GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

The 'Greek War of Independence' (1821–1829), also commonly known as the 'Greek Revolution' (Greek: Ελληνική Επανάσταση ''Elliniki Epanastasi''; Ottoman Turkish: يؤنان ئسياني ''Yunan İsyanı''), was a successful war waged by the Greeks to win independence for Greece from the Ottoman Empire. After a long and bloody struggle, and with the aid of the Great Powers, independence was finally granted by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. The Greeks were thus the first of the Ottoman Empire's subject peoples to secure recognition as an independent sovereign power. The anniversary of independence day, on 25 March 1821, is a national holiday in Greece.

Contents

Background

The Greeks under the Ottoman Empire

Klephts and Armatoloi

Preparation for the uprising

Philhellenism

Outbreak of the Revolution

The Revolution in the Danubian Principalities

The Revolution in the Peloponnese

The Revolution in Central Greece

The Revolution in Crete

The war at sea

The Revolution in peril

Greek infighting

Egyptian intervention

European intervention

Massacres during the Revolution

Diplomatic endgame

Aftermath

Greek revolutionaries

Gallery of paintings glorifying the uprisings

Notes

References

External links

Background

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent fall of Trebizond and Mystras in 1461 marked the end of Greek sovereignty for almost four centuries, as the Ottoman Empire ruled all of Greece, with the exception of the Ionian Islands and the Mani peninsula, since its conquest of the remnants of the Byzantine Empire over the course of the 14th and 15th centuries. While the Greeks preserved their culture and traditions largely through the institution of the Greek Orthodox Church, they were a subject people and lacked basic political rights. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, as revolutionary nationalism grew across Europe, including Greece (due, in large part, to the influence of the French Revolution). The Ottoman Empire's power was declining as Greek nationalism began to assert itself and the Greek cause began to draw support from Western European "philhellenes" and from the large Greek merchant diaspora in both Europe and Russia which flourished after the Russo-Turkish war of 1774 and the treaty of Kuchuk-Kajnardji, which gave Greek merchants the right to sail under the Russian flag.

The Greeks under the Ottoman Empire

Main articles: Ottoman Greece

The Greek Revolution was not an isolated event, there were numerous failed attempts at regaining independence throughout the history of the Ottoman occupation of Greece. In 1603 there was an attempt in the Morea (Peloponnese) to restore the Byzantine Empire. Throughout the 17th century there was great resistance to the Turks in the Peloponnese and elsewhere, as evidenced by the revolts led by Dionysius in 1600 and 1611 in Epirus.^[1] Ottoman rule over Morea was interrupted, as the peninsula came under Venetian rule for 30 years between the 1680s and Ottoman reconquest in 1714-1715. The province would remain in turmoil ever since, as during the course of 17th century, the bands of the klephts multiplied. The first great uprising was the Russian-sponsored Orlov Revolt of the 1770s, which was crushed by the Ottomans. The Mani Peninsula in the southern Peloponnese, continually resisted Turkish rule, enjoying virtual autonomy, and defeating several Turkish incursions into the region, the most famous of which was the Ottoman Invasion of Mani (1780).
At the same time, a small number of Greeks enjoyed a privileged position in the Ottoman state as members of the Ottoman bureaucracy. Greeks controlled the affairs of the Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, based in Constantinople, and the higher clergy of the Orthodox church was always Greek. Thus, through the Ottoman millet system, the predominantly Greek hierarchy of the Church enjoyed control over the Empire's Orthodox subjects. From the 18th century onwards, Phanariot Greek notables (Turkish-appointed Greek administrators from the Phanar district of Constantinople) played an increasingly influential role in the governance of the Ottoman Empire.

A strong maritime tradition in the islands of the Aegean together with the emergence in the 18th century of an influential merchant class generated the wealth necessary to found schools and libraries and to pay for young Greeks to study in the universities of Western Europe. Here they came into contact with the radical ideas of the European Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Educated and influential members of the large Greek diaspora, such as Adamantios Korais, tried to transmit these ideas back to the Greeks, with the double aim of raising their educational level and simultaneously strengthen their national identity. This was achieved through the dissemination of books, pamphlets and other writings in Greek, in a process that has been called the "Greek Enlightenment".
The most influential among the writers, who helped shape opinion among the Greeks living both in and outside the Ottoman Empire, was Rigas Feraios. Born in Thessaly and educated in Constantinople, Feraios published the Greek-language newspaper ''Ephimeris'' in Vienna in the 1790s. He was deeply influenced by the French Revolution and he published revolutionary tracts and proposed republican constitutions for Greek and pan-Balkan nations. He was arrested by Austrian officials in Trieste in 1797 and handed over to Ottoman officials as he was transported to Belgrade with his co-conspirators. They were all strangled to death and their bodies were dumped in the Danube River in June, 1798. Feraios' death fanned the flames of Greek nationalism. His nationalist poem, the ''thourios'' (war-song) was translated into many Balkan and European languages, and served as a rallying cry for Greeks against Ottoman rule:

