The Greek Revolution in March 1821 erupted against all odds. Six years after the battle of Waterloo in which the Napoleon Bonaparte’s army was crashed, Europe was shaken by uprisings against its restored monarchs. Czar Alexander of Russia, Austrian Emperor Francis II, and the representatives of the other European powers were meeting in Leibach (now Ljubljana) to consolidate a united front against the rebellions in Naples and Piedmont. On the last day of their conference while a snowstorm was raging outside the building they were meeting, the news of the Greek Revolution reached them.
In early May, while the Greek Revolution was unfolding, the Holy Alliance reached a consensus for a military intervention to suppress the revolt in Italy. However, reaching a consensual agreement on how to respond to the Greek rebellion was more problematic, because from the very beginning the Greek Revolution enjoyed a vibrant wave of support from the most important European cities.
The idea of creating a Greek state in the cradle of freedom and democracy where great philosophers once lived and taught constituted a source of inspiration and expectation which activated the public opinion -especially among the educated and bourgeois classes – who looked to the successful outcome of the Greek Revolution. Finally, the Greek Independence War might result the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and probably bring about a radical change in the balance of the power in Europe.
READ MORE: Melbourne audiences treated to double 1821 re-enactment event
What enabled the Greeks to lead the struggle in the Balkans against the Ottomans?
Although the Greeks had collaborated in the administration of the Ottoman Empire, they had retained their Hellenic language. They were also conscious of their Hellenic nationality and of the fact that they were descendants of the classical Greeks. This was also the result of education, of frequent contact with the European travellers, and consequently of the rapid circulation of ideas, certainly in a much more intense and widespread manner. Nearly all the travelers who visited Greece over thirty or forty years before the Greek Revolution agreed that even the Greeks among the lower strata of society were conscious of their glorious past and of their ongoing degeneration because of the Turkish occupation. Byron, as is known, while making his first pilgrimage to Greece, encountered a boatman at Salamis who proudly spoke of “our fleet” as he pointed to the place where the Persian Armada was destroyed.
On the eve of the Greek Revolution Greeks enjoyed a commercial and industrial superiority over all races of the Ottoman Empire and they exploited – though not owned – three quarters of the cultivated soil within the confines of their fatherland. In that fatherland (an area slightly larger than the Greek Kingdom of 1833) the Greeks numbered approximately 1,500,000 while the Turks, who lived in families scattered across the countryside or in the Turkish quarters of the larger villages and towns, were no more than 150,000. The latter were not only fewer and work-shy, but also completely unable to control their subject people. Even in the early days of the Turkish occupation, there were whole regions, particularly in the mountain areas, the Kleftochoria, or villages of the kleftes, which Turks failed to subdue. There were also many regions in the mainland that enjoyed almost complete self-government and despite the fact those areas were administratively placed under Turks, the fiscal system was practically ran by Greeks.
READ MORE: “Why not work out of Kastellorizo?” Greece’s PM Mitsotakis asks Greek Australian diaspora
The role of education
By the second half of the 18th century the Greeks had made considerable economic and intellectual progress. Several schools flourished, and Greek students studied in universities in Italy, Germany, Austria and Russia, while many others travelled abroad. According to George Finlay, the British historian of the Greek Revolution, the ratio of literate Greeks compared to the non-literate was probably the highest in all Christian nations. This body of literate Greeks served as leaven for the whole nation. Despite differences of living and educational standards, there has been great uniformity of intellectual ability and interest in pollical affairs in Greece than in any other part of Europe. No other people are as avid for news and information. Foreign travelers to Greece were amazed by the fact that a people like Greeks were subjected to the brutal tyranny of the Ottoman Sultan although they were so well-informed and cultured.
The Diplomatic Environment on the Eve of the Greek Revolution
Apart from Russia who saw itself as the natural protector of the Greeks, the governments of Austria, France, and Great Britain saw the Greek uprising in a quite different strategic light. Regardless of any sympathy their people felt toward their fellow Christians, weakening the Ottoman Empire would open the door to Russian expansion toward The Mediterranean with dangerous consequences for their own interests. Therefore, they greeted the news of the uprising with great suspicion.
