War of Greek Independence | Britannica.com War of Greek Independence revolution War of Greek Independence, (1821–32), rebellion of Greeks within the Ottoman Empire , a struggle which resulted in the establishment of an independent kingdom of Greece . The rebellion originated in the activities of the Philikí Etaireía (“Friendly Brotherhood”), a patriotic conspiracy founded in Odessa (now in Ukraine) in 1814. By that time the desire for some form of independence was common among Greeks of all classes, whose Hellenism, or sense of Greek nationality, had long been fostered by the Greek Orthodox Church , by the survival of the Greek language , and by the administrative arrangements of the Ottoman Empire. Their economic progress and the impact of Western revolutionary ideas further intensified their Hellenism. The revolt began in March 1821 when Alexandros Ypsilantis , the leader of the Etairists, crossed the Prut River into Turkish-held Moldavia with a small force of troops.

Ypsilantis was soon defeated by the Turks, but, in the meantime, on March 25, 1821 (the traditional date of Greek independence), sporadic revolts against Turkish rule had broken out in the Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos), in Greece north of the Gulf of Corinth (Korinthiakós), and on several islands. Within a year the rebels had gained control of the Peloponnese, and in January 1822 they declared the independence of Greece. The Turks attempted three times (1822–24) to invade the Peloponnese but were unable to retrieve the area. Greece: Revolt in the Peloponnese Internal rivalries, however, prevented the Greeks from extending their control and from firmly consolidating their position in the Peloponnese. In 1823 civil war broke out between the guerrilla leader Theódoros Kolokotrónis and Geórgios Kountouriótis, who was head of the government that had been formed in January 1822 but that was forced to flee to the island of Hydra (Ýdra) in December 1822.

After a second civil war (1824), Kountouriótis was firmly established as leader, but his government and the entire revolution were gravely threatened by the arrival of Egyptian forces, led by Ibrāhīm Pasha , which had been sent to aid the Turks (1825). With the support of Egyptian sea power, the Ottoman forces successfully invaded the Peloponnese; they furthermore captured Missolonghi in April 1826, the town of Athens (Athína) in August 1826, and the Athenian acropolis in June 1827. Similar Topics Ottoman Empire Greece Independence War 1821-1832 Greek War of Independence 1821-1832 [ 1821 - 1832 ] War of Greek Independence, (1821-32), rebellion of Greeks within the Ottoman Empire, a struggle which resulted in the establishment of an independent kingdom of Greece. The rebellion originated in the activities of the Philikí Etaireía ("Friendly Brotherhood"), a patriotic conspiracy founded in Odessa (now in Ukraine) in 1814.

By that time the desire for some form of independence was common among Greeks of all classes, whose Hellenism, or sense of Greek nationality, had long been fostered by the Greek Orthodox Church, by the survival of the Greek language, and by the administrative arrangements of the Ottoman Empire. Their economic progress and the impact of Western revolutionary ideas further intensified their Hellenism. The revolt began in March 1821 when Alexandros Ypsilantis, the leader of the Etairists, crossed the Prut River into Turkish-held Moldavia with a small force of troops. Ypsilantis was soon defeated by the Turks, but, in the meantime, on March 25, 1821 (the traditional date of Greek independence), sporadic revolts against Turkish rule had broken out in the Peloponnese, in Greece north of the Gulf of Corinth, and on several islands. Within a year the rebels had gained control of the Peloponnese, and in January 1822 they declared the independence of Greece. The Turks attempted three times (1822-24) to invade the Peloponnese but were unable to retrieve the area.

Internal rivalries, however, prevented the Greeks from extending their control and from firmly consolidating their position in the Peloponnese. In 1823 civil war broke out between the guerrilla leader Theódoros Kolokotrónis and Geórgios Kountouriótis, who was head of the government that had been formed in January 1822 but that was forced to flee to the island of Hydra in December 1822. After a second civil war (1824), Kountouriótis was firmly established as leader, but his government and the entire revolution were gravely threatened by the arrival of Egyptian forces, led by Ibrahim Pasha, which had been sent to aid the Turks (1825). With the support of Egyptian sea power, the Ottoman forces successfully invaded the Peloponnese; they furthermore captured Missolonghi (April 1826), the town of Athens (August 1826), and the Athenian acropolis (June 1827). The Greek cause, however, was saved by the intervention of the European powers.

Favouring the formation of an autonomous Greek state, they offered to mediate between the Turks and the Greeks (1826 and 1827). When the Turks refused, Great Britain, France, and Russia sent their naval fleets to Navarino, where, on Oct. 20, 1827, they destroyed the Egyptian fleet. Although this severely crippled the Ottoman forces, the war continued, complicated by the Russo-Turkish War (1828-29). A Greco-Turkish settlement was finally determined by the European powers at a conference in London; they adopted a London protocol (Feb. 3, 1830), declaring Greece an independent monarchical state under their protection. By mid-1832 the northern frontier of the new state had been set along the line extending from south of Volos to south of Arta; Prince Otto of Bavaria had accepted the crown, and the Turkish sultan had recognized Greek independence (Treaty of Constantinople; July 1832). ***** During the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the Ottoman authorities feared that Greek Cypriots would rebel again.

Archbishop Kyprianos, a powerful leader who worked to improve the education of Greek Cypriot children, was accused of plotting against the government. Kyprianos, his bishops, and hundreds of priests and important laymen were arrested and summarily hanged or decapitated on July 9, 1821. After a few years, the archbishops were able to regain authority in religious matters, but as secular leaders they were unable to regain any substantial power until after World War II.

<table class='table table-bordered col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12 margin20 row-30' border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">State</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Entry</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Exit</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Combat Forces</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Population</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Losses</font></td></tr><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Britain</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">18

27</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">8000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">19000000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">10</font></td></tr><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Egypt</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1825</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">12000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">17000000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">5000</font></td></tr

><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">France</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1827</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">10000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">32000000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">100</font></td></tr><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Greece</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1821</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">100000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face

="Arial" size="2">2400000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">50000</font></td></tr><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Russia</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1827</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1200000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">40000000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">10000</font></td></tr><tr><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">Ottoman Empire</font></td><td width="16%"><font face="Arial" size="2">1821</font></td><td width="17%"><font

 face="Arial" size="2">1832</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">400000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">23000000</font></td><td width="17%"><font face="Arial" size="2">15000</font></td></tr></tbody></table> Greece gained its independence from __________ in 1830.

A. Britain B. Persia C. the Holy Roman Empire D. the Ottoman Empire You have new items in your feed. Click to view. Question and answer Greece gained its independence from __________ in 1830. A. Britain B. Persia C. the Holy Roman Empire D. the Ottoman Empire Greece gained its independence from D. the Ottoman Empire in 1830. Expert answered| NicNoguera98 |Points 48| What countries in Europe won their independence during 1830 and 1831? And where did the first revolt against the Balkan people begin?This are the... | eNotes December 1, 2009 at 10:01 AM From the French Revolution to the Age of Napoleon to the Revolutions of 1848, Europe was in constant political turmoil for the first half of the 19th century. Inspired by revolutionary movements in France and in the New World, Europeans began to revolt and establish new political entities.

Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1831; Greece broke away from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, France underwent yet another revolution in 1830 which once again deposed the monarchy; Poland attempted a revolt but was crushed by Russia, Austria attempted to alter its government, but the movement was also crushed; Most notably, the failure of Austria and what are now the Balkans to reform led to one of the principle catalysts for the First World War. like 1 dislike 0 The Greek war of Independence in Greece and the Revolution of 1821 Map of Greece The Greek war for Independence in 1821 No doubt the Greeks had wanted their freedom from the very beginning of the Ottoman rule, but in the 18th century the idea of a free Greece grew into an organized plan. With Russian help a revolt started in 1770, which failed.

Inspired by the French revolution and the heroic poems (thourios) of Rigas Feraios, the Greeks did not give up, and the secret society Philiki Eteria ("Friendly Union") was founded in 1814 in Odessa of Russia by Nikolaos Skoufas, Emmanuel Xanthos and Antonios Tsakalof. Weapons and funds were collected, and help was sent from Greeks in exile as well as other countries on the Balkan and the Mediterranean sea. The revolution started when Alexander Ypsilantis invaded Jassy and declared Greece a free country. In the Peloponnese the Archbishop of Patras Paleon Patron Germanos lead the uprising in 23 of March 1821. The Greek army of the Peloponesse was lead by Theodoros Kolokotronis. Other famous Greek leaders of the revoloution where Georgios Karaiskakis, Athanassios Diakos, Odysseas Androutsos, Grigorios Dikaios or Papaflessas, while in the seas, Konstantinos Kanaris, Laskarina bouboulina and Andreas Miaoulis fight the Turkish fleat with their ships.

The Greeks may have gotten certain aid from abroad, but they had to fight on their own. The Turks got help from Egypt and the whole of the Peloponnese was captured by the Egyptian army by 1826. The year after a republic was proclaimed, and Ioannis Kapodistrias was declared as the first governor of Greece. The same year European countries decided to help Greece and after failed negotiations with Turkey, Britain, France and Russia sent naval forces to Greece. Turkey was forced to accept peace, and the so called London Protocol declared the independence of Greece in 1830. Many parts of Greece were soon given back to the Ottoman empire, though, and several parts of Greece were not free until the beginning of the 20th century. The Greek Revolution and the Greek State Next lecture The Greek revolution that began in 1821, followed by the war of independence, was the second of the "national revolutions" in the Balkans. Again we need to ask: to what degree was this a revolutionary change, and how "national" was it? To answer, we can again examine conditions prior to the unrest, developments during the revolution itself, and what the Greeks did after their victory.

Pre-conditions The life of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire was more complex than that of the Serbs. If a Serbian revolution was hampered by the weakness of the Serbs, a Greek revolution was hampered instead by Greek strengths. In Serbia, the wealthiest or most educated elements of society were most likely to encounter Western European revolutionary ideas and to accept them as beneficial. Among the Greeks, on the other hand, wealthy or educated elements already enjoyed substantial privileges in Ottoman society. Revolution was not so attractive for such Greeks, who had much to lose. The Greek establishment Greek life did not end when the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople in 1453. When the Ottomans imposed the millet system, the Greeks began with some obvious advantages relative to other Balkan Christians and added others as time went by. Greek Orthodox clergy controlled the Orthodox millet. The Turks lumped together all their Balkan Christian subjects, Greek or Slav. Greek clergy therefore had substantial religious, educational, administrative and legal power in the Ottoman Balkans. The "Phanar" or lighthouse district of Istanbul became the center of Ottoman Greek culture after the patriarch took up residence there, and the well-connected Greeks of that city were known as Phanariots.

Orthodox culture, faith and educational systems became identified with Greek culture. Educated Orthodox Slavs were likely to become Hellenized. Greeks also benefited from reductions in the autonomy of the non-Greek churches. For example, when Serbs assisted invading Habsburg armies in the 1600s and 1700s, Serbian bishoprics were abolished as punishment. Greeks acquired political and economic power in the Romanian districts of Wallachia and Moldavia through similar events. Until 1711, the Ottomans picked the governors or hospodars of these provinces from the local Romanian boyar class. After Romanians supported a Russian invasion in 1711, Phanariot Greeks replaced Romanians as hospodars. Greeks held administrative roles in the central Ottoman administration itself. Greeks ran the office of the Dragoman, the head of the sultan's interpreters' service, because Muslims were discouraged from learning foreign languages. Greeks therefore participated in diplomatic negotiations and some became de facto ambassadors.

At a lower administrative level, Phanariots secured most of the contracts for tax-farmers (men who bid to collect a district's taxes, and took their profits from excess revenues squeezed out of the peasants). Greeks also acted as contractors to the Ottoman court, supplying food and other services. Such advantages slowed the Greek encounter with national identity in the modern form. Religion, not ethnic descent or language, was the first criterion for identification in the millet system. Religion, not language or residence, distinguished wealthy Orthodox Greeks from their Muslim Ottoman counterparts. Some Anatolian Greeks did not even speak the Greek language. Nor was "Greece" a definable place. Only half of the four million Greeks lived in modern mainland Greece as we know it today: the Morea, Thessaly, Epirus and Thrace. The other two million were scattered in towns along the coast of Anatolia, the Black Sea or the Mediterranean. On the Greek mainland, Greek notables already exercised substantial local power. Because the Morea or Peloponnessus was rather poor, in 1800 only 40,000 Turks lived there among 360,000 Greeks.

The Turks owned two-thirds of the land, but lived in a few cities. Large stretches of countryside had no Turkish presence at all. In those areas, Greek primates or "kodjabashis" virtually ruled themselves, meeting in regional assemblies to supervise taxation and other administrative matters. Greek militia or "armatoli" kept the peace while "klephts" or bandits flourished in the hills. Greek shipowners in the islands enjoyed similar advantages. Greeks dominated Balkan commerce by the 1700s. Some islands paid no taxes in cash, instead contributing via the labor of sailors. As Christians, Greek traders were exempt from certain Muslim ethical and legal restraints on money-lending at interest. Greeks were permitted commercial contacts with non-believers, an awkward matter for Muslims. Turkish hostility toward Western Europeans also played into Greek hands. Tiresome regulations and occasional anti-European riots discouraged Western Europeans from coming to Turkey: instead Westerners who did business in the region used local Jews, Armenians or Greeks as agents for reasons of safety, language and convenience. Different branches of the same Greek family often operated in different cities, so that ties of kinship reduced the risks of trade.

