modern Greek history.
Greece had entered the First Balkan War at the start of October 1912, fighting alongside Bulgaria and Serbia against a weakening Ottoman Empire. The Greek army, advancing rapidly through Macedonia, reached Thessaloniki just as Bulgarian forces were also racing toward the city. The stakes could not have been higher, since whoever entered first would almost certainly determine the city's political future.
Crown Prince Constantine led the Greek forces into Thessaloniki on the feast day of Saint Demetrius, the city's patron saint, a coincidence that Greeks at the time took as a sign. Ottoman commander Tahsin Pasha surrendered the city to the Greeks rather than the Bulgarians, who arrived a day later and were denied entry as a full occupying force. That single day made all the difference.
The liberation of Thessaloniki was not just a military victory. It restored Greece's second-largest city after 482 years under Ottoman control, a city that had been home to Greeks, Jews, Turks, and Slavs for centuries. King George I arrived shortly after and was assassinated in the city the following year, in March 1913, just months after seeing his forces reclaim it.
Thessaloniki today remains Greece's second city and a major cultural and economic center in the Balkans. The events of October 1912 shaped the borders and identity of the modern Greek state in ways that are still felt across the region.