:'Greek' : : : : : : :[...] : :

:'English' :''Until when brave warriors, shall we live under constraints,'' :''lonely like lions, in the ridges of mountains?'' :''Living in caves, viewing wild tree branches,'' :''abandoning the world, due to bitter slavery?'' :''Losing brothers, country and parents,'' :''our friends, our children, and all of our kin?'' :''[...]'' :''Better an hour of free life,'' :''than forty years of slavery and jail''.''

Klephts and Armatoloi

Central to the Greek Revolution were the Klephts (Κλέφτες) and Armatoloi (Αρματολοί). After the conquest of Greece by the Ottomans in the 15th century, many surviving Greek troops, whether regular Byzantine forces, local militia, or mercenaries had either to join the Ottoman army as janissaries, serve in the private army of a local Ottoman notable, or fend for themselves. Many Greeks wishing to preserve their Greek identity, Orthodox Christian religion, and independence chose the difficult but free life of a bandit. These bandit groups soon found their ranks swelled with impoverished and/or adventurous peasants, societal outcasts, and escaped criminals. Those that chose to go to the hills and form independent militia bands were called Klephts, whereas those that chose to serve the Ottomans were called Armatoloi. Many men would alternate between these two groups.
For the Ottomans, it became progressively more difficult for them to distinguish the armatoloi from the klephts. Both groups began to establish relations with one another under a common ethnic rubric. This collaboration was also based on mutual sentiments against foreign conquerors. Many armatoloi took up arms against the Turks at the outbreak of the revolution. Among them were Odysseas Androutsos, Georgios Karaiskakis, Athanasios Diakos, and Markos Botsaris.
The armatoloi considered the concepts of sacrifice and martyrdom to be honorable when fighting on the field of battle. Sacrifices from individuals such as Athanasios Diakos were merely continuing a tradition of martyr-like efforts by armatoloi such as Vlachavas (''Βλαχάβας'') and Antonis Katsantonis (Κατσαντώνης). During feasts, the armatoloi would wish each other with phrases meaning “good hunting”. The phrases used were either ''kalo voli'' (''καλό βόλι'' literally meaning "good shot") or ''kalo molivi'' (''καλό μολύβι'' literally meaning "good lead"). In times of warfare, these wishes took also the meaning of "May the shot that kills you be a good shot". There have been many occasions where the armatoloi were seriously wounded during battle and demanded from their comrades to be beheaded. To the armatoloi, it was better to be killed by your own kin than to become captured by the enemy.

Preparation for the uprising

In 1814 three Greek merchants, Nikolaos Skoufas, Emmanuel Ksanthos, and Athanasios Tsakalov, inspired by the ideas of Feraios and influenced by the Italian Carbonari, founded the secret ''Filiki Eteria'' ("Friendly Society"), in Odessa, an important center of the Greek mercantile diaspora. With the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in Britain and the United States and the aid of sympathizers in Western Europe they planned the rebellion. The basic objective of the society was a revival of the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as the capital, not the formation of a national state.^[2] In early 1820, John Capodistria, an official from the Ionian Islands who had become the Russian Foreign Minister, was approached by the Society to be named leader but he declined the offer. Then the ''Filikoi'' (members of Filiki Efteria) turned to Alexander Ypsilanti, a Phanariot serving in the Russian army as a general and adjutant to Tsar Alexander I, who accepted.
The Society rapidly expanded, gaining members in almost all regions of Greek settlement, among them figures which would play a prominent role in the war, such as Theodoros Kolokotronis, Odysseas Androutsos, and Papaflessas. In 1821, the Ottoman Empire was occupied with war against Persia and most particularly with the revolt of Ali Pasha in northwestern Greece, which had forced the ''vali'' (governor) of the Morea, Hursid Pasha, and other local pashas, to leave their province and campaign against the rebel. At the same time, the Great Powers, allied in the "Concert of Europe" in their opposition to revolutions in the aftermath of Napoleon, were preoccupied with revolts in Italy and Spain. It was in this context that the Greeks judged the time to be ripe for their own revolt.^[3] The plan originally involved uprisings in three places, the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities and Constantinople.^[3] The start of the uprising can be set on 22 February 1821 (O.S.), when Alexander Ypsilanti accompanied by several other Greek officers of the Russian army crossed the river Prut into Moldavia.