Greeks were not merely commercial agents, but also shipowners and captains. Between 1529 and 1774 only ships under Ottoman registry could navigate in the isolated waters of the Black Sea, so Greek trade there grew without competition from the Venetians. When the 1774 Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji opened the Turkish straits to Russian commerce, there were not enough Russian ships to meet that country's export needs: the treaty allowed Ottoman Greeks to register their ships in Russia, and so they benefitted from the new rules. Anglo-French naval warfare during the Napoleonic Wars also cleared the seas for Greek ships: most Western merchant ships found the Mediterranean too dangerous. By the 1810s there were over 600 Greek trading ships afloat, many armed with cannon because of the threat of piracy. Revolutionary influences For these leading groups, Ottoman rule was tolerable.

Rich shipowners on the island of Hydra, prosperous merchants, high officials in the Orthodox Church, tax-farmers, Phanariot hospodars in Romania, primates in the Peloponnessus and members of the interpreters' service all had much to lose and little to gain by political adventures. How then can we explain the movement that led to revolution in 1821? First, not all Greeks shared in the power and prosperity of collaboration with the Ottomans. Poor peasants, poor village priests, poor sailors and the like had no such investment in the status quo. Without ideas or leadership, dissatisfaction among such people led to little except banditry by klephts and occasional minor rebellions. By the 1700s, however, there were significant cultural developments at work, many of them coming from abroad. Greek civilization was never completely separated from the rest of Europe. After the fall of Constantinople, some Greeks fled to Italy and played a role in the Renaissance. There were Greek printing presses at work in Venice in the 1500s and trading contacts sustained some minimal level of exchange of ideas.

Greek traders returning from the West brought knowledge of new manufacturing techniques, like those used to start a soap factory in the 1760s. New ideas came too. Merchants and entrepreneurs found the economic and political concepts of liberalism and the Enlightenment attractive. Greek wealth also paved the way for new forces in Greek culture. Wealthy Greeks commissioned the printing of books. For students who could not travel to the West to study, schools were founded at home. There was a revival of interest in Greek learning and traditions, including a higher appreciation of classical mythology, and of traditional tales and epic poems about Orthodox martyrs and heroic klephts. Among the leaders in this revival was Adamantios Korais. Korais was born in 1748, the son of a merchant in Smyrna on the Anatolian coast. Pursuing his education, he travelled to Paris. He was heavily influenced by French Enlightenment thought and the ideas of Hobbes and Locke, and then by the doctrines of the French Revolution, to which he was an eyewitness. He supported the idea of a revolution in Greece. His chief contribution to Greek rebirth was not political but cultural.

In order to improve the Greek language and revive memories of Greek glories, he wrote modern versions of tales from Greek antiquity, translated parts of Herodotus and Homer, and composed a Greek language dictionary. As a secular humanist, his interests were not meant to conform to those of the Orthodox leadership of the Greek millet at home. Korais died in France in 1833. Another contrasting but prominent figure in the Greek revival was Rhigas Pheraios, who was born in 1757 in Thessaly. He began his career as an interpreter in the ranks of the Phanariot establishment, but left Turkey to further his education. In Western Europe, he too was influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution and of Romanticism. He was an active participant in secret societies and lodges, and wrote revolutionary tracts addressed to his fellow Greeks. In 1798, he was arrested by the Austrian police while on his way back to Turkey as part of a conspiracy. Turned over to the Ottoman authorities, he was executed. He left behind a poem known as the "War Hymn", an exhortation to revolt.

Clearly, the French Revolution played a role in the minds of some revolutionaries. Its practical effect at the level of active participants in the fighting of 1821-1829 is hard to gauge. Most Greeks could not go to France to be exposed to foreign ideas, but during the Napoleonic Wars the French came to Greece. After defeating the Austrians in Italy in 1797, the French seized and then annexed the Ionian Islands, the chain of islands lying at the mouth of the Adriatic between the heel of Italy and the west coast of Greece. At certain points in the war the British replaced the French as occupiers, but British ideas of liberalism and constitutional government had an influence that was almost as subversive. Nearby Dalmatia also became part of the French Empire as the "Illyrian Provinces." The French presence in these adjacent territories was accompanied by the fanfare of revolutionary fervor, the tri-color flag and the spread of revolutionary ideals and laws. If the French advance to the Ionians was not enough to alarm the Ottomans about the spread of revolutionary zeal, Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 was.

While the British Navy ultimately helped defeat the French invasion, the old way of life in Egypt was swept away and this Ottoman province was soon on its way to reform and revival. After 1804, the example of the Serbian Revolution also pointed toward possible change. All of these activities in nearby places were a spur to Greek subversives and patriots. One can get a good picture of the Greeks for whom change was attractive by looking at the members of the conspiracy of 1821. The original instigators of the uprising were members of a secret society called the "Philike Hetairia" or "friendly society." It was founded in 1814 in the Russian port of Odessa. Like other lodges that were fraternal groups or self-help associations made up of merchants, the society copied the Freemasons in its elaborate rituals, ranks and secrecy, but its true purpose was revolt. The three founders of Philike Hetairia are representative. One was the son of a Greek fur dealer living in Moscow, who already had been a member of a Greek society while living in Paris. The second was a Greek merchant of Odessa, another veteran of an anti-Turkish secret lodge.

The third was a merchant from the Ionian Islands, a member of a Masonic lodge there who had contacts in the National Guard created by the British occupation government. In their merchant associations and their connections to the outside world, these three were typical of the members who put together the plot. From 1819 records of the lodge's Odessa branch, we know the occupation of 348 of the 452 members. 153 identified themselves as merchants and shippers, 60 as notables, 36 as soldiers, 24 as priests, 23 as minor officials, 22 as teachers or students, 10 as doctors, 4 as lawyers and 16 as men with other professions. With the possible exception of the notables and professional men, most members were not wealthy or influential. The idea of revolution was also attractive to some of the powerful. In the last months of preparation, Philike Hetairia sacrificed secrecy in favor of seeking extensive membership, and sent representatives into Ottoman territory to recruit. A number of important klephts and district notables enrolled, who could be counted on to control whole villages or bands of armed men.

Some of these men dropped their reservations because of the promise of Russian aid. This was plausible because of the participation of two prominent Greeks who were in Russian service. One was Count John Capodistrias, the tsar's foreign minister. He had been born on Corfu in 1776. After some time studying in Italy, he returned to Corfu and played a role in the administration of the island, rising to become secretary of state. When the island was transferred to French control, he left and used old contacts to get a post in the Russian foreign service. His excellent reports on the Balkans brought him to the tsar's attention, and he attended the Congress of Vienna in 1815. While he favored a Greek uprising and was in close contact with the plotters, he shrank from the actual event and from leadership. When fighting broke out the suspicious tsar fired him. Another Greek with Russian ties was Alexander Ypsilantis. Born in Istanbul in 1792, he had grown up in Russia in exile with his father. He attended the military cadet school and served with distinction in the tsarist army, rising to the position of aide de camp to the tsar.

