Nasty, brutish and long: A timeline of Greece's debt crisis

During its eight years of bailout programs, Greece suffered an economic hit comparable to the Great Depression in the US in the 1930s. People became poorer, hundreds of thousands of businesses went bust, skilled workers emigrated, and extremist politicians made gains.

As the country's last rescue program ends Monday, here is a timeline of the bailout years since the first rescue in 2009.

Oct. 18, 2009: Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou's government reveals that the budget deficit is double the previous government's estimate, at over 12 percent of GDP, because of earlier undisclosed debt. The shortfall eventually reaches 15.6 percent of GDP, more than five times the EU limit.

Dec. 8, 2009: Fitch downgrades Greece's credit rating. It's the first in a series of downgrades by all ratings agencies that will bring Greece into junk status.

April 23, 2010:...