Philhellenism

Main articles: Philhellenism

Due to Greece's classical past, there was tremendous sympathy for the Greek cause throughout Europe. Many European aristocrats and wealthy Americans, such as the renowned poet Lord Byron, took up arms to join the Greek revolutionaries. Many more also financed the revolution. The Scottish historian and Philhellene Thomas Gordon took part in the revolutionary struggle and wrote one of the first histories of the Greek revolution in English.^[5]

Once the revolution broke out, Ottoman atrocities were given wide coverage in Europe and drew sympathy for the Greek cause in western Europe — although the British and French governments suspected that the uprising was a Russian plot to seize Greece (and possibly Constantinople) from the Ottomans. The Greeks were unable to establish a coherent government in the areas they controlled, and soon fell to fighting among themselves. Inconclusive fighting between Greeks and Ottomans continued until 1825, when Sultan Mahmud II asked for help from his most powerful vassal, Egypt.

In Europe, the Greek revolt aroused widespread sympathy among the public but at the beginning was met with lukewarm reception by the Great Powers, with Britain supporting the insurrection only after 1823 when the Ottomans failed to assert their power despite a Greek civil war and Russia adding their support after Britain, to limit the British influence over the Greeks.^[6] Greece was viewed as the cradle of western civilization, and it was especially lauded by the spirit of romanticism that was current at the time. The sight of a Christian nation attempting to cast off the rule of a Muslim Empire also appealed to the western European public.
Lord Byron spent time in Albania and Greece, organising funds and supplies (including the provision of several ships), but died from fever at Messolonghi in 1824. Byron's death did even more to European sympathy for the Greek cause. This eventually led the Western powers to intervene directly. Byron's poetry, along with Delacroix's art, helped arouse European public opinion in favour of the Greek revolutionaries:

Outbreak of the Revolution

The Revolution in the Danubian Principalities

Alexander Ypsilantis was the selected as the head of the Filiki Eteria in April 1820, and set himself to planning the insurrection. Ypsilantis' intention was to raise all the Christians of the Balkans in rebellion, and perhaps force Russia to intervene on their behalf. On 22 February 1821, he crossed the river Prut with his followers, entering the Danubian Principalities. In order to encourage the local Romanian Christians to join him, he announced that he had "the support of a Great Power", implying Russia. Two days after crossing the Pruth, on the 24th of February, Ypsilantis issued a proclamation calling on all Greeks and Christians to rise up against the Ottomans:



Instead of directly advancing on Brăila, where he arguably could have prevented Ottoman armies from entering the Principalities, and where he might have forced Russia to accept a fait accompli, he remained in Iaşi, and ordered the executions of several pro-Ottoman Moldovans. In Bucharest, where he had arrived on March 27 after some weeks delay, he decided that he could not rely on the Wallachian Pandurs to continue their Oltenian-based revolt and assist the Greek cause; Ypsilantis was met with mistrust by the Pandur leader Tudor Vladimirescu, who, as a nominal ally to the Eteria, had started the rebellion as a move to prevent Scarlat Callimachi from reaching the throne in Bucharest, while trying to maintain relations with both Russia and the Ottomans.
At that point, former Russian Foreign Minister, the Corfu-born Greek John Capodistria, sent Ypsilantis a letter upbraiding him for misusing the mandate received from the Tsar, announcing that his name had been struck off the army list, and commanding him to lay down arms. Ypsilantis' decision to explain away the emperor's letter could only have been justified by the success of a cause which was rendered hopeless. When Vladimirescu took this to mean that his commitment to the Eteria was over, a conflict erupted inside his camp, and he was tried and killed by the pro-Greeks and the Eteria on May 27. The loss of their Romanian allies, followed an Ottoman intervention on Wallachian soil sealed defeat for the Greek exiles, culminating in the disastrous Battle of Drăgăşani and the destruction of the Sacred Band on June 7.
Alexander Ypsilantis, accompanied by his brother Nicholas and a remnant of his followers, retreated to Râmnic, where he spent some days negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier. Fearing that his followers might surrender him to the Turks, he gave out that Austria had declared war on Turkey, caused a Te Deum to be sung in the church of Cozia, and, on pretext of arranging measures with the Austrian commander-in-chief, he crossed the frontier. But the reactionary policies of the Holy Alliance were enforced by Francis I and Klemens Metternich, and the country refused to give asylum for leaders of revolts in neighbouring countries. Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years.^[7] In Moldavia, the struggle continued for a while, under Giorgakis Olympios and Yiannis Pharmakis, but by the end of the year, the provinces had been pacified by the Ottomans.