More willing to risk a crisis, he had less actual influence than Capodistrias. The date for the uprising was first set for 1820, then pushed back to the spring of 1821. Turkey was at war with Persia, and in the Balkans Ali Pasha was in revolt. The Great Powers (who opposed revolutions on principle in the aftermath of Napoleon) were already preoccupied with revolts in Spain and Italy. The radicals therefore believed that there would be no better time to act. The Revolution of 1821: First Phase If the Serbian uprising of 1804 began with a spontaneous national response to Turkish attacks, the Greek revolution of 1821 began as a planned conspiracy, in which only selected elements of the Greek nation had a role. The modern idea of nationality remained elusive, even for the most self-conscious of revolutionaries. One need only examine the plot itself for signs of this confusion. Philike Hetairia planned to start the uprising in three places. One was the Peloponnessus, where a core group of klephts and primates supported the plot.

The second site was Istanbul, where there were plans for rioting among the Greek Phanariot community. The third part of the plan involved an invasion of Moldavia and Wallachia (in Romania) by Greek forces crossing the Russian border from Odessa. Because Greek Phanariots had ruled these Romanian provinces as hospodars for a century, Greek leaders thought of the area as a Greek national center, ignoring the fact that the local boyar notables and peasants were ethnic Romanians. Alexander Ypsilantis and a corps of student volunteers expected to lead Romanian peasants into battle against the Turks, assisted by a Romanian ally Tudor Vladimirescu. Vladimirescu was a peasant, about 30 at this time, who had acquired some education and administrative skill in a boyar's household. Appointed to an office in the rural police, he grew wealthy. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1806 he helped the Russian army and emerged with Russian citizenship and a new job in the Russian consular service, where he met Capodistrias.

Connected as he was to the Russians, the Romanian boyars and the plotters, he seemed like a natural ally and was charged to organize the planned peasant uprising. When Ypsilantis and 450 men of the "Sacred Battalion" entered Moldavia in March 1821, however, the Romanian peasants ignored the Turks and instead attacked the manor houses of their local boyar landlords. Vladimirescu and his boyar allies also ignored the Turks: their goal was to throw out the Greek Phanariots so as to become hospodars themselves. The Greek invasion of Romania was a complete fiasco. Ypsilantis retreated into Austria, where he eventually died in prison. With our modern awareness of ethnicity, the reasons for this failure are obvious, but for the Greek plotters -- who conformed to an Ottoman way of thinking by dividing the world into Orthodox and Muslim halves -- it was a surprise. At the same time, the class divisions in Greek society undercut the success of the uprising in Istanbul. The Turks reacted by hanging the Greek Orthodox patriarch. The new patriarch and other well-connected Phanariots took the hint and condemned the revolution. The only success was in the Peloponnesus.

Most of the powerful primates originally opposed the uprising but they were now summoned to appear before the Turkish pashas. In fear of arrest or execution, in self-defense they now joined the revolt. The revolution swept across the Morea: Turkish towns were taken and the Muslim population was massacred. Turkish forces meanwhile massacred Greeks where they could, including the island of Chios. So ended the first phase of the war. Phase Two After the success of 1821, the war in the south became a stalemate until 1825 for several reasons. First, neither side was strong enough for a decisive victory. The Ottoman army had to begin each year from bases in Thessaly. Without a strong fleet, two land columns worked their way south along the coast roads each spring, then withdrew in the fall because they could not secure a winter base in the south. On their side, the Greek irregulars were too weak to take the offensive against the Turks: they could only defend the Morea. A second cause of the stalemate was internal dissension among the Greeks, reflecting pre-existing class differences.

The armed peasants and former klephts in the Morea were loyal to Theodore Kolokotrones, a former klepht (whose memoirs are worth reading). Opposing him were the civilian leaders in the National Assembly, including Alexander Mavrokordatos and George Koundouriotes. Mavrokordatos came from a well-connected Phanariot family. Koundouriotes was a wealthy shipowner from the island Hydra. They typified the assembly, which spoke for the wealthy notables, influential primates and rich merchants. By 1823 the two sides were engaged in a civil war. The third cause of the stalemate was intervention by Britain, France and Russia. Each of these states had strategic political and economic interests in Turkey, and wanted to make sure that the results of the war in Greece would not hurt them. In Lecture 10 we'll look more closely at the "Eastern Question" -- the dilemma faced by the Great Powers, who had to choose between an unstable Turkey and an unpredictable future if they allowed the Ottoman Empire to collapse.

For now, it is enough to know that the British were sympathetic to the Greek cause (in part out of sentimental Phil-Hellenism, the result of education in the Classics) but unwilling to see Turkey become so weak that Russia might gain control of the Turkish Straits and threaten the Mediterranean trade routes. The Russian tsars in turn had sympathy for the Orthodox Greeks, but also feared both the concept of revolution and a possible outcome in which a new Greek state might become a British ally. French interests were partly financial, partly strategic. French trade with Turkey was very important, and French investors also held large numbers of Turkish state bonds that would be worthless if Turkey fell apart. France was also anxious to re-enter world politics after the defeat of 1815, and played an active role partly for the simple sake of doing so. From the perspective of the Great Powers, the stalemate showed that the Greek revolution would not go away. These three states were prepared to intervene to make sure the final result was acceptable to their interests. Phases Three and Four The third phase of the war was characterized by foreign interference, and ran from 1825 until 1827.

It began with an unlikely-seeming intervention by the armed forces of Egypt, a vassal of Turkey that had undergone sweeping reforms under Mehmet Ali after the French invasion of 1798. Mehmet Ali had ambitions and later tried to overthrow the sultan, but at this time he was able to make a deal with the central regime. In return for a promise that he and his sons could rule what they captured, Mehmet Ali's modernized navy and army invaded Greece in 1825, where they captured the port of Navarino. This gave them the kind of base never held by the Turkish army, and the Egyptians might well have defeated the Greek resistance. The Great Powers would not accept a powerful Mehmet Ali who controlled both Egypt and Greece. In 1827 the British, French and Russians agreed to seek a mediated peace and backed up their demands by sending a combined three-Power fleet of 27 ships to Navarino Bay in October to observe the Egyptian navy. In the crowded bay, a musket shot escalated into a battle and the European fleet sank 60 of the 89 Egyptian ships.

The sultan was now without any armed force that could reclaim the Morea or resist the Great Powers. The fourth and last phase of the war coincided with the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1830. To end Turkish stalling, the Russians invaded Turkey. The sultan gave in when the Russian army almost reached Istanbul in 1829. Russia accepted British and French participation in the peace settlement. The London Protocol of 1830 created a small, independent Greek kingdom ruled by Prince Otto of Bavaria, a German prince acceptable to all three powers. After the revolution As was the case with Serbia, the achievements of the Greeks in 1830 are ambiguous. If Serbia seemed to have only exchanged Muslim pashas for an Orthodox one, perhaps Greece had merely increased the power of the very un-revolutionary oligarchs by removing their major hindrance, the sultan. Moreover, the decisive victory of 1830 was won less by the Greeks themselves than by the intervention of England, France and Russia, who thereafter claimed a major role in Greek politics.

