The Cretan state, culturally a part of Greece, geographically was held as a Turkish possession since the middle of the 17th century, with varying degrees of autonomy. The pact guaranteeing Cretan self-governance was broken by Turkey in 1889, leading to a wide-scale uprising that only ended after Turkey crushed the Cretan armies and a Great Power Intervention established an independent state. Turkey protested, and negotiations dragged for over a decade. Ultimately it took an armed conflict over the Balkans for the Great Powers to come to terms with Cretan-Greek unification.

On this day, December 1, in 1913, Greece’s annexation of the island of Crete was accepted (as it was already complete), by the Great Powers.

The two Balkan Wars resulting from the Ottoman Empire’s downfall and Crete’s unification attempt with Greece involved most of the European powers in one way or another. Austria-Hungary was particularly concerned that the neighboring Serbia could be used as a tool to foment unrest among the large Slav population at home. So when a dissident Serbian national assassinated the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Austria-Hungary declared war, initiating a tangle of alliance that would soon plunge all of Europe and the U.S. into WW I.