From the death of Kolettis (1847) and until 1854 the governments were composed of personalities from the pro-French and pro-Russian parties. Conversely, the pro-British party would remain out of power mainly because of the persistence of its leaders (A. Mavrokordatos, S. Trikoupis) in trying to curb royal intervention in government work (a matter that constituted a bone of contention in the internal political scene until the last quarter of the 19th century). The palace's preference for the pro-French and pro-Russian parties, especially for the latter, is surely related to the rapprochement of Greece with Russia which was of similar value, an approach which would escalate in the course of the crisis of the Crimean War. Nonetheless, we should not put aside or underestimate the more general Russophile attitude of Greek society which seemed to believe for the first time in the possibility of the immediate realization of the vision of the Great Idea and therefore prepared itself for the realization of irredentism.

The settlement of relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the expansion of religious salvation movements - with that of the monk Papoulakos being the most characteristic - were included in these preparations. It became more apparent in the newspaper articles of the numerous secret societies which were founded at the end of the 1840s and in which significant state officials (military officers, ministers) participated. In these societies, which were similar to the model of the Philiki Etaireia and acted with the tolerance and unofficial support of the government and crown, that the group of volunteers who at the beginning of 1854 invaded Epirus, Thessaly and Macedonia with the slogan 'Greek Empire of Death', were allied. However, the rise of irredentism and the good relations with Russia were to provoke the discontent of the other Powers, especially Britain. The result was nothing more than a series of negative actions for the country (the 'Pacifico' incident, the blockade of Greek ports in 1850), which escalated in 1854 with the blockade of Piraeus by the British-French fleet and the occupation of Athens, the fall of the Kriezis government and the formation of the so-called Occupation Ministry with A. Mavrokordatos as prime minister.