CRETE

Despite having participated in the Greek War of Independence in 1821, Crete remained under Ottoman rule. After a number of bloody uprisings (1841, 1858, 1866-69 and 1895-98), the island finally achieved autonomy in 1898 under the suzerainty of the Sultan and with Prince George as High Commissioner. The Cretans’ long-standing desire for union with Greece was ultimately fulfilled in 1913, after the Balkan Wars. The coin portrays Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936). After emerging onto Crete’s political stage with his participation in the Theriso uprising against the High Commissioner, in 1905, Venizelos was invited by the leaders of the Goudi Revolt to assume the premiership of Greece in 1910. He was a great reformer, as well as the architect of Greece’s expansion through the Balkan Wars.