25 March 1821 Greek Independence Day – The Miracle
On 25 March, Greece (Hellas) celebrates the 199th anniversary of the declaration of Hellenic independence. It is a celebration commemorating the liberation of Greece and the rebirth of the modern Hellenic state, after nearly 400 years of occupation under the oppressive Ottoman Empire.
At first sight the culturally superior Hellenic world, represented by the Byzantine Empire which in 1453 fell to the Ottomans, failed to civilise and assimilate this new conqueror as it had previously done with the Romans. It is one of history’s great ironies that Greece, the birthplace of democracy, was subject for centuries to foreign domination, culminating in almost four hundred years of political suppression by the Ottoman Empire.
Greek life did not end when the Ottomans seized and conquered Constantinople, today Istanbul, in 1453. Greeks held administrative roles in the central Ottoman administration itself; many of them were in the Sultan’s interpreter service, because Muslims were discouraged from learning foreign languages. Greeks, therefore, became de facto ambassadors and participated in diplomatic negotiations.
We do not exaggerate when we use the term “Miracle” for the war of independence. We have to take into consideration that before 1821 the Ottoman Empire was considered by the whole world as the unbeatable giant. However, the Hellenic history was never founded on thorough estimations, but with a deep belief in miracles. This firm belief – that for the Greeks everything is achievable, even when common sense deems it impossible (sic) – is not the result of mysticism, but the outcome of thousands of years of Greek history and a superb contribution to global history. The words of Kolokotronis are characteristic: “When we started the uprising, people thought we were insane.”
The “Phanar” (i.e. lighthouse) district of Constantinople became the centre of Ottoman Greek culture after the patriarch took up residence there, and the Greek orthodox clergy had substantial religious, educational, administrative and legal power over all the Orthodox population, who constituted the majority in the Balkans. Greek ship-owners in the islands enjoyed similar advantages. Greeks dominated Balkan commerce by the 1700s. They were permitted commercial contacts with non-believers (western Europeans), an awkward matter for Muslims. Westerners who did business in the region used Greeks as agents for reasons of safety, language and convenience. On the other hand, Greek civilisation was never completely separated from the rest of Europe. After the fall of Constantinople, a lot of Greeks fled to Italy and played a significant role during the Renaissance. There were Greek printing presses at work in Venice, and Greek merchants and interpreters found the economic and political concepts of liberalism and the Enlightenment attractive. Wealthy Greeks went to France to study and they were heavily influenced by the tenets of the French Revolution.
The Greek War of Independence was the result of several factors. The ideology of a specifically Greek national consciousness, which had earlier roots, developed at an accelerated pace in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The uprising of 1821 followed other Greek efforts to confront Ottoman rule directly. The most important of these events was the Orlov Rebellion of 1778-79. Inspired by the belief that Russia’s war with the Ottomans signalled that country’s readiness to liberate all the Christians in the Ottoman Empire, a short-lived uprising took place in the Peloponnesus beginning in February 1778. Under the ostensible leadership of the Russian Orlov brothers, the venture quickly failed because of poor organisation and the lack of a coherent ideology, rapidly degenerating into looting and pillaging by both sides, but it set a precedent for violent resistance to Ottoman rule.
The intellectual basis of nationalism came from the prominent Greeks living abroad during the eighteenth century. The two most prominent leaders associated with the first stirrings of Greek ideas of independence were Adamantios Korais and Rigas Phereus (also known as Rigas Velestinlis). Korais, primarily an educator, advocated the education of Greeks about their ancient heritage as the path toward emancipation. To Korais, the promotion and diffusion of a common tongue known as “Katharevousa” was critical. In his view, “language is the nation”, and this axiom would provide a vehicle for education as well as the linguistic bond of the new state.
On the other hand, the fiery revolutionary Rigas is best remembered for the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” and the “New Political Constitution of the inhabitants of Rumeli, Asia Minor, the islands of the Aegean, and the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia”.