The new King of Greece was not even Greek, but a Bavarian German prince, who brought German cabinet ministers and German soldiers with him. The new state faced several key problems and the way in which it proceeded tells us a good deal about the degree to which 1830 was a "national revolution" after all. First, there was the land question. After the fighting, the country was full of displaced refugees and empty Turkish estates. By a series of land reforms over several decades, the government distributed this confiscated land among veterans and the poor, so that by 1870 most Greek peasant families owned about 20 acres. These farms were too small for prosperity but the land reform signaled the goal of a society in which Greeks were equals and could support themselves, instead of working for hire on the estates of the rich. The class basis of rivalry between Greek factions was thereby reduced. Second, the new state had to decide its relationship to the Greek nation at large. Some 800,000 Greeks lived in the kingdom, but 2 1/2 million remained under Ottoman rule. Greek foreign policy quickly showed its "national" character.

The most popular party (the "French" party of John Kolettes) was a proponent of the "Megale Idea", the great idea of unifying all Greeks in one country. Third, the Greek response to the foreign imposition of the Bavarian King Otto led to wider national participation in politics. Greek domestic politics began as a continuation of the quarrels of the revolutionary period, with "Constitutionalist" oligarchs opposing the central power (much like similar events in Serbia). Two characteristic features of Greek political life soon made their first appearance. In 1843, the army responded to budget cuts with a military coup (the first of many in modern Greek history). The result was a new Constitution in 1844 under which King Othon shared power with an upper chamber of oligarchs appointed for life and a lower chamber elected by a very wide manhood suffrage. Kolettes then used this arrangement to create a mass political machine known as "the System" which delivered votes to the ruling party in return for patronage and favors for the voters. No prefect, tax official, judge or policeman served without an exchange of favors with party leaders.

The System was corrupt, but it was also a mass organization that made the Greek people participants in the political system. The "national" character of Greek politics was underlined in a new constitutional crisis in 1862-1864. Another military coup ousted Othon, largely because of his failure to pursue the Megale Idea. He was replaced by a Danish prince, George I, but more important the Constitution of 1844 was replaced by another in 1864. That document placed political power squarely in the hands of the most democratic elements of Greek life: the senate was abolished in favor of a uni-cameral legislature elected by direct, secret manhood suffrage. The politics of patronage remained but there was no question that the entire nation could take part in political life. The coups against Othon also reduced the influence of the Great Powers, because Greek elements prevailed over the Powers' chosen king. King George managed to remain in power until 1913 largely by leaving Greek politics to the Greeks.

Nationalism and Independence for Greece Nationalism and "Independence" for the Greeks | Rebellion against Spain in Latin America | Independence for Brazil Nationalism and "Independence" for the Greeks If there is such a thing as being on the right side of history, those who supported maintenance of the status quo espoused by the Holy Alliance and traditionalist conservatives were not on it. There were too many people who wanted change. This included Greeks who wanted independence from Ottoman rule. The Greeks had been under Ottoman rule since the mid-1400s. In Greece, Islamic law applied only to Muslims. The Greek Orthodox Church was allowed to function and Greeks were free to worship as they pleased and to maintain their own culture and language. The Greeks saw the Ottoman Turks as inferior, and they looked back at what they considered the glories of ancient Greece. In the late 1700s the French Revolution inspired among the Greeks a greater yearning for liberty. A revolt against Ottoman rule gave Serbia quasi-autonomy beginning in 1813, and this had encouraged the Greeks. There was a tendency among Greeks to believe that it would be their fellow Orthodox Christians, the Russians, who would free them from Ottoman power.

Then in 1814, at the center of a thriving Greek community in Russian-ruled Odessa , Greek exiles laid what they hoped would be the ground work for an armed uprising inside Greece, and they misleadingly portrayed their group as having the approval of the Russian authorities. In 1821, Greeks on the Peloponnese Peninsula rebelled, inspired by news of an uprising in Moldavia, which was also under Ottoman rule. A small group led by a Greek, which included some Russians, had crossed the border into Moldavia where they raised the flag of Greek independence and hoped that the Romanians and Bulgarians of Moldavia would rise with them for their own independence. The revolt in Moldavia was crushed, but revolt in the Peloponnese spread. Rebels in the Peloponnese lacked good organization and discipline. For the most part they were Christians smiting their enemies without mercy. Leaders emerged who tried to invoke restraint and to stop looting, but they had little effect. Greek peasants armed with scythes, clubs and slings, grabbed what valuables they could and killed wherever possible, including small clusters of Muslims fleeing their homes.

Of the estimated 50,000 Muslims living on the Peloponnese Peninsula in March 1821, an estimated 20,000 were killed within a few weeks – men, women and children. In Constantinople on April 10 the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, had the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregorios V, seized. Gregorios was accused of having intrigued with the uprising and having committed perjury and treason. Gregorios was hanged with Mahmud believing it was his right to order the execution. Christians across Europe were aware of the uprising in the Peloponnese but not of the atrocities of the revolutionaries, and they were shocked by the hanging of Gregorios. Common Russians wanted to avenge the death of the patriarch, but Russia's Tsar Alexander had other matters to consider and merely withdrew his ambassador from Constantinople. Alexander was still allied with Austria against revolutions, especially nationalist revolutions, and the tsar was not ready to break with that alliance. And neither was Britain's foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh. In April the Greek revolt spread northward toward central Greece and Athens . In May, Muslims in Athens were defending themselves from the Acropolis.

In the Peloponnese various towns and cities fell, including Petras, where all Muslims who did not make it to the safety of the walls of the town's fortress were killed. In August in the Peloponnese, Muslims of the small town of Monemvasia were besieged and chose to surrender rather than endure more hunger, and when they surrendered they were slaughtered. A few days later, between 2,000 and 3,000 Muslims in Navarino were massacred. Tripolitsa was a city of 35,000 Turks, Albanians, Jews and others in the middle of Peloponnese. There the Ottoman governor resided, and there Greeks massacred for two days. An estimated 10,000 people, including women and children, were killed, as were 2,000 who had been taken prisoner. It is reported that Muslim women were raped and that Muslims were tortured for information of the whereabouts of their money. Water wells became polluted and disease spread that caused the death of thousands of Greeks. The taking of Tripolitsa in October was the final Greek success for the year 1821.