Russians had adopted Orthodox Christianity through the teachings of Byzantine missionaries, and their Czars dreamed of realizing Russia’s long-standing claim to be the rightful heir to the Byzantine Empire. Besides, Russia and the Ottoman Empire warred frequently on their common borders. Especially after the Ottoman government hanged Grigorios V, the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, in reprisal for the sins of his orthodox flock, Russian popular opinion was strongly in favor of intervention by the Russian army to save helpless fellow Christians from being slaughtered by Turks. It is worth remembering at this point that during this period Czar’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs and trusted advisor was a Greek from Corfu, Ioannis Kapodistrias, who was appointed as the first governor of Greece later.
France, Austria and Great Britain were thus determined to support the Ottoman Empire as a counterweight to Russian power. Things got complicated for the Czar when in Leibach, an officer of his army, the Phanariot Alexandros Ypsilantis launched the uprising in Moldavia. Being unprepared for a new war against the Sultan, the Czar ordered Kapodistrias to dismiss Ypsilantis from the Imperial service. He also sent a message to the Ottoman court firmly disavowing any Russian support for the Greek rebellion. Unlike in Italy, the Holly Alliance did not intervene to suppress the Greek rebels. Still, it would not offer struggling Greece even a faint hope of assistance from the Great Powers in Europe.
READ MORE: Greek Australian veterans, and their moving 25 March tribute to heroes of 1821
The ambivalence of the European powers drove Greek revolutionaries hopeless. They looked across the Atlantic for assistance from a more idealistic rising power, the United States of America. The distance between the two countries was enormous, but the success of the American Revolution 40 years ago lived on Greek minds.
The Greek cause was introduced for debate several times in the American Congress, yet it did not yield a favorable conclusion, but only expressions of support from all quarters of Congress. Two years later in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine, a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States pronounced that the U.S would not interfere in the internal affairs of European countries. The question of supporting the Greek cause was not dead, however…
Humanitarian Assistance to Greeks
There were great Philhellenes in Europe like Lord Byron, or Jean Eynard, chief of the Philhellenes community in Europe and others that really provided economic assistance to the Greek revolutionaries. In any case, the most significant and massive humanitarian assistance was provided by Americans from all walks of life regardless of political affiliation. Supplies of all kinds including food, clothing, and cash were collected and sent to Greece. Many of these donations were raised from charities and dance events organized by the philhellenic committees in large cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston. In addition, eight ships sailed into Greek ports carrying humanitarian aid amassed for Greeks. Those were: the bring ‘Tontine’ from Philadelphia with $1,800 barrels of food; the ‘Chancellor’ from New York with a cargo worth $17,500 ; the ‘Six Brothers’ with a cargo worth $16.614 and several American volunteers ; the ‘Levant’ from Philadelphia carrying aid worth $ 8, 547 ; the ‘Statesman’ from the port of Boston, carrying aid worth $11,555 ; the brig ‘Jane’ from New York carrying aid worth $8,900 ; the ‘Herald’ which unloaded to Poros aid worth $49,800 ; and finally ‘Suffolk’ carrying aid worth $12,000 under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Howe.
Fundraising was also undertaken by the pupils of New York schools, the students of Yale and the Theological Seminary of Andover, theatrical agents, priests, leaders of various Protestant groups, workers in various factories of the industrial city of Pittsburgh, women’s organizations, and even army officers who donated to the Greek cause the value of the alcoholic drinks they would otherwise consume.
The Philhellenic fever literally spread to all corners of America as Americans made every effort available to help Greeks, not only heirs of the immortal fame of their ancestors but also rivals of their virtues (excerpt from the speech by Congressman Poinsett, session January 24, 1824).
*Photini Tomai, is a Historian, Ambassador ad.h