The “Megali Idea”

The borders of the new Greek state created in 1830 excluded several areas with dense Greek populations. Indeed, several of them, such as Crete, had actively participated in the 1821 revolution. For the unredeemed populations, Greece became the great motherland they wished to join; for the Greek state, the vision of annexing all the lands in which substantial Greek populations lived became the lynchpin of foreign policy. The term Megali Idea ["Grand Idea"] as referring to the national vision was coined in 1844, in a speech delivered by Ioannis Kolettis to the National Assembly.