The “Declaration of the Rights of Man” is a revolutionary hymn including an oath against tyranny, and was the first seed for revolt:
“How long yet gallant lads
shall we live in chains
lonesome like the lions,
up on the ridges of the mountains?
Rigas’ thoroughly ecumenical vision was also based on the idea of the supremacy of the law: “So let the law be paramount, our country’s only guide.” This led to Rigas’ declaration of the rights of man, and his proposed constitution. Rigas’ declaration of rights closely follow those proclaimed a few years earlier in America and France, with the main ideas of equality, liberty, security of life and property. To these are added later in his document the freedom of speech, of religion and of petition to authority.
A number of Rigas’ specific proposals are very far-sighted: “There must be civilian control of the military. The government must be open, so the public should have access to all details of taxation.”
In 1821 Greece met three major requirements for a successful revolution: material conditions among the populace were adverse enough to stimulate mass support for action; an ideological framework gave direction to the movement; and an organisational structure was present to coordinate the movement. Greek intellectuals had provided the language and ideas necessary for a nation - wide struggle. And episodes such as the Orlov Rebellion provided a collective memory of violent resistance that made action feasible.
In addition to that, the economy of the Ottoman Empire was seriously damaged by the general commercial depression that followed the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Near-famine conditions prevailed in most of the Balkan Peninsula, but the problem was not addressed at any level of Ottoman government and resentment grew among the rural populace, paving the way for their next revolt.
In September 1814, three expatriate Greeks in Odessa set up a secret society whose aim was both simple and visionary: the liberation of Greece. The names of the three founders were Skouphas, Tsakalov and Xanthos, and the society was named “Philiki Etairia” (friendly society”). Unlike other such groups, it was able to attract a substantial membership while remaining undetected by Ottoman authorities. The organisation brought together men from many levels of society to provide an organisational base for the dissemination of revolutionary ideas and for coordinated action.
“Philiki Etairia” spread quickly and branches opened all over Greece. Members met in secret and were planning to revolt. By 1820, then, only a spark was required to set the revolution ablaze. Ali Pasha’s private rebellion against the Sultans in 1820 gave the Greeks the opportunity they had been waiting for.
The Greek war of independence officially began on the 25th of March 1821 in the monastery of Agia Lavra at Kalavryta (Peloponnesus). Archbishop Germanos of Paleon Patron raised the banner (lavaro) of revolution and blessed the weapons of the revolting Greek captains. The leaders and their men swore “Liberty or Death” which became the slogan in all the fierce battles that followed. The beginning of the revolution coincided with one of the holiest days for Orthodox Christians, the Annunciation of the Theotocos (virgin Mary). Archbishop Germanos chose this day to deliver a different but not unrelated message: a new spirit was about to be born in Greece.
The Greeks began the war without a definite plan and without any generally recognised leadership. Fighting broke out throughout the Peloponnese with fearless Maniat freedom fighters, led by Petrobey Mavromichaelis, governor of the Mani, laying siege to the most strategic Ottoman garrisons. The fighting escalated throughout the mainland and many islands. Within a year, the Greeks had captured the most important cities: Monemvassia, Navarino (modern Pylos), Nafplion and Tripolitsa in the Peloponnese, and Messolongi, Athens and Thebes. The 1st National Assembly of Epidavrus proclaimed Greek independence at Epidavrus on the 13th of January 1822.
The Western powers were reluctant to intervene, fearing the consequences of creating a power vacuum in south-eastern Europe, where the Ottomans still controlled much territory. But help did come from the Philhellenes, aristocratic young men, recipients of a classical education, who saw themselves as the inheritors of a glorious civilisation and were willing to fight to liberate its oppressed descendants. Phil Hellenic societies sprung up in all the leading city centres, and not only was money collected for the purchase of arms and supplies, but scores of volunteers embarked for Greece to fight side by side and give their lives, if necessary, to help the brave rebels who were honouring the cause of human liberty. Philhellenes included Shelley, Goethe, Schiller, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset and Lord Byron.
