Saturday, February 28, 2015

Greek War of Independence: Part 2 (Liberty or Death)

     Because information regarding the existence and the activities of the Filiki Eteria had leaked to the Ottoman authorities, Ypsilantis hastened the outbreak of the revolt in Wallachia and participated personally in it. Beginning the revolution in the Danubian Principalities had the added benefit that they, being autonomous under the joint suzerainty of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, did not have Ottoman garrisons, while in turn the local leaders were entitled to maintain small armed retinues for their own protection.
Therefore, on 22 February 1821 (O.S.), accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service, he crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Principalities. Two days later, at Iaşi he issued a proclamation, announcing that he had "the support of a great power" (meaning Russia).
Ypsilantis hoped that a revolt would ultimately lead to a Russian intervention: since the Ottomans would have to invade and quell the rebellion, the Orthodox Russians would certainly intervene in favour of their fellow Orthodox. In this hope he was justified, since eventually, the Greek rebellion led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1828 in which Russian troops marched to the outskirts of Constantinople and forced the Sultan to recognize the autonomy of the new Greek state. In 1821 however, Tsar Alexander was still a committed member of the Holy Alliance, and acted swiftly to disassociate himself from Ypsilantis: Count Capodistria denounced Ypsilantis for having misused the Tsar's trust, stripped him of his rank and commanded him to lay down arms. Soon after, Capodistria himself had to take an "indefinite leave of absence" from his post.
These moves emboldened the Turks, who began assembling a large number of troops to quell the insurrection in Wallachia. Ypsilantis marched from Iaşi to Bucharest, trying to enlist volunteers. It was then that the Sacred Band was formed, composed of young Greek volunteers from all over Europe. In Bucharest, where he had arrived after some weeks' delay, it became plain that he could not rely on the Wallachian Pandurs to continue their Oltenian-based revolt for assistance to 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. He further took the Russian renunciation of Ypsilantis to mean that his commitment to the Filiki Eteria was over, and as result, a conflict erupted inside his camp. In the end, Vladimirescu was tried and executed by the pro-Greek faction and the Eteria.

  

Ypsilantis, accompanied by what remained of his followers, retreated to Râmnic, where he spent some days in negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier. Fearing that his defeated 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, 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 neighboring countries. Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years (1823 to 1827 in Terezín), until he was released at the insistence of the emperor Nicholas I of Russia.

After his release, he retired to Vienna where he died in extreme poverty and misery on 29 January 1828. His last wish that his heart be removed from his body and sent to Greece was fulfilled by Georgios Lassanis, and it is now located at the Amalieion in Athens. 

Greek War of Independence: Part 1



     As is expected, the beginning of the war is covered in mystery, as revolutionaries are usually... secretive, the organization credited with inciting the war, the Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends was an early 19th century group of patriots that longed to see Greece free from Ottoman rule, their members consisted mostly of Phanariotes (members of prominent Greek families residing in Phanar), who were usually well educated and wealthy. Their leader was Alexander Ypsilantis. In 1820, after the offer of the organization's leadership has been refused by Kapodistrias, the then Russian foreign minister, the post was offered to Ypsilantis, who was then elected as the leader of the secret society. Following that, he processed and approved the general plan of the Greek war of independence, which was revised during May 1820 at Bucharest, with the participation of rebel captains from mainland Greece.
The main points of the plan were:
  • to aid the simultaneous revolt of Serbs and Montenegrins.
  • to provoke a revolt in Wallachia, by also enlisting rebels from the Serbian lands, battle-hardened from the first and second Serbian uprisings.
  • to provoke civil unrest in Istanbul through the use of agents, and burn the Ottoman fleet at the city's port.
  • to start the revolution in Greece in the Peloponnese, after Ypsilantis' arrival there.





Introduction

    I started this blog because I feel that modern Greek history is often overshadowed by its glorious ancient history, even though, it can be quite interesting too. I hope, also, that some of these short historical narrations will clear out any misconceptions that might exist about this part of Greek history (19th century - Today).