Cretan State

The Cretan State was an autonomous state that governed the island of Crete from 1898 to 1913. While nominally under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, it enjoyed de facto independence, secured by the intervention of European Great Powers including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Russia. This intervention followed the Cretan Revolt of 1897, which prompted the Ottoman Empire to declare war on Greece. The Cretan State served as a precursor to Crete's eventual annexation by the Kingdom of Greece, which occurred de facto in 1908 and was formalized in 1913 after the First Balkan War.