Deuthcland

The island's history is full of battles and conquests, indicative of Corfu's turbulent position in a historical vortex lasting until modern times, at which time unification with modern Greece from 1864 made the island's history one with that of the mainland, with no further foreign intervention. The legacy of these struggles is visible in the form of castles punctuating strategic locations all over the island. Two of these castles enclose the city ; it is the only city in Greece to be surrounded by castles in this way, and as a result has officially been declared a Kastropolis (Castle city) by the Greek Government. In 2007, the city's old town was named on the UNESCO World Heritage List, following a recommendation by ICOMOS.
History

Early History
According to the local tradition Corcyra (Κόρκυρα) was the Homeric island of Scheria (Σχερία), and its earliest inhabitants the Phaeacians (Φαίακες). At a date no doubt previous to the foundation of Syracuse it was peopled by settlers from Corinth, but it appears to have previously received a stream of emigrants from Eretria. The splendid commercial position of Corcyra on the highway between Greece and the West favoured its rapid growth and, influenced perhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city. This opposition came to a head in the early part of the 7th century BC, when their fleets fought the first naval battle recorded in Greek history (about 664 BC). These hostilities ended in the conquest of Corcyra by the Corinthian tyrant Periander (Περίανδρος) who induced his new subjects to join in the colonization of Apollonia and Anactorium. The island soon regained its independence and henceforth devoted itself to a purely mercantile policy. During the Persian invasion of 480 BC it manned the second largest Greek fleet (60 ships), but took no active part in the war. In 435 BC it was again involved in a quarrel with Corinth and sought assistance from Athens (see Battle of Sybota). This new alliance was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War, in which Corcyra was of considerable use to the Athenians as a naval station, but did not render much assistance with its fleet. The island was nearly lost to Athens by two attempts of the oligarchic faction to effect a revolution; on each occasion the popular party ultimately won the day and took a most bloody revenge on its opponents (427 BC and 425 BC). During the Sicilian campaigns of Athens Corcyra served as a supply base; after a third abortive rising of the oligarchs in 410 BC it practically withdrew from the war. In 375 BC it again joined the Athenian alliance; two years later it was besieged by a Lacedaemonian force, but in spite of the devastation of its flourishing countryside held out successfully until relieved. In the Hellenistic period Corcyra was exposed to attack from several sides.
In 303 BC after a vain siege by Cassander, the island was occupied for a short time by the Lacedaemonian general Cleonymos, then regained its independence and later it was attacked and conquered by Agathocles. He offered Corfu as dowry to his daughter Lanassa on her marriage to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. The island then became a member of the Epirotic alliance. It was then perhaps that the settlement of Cassiope was founded to serve as a base for the King of Epirus' expeditions. The island remained in the Epirotic alliance until 255 BC when it became independent after the death of Alexander, last King of Epirus. It subsequently fell into the hands of Illyrian corsairs, until in 229 BC it was delivered by the Romans, who retained it as a naval station and gave it the rank of a free state. In 31 BC it served Octavian (Augustus) as a base against Mark Antony.
Medieval History
Eclipsed by the foundation of Nicopolis, Kerkyra for a long time passed out of notice. With the rise of the Norman kingdom in Sicily and the Italian naval powers, it again became a frequent object of attack. In 1081-1085 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in 1147-1154 by Roger II of Sicily. During the break-up of the Later Roman Empire it was occupied by Genoese privateers (1197-1207) who in turn were expelled by the Venetians. In 1214-1259 it passed to the Greek despots of Epirus, and in 1267 became a possession of the Neapolitan house of Anjou. Under the latter's weak rule the island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers; hence in 1386 it placed itself under the protection of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal sovereignty over it.
Venetian rule
Kerkyra remained in Venetian hands from 1401 till 1797, though several times assailed by Turkish naval and land forces and subjected to four notable sieges in 1537, 1571, 1573 and 1716, in which the great natural strength of the city and its defenders asserted itself time after time. The effectiveness of the powerful Venetian fortifications of the island as well as the strength of some old Byzantine fortifications in Angelokastro, Kassiopi, Gardiki and others, was another great factor that enabled Corfu to remain the last bastion of free, uninterrupted Greek and Christian civilization in the southern Balkans after the fall of Constantinople. Will Durant, a French historian, claims that Corfu owed to the Republic of Venice the fact that it was the only part of Greece never conquered by the moslem Turks.
Turks at the gates
There were many attempts by the Turks to take the island starting as early as 1431 when Turkish troops under Ali Bey landed on the island, tried to take the castle and raided the surrounding area, but were repulsed.
The Siege of 1537
This was the first great siege by the Turks. It began on the 29th August 1537 with 25,000 soldiers from the Turkish fleet landing and pillaging the island, and taking 20,000 hostages as slaves. Despite the destruction wrought on the countryside, the city castle held out in spite of repeated attempts over twelve days to take it, and the Turks left the island unsuccessfully because of poor logistics and an epidemic that decimated their ranks.The Siege of 1571
Thirty four years later in August of 1571 the Turks returned for yet another attempt at conquering the island. Having seized Parga and Mourtos from the Greek mainland side they attacked the Paxi islands, killing, looting and burning. Subsequently they landed on Corfu's southeast shore and established a large beachhead all the way from the southern tip of the island at Lefkimi to Ipsos in Corfu's eastern midsection. These areas were thoroughly pillaged and burnt as in past encounters. Nevertheless the city castle stood firm again, a testament to Corfiot-Venetian steadfastness as well as the Venetian castle-building engineering skills. It is also worth mentioning that another castle, Angelokastro (Greek: Αγγελόκαστρο meaning Angelo's Castle and named for its Byzantine owner Angelos Komnenos), situated on the northwest coast near Palaiokastritsa (Greek: Παλαιοκαστρίτσα meaning Old Castle place) and located on particularly steep and rocky terrain, a tourist attraction today, also held out.
These Turkish defeats in the East and the West of the island proved decisive and the Turks abandoned their siege and departed.
The Siege of 1573
Two years later the Turks repeated their attempt. Coming from Africa after a victorious campaign, they landed in Corfu and wreaked havoc on the countryside yet again. Their troops however were not particularly noted for their discipline, so after a counterattack by the Venetian-Corfiot forces they were forced to leave the city by way of the sea.
The Siege of 1716
This is the second great siege of Corfu, which took place in 1716, during the last Turkish Venetian War. After the conquest of the Peloponnese in 1715, the Ottoman fleet appeared in Butrinto opposite Corfu. On 8 July the Turkish fleet, carrying 33,000 men, sailed to Corfu from Butrinto and established a beachhead at Ipsos. The same day the Venetian fleet encountered the Turkish fleet off the channel of Corfu and defeated it in the ensuing naval battle. On 19 July, after taking a few outlying forts, the Ottoman army reached the hills around the city of Corfu and laid siege to it. Despite repeated assaults and heavy fighting, the Turks were unable to breach the defences and were forced to raise the siege after 22 days ; The 5000 Venetians and foreign mercenaries, together with 3000 Corfiotes, under the leadership of Count von der Schulenburg who commanded the defence of the island, stood tall and were victorious once again.The success is owed in no small part to the extensive fortifications, where Venetian castle engineering had proven itself once again against considerable odds. The repulsion of the Ottomans was widely popularized in Europe, where Corfu was seen as a bastion of Western civilization against the Ottoman tide. Today, however, this role is often relatively unknown or ignored.
Venetian policies and heritage
Corfu Town looks very different from most Greek towns because of Corfu's unique history. From 1386 to 1797, Corfu was ruled by Venetian nobility; much of the town reflects this era when the island belonged to the Republic of Venice, with multi-storied buildings on narrow lanes. Many Venetian-speaking families settled in Corfu during these centuries and until the second half of the 20th century, the Veneto da mar was spoken in Corfu. During this time, the local Greek language assimilated a large number of Italian and Venetian words, many of which are still common today.
The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat enervating policy towards the natives, who began to adopt some segments of Venetian customs and culture. The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice.