The Revolution in the Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, due to its long tradition of resistance to the Ottomans, was to be the heartland of the revolt. In the early months of 1821, with the absence of the Turkish governor''Mora valesi'' Hursid Pasha and many of his troops, the situation was favorable for the Greeks to rise against Ottoman occupation. Theodoros Kolokotronis, a renowned Greek klepht who had served in the British army in the Ionian Islands during the Napoleonic Wars, returned on 6 January 1821 and went to the Mani Peninsula. The Turks found out about Kolokotronis' arrival, and demanded his surrender from the local bey, Petros Mavromichalis. Mavromichalis refused, saying he was just an old man.^[8]

The crucial meeting was held at Vostitsa (modern Aigion), where chieftains and prelates from all over the Peloponnese assembled on January 26. There the klepht captains declared their readiness for the uprising, while most of the civil leaders presented themselves skeptical, and demanded guarantees about a Russian intervention. Nevertheless, as news came of Ypsilantis' march into the Danubian Principalities, the atmosphere in the Peloponnese was tense, and by mid-March, sporadic incidents against Muslims occurred, heralding the start of the uprising. The traditional legend that the Revolution was declared on March 25 in the Monastery of Agia Lavra by the archbishop of Patras Germanos is a later invention. However, the date has been established as the official anniversary of the Revolution, and is celebrated as a national holiday in Greece.

On 17 March 1821, war was declared on the Turks by the Maniots at Areopoli. An army of 2,000 Maniots under the command of Petros Mavromichalis, which included Kolokotronis, his nephew Nikitaras and Papaflessas advanced on the Messenian town of Kalamata. The Maniots reached Kalamata on 21 March and after a brief two day siege it fell to the Greeks on the 23rd.^[9] On the same day, Andreas Londos, a Greek primate, rose up at Vostitsa.^[10] On March 28, the Messenian Senate, the first of the Greeks' local governing councils, held its first session at Kalamata.
In Achaia, the town of Kalavryta was besieged on March 21. In Patras, in the already tense atmosphere, the Ottomans had transferred their belongings to the fortress on February 28, followed by their families on March 18. On March 22 the revolutionaries declared the Revolution in the square of Agios Georgios in Patras, in the presence of archbishop Germanos. On the next day the leaders of the Revolution in Achaia sent a document to the foreign consulates explaining the reasons of the Revolution.^[11] On March 23 the Ottomans launched sporadic attacks towards the town while the revolutionaries, led by Karatzas, drove them back to the fortress.^[12] Makryiannis who had been hiding in the town referred to the scene in his memoirs:
By the end of March, the Greeks effectively controlled the countryside, while the Turks were confined to the fortresses, most notably those of Patras, Rion, Acrocorinth, Monemvasia, Nafplion and the provincial capital, Tripolitsa, where many Muslims had fled with their families since the beginning of the uprising. All these were under a more or less loose siege by local irregular forces under their own captains, since the Greeks lacked artillery. With the exception of Tripolitsa, all sites had access to the sea and could be resupplied and reinforced by the Ottoman fleet.
Kolokotronis, determinted to take Tripolitsa, the Ottoman provincial capital in the Pelopnnese, moved into Arcadia with 300 Greek soldiers. When he entered Arcadia his band of 300 fought a Turkish force of 1,300 men and defeated them.^[13] On the April 28, and a few thousand Maniot soldiers under the command of Mavromichalis' sons joined Kolokotronis' camp outside Tripolis. On September 12, 1821, the Turkish capital in the Peloponnese fell to Kolokotronis and his men.