Turks remained only at the fortresses in Patras and Nauplia and two lesser fortresses. Meanwhile in Constantinople, Janissaries soldiers were in revolt against the sultan and venting their anger upon Christians, and Christians were being slaughtered. The sultan transported soldiers from Anatolia and defeated the insurgents, killing 200 Janissaries. In early 1822, Muslims struck again against Christians. A Turkish military force joined by crowds of impassioned civilians landed on the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean Sea, an island with a population of about 100,000. There were Turkish officers who tried to restrain sections of the invading force. Nevertheless the invaders slaughtered around 25,000, some of the Greeks escaping by boats that came to their rescue, and some wealthy islanders paid Turkish commanders huge sums for protection. The slaughter stopped when Turks rounded up Greek survivors for sale in the slave markets of Asia Minor. The Greeks had the advantage of superiority at sea. They were experienced mariners. Greek sailors who had been working on Ottoman ships abandoned those ships, leaving the Turks to recruit inexperienced dock-laborers and peasants.

In 1822 the Greeks captured the coastal region in the west just north of the Peloponnese Peninsula, and farther east they took Athens and Thebes. The Greeks were now in control of west and east-central Greece as well as the Aegean islands. In 1822 the Greeks declared independence, stating: We, descendants of the wise and noble peoples of Hellas, we who are the contemporaries of the enlightened and civilized nations of Europe, we who behold the advantages which they enjoy under the protection of the impenetrable aegis of the law, find it no longer possible to suffer without cowardice and self-contempt the cruel yoke of the Ottoman power which has weighed upon us for more than four centuries – a power which does not listen to reason and knows no other law than its own will, which orders and disposes everything despotically and according to caprice. The military victories of the Greeks led them to underrate the importance of discipline and to ignore the advice of those who preferred victory accompanied by restraint and mercy. The lack of a central organization for the revolution produced three provisional Greek governments. In 1823, rivalries escalated into violence.

Greeks on the Aegean island of Psara were at war with those of the larger island of Samos about 120 kilometers (75 miles) to the south. Discipline and cohesion vanished from the Greek fleet. Battle of Navarino Bay, the last battle of sailing ships, 1827 Click to enlarge A new Ottoman admiral lacked confidence and failed to regain command of the sea for the Turks. In 1824 fighting between Greeks increased. On the Peloponnese Peninsula were Greek notables who wanted to retain the status they had held during Ottoman rule, and there were leading fighters who wanted some political power as a reward for their military contribution. Ship owners also thought they deserved some political power. Liberal intellectuals wanted a parliament. There were conservatives who tended to see the struggle between the Ottoman Turks and the Greeks as between Islam and Greek Orthodox Christianity, and they tended to want the preservation of an authoritarian relationship between the Greek Orthodox Church and Greek society. While these divisions were taking place, Mahmud II was strengthening his position through an alliance with his independent-minded governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, and his son Ibrahim. Ali had newly modernized armed forces and a relatively large navy.

Sultan Mahud promised Muhammad Ali rule over the island of Crete and the appointment of Ibrahim as pasha of the Peloponnese, and Mahmud promised Ali concessions in Syria. The Egyptians, under the command of Ibrahim, arrived in Greece in 1825 and quickly gained dominance of the seas and Aegean islands. The Ottomans retook Athens, the Peloponnese and the town of Missolonghi just north of the Peloponnese – while rival Greek presidents and rival assemblies were competing for political supremacy. King Otto Missolonghi was where the poet Lord Byron fighting with the Greeks had died in 1824 because of a disease. Missolonghi was a symbol of Greek defiance against Ottoman power. It held out for months, heroically in the eyes of the Europeans. Its fall to the Muslims added to a new wave of support for the Greeks across Europe, with the idea that Greece had to be saved for European civilization. Already, financiers in London had contracted loans for the Greeks.

The Greek effort was helped by the arrival of money and volunteers from abroad, bringing the complaint from the Turks that they were "no longer fighting the Greeks but all Europe." Ibrahim began more devastation in Greece, and by July 1827 it looked as though the Ottoman Empire had won its war against the Greek insurgency. This was claimed by Ottoman writers. But Ibrahim's devastations inspired Britain, France and Russia to a joint demonstration by their navies. They demanded an armistice and that Ibrahim evacuate the Peloponnese. Ibrahim refused. In October the British, French and Russian fleet entered Navarino Bay , and there the Battle of Navarino, last naval battle of sailing ships, took place. Ibrahim's navy was destroyed. King Otto arrives in Greece, 1833, an artist's imagination In October 1828, France landed troops on the Peloponnese Peninsula, and under French protection the Greeks regrouped and formed a new government. The Greeks took back Athens, Thebes and other territory, and the European powers imposed a ceasefire. In Greece a republican government war formed, with John Capdistrias as its leader.

His authoritarian style of governing offended many, and in 1831 he was assassinated. International recognition of Greek independence came in 1832 in a treaty signed by Britain, France, Russia and Bavaria. Athens was recognized as the capital of Greece. Thessaly, Macedon, Thrace and Epirus, which had large populations of non-Greeks, were not recognized as a part of Greece. Crete, the Dodecanese islands and the region around Smyrna were not included in the new Greek state. The convening European powers retained an ill-defined right to intervene in Greece. And they wanted the Greeks to be ruled by a monarchy. They chose the seventeen-year-old son of Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto of Wittlesbach, and Otto became King Otto of Greece. Under King Otto the Greeks were taxed more than they had been under the Ottoman Turks. This did not please the Greeks. Neither did King Otto's Roman Catholicism. Orthodox Greeks considered him a heretic. And rather than marry into a Greek family, Otto, in 1837, married a princess from Oldenburg Germany, where his wedding took place.

The queen remained unpopular with the Greeks, while the Great Powers continued to guarantee King Otto's rule. History of Greece:The Revolution to the 20th Century History of Greece The Greek Revolution of 1821 Contrary to popular opinion there never was a country called Greece or Hellas until the Revolution of 1821. When rebellion against the Ottoman Empire gave birth to Hellas, Hellenic-speaking people had a national homeland for the first time in history. In 1821 the land that was known as Greece is controlled by the Turks, except for the Ionian islands which has been occupied by the Venetians, then the French and in 1815 by the British. The rebellion of the Greeks actually begins in Moldavia when an army of 4500 Hellenes led by General Alexander Ypsilantis, a Phanariot from the so-named district of Istanbul, a member of the Philike Hetairia (Friendly Society), invades hoping to encourage the local Romanian peasants to throw off the yoke of the Turks. Instead they attack their wealthy countrymen and the Greeks have to escape.

When the revolution breaks out in the Peloponessos, the Sultan in Istanbul hangs the Patriarch Grigorios V for failing to keep the Greek Christians in line which they considered his duty for the vast privileges they allowed him. The Phanariot Greeks fall in line behind the new patriarch and condemn the revolution. But in the Peloponessos the rebellion is making progress and combined with Ali Pasha's rebellion in Ipirus the Turks have their hands full. On March 25th 1821 Bishop Germanos of Patras raises the flag of revolution at the monastery of Agia Lavra near Kalavrita and the battle cry of "Freedom or Death" becomes the motto of the revolution. But historian David Brewer in his Greece, The Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence disagrees, stating that the story of the flag raising at Agia Lavra was apparently an invention by Francois Pouqueville, a prominent architect of the Philhellenism movement throughout Europe, who contributed to the liberation of the Greeks, and to the rebirth of the Greek Nation. Nevertheless, fighting begins to break out all over with massacres committed by both the Greeks and the Turks.