Byron arrived in Messolongi, an important centre of resistance, in January 1824 and died three months later of pneumonia, but was followed by a number of volunteer adventurers and idealists, the most prominent of whom were Admiral Lord Cochrane and General Sir George Church. A large number of European Philhellenes fought and died “so that Greece might still be free”.
Internal disputes twice escalated into civil war, the worst in the Peloponnese in 1824. The sultan Mahmud II took advantage of this, called in Egyptian reinforcements, and by 1827 captured Modon (Methoni) and Corinth, and recaptured Navarino, Messolongi and Athens. At last the Western powers intervened, forced by pro-Hellenic public opinion, and a combined Russian, French and British fleet destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in the Bay of Navarino in October 1827. The Sultan defied the odds and proclaimed a holy war. Russia sent troops into the Balkans and engaged the Ottoman army in yet another Russian-Ottoman war. Fighting continued until 1829 when, with Russian troops at the gates of Constantinople, the sultan accepted Greek independence with the Treaty of Andrianople.
In 1828 a small, independent Greek state was formed with 800,000 inhabitants. It was a state in poverty, of extremely small size, consisting of the Peloponnese, Central Greece and the Cyclades. It would take another century of struggle before all the Greeks were freed. The first man to govern the country was a former Greek minister of the Tsar, Ioannis Kapodistrias. His first task was to organise the state – its internal administration, the army, and the issues of the independence, national territories and the borders.
The modern state of Greece came into existence as a result of a protracted, bloody war against the Ottoman Empire between the years 1821 and 1832. The significance of the Greek War of Independence transcends the bounds of Greece and its history. It was the first major war of liberation after the American Revolution; it was the first successful war for independence from the Ottoman Empire; it was the first explicitly nation - wide revolution; and it provided a model for later nation - wide struggles.
The Greek Revolution, an epic struggle for freedom of the Greek people, is a major historical event in Greek history. It has been a milestone in the historical course of Modern Hellenism as it was the essential factor for the establishment of the Greek State and put Greece on the international political map after an absence of centuries.
The Greek Revolution was also a very important political factor for Europe in the dark ages of the European Renaissance and the Holy Alliance. It provoked the amazing Phil Hellenic movement; it preoccupied the European diplomacy for twelve years and finally succeeded in gaining its support. Its final success was a proud victory of Freedom and the Principle of Sovereign States.
The universal consequences of 1821 were immense. Due to the triumph of the Greek war, the Holy Alliance collapsed like a glasshouse after the dissension between Russia and Austria; it was the “wake – up call” for other subjugated nations.
With the constitutions of 1822, 1823 and 1827 the Greek revolution, beyond the idea of national freedom, highlighted the concept of political freedom, which was under persecution in most of the European countries.
The constitution of 1827 was a model of a democratic constitution setting out the rights of the individual, the sovereign power of the people, the distinction of powers (legislative, executive and judicial) and other basic principles of a democratic system.
It's so important to remember this day because the Greek struggle was really a struggle against incredibly overwhelming odds. And it reminds us, when we think about it every year at this time, of how tenaciously a group of people can cling to the idea of justice, independence and the rule of law. Even after 400 years of those things being suppressed in Greece, the Greeks didn't lose sight of those important principles.
The influence that Greece exerts, however, is by no means limited to its past. Modern Greece continues to be a world-wide leader. Its promotion of democracy, freedom and human rights are well known and respected. Greece is a unique example for future democracies to follow. It continues to be the most stable democratic country in the turbulent Balkans and a valued partner to NATO and the European Union.
Today the climate in our country is quite heavy. All the cities and vilages are like abandoded places. The streets are empty, the schools, univeristies and the churches are closed, the hospitals are operating in order to win the fight against the covid-19. It is a fight of all the Greeks. We must discipline ourselves to overcome the covid-19 pandemic and celebrate 2021, the 200 years of Independence with the brilliance they deserve the fighters of 1821.
Panas Theodoros
Lieutenant General, retired