The Revolution in Central Greece

The first region to revolt in Central Greece was the Phokis, on March 24, whose capital, Salona (modern Amfissa), was captured by Panourgias on March 27. In Boeotia, Livadia was captured by Athanasios Diakos in March 29, followed by Thebes two days later. The Ottoman garrison held out in the citadel of Salona, the regional capital, until April 10, when the Greeks took it. At the same time, the Greeks suffered a defeat at the battle of Alamana against the army of Omer Vryonis, which resulted in the death of Athanasios Diakos. But the Ottoman advance was stopped at the inn of Gravia, near Mt. Parnassos and the ruins of ancient Delphi, under the leadership of Odysseas Androutsos. Vryonis turned towards Boeotia and sacked Livadia, awaiting reinforcements before proceeding towards the Morea. These forces, 8,000 men under Beyran Pasha, were however met and defeated at the Battle of Vassilika, on August 26. This defeat forced Vryonis too to withdraw, securing the fledgling Greek revolutionaries.

The Revolution in Crete

Cretan participation in the revolution was extensive, but it failed to achieve liberation from Turkish rule due to Egyptian intervention. Crete has had a long history of resisting Turkish rule, exemplefied by the folk hero Daskalogiannis who was martyred whilst fighting the Turks. In 1821, an uprising by Christians met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities and the execution of several bishops, regarded as ringleaders. Between 1821 and 1828, the island was the scene of repeated hostilities and atrocities. The Muslims were driven into the large fortified towns on the north coast and it would appear that as many as 60% of them died from plague or famine while there. The Cretan Christians also suffered severely, losing around 21% of their population.
As the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, had no army of his own, he was forced to seek the aid of his rebellious vassal and rival, the Pasha of Egypt, who sent a series of troops into the island. Britain decided that Crete should not become part of the new Kingdom of Greece on its independence in 1830, evidently fearing that it would either become a center of piracy as it had often been in the past, or a Russian naval base in the East Mediterranean. Crete would remain under Ottoman suzerainity, but Egyptians administered the island such as the Egyptian-Albanian Giritli Mustafa Naili Pasha.

The war at sea

From the early stages of the revolution, success at sea was vital for the Greeks. If they failed to counter the Ottoman Navy, it would be able to resupply the isolated Ottoman garrisons and land reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire's Asian provinces at will, crushing the rebellion. The Greek fleet was primarily outfitted by prosperous Aegean islanders, principally from three islands: Hydra, Spetsai and Psara. Each island equipped, manned and maintained its own squadron, under its own admiral. Although they were crewed by experienced crews, the Greek ships were mostly armed merchantmen, not designed for warfare, and equipped with only light guns.^[14] Against them stood the Ottoman fleet, which enjoyed several advantages: its ships and supporting craft were built for war; it was supported by the resources of the vast Ottoman empire; command was centralized and disciplined under the Kapudan Pasha. The total Ottoman fleet size was 23 masted ships of the line, each with about 80 guns and 7 or 8 frigates with 50 guns, 5 corvettes with about 30 guns and around 40 brigs with 20 or fewer guns. ^[15]

In the face of this situation, the Greeks decided to use fireships (), which had proven effective for the Psarians during the Orlov Revolt in 1770. The first test was made at Eresos on 27 May 1821, when a Turkish frigate was successfully destroyed by a fireship under Dimitrios Papanikolis. In the fireships, the Greeks found an effective weapon against the Ottoman vessels. In subsequent years, the successes of the Greek fireships would increase their reputation, with acts such as the destruction of the Ottoman flagship by Konstantinos Kanaris at Chios, after the island's destruction in June 1822, acquiring international fame. Overall, 59 fireship attacks were carried out, of which 39 were successful.
At the same time, conventional naval actions were also fought, at which naval commanders like Andreas Miaoulis, Nikolis Apostolis, Iakovos Tombazis and Antonios Kriezis distinguished themselves. The early successes of the Greek fleet in direct confrontations with the Ottomans at Patras and Spetsai gave the crews confidence, and contributed greatly to the survival and success of the uprising in the Peloponnese.
Later however, as Greece became embroiled in a civil war, the Sultan called upon his strongest subject, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, for aid. Plagued by internal strife and financial difficulties in keeping the fleet in constant readiness, the Greeks failed to prevent the capture and destruction of Kasos and Psara in 1824, or the landing of the Egyptian army at Modon. Despite victories at Samos and Gerontas, the Revolution was threatened with collapse until the intervention of the Great Powers in the Battle of Navarino in 1827. There the Ottoman fleet was decisively defeated by the combined fleets of the Britain, France and the Russian Empire, effectively securing the independence of Greece.