On the island of Chios 25,000 Greeks are killed while in the Peloponessos the Greeks kill 15,000 of the 40,000 Turks living there. It would be unfair to over-look Ali Pasha and the fact that the insurrection of 1821 was actually something of an Albanian affair and that the Chios massacre was a consequence of this. The Chiotes had enormous privileges under the Ottomans even to the point of dominating the Ottoman admiralty. It was the role of the Chios 'navy' in the revolt that was seen as an act of treason by the Turks, though in Brewer's book the Chios navy was less than eager to join the fray and the cause of the Turkish invasion was the fact that the Samos navy has landed on the island and occupied the citadel. On March 13th 1821, twelve days before the official beginning of the War of Independence, the first 'revolutionary flag' was actually raised on the island of Spetses by Laskarina Bouboulina (though there were several revolutionary flags which could lay claim to being the first, including Hydra).

Twice widowed with 7 children but extremely rich she owned several ships. On April 3rd Spetses revolted, followed by the islands of Hydra and Psara with a total of over 300 ships between them. Bouboulina and her fleet of 8 ships sailed to Nafplion and took part in the siege of the impregnable fortress there. Her later attack on Monemvasia managed to capture that fortress. She took part in the blockade of Pylos and brought supplies to the revolutionaries by sea. Bouboulina became a national hero, one of the first women to play a major role in a revolution. Without her and her ships the Greeks might not have gained their independence. What is less well known is that she was Albanian. The Greeks, led by local heroes like Theodoros Kolokotronis from the Mani, capture the Peloponessos and form a provisional government, electing the Phanariot Alexandros Mavrokordatos president. On April 26th the Greeks attack Athens and the Turks of the city are forced to flee to the Acropolis. They are rescued in August by Turkish troops but finally surrender in June of 1822.

By mid July, about half had been massacred, others died of disease, and over the next months the rest (550) were evacuated by foreign diplomats. In the meantime the Greeks in the Peloponessos, (or the Morea as it was called), are fighting amongst themselves. In European cities intellectuals and poets like Lord Byron embrace the Greek cause and sway public opinion. The Greek struggle is interpreted by many Europeans simplistically and romantically as a battle between the ideals of the ancient Greeks against the ruthless Turks who had been occupying and suppressing the descendents of Pericles, Socrates and Plato. Many, including Lord Byron, volunteer to fight and become leaders and heroes of the revolution, known as the Philhellenes (friends of the Greeks). Some sing the praises of the modern Greeks but many are completely disillusioned by the pettiness and greed of the Greek klefth leaders who seem to just want glory and riches. Though some of these warlords are elevated to the role of saviors and heroes in the national mythology, the reality is that many of them were just pirates and thieves looking out for their own self-interest.

On the other hand the motives of the Europeans is just as suspect and the plan for Greece was actually to be a sort of colony of Great Britain (or several colonies) since the last thing in the world they wanted was every national group on the continent being inspired by events in Greece and trying to start their own country too. But as history so often shows us, once you get the engine of revolution started you can't really control where it takes you. In 1823 Lord Byron arrives in Missolonghi, to take part in the resistance there, but dies three months later, not as romantically as he would have liked, but by disease. In 1826 the Peloponessos is back in Turkish hands and Athens is one of only a few cities controlled by the Greeks. When the Turkish army returns, a major battle takes place and on June 5th the Acropolis is surrendered. Among the fifteen hundred Greek dead are 22 of the 26 Philhellenes. By 1827 the Turks have all of Greece with the exception of Nafplion and a few islands. But the Greeks are rescued by their own history as support for them in their struggle grows.

The Treaty of London, backed by Britain, Russia and France. declares that the three great powers can intervene 'peacefully' to secure the autonomy of the Hellenes. In October of that year the British, French and Russians show the power of peaceful intervention when they destroy the Turkish-Egyptian fleet in the bay of Navarino (Pylos) in what may have been the world's biggest and most fatal 'misunderstanding'. Whether by accident or not, when an Egyptian ship fires on a small boat filled with British sailors, all hell breaks loose and when the smoke clears the entire Turkish-Egyptian fleet is at the bottom of the bay, (where they can still be seen). It is the most one-sided battle in the history of naval warfare. With the destruction of the Egyptian-Turkish fleet the Hellenes have a clear path to nationhood except for the usual fighting amongst themselves. In an interesting anecdote about the war, when the Turkish garrison of Athens was using the acropolis as a fortress they came under siege by the Greek revolutionary army.

After a few days, the Turks were short of ammunition and the Greeks noticed from far away that they were taking down the marble columns and extracting the lead wedge that holds the "slices" of the columns together. (If you have noticed some fallen columns like at the temple of Olympian Zeus, you will see in the center of the slices, a hollow part. This was filled with lead by the ancient architects and made the columns stronger, and able to resist the frequent small earthquakes which happen all the time around Attica.) The Greeks sent an envoy to the Turks and asked them how much lead they would obtain by taking down all the columns of the Parthenon. They agreed on the quantity of the lead, and the Greeks sent it to the Turks with the agreement that they would leave the remaining temple of the Parthenon intact. This shows how much the Greek warriors who could hardly read or write, appreciated their ancient Greek heritage, though it didn't stop them from taking the entire ancient library of Kaisariani Monastery onto the Acropolis and tearing up the books to use the paper for cartridges!

In 1828 Count Ioannis Capodistrias of Corfu is elected the first governor of Greece by the assembly of Troezene as the Turkish-Egyptian army leave the Peloponessos once and for all. The Greeks draw up a constitution as a republic and on March 31st 1833 the Turkish troops who have been occupying the Acropolis leave. Four years after being elected President, Kapodistrias is assassinated in the new capital city of Nafplion supposedly by members of a Mani clan, the Mavromichalis family, who were at odds with his belief in a strong central government, (though some people believe he was killed by the British who blamed the Mavromichalis and thus eliminated two problems). A year later the 17 year old Otto (Othon), son of Ludwig of Bavaria, is declared King of the Hellenes by the British, Russians and French. He arrives in Nafplion by boat a year later to great fanfare. In 1834 the capital is moved to Athens, which is now a town of 10,000 inhabitants. In 1837 the University of Athens opens.

King Otto is forced by the military to accept a constitution in 1843. He is overthrown by the army in 1862 and he and his wife Amalia are exiled and replaced in 1863 by the Danish Prince Christian William Ferdinand Adolphus George of the Holstein-Sonderburg-Gluckbsburg who becomes George I, King of the Hellenes. In March of 1864 the Ionian islands are ceded to Greece by Great Britain. In 1878 Great Britain takes over the administration of Cyprus from the Ottoman government. Two years later revolution breaks out in the still Turkish occupied island of Crete. In 1881 Thessaly and the Arta region of Epirus are ceded to Greece by the Ottoman empire. From the mid-1880's to 90's Harilaos Trikoupis and Theodoror Deliyannis alternate power, in what is the beginning of a two-party system.

