Megali Idea

Myrian map showing the ratification of the Treaty of Myra, 1911
  States which ratified the treaty
  States which did not initially ratify the treaty
  States which did not ratify the treaty

The Megali Idea (Myrian: Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Megáli Idéa, "Great Idea") is a concept of Myrian nationalism that expresses the goal of establishing a Myrian state that would encompass all historically ethnic Myrian-inhabited areas. While it usually refers to uniting regions that are ethnically Myrian today through voluntary accession, in some irredentist cases it can include all the regions that traditionally belonged to Myrians in ancient times via involuntary annexation.

The term appeared for the first time during the sixteenth-century, but only emerged as a tangible political ideal during the mid-19th century after the formation of the Myrian Confederacy, a loose alliance of the Myrian states. This visionary nationalist idea dominated domestic politics for a century and significantly affected foreign relations between Asura and a more nationally conscious Myria. The expression was relatively new but the concept had roots in the Myrian popular psyche. A major point of inspiration was the League of Myra of Antiochus Treros, a short-lived confederacy which had united much of the ancient Myrian world.

Πάλι με χρόνια με καιρούς,

για μια ακόμη φορά θα είμαστε ένα!

(Once more, as years and time go by, once more we shall be one)

While the Megali Idea envisioned the creation of a united Myrian state, it did not set out the specifics of how the state would be governed. Supporters of a federal Myria, the Myriotes, often looked to the League of Myra as their main source of inspiration, preferring a weak federal government and strong states. In the minority were the Vasilofrons who looked to the Kingdom of Etolia as precedent with a unitary system with a strong government as their preference, though there was disagreement in the faction over whether the head of state would be elected or selected from an existing monarchy. At the 19th National Convention the Myriotes succeeded in the creation of a federal Myria.

The Megali Idea dominated the domestic politics of Myria from the Brother's War in the 1820s through to unification in the beginning of the 20th century. While it began to fade after unification, the troubled accession of Alashia in 1963, and the Kyros Question continuing to the present day, have kept the idea alive.