Megali Idea

Megali Idea (Greek for "Great Idea") is a concept of Greek nationalism expressing the goal of establishing a Greek state that encompasses all ethnic Greeks. A major proponent was Eleftherios Venizelos, who expanded Greek territory in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. A major defeat followed in 1922, however, when the Turkish nationalists defeated and expelled the Greeks from Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922).