Trikoupis focuses on domestic issues and during his rule roads are built, tracks are laid, the metro is built and even the Corinth Canal which had been started by Nero in 67 AD is completed in 1893. Deliyannis on the other hand is a believer in the Megalo Idea, that Greece will one day rule a new Hellenic empire along the lines of the Byzantine. During the mid to late eighteen-hundreds, architects came from Europe to build a new Athens of neo-classical buildings with the help of local architects and benefactors of the Hellenic diaspora society. In 1842 a wealthy Greek from Trieste named Antonis Dimitriou had built a house for himself in the center of Athens which in 1874 becomes the Hotel Grande Bretagne . It becomes the hotel of choice for kings, queens and dignitaries and the scene of many important moments modern Greek history.

Some other examples include the Evangelismos Hospital built by Andrea Syngros from the island of Chios, the Zappion which was a gift of the Zappas brothers from Northern Epirus, the Athens Polytechnic which was built by Nicholas Stournaras from Metsovo and the King's Palace (now the Parliament building in Syntagma). Perhaps the largest and most important gift is the reconstruction of the ancient marble Panathenaic Stadium by George Averof, an Alexandrian businessman from Metsovo for the Olympic games of 1896. By then the population of the city is around 130,000 and the Olympics are a sort of coming-out party for the new capital city of Europe's newest nation. But the Olympics of 1896 which are credited as the first of the modern Olympics actually weren't. In 1833 Panagiotis Soutsos wrote about the revival of the Olympic Games in his poetry 'Dialogue of the Dead' and in 1850 Dr William Penny Brookes founded annual games in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, UK.

In 1856 Evangelis Zappas wrote to King Otto of Greece offering to fund the revival of the Olympic Games. The first modern international Olympic Games held in Athens at Platia Kotzia, then called Ludouvikou or Ludvig Square, in 1859, sponsored by Evangelis Zappas. The 'Zappas Games' welcomed participants from the Ottoman Empire as well as Greece, making the Games international. In 1860 Dr William Penny Brookes founded the Wenlock Olympian Society. Brookes was clearly inspired by the first modern Olympic Games since he incorporated some of the events into the Wenlock Olympian Games. Petros Velissariou was the first person to be listed on the honorary roll as the first Olympic victor for his performance in the 1859 Zappas Games. In 1863 Baron Pierre de Coubertin was born. Why is this mentioned? Coubertin is hailed as the founder of the modern Olympics and the Olympic Committee and yet when he was born both had already been in existence.

In 1870, when Coubertin was just seven years old, the first modern Olympics to be held in a stadium took place in the ancient Panathenaic stadium of Athens which had been rebuilt by Evangelis Zappas. In 1875 the third games were held at the stadium and in 1889 another series of games was held in another location. It was not until 1892 that both Dr William Penny Brookes and Baron Pierre de Coubertin publicly proposed the revival of the Olympic Games for the first time with Brooke's proposal coming first. In 1894 Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee. In 1896 the Fourth modern international Olympic Games and the first IOC Olympic Games were held at the Panathenian Stadium, in Athens, the stadium again having been refurbished by Zappas and fellow philanthropist George Averoff. The Zappeion building was the first indoor Olympic arena.

So while you could argue that Coubertin was the founder of the International Olympic Committee, this line of reasoning falters when it comes to the modern Olympics which were inspired by Panayiotis Soutsos and paid for by Evangels Zappas approximately 1,460 years after the Ancient Olympic Games had been banned by the first Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I. (For more see where you can join the campaign to formally recognise Panagiotis Soutsos and Evangelis Zappas as founders of the modern Olympic Games and Dr William Penny Brookes as a founder of the modern Olympic Movement.) The same year that the Olympics are held another rebellion breaks out in Crete. Greece, under Deliyannis backs the island's liberation and declares war on Turkey. In three weeks the Greek army is defeated but Crete is put under international administration. In 1898 Crete is granted autonomy and Prince George, the 2nd son of the King is appointed governor. In Turkey events are taking place that will change the face of Asia Minor and Greece too. Sultan Abdul Hamit of the Ottoman Empire applies a policy of genocide to the Armenians.

In August and September 1894, Armenians are slain in Sassun. In October 1895 the first organised genocide takes place in Constantinople and Trebizond and in November and December 1895 the Ottoman authorities organize a great massacre throughout the country. In June 1896, the massacre of Van takes place. After the capture by the Armenians of the Ottoman Bank, another massacre takes place in Constantinople. The total number of victims is 300.000 Armenian men, women and children. In 1905 Eleftherios Venizelos, the president of the Cretan assembly announces the Union (enosis) with Greece. Though this union is not recognized until 1913, Venizelos comes to Athens where he becomes one of the most important political players of 20th century Greece. Help Support Matt's Greece Travel Guides Do you enjoy using my site? Have you found it entertaining as well as useful? If so please show your appreciation by booking hotels through the travel agencies and the links found on my Greek Travel Agents Page .

The small comission I make on the bookings enable me to keep working and in most cases you won't find them any cheaper by searching elsewhere. You can also book at Booking.com's Greece Pages and they give me a small percentage on each booking. Greeks Win Independence from Ottoman Empire ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ The Ottoman Empire brought an end to the once powerful Greek empire in the mid-fifteenth century. ï¿½By 1821, the revolution began as the Greeks wanted to become independent again.ï¿½ The driving force was the revolutionary nationalistic spirit that was sweeping across all of Europe and its colonies around the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. ï¿½The Greeks managed to keep most of their culture and maintained their church during the years of control by the Ottomans, further adding to the quest for independence. ï¿½This was not the first time that revolution sprang up in the Ottoman controlled Greece , but it was the first successful one.

ï¿½The success of this revolution was due to the assistance from the United Kingdom , French and Russians.ï¿½ When the eight bloody years of fighting ended, the Treaty of Constantinople divided up the land between the victors, their allies and the rest of the land returned to the Ottomans. ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ The only person that the majority of the ruling families could agree upon was John Capodistria, but his rule only lasted until 1831 when he was assassinated. ï¿½Capodistriaï¿½s brother, Augustinos, took over the throne for six months.ï¿½ Augustinosï¿½ rule led the new country into chaos, leading to the rule of King Otto, the first monarch of Modern Greece.ï¿½ Greece struggled with financial problems and conflicts between the monarchy and the church and, despite strong national pride, would never return to its former glory.

The flag that would be the symbol of Greece during the revolution was blessed by Bishop Germanos of Patras as the people adopted the slogan ï¿½freedom or deathï¿½ as their battle cry.

Question: From which empire did Greece gain its independece, in 1830?
Answer: Ottoman Empire