decades of Greek rule in Thessaly were dominated by the agricultural issue, as the area retained its Ottoman-era large landholdings (chifliks), and the landlords enjoyed great influence, essentially reducing their tenant farmers to serfdom. The tensions culminated in the Kileler uprising of March 1910. The problem was finally settled through the wide-ranging land redistribution campaign undertaken by the governments of Eleftherios Venizelos. During World War I, during the National Schism in 1916–17, Thessaly served as a buffer zone between the pro-Entente Provisional Government of National Defence, led by Venizelos in Thessaloniki, and the royal, pro-Central Powers government in Athens. During World War II the area was occupied by the Italian army in 1941–43, and by the Germans in 1943–44. It became a major centre of the Greek Resistance, most famously seeing the desertion of the Italian Pinerolo Division to the guerrillas of EAM-ELAS in 1943. Notes References Sources