The Venetians divided Crete into six provinces (sexteria) and the 'Parte di Commune de Venice' which controlled the Candia (Herakleion) and its environs.

In the early 14th century this was changed to the four districts roughly the same as they are today. The architecture was the distinctive Venetian style with its narrow winding streets still to be seen in three of the present day cities.

That the Venetians were not popular landlords would be an enormous understatement, with the locals and the Orthodox Church subjugated by their conquerors. In less than 200 years there were 27 uprisings against them and, while it was a unanimous dislike among the Cretans, it might be said that the reason these uprisings failed was they tended to be localised with one Cretan family refusing to support another against their common enemy.

In June 1645 began a long and bloody war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Crete held a great deal of importance for many a European leader as it was now the furthest east of the Christian church's outposts. Chania was the first to be attacked with a huge force reported to be over 50,000 men under Yusuf Pasha. They landed just outside Chania and easily made it to the walls of the city itself. The Turks then proceeded to bombard the city relentlessly.

By August 1645, a full two months after the siege had begun, the Venetians surrendered and they never recaptured Chania. Rethymnon was next. The Turks set siege to the city in September 1646 and within two months it too had fallen. The Turks bided their time before embarking on what they knew would be a far more difficult task than the two previous, that of taking the capital Candia.

With the fortifications of the main city believed to be virtually impregnable, the Turks took the rest of the island setting huge taxes for the locals and forcing many to convert to Islam. In May 1648 the siege began on Candia. Within three months the Turks had the capital completely surrounded by land and had cut off the city's spring water supply from outside.

There was a kind of stalemate for 16 years as the Turks bombarded Candia but could gain no access. After the treaty of Vasvar was signed in August 1664, however, the Ottoman army that had been fighting another battle in the Balkans were free to join the fray.

In 1666 the Turks renewed their heavy bombardment of Candia, under the command of Grand Vezir Koprulu, and still the walls didn't tumble. The turning point was the decision of the French to abandon Candia in August 1669, leaving Francesco Morosini, who was in command of the Venetian forces, little choice other than to surrender. All the Christians were allowed to leave the city with whatever they could carry with them and most left the island for good.

6000BC-1100BC   1100BC-324AD   324-1217   1217-1669    1669-1940      WWII

The book above charts the relationship between Muslims and Christians on Crete under Ottoman rule.

The period of Ottoman rule started quite brightly as the Ottomans had the same type of feudal system that the Cretans were used to. However, this wasn't to last long and the population of Crete found themselves forced to become Muslims to avoid extremely heavy taxation and other punitive measures brought in by their new landlords.

In 1770 there was a rebellion against the Turks organised by Yannis Vlachos (also known as 'teacher John' or 'Daskaloyannis') who led an uprising of around 2000 Sphakians (from the mountains around Sphakia). Daskaloyannis had hoped for Russian help with the uprising but this never came to fruition and the following year the Turks forced the rebels to accept certain terms in return for amnesty. There were further uprisings during the Greek war of Independence (1821-1830) which failed and were met with harsh reprisals from the Turks.

The Egyptians helped the Turks out in 1822 when the Ottoman forces were being stretched by uprisings in the Greek mainland. Crete was not included within the newly independent Greece in 1830. Instead it was granted to Egypt (by a treaty in London) who ran the island for 10 years before another treaty (again in London) handed the island back to the Turks. This, of course, was met by another uprising by the Cretans. A further uprising occurred in 1858 before 'The Great Cretan Rebellion' of 1866-1869. This rebellion was halted when the Turks promised the Cretans all sorts of concessions, including Christian parity with Islam (known as the Organic Act).

These concessions, however, never materialised and in 1878 the Cretans rebelled yet again. With the Turks at war with Russia, Greece threw her hand in to support this latest Cretan uprising. The Turks, severely weakened by the Russian war, again tried to appease the locals with further concessions within the framework of the organic act. Needless to say this, once again, failed and an uprising in 1889 was followed by a five year period of bloodshed and violence on a regular basis then another uprising in 1895 until final liberation from the Ottoman empire was achieved in 1898. A period of autonomy followed until 1913 when at last Crete was unified with the rest of Greece.

     6000BC-1100BC   1100BC-324AD  324-1217   1217-1669    1669-1940    WWII

World War II

Crete's part in WWII has been well documented and includes acts of extreme daring and bravery by the Australian, New Zealand and British troops as well as the courage and dignity of the Cretans themselves.

The Germans invaded on May 20 1941, after a week of bombing strategic sites on the island, with parachute regiments landing at Herakleion, Rethymnon and Chania in an attempt to take the airport at Meleme. The battle for Crete only lasted 10 days but during that period the Germans lost 4000 men, had whole parachute divisions wiped out and lost a great deal of the momentum that had seen them sweep their way through the rest of Europe.

This battle pretty much stopped the Germans from continuing on to the Middle East and was the last significant parachute invasion of the Second World War. There have been many books written about the battle of Crete, some of which are listed below. It must be remembered that the resistance against the occupiers went on well after the island had been conquered, despite the brutal reprisals meted out against the Cretan villagers. Tales of derring-do can be found in the book Ill met by Moonlight, the story of the kidnap of the German commander of operations. The courage of the Cretan resistance is best illustrated by George Psychondakis' The Cretan Runner.

Books on this period