Everything about Kilkis totally explained
Kilkis is an industrial city in
Central Macedonia,
Greece. As of 2001 there were 17,430 people living within the city and a total of 24,812 people living in the administrative area of the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the prefecture (or
nomos) of
Kilkis and the capital of one of the two local provinces (or
eparchia) of its prefecture. The city was known in,
Kukuš,and in )
History
There have been important findings excavated at various regions of the prefecture of Kilkis with elements dating back to as early as the Bronze and Iron Age. Their remains as well as ancient tombs of the 2nd millennium BC provide invaluable information about lifestyle at that time.
The town of Paeonia, near the Axios River, is cited for the first time in the
Homer’s Epics. As early as the 8th century BC, the wider region of Kilkis was established as a Greek region and ruled as part of the Macedonian kingdom. At that time, many towns flourished, such as Idomeni, Atalanti, Gortynia, Fiska, Terpillos, Evropos and Kallindria.
In 148 BC, the
Romans take over for two and a half centuries and eventually gave way to invasions of barbaric tribes, such as the
Goths, the
Huns, the
Avars and the
Slavs who gradually settled in the Balkan Peninsula.
Kilkis changed hands several times. In the Byzantine era it finally flourished. During the reign of the
Palaeologus dynasty in particular, important infrastructure works were realized in this prefecture. The period of prosperity ended in 1430, when
Thessalonica and the entire region came under the Ottomans.
First and Second Balkan Wars
In the
First Balkan War of
1912 it was briefly taken over by
Bulgaria. In the
Second Balkan War of
1913, the Greek army captured the city after a three-day battle between
June 19-
June 21. Although costly, with over 5,000 casualties on the Greek side and 7,000 on the Bulgarian, the Greek victory proved a decisive step towards victory in the war. Kilkis was almost completely destroyed during the battle and virtually all of its pre-war 7,000
Bulgarian inhabitants were expelled into
Bulgaria. The new town was built closer to the railway to
Thessaloniki, around the Greek church of Saint George, and was settled by Greeks transferred from
Bulgaria and the
Ottoman Empire.
In the mid-twenties, after the
Asia Minor Catastrophe when Greece lost its
Asia Minor territories to Turkey, waves of destitute refugees washed into Kilkis, thus giving a new boost to the region and contributing to the increase of its population. Likewise, the Turks (a generic term for the Moslem population) of the region had to leave for the new Turkish state in the exchange of populations. Barely two decades later, the Second World War broke out and devastated the region once again.
World War II
The significance of the
Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas can be appreciated by the fact that Greece named a battleship after the city. However,
Kilkis was sunk by a German
Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive-bomber on
April 23 1941, along with its sister-ship, in the third week of the invasion of Greece by
Nazi Germany. The city of Kilkis came under the Axis of Bulgarian occcupation in
1943 when the Bulgarian zone of occupation was expanded to include the prefectures of Kilkis and
Halkidiki. The new authorities pursued a policy of "Bulgarianisation" to annex the region to Bulgaria, but were forbidden from doing so by their German allies, who feared destabilising Greece if the Bulgarians proceeded. The region became a major centre for Greek partisan resistance activity before being recaptured by Greece in
1944.
Municipal districts
Subdivisions
Gavra
Argyroupoli (Αργυρούπολη) [2001pop: 591]
Xirovryssi (Ξηρόβρυση)
Zacharato (Ζαχαράτο) [2001pop: 101]
Kolchida [2001pop: 371]
Metalliko (Μεταλλικό), [2001pop: 371]
Sevasto (Σεβαστό) [2001pop: 150]
Famous inhabitants of Kilkis
Giorgos Floridis, Greek politician, ex minister
Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician, ex minister
Dimitris Basis, Greek singer
Pantelis Savvidis, journalist, tv-presenter
Kiltidis Kostas, Greek politician, sub-minister of Agriculture
DAF, famous Greek entertainer
Gotse Delchev, BMARC/SMARO revolutionary (1872-1903)
Ivan Hadzi Nikolov, Bulgarian Revolutionary (1861-1934)
Aleksandar Stanishev, Bulgarian physician, scientist and politician (1886-1945)
Hristo Smirnenski, Bulgarian poet (1898-1923)
Lazaros Pavlidis, Greek author (1929 - 2004)
Dimitris Markos, FootballerFurther Information
Get more info on 'Kilkis'.
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