The Last Revolution

By the mid-1890s Crete was a powder keg once more. All manner of brutalities, assaults, arson attacks and murders were committed in the towns and outlying areas, while armed bands roamed the hinterland, heightening the sense of insecurity and anarchy that gripped the island. The revolutionary movement that broke out in 1895 led to the granting of further concessions to the Christians, but was so slow in being implemented that unrest continued.

In February 1897 a Greek military force led by Timoleon Vassos landed on Crete with the express aim of forcefully bringing about union with Greece. The European powers sent their fleets to the area and proposed that the island be granted autonomy, in a solution eventually approved by the General Revolutionary Assembly. The uprising then assumed major proportions, and battles were fought at various places on the island, particularly around the larger towns. The withdrawal of the Turkish army on 2^nd November 1898 signalled the end of the revolution.