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The Kingdom of Greece was a nation in the Balkans. It achieved independence in 1832 from the Ottoman Empire, but remained small until the Danubian War, where after a heated debate, it aligned itself against the Ottomans. Even though it gained much territory from the war, the country was dominated by Austria and Russia. King Otto remained a deeply unpopular monarch until his death in 1867, and the Greek people demanded that a different line should provide his sucessor. Most favored Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a relative of queen Victoria. Russia and Austria would not stand for this, and placed Otto's brother Luitpold on the throne by force. Nonetheless, Luitpold proved an affable ruler who generally allowed the Greeks to govern themselves, and kept Greece the most independent of any Balkan nation. Along with the other Balkan states, Greece initially sided with its Austro-Russian overlords during World War One, but switched sides after the fall of Austria. Nonetheless, Greece lost large amounts of territory in the Treaty of Berlin-Northern Epirus to Albania, Cyprus and the Cyclades to France. Greece again became a battleground during the Fourth Balkan War, when republican forces launched a coup in Athens and overthrew Luitpold for a brief period before the Britsh and French restored him to the throne. Although the Greeks remained loyal to their monarch, strong revanchist sentiments existed in every level of society, and the 'Megali Ideal' of a Greater Greece remained an extremely powerful idea.