The Revolution in peril

Greek infighting

The Greeks held a national legislative assembly in the Peloponnese January 1822. Demetrius Ypsilanti (brother of Alexander Ypsilantis) was elected president. The city of Ypsilanti, Michigan is named after him, commemorating this event.
In 15-20 November 1821, another unrelated council was held in Salona, where the main local notables and military chiefs participated. Under the direction of Theodoros Negris, they set down a proto-constitution for the region, the ''"Legal Order of Eastern Continental Greece"'' (Νομική Διάταξις της Ανατολικής Χέρσου Ελλάδος), and established a governing council, the 'Areopagus', composed of 71 notables from Eastern Greece, Thessaly and Macedonia.
Officially, the Areopagus was superseded by the central Provisional Administration, established in January 1822 after the First National Assembly, but the council continued its existence and exercised considerable authority, albeit in the name of the national government. Tensions between the Areopagus which was dominated by Central Greeks, and the National Assembly which was dominated by Peloponnesians caused an early rift in the fledgling Greek state. The relationship between the two governments was extremely tense, and Greece soon entered a phase of virtual civil war based on the regional governments.

Egyptian intervention

Seeing that the Greek forces had defeated the Turks, the Ottoman Sultan asked his Egyptian vassal, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who hailed from Kavala in today's Greece, for aid. The Egyptians agreed to send their French-trained army to Greece in exchange for Crete, Cyprus and the Peleponnesos, which the Ottoman Sultan agreed to hand over to Egyptian control. Mohammed Ali accepted the offer and sent his son Ibrahim in command of the expedition. Meanwhile, the Greeks were in disarray because of political rivalries which caused a civil war.
Under command of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the leader of Egypt, Muhammad Ali invaded Greece, landing at Methoni and capturing the city of Kalamata and razing it to the ground. With the Greeks in disarray, Ibrahim ravaged the Peloponnese and after a brief siege he captured the city of Messolonghi. He then tried to capture Nauplio but he was driven back by Dimitrios Ypsilantis and Konstantinos Mavromichalis, Petros' brother.^[16]. Much of the countyside was ravaged by Egyptian troops. He then turned his attention to the only place in the Peloponnese that was free: Mani.
Ibrahim sent an envoy to the Maniots demanding that they surrender or else he would ravage their land as he had done to the rest of the Peloponnese. Instead of surrendering, the Maniots simply replied:


Ibrahim tried to enter Mani from the north-east near Almiro on the June 21, 1826, but he was forced to stop at the fortifications at Vergas. His army of 7,000 men was held off by an army of 2,000 Maniots and 500 refugees from other parts of Greece. Ibrahim again tried to enter Mani, but again the Maniots defeated the Turkish and Egyptian forces.^[17] The Maniots pursued the Egyptians all the way to Kalamata before returning to Vergas. This battle was costly for Ibrahim not only because he suffered 2,500 casualties but also ruined his plan to invade Mani from the north.^[13][19] Ibrahim would try again several times to take Mani, but each time the Turco-Arab forces would be repulsed, suffering much heavier casualties than the Greeks.

European intervention

The Battle of Navarino--The Destruction of the Turco-Egyptian Fleet

On 20 October 1827 the British, Russian and French fleets, on the initiative of local commanders but with the tacit approval of their governments, attacked and destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Navarino (Πύλος). This was the decisive moment in the war of independence, although the British Admiral Edward Codrington nearly ruined his career, since he wasn't ordered to achieve such a victory or destroy completely the Turko/Egyptian fleet. In October 1828, the Greeks regrouped and formed a new government under John Capodistria (Καποδíστριας). They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible, including Athens and Thebes, before the western powers imposed a ceasefire. The Greeks seized the last Turkish strongholds in the Peloponnese with the help of the French general, Nicolas Joseph Maison.

Bust of Demetrius Ypsilanti at the Ypsilanti Water Tower

The final major engagement of the war was the battle of Petra, which occurred North of Attica. Greek forces under Dimitrios Ypsilantis, for the first time trained to fight as a regular European army rather than as guerrilla bands, advanced against Ottoman forces as Greek commanders realized that under the peace terms the new state would comprise whatever parts of Greece Greek troops occupied. The Greek forces met the troops of Osman Aga and after exchanging fires, the Greeks charged with their swords and decisively defeated the Turkish forces. The Turks would surrender all lands from Livadeia to the Spercheios River in exchange for safe passage out of Central Greece. This battle was significant as it was the first time the Greeks had fought victoriously as a regular army. It also marked the first time that Turks and Greeks had negotiated on the field of battle. The battle of Petra was the last of the Greek War of Independence. Ironically, Dimitrios Ypsilantis ended the war started by his brother, Alexandros Ypsilantis, when he crossed the Prut River eight and a half years earlier.

