On this day, 128 years ago, on April 18, 1897 (March 17, 1897), the First Greek-Turkish War broke out. On April 18, 1897, the First Greek-Turkish War broke out. The war lasted for a month and ended with the victory of Turkey. Greece was the only country in the Balkans to gain independence before the Russo-Turkish War. But the independence at that time was incomplete, and a considerable part of the territory inhabited by Greek residents was still under the rule of the Turkish Sultan. Therefore, the question of the reunification of these regions with Greece and the achievement of national independence has always been the most acute issue in the struggle. In 1896, an armed uprising broke out on the island of Crete. In 1897, Crete was publicly declared to belong to Greece. The Greek government decided to send troops to support it, and the European powers Britain, France, Italy, and Russia declared that Crete would be autonomous "under the protection of Europe" and sent troops to jointly occupy the island. At the same time, Turkey also took military action against Greece. Greece was originally a relatively weak country, with insufficient troops and no advance preparations for war, so the huge disparity between the two sides was revealed at the beginning of the war. Although many countries had volunteer troops to support Greece in the war, the Greeks ultimately failed in the war, forcing it to withdraw from Crete and promise to pay reparations to the Turkish government. To ensure the payment of reparations, an international committee was established at that time, and all customs revenue and state monopoly income of Greece were handed over to this committee. In this way, the independence of Greece went from bad to worse, and it was further under the control of foreigners. The war was over, and Turkey was the victor, but through the victory of this war, Turkey did not actually gain continued rule over Crete. The troops of the foreign powers did not leave. On the advice of the Russians, the Greek Prince George, a figure who opposed the reunification with Greece, became the high commissioner of the island.