200 Years of the Greek Revolution

At the centre, a circular emblem with the Greek flag flanked by laurel branches. Below it, the initials of coin designer Georgios Stamatopoulos and the palmette of the Greek mint are visible. Around the upper inner edge runs the commemorative inscription "1821–2021 200 ΧΡOΝΙΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ", and along the lower edge the issuing state "ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ".

The Greek War of Independence of 1821 marks one of the most consequential turning points in 19th-century European history. After nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule, Greek insurgents rose up in spring 1821 — the traditional date is 25 March, when Archbishop Germanos of Patras is said to have raised the flag of the uprising. The war, which lasted until 1829, was no orderly campaign but a shifting guerrilla conflict fought on several fronts: the Peloponnese, mainland Greece, the islands of the Aegean. The decisive turning point came with the Battle of Navarino in 1827, in which British, French and Russian ships destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet, tipping the military balance definitively in Greece's favour. In 1830, the European great powers formally recognised the Greek state in the London Protocol — the first newly founded nation-state project in the Balkans.

The founding of the modern Greek state had an impact far beyond the country itself. The Philhellenic movement mobilised the whole of Europe; intellectuals and volunteers from Germany, France and Britain — including Lord Byron, who died in Missolonghi in 1824 — expressed solidarity with the Greek struggle. In Greece itself, 25 March became a national holiday still observed today, shaping the nation's collective self-understanding. The year 2021 was entirely devoted to the 200th anniversary: state institutions, cultural bodies and cities such as Athens and Thessaloniki marked the bicentenary with a wealth of exhibitions, events and publications. Greece also honoured this anniversary with its own 2-euro commemorative coin.