At the start of the 19th century Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire for almost four centuries. The ideas of the French Revolution, the example of American independence, the wealth of Greek merchants and the memory of ancient Greece created the conditions for revolt.
Preparation
In 1814 the Filiki Eteria, a secret society, was founded in Odessa to prepare an uprising across the Greek world. In February 1821 Alexandros Ypsilantis, a Greek general in the Russian army, entered Moldavia with a small force but was defeated. Meanwhile revolt broke out in the Peloponnese: by tradition, on 25 March 1821 Bishop Germanos of Patras blessed the revolutionary banner at the monastery of Agia Lavra. 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation, is now Greece's national day.
- March 1821Uprising in the Peloponnese; rebels take Kalamata.
- September 1821Kolokotronis takes Tripoli; thousands of Muslims and Jews are massacred.
- January 1822First National Assembly at Epidaurus, first Constitution.
- April 1822Ottoman massacre of Chios, painted by Delacroix.
- 1822Kolokotronis destroys Dramali's army at the Dervenakia pass.
- 1823-1825Civil war among the Greek leaders.
- 1824Lord Byron dies at Missolonghi.
- 1825Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian army lands in the Morea.
- April 1826Missolonghi falls after a year-long siege.
- 20 October 1827British, French and Russian fleets destroy the Turco-Egyptian fleet at Navarino.
- 1828Ioannis Kapodistrias becomes Greece's first governor.
- 3 February 1830The London Protocol recognises Greek independence.
- 1831Kapodistrias is assassinated at Nafplio.
- 1832-1833Otto of Bavaria becomes king of Greece.
The leaders
| Person | Who they were |
|---|---|
| Theodoros Kolokotronis | The "Old Man of the Morea", former klepht, the greatest military leader |
| Laskarina Bouboulina | Shipowner from Spetses, commanded her own ship at the siege of Nafplio |
| Konstantinos Kanaris | Sailor from Psara, blew up the Turkish flagship at Chios with a fireship |
| Andreas Miaoulis | Admiral from Hydra, commander of the Greek fleet |
| Georgios Karaiskakis | Commander in Central Greece, killed in 1827 |
| Markos Botsaris | Souliot chief, killed at the battle of Karpenisi |
| Alexandros Mavrokordatos | Phanariot politician, defender of Missolonghi |
| Ioannis Kapodistrias | Diplomat from Corfu, former Russian foreign minister, first head of state |
Philhellenism
The Greek struggle moved educated Europe, which saw the rebels as heirs of Pericles and Leonidas. Philhellenic committees sprang up across the continent; hundreds of volunteers went to Greece. The most famous was the English poet Lord Byron, who spent his fortune on the cause and died of fever at Missolonghi in 1824. Among Italians, the Piedmontese Santorre di Santarosa fought and died on Sphacteria. The painter Eugène Delacroix made the Chios massacre and the resistance of Missolonghi famous.
Missolonghi
The siege of Missolonghi, a lagoon town in western Greece, lasted almost a year. In April 1826, starving, the defenders attempted a night breakout with women and children: few survived. The fall of Missolonghi shocked European opinion and pushed the great powers to intervene.
Navarino and independence
In 1827 Britain, France and Russia sent their fleets to impose a truce. On 20 October 1827, in the bay of Navarino (Pylos), they destroyed the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the last great naval battle fought under sail. In 1830 the London Protocol recognised Greece as an independent state. The new kingdom was small: the Peloponnese, Central Greece up to the Arta-Volos line, Euboea and the Cyclades. Most Greeks still lived outside its borders.
The new state
The first governor, Kapodistrias, tried to build a modern state but clashed with local notables and was assassinated at Nafplio, the first capital, in 1831. The great powers chose the seventeen-year-old Otto of Bavaria as king; he arrived in 1833 and in 1834 moved the capital to Athens, then a small town below the Acropolis.
See also the Greek flag, 20th-century Greece and the history of Greece.