Massacres during the Revolution

Eugène Delacroix's Massacre of Chios

Almost as soon as the revolution began, there were large scale massacres of civilians by both the Greek revolutionaries and the Ottoman authorities. Greek revolutionaries massacred Muslims inhabiting the Peloponnese and Attica where Greek forces were dominant, whereas the Turks massacred many Greeks especially in Ionia (Asia Minor), Crete, Constantinople and the Aegean islands where the revolutionary forces were weaker. Some of the more infamous atrocities include the Massacre of Chios, the Destruction of Psara, the hanging of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V and the massacres of Turks following the Fall of Tripolitsa and the Navarino Massacre. Harris Booras and David Brewed claimed that masssacres of Turks were responses to the prior events.^[20][21] But according to historians W.Alison Phillips, George Finlay, William St. Clair and Barbara Jelavich massacres started simultaneously with the outbreak of the revolt. ^{[22][23][24][25]} .
Many Christian clergymen were killed, including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, as well as tens of thousands of Greek civilians. The Muslim population of the Peloponnese was also largely wiped out. The Turks also sold tens of thousands of captives into slavery. European philhellenes such as the French painter Eugene Delacroix and Lord Byron fostered recognition of Turkish atrocities throughout Europe. Turkish atrocities garnered widespread support for the Greek cause in Europe, which eventually lead to British, French and Russian intervention which decisively aided the Greek cause. Greek atrocities led to the extermination of the Turkish and Albanian Muslim inhabitants of the Peloponnese, either through exile or forced migration.

Diplomatic endgame

''God's Just Decision to Liberate Greece'' by Panagiotis Zographos

John Capodistria, who had been the only Greek that various rebel leaders could agree upon as President of the new state, was assassinated in 1831 in Nafplion, leading to civil war. He was killed by the Maniots because he had demanded that they pay taxes to the new Greek state, and when the freedom-loving Maniots refused Capodistias put Petrobey in jail, sparking vows of vengeance from his clan. As a state of confusion continued in the Greek peninsula, the Great Powers sought a formal end of the war and a recognized government in Greece. The Greek throne was initially offered to Léopold I of Belgium, but he refused, as he was not at all satisfied with the Aspropotamos-Zitouni borderline, which replaced the more favourable Arta-Volos line considered by the Great Powers earlier.

Map of the boundaries of the Greek Kingdom after the Treaty of Constantinople

The withdrawal of Léopold as a candidate for the throne of Greece, and the July Revolution in France, delayed the final settlement of the frontiers of the new kingdom until a new government was formed in the United Kingdom. Lord Palmerston, who took over as British Foreign Secretary, agreed to the Arta-Volos borderline. However, the secret note on Crete, which the Bavarian plenipotentiary communicated to the Courts of the United Kingdom, France and Russia, bore no fruit.
In May, 1832, Palmerston convened the London Conference of 1832. The three Great Powers (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, July Monarchy France and the Russian Empire) offered the throne to the Bavarian prince, Otto Wittelsbach, without regard to Greek views on this. The line of succession was also established which would pass the crown to the heirs of Otto, or his younger brothers in succession, should he have no heirs. In no case would the crowns of Greece and Bavaria be joined. As co-guarantors of the monarchy, the Great Powers also empowered their Ambassadors in the Ottoman capital to secure the end of the war. Under the protocol signed on May 71832 between Bavaria and the protecting Powers, and basically dealing with the way in which the Regency was to be managed until Otto reached his majority (while also concluding the second Greek loan, for a sum of £2,400,000 sterling), Greece was defined as an independent kingdom, with the Arta-Volos line as its northern frontier. The Ottoman Empire was given 40,000,000 piastres in compensation for the loss of the territory.
On July 21,1832 British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte Sir Stratford Canning and the other representatives of the Great Powers concluded the Treaty of Constantinople, which set the boundaries of the new Greek Kingdom at a line running from Arta (Αρτα) to Volos (Βολος). The borders of the Kingdom were reiterated in the London Protocol of August 301832, signed by the Great Powers, which ratified the terms of the Constantinople Arrangement.

