The Story of the Greatest Nations Volume 2; A Comprehensive History, Extending from the Earliest Times to the Present Including Chronological Summaries and Pronouncing Vocabularies for Each Nation and the World's Famous Events, Told in a Series of Brief Sketch (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 Excerpt: ...driving the Turks from the Peloponnesus. Mehemet Ali, with more sense than his master, saw that the game was up; he entered into negotiations; his helpless army was transported back to Egypt in the ships of the allies; and Greece was free in fact, though it took the Sultan two years longer to realize and admit it by treaty. The European "Powers," which had thus established the independence of Greece almost against their wills, treated her as a child, and kept her long in leading-strings. Perhaps she needed it, for the Greeks had shown themselves united in only one thing--unyielding hatred of the Turks. In all else they were as quarrelsome as the famous "Kilkenny cats." At one time during their life and death struggle, they had seven separate little private wars going on among themselves. Count Capo diIstrias was chosen president, but was accused of injustice and assassinated in 1831. The Powers had told Greece they could not approve of republics and that she must have a king; but it was not easy to select one. Every native Greek had rivals as powerful as he. Several foreign princes were privately offered the throne, but declined the honor much as they would have declined a seat on a rumbling volcano. At last Prince Otho of Bavaria accepted, and in 1832 became king of Greece. It was a thankless position for the well-meaning youth of seventeen. The people distrusted him; they had learned to be experts at falsehood and deception during their long slavery to the Turks; they were treacherously quick with their knives; and a Greek election was more dangerous and more hotly contested than the proverbial Irish one. King Otho was not a brilliant man, and he scon fell back upon the simple expedient of having nothing: to do with his subjects. He ca...