The island served as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of the first academy of modern Greece. Many Italian Jews took refuge in Corfu during the venetian centuries and spoke their own language (Italkian), a mixture of Hebrew and Venetian with some Greek words.
The Venetian influence was important in the development of opera on Corfu. During Venetian rule, the Corfiotes developed a fervent appreciation of Italian opera, which was the real source of the extraordinary (given the conditions in the mainland of Greece) musical development of the island during that era. During 18th and 19th century, the Opera house of Corfu was the Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo, named after the neighbouring catholic cathedral, but the theatre was later converted into the Town Hall. A considerable number of local composers, such as Antonio Liberali, Domenico Padovani, Spiros Samaras and others, developed their career with this theatre.
The internationally renowned photographer Felice Beato was born in Corfu from a venetian family in the 19th century. The architecture of Corfu remains considerably more Italian than anywhere else in Greece.
Venetians promoted the Catholic church during their four centuries rule in Corfu. Even if today the majority of Corfiots are Greek Orthodox (following the official religion of Greece), a percentage of Catholics (5%) nevertheless owe their faith to these origins. These contemporary Catholics are mostly families who came from Malta, but also from Italy during the Republic of Venice, and today the Catholic community takes in about 4000 people, (2/3 of Maltese descent) who live almost exclusively in the Venetian "Citadel" of Corfu City, and harmoniously side-by-side with the Orthodox community.
The island's way of life received Venetian influence in a variety of ways ; its local cuisine, for example, took on this influence and today's Corfu's cooking maintains some amongst these Venetian delicacies and recipes: "Pastitsada", deriving from the Venetian "Spezzatino" and is the most popular dish in the island of Corfu , "Sofrito", "Strapatsada", "Savoro", "Bianco" and "Mandolato".
19th century

