From 1895 , following the Hamidian massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire ; Cretan Christians , then under Ottoman domination , demanded self-government on their island under the protection of the great powers . Massacres of Christians by Muslims led Greece to intervene , first by accepting the departure of volunteers from its shores , then by more and more directly sending part of its fleet , followed by troops at the beginning of 1897 just when Cretans themselves declared '' enosis '' ( union with Greece ) . The intervention of the European powers ( France , Great Britain , Italy , Russia , Austria-Hungary and Germany ) forced Greece to back down . The opposition criticised the feebleness and indecisiveness of the government , which declared war on the Ottomans at the beginning of April . Fighting lasted a month , which gave its name to the conflict ( the Thirty Days ’ War ) ; the Greek defeat was thorough . Although Greece lost only small amounts territory on its northern border , it was forced to pay huge war reparations of 4 million Ottoman pounds to the victor . Coming on the heels of the public insolvency declared in 1893 , it meant that Greece had to accept an International Financial Control commission ( Διεθνής Οικονομικός Έλεγχος ) , which in effect diverted the Greek state 's main income sources ( state monopolies and port customs tariffs ) to the repayment of Greece 's public loans . Crete however became an autonomous state under international supervision , while remaining under the Sultan 's suzerainty
Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres
Goudi coup