Aftermath

The first national flag of Greece adopted 1822

The consequences of the Greek revolution were somewhat ambiguous in the immediate aftermath. An independent Greek state had been established, but with Britain, Russia and France claiming a major role in Greek politics afterwards and with the import of a Bavarian dynasty as the ruler and a mercenary army.^[26] The country had been ravaged by ten years of fighting, was full of displaced refugees and empty Turkish estates, necessitating a series of land reforms over several decades.
The new state also contained 800,000 people, fewer than one third of the two and a half million Greek inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire and for much of the next century the Greek state was to seek the liberation of the “unredeemed” Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the Megale Idea, the goal of uniting all Greeks in one country.
As a people, the Greeks no longer provided the princes for the Danubian Principalities and were regarded within the Ottoman Empire, especially by the Muslim population, as traitors. Phanariotes who had up to then held high office within the Ottoman Empire were henceforth regarded as suspect and lost their special, privileged category. In Constantinople and the rest of the Ottoman Empire where Greek banking and merchant presence had been dominant, Armenians mostly replaced Greeks in banking and Bulgarian merchants gained importance.
In the long term historical perspective, this marked a seminal event in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, despite the small size and impoverishment of the new Greek state. For the first time, a Christian subject people had thrown off the Turkish yoke and established a fully independent state, recognized by Europe. This would give hope to the other subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire, as Serbs, Bulgars, Romanians, and Arabs would all successfully throw out the Turks and establish free states. Kurds and Armenians would try and follow suit, but would fail and suffer horribly in the process. The newly established Greek state would become a springboard for further expansion, and over the course of a century Macedonia, Crete, Epirus, the Aegean and other parts of Greece would throw off the Turkish yoke and unite with the new Greek state. Greece, poor and relatively backward during the Ottoman occupation, would become the richest and most developed part of the former Ottoman Empire as the Greek people following the revolution were free to show their ingenuity in the pursuit of progress.

Greek revolutionaries

Gallery of paintings glorifying the uprisings

Notes

1. Kassis, "Mani's History", p.29
2. History of the Balkans, 18th and 19th Centuries, , Barbara, Jelavich, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0-521 27458-3
3.
4.
5. Gordon (2004)
6. Great Britain and the Eastern Question - The case of the Greek War of Independence 1821-1828
7. Paroulakis (2000), p.44
8. Paroulakis (2000), p.51-52
9. Kassis, "Mani's History", p.39
10. Paroulakis (2000), p.57
11. Apostolos Vakalopoulos, ''History of Modern Hellenism, the Great Greek Revolution (1821-1829)''. Vol. 5 The preconditions and the foundations of the revolution (1813-1829). Thessaloniki 1980 pp. 332-333
12. Apostolos Vakalopoulos, ''History of Modern Hellenism, the Great Greek Revolution (1821-1829)''. Vol. 5 The preconditions and the foundations of the revolution (1813-1829). Thessaloniki 1980 pp. 327-331
13. Kassis, ''Mani's History", 39
14. Brewer, p. 89-91
15. Brewer, p. 91-92
16. Paroulakis, ''The Greeks: Their Struggle for Independence", 125
17. Paroulakis (2000), p. 125
18. Kassis, ''Mani's History", 39
19. Kassis, ''Mani's History", 40
20. Harris Booras. "Hellenic Independence and America's Contribution to the Cause" Tuttle Co. 1934 p.24"
21. David Brewed. "The Greek War of Independence." Overlook TP 2003 p.64."
22. W.Alison Phillips, The War of Greek Independence,1821 to 1833,New york,1897
23. St. Clair (1972)
24. George Finlay, History of the Greek Revolution and the Reign of King Otho, edited by H. F. Tozer, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1877 Reprint london 1971
25. History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 217
26. History of the Balkans, 18th and 19th Centuries, , Barbara, Jelavich, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0-521 27458-3

References

★ A History of Greece (Edited by H. F. Tozer), , George, Finlay, , 1877,

★ History of Greek Revolution, , George, Finlay, , 1861,

★ History of the Greek Revolution, , Thomas, Gordon, , 1844,

★ The Greek War of Independence, , Peter H., Paroulakis, Hellenic International Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0959089417

★ That Greece Might Still Be Free - The Philhellenes in the War of Independence, , William, St. Clair, Oxford University Press, 1972, ISBN 0192151940

External links

★ Treaty of Constantinople

★ of London, 1832

★ History of Athens

★ War of Independence