By the Treaty of Campo Formio, Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years as the département Corcyre, until they were expelled by a joint Russian-Ottoman squadron under Admiral Ushakov. For a short time it became the capital of a self-governing federation of the Heptanesos ("Seven Islands"), under Ottoman suzerainty; in 1807 after the Treaty of Tilsit its faction-ridden government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was besieged in vain by a British fleet, which had taken all the other Ionian islands. When, by the Treaty of Paris of 5 November 1815, the Ionian Islands became a protectorate of the United Kingdom as the United States of the Ionian Islands, Corfu became the seat of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. The British commissioners, who were practically autocrats in spite of the retention of the native senate and assembly, introduced a strict method of government which brought about a decided improvement in the material prosperity of the island, but by its very strictness displeased the natives. On 29 March 1864, the United Kingdom, Greece, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of London, pledging the transfer of sovereignty to Greece upon ratification. Thus, on 28 May, by proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, the Ionian Islands were united with Greece.

World War I
During the First World War, the island served as a refuge for the Serbian army that retreated there on allied forces' ships from a homeland occupied by the Austrians and Bulgarians. During their stay, a large portion of Serbian soldiers died from exhaustion, food shortage, and different diseases. Most of their remains were buried at sea near the island of Vido, a small island at the mouth of Corfu port, and a monument of thanks to the Greek Nation has been erected at Vido by the grateful Serbs; consequently, the waters around Vido island are known by the Serbian people as the Blue Graveyard (in Serbian, Plava Grobnica), after a poem written by Milutin Bojić after World War I.
World War II and Resistance
Italian occupation
During the Greco-Italian War Corfu was occupied by the Italians in April 1941. They administered Corfu and the Ionian islands as a separate entity from Greece until September 1943, following Mussolini's orders of fulfilling the Italian Irredentism and making Corfu part of the Kingdom of Italy.
During the Second World War the 10th infantry regiment of the Greek Army, composed mainly of Corfiot soldiers, was assigned the task of defending Corfu. The regiment took part in Operation Latzides, which was a heroic but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stem the forces of the Italians.After Greece's surrender to the Axis, the island came under Italian control and occupation.On the first Sunday of November 1941, High School students from all over Corfu took part in student protests against the occupying Italian army ; these student protests of the island were among the first acts of overt popular Resistance in occupied Greece and a rare phenomenon even by wartime European standards. Subsequently, a considerable number of Corfiots escaped to Epirus in mainland Greece and enlisted as partisans in ELAS and EDES, in order to join the resistance movement gathering in the mainland.
The German occupation and the Holocaust
Upon the fall of Italian fascism in 1943, the Nazis moved to take control of the island. On 14 September 1943, Corfu was bombarded by the Luftwaffe using napalm-type incendiary bombs ; these destroyed churches, homes, whole city blocks, especially in the Jewish quarter Evraiki, and a number of important buildings, such as the Ionian Parliament, the Municipal Theatre, the Municipal Library and others. The Italians capitulated, and the island came under German occupation. Corfu's mayor at the time, Kollas, was a known collaborator and various anti-semitic laws were passed by the Nazis that now formed the occupation government of the island.In early June 1944, while the Allies bombed Corfu as a diversion from the Normandy landings, the Gestapo rounded up the Jews of the city, temporarily incarcerated them at the old fort (Palaio Frourio), and on 10 June sent them to Auschwitz, where very few survived.Approximately two hundred out of a total population of 1900 escaped. Many among the local population at the time provided shelter and refuge to those 200 Jews that managed to escape the Nazis. A prominent section of the old town is to this day called Evraiki (Εβραική, meaning Jewish quarter) in recognition of the Jewish contribution and continued presence in Corfu city. An active Synagogue (Συναγωγή) with about 65 members (who still speak their original Italkian language) is an integral part of Evraiki currently.
Liberation
Corfu was liberated by British troops, specifically the 40th Royal Marine Commando, which landed in Corfu on 14 October 1944, as the Germans were evacuating Greece. Corfu then became a place for rest and refit for the British forces, during the tail end of the war. The Royal Navy swept the Corfu Channel for mines in 1944 and 1945, and found it to be free of mines. A large minefield was laid there shortly afterwards by the newly-communist Albania.
Post-War and Modern Corfu

After World War II and the Greek Civil War, the island was rebuilt under the general programme of reconstruction of the Greek Government (Ανοικοδόμησις) and many elements of its classical architecture remain. Its economy grew but several of its inhabitants left the island for other parts of the country; buildings erected during Italian occupation – such as schools or government buildings – were put back to civic use. The Corfu General Hospital was also constructed; electricity was introduced to the villages in the 1950s, the radio substation of Hellenic Radio in Corfu was inaugurated in March 1957, and television was introduced in the 1960s an internet connections in the 1990s. The Ionian University was established in 1984.