Early history: early 19th century Image:AlexanderYpsilantisPruth.jpg|
Alexander Ypsilantis (in Sacred Band uniform) crosses the Pruth, starting the
Greek War of Independence. Painting by
Peter von Hess File:Prince Demitrios Ipsilantis, President of the Legislative Body of the Greek Government in 1822 - Friedel Adam De - 1830.jpg|
Demetrios Ypsilantis was commander of the tactical Greek forces during the
Battle of Petra (1829), final battle of the War of Independence File:Kolokotronis Theodore.JPG|
Theodoros Kolokotronis, the most important commander of the Greek irregular forces during the Revolution File:RODIOS-1.JPG|
Panagiotis Rodios, as Army's colonel, one of the early supporters for the creation of regular army during the Revolution The Hellenic Army traces its origin to the
regular units established by the
Greek provisional government during the
Greek War of Independence (1821–1829). The first of these, an infantry regiment and a small
artillery battery, were established in April 1822, and were commanded by European
Philhellenes (such as
Joseph Balestra and others). Lack of funds however forced its disbandment soon after, and it was not until July 1824 that regular units were reformed, under the Greek Colonel
Panagiotis Rodios. In May 1825, the first law on conscription was passed, and the command of the entire regular forces entrusted to the French Colonel
Charles Fabvier. Under Fabvier, the regular corps expanded, and for the first time came to include cavalry, military music detachments, and, with
Lord Byron's aid, military hospitals. The governorship of
Ioannis Kapodistrias (1828–1831) saw a drastic reorganization of the national military: a Secretariat on Army and Naval Affairs and the
Hellenic Army Academy were created, the Army Engineering Corps was founded (28 July 1829), and a concerted effort was made to reform the various irregular forces into regular
light infantry battalions. Throughout these early years, French influence pervaded the Greek regular army, in tactics as well as appearance, as most of the instructors were French—at first Philhellenes, and later serving officers of
General Maison's Expeditionary Corps. After Kapodistrias' assassination in 1831 and in the subsequent internal turmoil over the next two years, however, the regular army all but ceased to exist. The first king of the newly independent Greek kingdom, the Bavarian prince
Otto, initially relied on a
4,000-strong German contingent. The royal government re-established the regular army and dissolved the irregular forces that had largely fought the War of Independence. Following the ousting of Otto in 1862, the Army continued relying on the Army Organization Statute of 1833. The Greek royal army in 1860 was approximately 200,000 men. The first major reforms were undertaken in 1877, in response to the Balkan Crisis that eventually led to the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Among other measures, for the first time the Hellenic Army was briefly subdivided into
divisions and
brigades.
Universal conscription was introduced in 1879, and under the premiership of
Charilaos Trikoupis, in 1882–1885 major steps were undertaken to improve the training and education of the officer corps: a
French military mission was called to Greece, new schools were founded and Greek officers were sent abroad for studies, and efforts were made to make officers on active service refrain from participating in politics and focus on their professional duties. The Army also underwent its first
mobilizations, in July 1880 – April 1882 due to the Greek annexation of
Thessaly, and again in September 1885 – May 1886, when
Bulgaria annexed
Eastern Rumelia. The great financial burden of these long periods of mobilization, however, exhausted the public treasury, and stalled the reform process. The result was that the Hellenic Army was wholly unprepared for war on the outbreak of the
Greco-Turkish War of 1897: plans, fortifications and weapons were non-existent, the mass of the officer corps was unsuited to its tasks, and training was inadequate. As a result, the numerically superior, better organized, equipped and led Ottoman forces pushed the Greek forces south out of Thessaly.
Decade of wars: 1912–1922 (1913) during
WWI during the
Greco-Italian war,
WWII The dismal performance of the Hellenic Army in the war of 1897 led to a major reform programme under the administration of
Georgios Theotokis (1899–1901, 1903–1904 and 1906–1909). A new Army Organization Statute was issued in 1904 (revised in 1910), purchases of new artillery material (including the
75 mm Schneider-Danglis 06/09 gun) and of the
Mannlicher–Schönauer rifle were made, and a new,
khaki field uniform was introduced in 1908. Reform was accelerated after the
Goudi coup of 1909. The new government under
Eleftherios Venizelos brought a
French military mission to train the Hellenic Army. Under its supervision, the Greeks had adopted the triangular infantry division as their main formation, but more importantly, the overhaul of the mobilization system allowed the country to field and equip a far greater number of troops than it had in 1897: while foreign observers estimated a mobilized force of approximately 50,000 men, the Army eventually fielded 125,000, with another 140,000 in the National Guard and reserves. After the victorious
Balkan Wars, the country doubled its territory. During the WWI, a disagreement between King
Constantine and Prime Minister
Eleftherios Venizelos caused a
National Schism, but eventually a united Greece joined in 1917 the Allies. As a winner of the war, Greece annexed
Western and
Eastern Thrace and landed units in 1919 at
Asia Minor, starting so the
Greco-Turkish War (1919-22), which was unsuccessful for Greece, in 1922.
World War II, Civil War, and Korea The country joined WWII with the Allies side in October 1940, when dictator
Ioannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum by Mussolini. In the
Greco-Italian War, the Hellenic Army pushed back the Italian and occupied large parts of southern Albania, but after a German invasion (
Battle of Greece) fell under the Axis domination. Leo Niehorster's website shows the higher organisation of the Greek Army on 15 August 1940, with the General Staff of the Army directly supervising five corps, three divisions, and the Thessaloniki Fortress. The exiled Greek government, with units of the Army, were transferred to the Middle East, where they continued the war with the Allies as the
Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East. The
Sacred Band and the
3rd Greek Mountain Brigade were formed in exile, and took part in various operations; including the
Tunisian campaign and the
Battle of Rimini (1944). After the war, Greece incorporated the
Dodecanese. Soon, the political polarization between communist (or leftist) and anticommunist forces, led to a three-and-a-half-year-long
Greek Civil War, which ended with communist defeat. The
Greek Expeditionary Force took part in the
Korean War with a total of 10,255 Greek personnel, of whom 186 or 187 were killed and 617 were wounded. The army was briefly renamed "Royal Hellenic Army" from 20 August to 25 October 1964, on the initiative of then
Minister of National Defence,
Petros Garoufalias. == Engagements ==