Greek War of Independence — Comprehensive Notes (Video)

Overview

• Lecture continues the series: from Byzantium to Ottoman rule, focusing on the Greek War of Independence within the broader decline of the Ottoman Empire.
• Emphasis on the interplay between imperial decline, Enlightenment ideas, romantic nationalism, and practical revolutionary steps that led to Greek independence.
• Key players include ottoman officials, Greek merchants-activists, diaspora intellectuals, and the Great Powers of Europe.

Ottoman decline: four interrelated factors (context for Greek uprising)

• Administrative and military separation from the provinces:
  • Pashas and rulers were raised in and loyal to the imperial capital, not exposed to provincial populations.
  • Provincial exposure was limited; system bred a cloistered, lethal “survival of the fittest” environment for career advancement.
• Economic decline and competition with the West:
  • Western Europe’s overseas trade and the Industrial Revolution created pressure on Ottoman protection and trade.
  • Ottomans did not industrialize; Western powers outcompeted them.
  • Protective, closed, internal market policies worsened rather than improved conditions.
• Ideological influence: Enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality circulated but clashed with imperial structures.
• Military decline: Janissaries had been in decline since the mid-1600s; after the empire reached its maximum size, these troops lost efficiency and turned to policing and taxation, weakening military effectiveness against European tech and organization.
• Result: when European military-technological advantages intensified, the Ottomans struggled to defend vast, multi-ethnic territories.

The Greek case: from Enlightenment to romantic nationalism

• Enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality, framed as universal but historically exclusionary (often privileging white males; women and people of color were excluded).
• Contrasting European polities:
  • Continental Europe: absolutist monarchies claiming divine right; governance justified as paternalistic and hierarchical.
  • The Greek case challenged this by appealing to self-government and national belonging.
• Diaspora as a vector of ideas:
  • Ethnic Greeks outside the Ottoman Empire (Trieste near Vienna, Venice, Odessa on the Black Sea, Marseille) encountered Enlightenment ideas and spread them back toward Ottoman-held Greek lands.
• Romantic nationalism (late 18th–early 19th century):
  • Emphasis on belonging to land, customs, songs, literature, past; a shift toward identifying with a “people” and a historical nation.
  • Emergence of a nationalist current among Greeks in diaspora circles (Odessa).
• Filiki Eteria (Filiki Etaireia): a 1814 secret revolutionary society formed in Odessa by Greek merchants to promote an independent Greece.
  • Founders: Nicolaos Skoufas, Emmanuil Xanthos, and Galatas (Al Galatas in transcript).
  • Motive: merchants stood to gain from a successful Greek independence, especially through control of trade and symbols under a Greek flag.
  • Funding and logistics:
  • Took advantage of the Napoleonic Wars (up to 1815) to gain naval and trading advantages.
  • Engaged in illegal gun smuggling at ports under the cover of legitimate trade to raise money, stockpile weapons, and recruit.
  • Strategic shift: as the organization grew, they sought a high-profile Greek figure to lead the cause publicly.
• Kapodistrias (Ioannis Kapodistrias): a highly educated Greek, connected with Corfu/Ionian Islands; recruited to head the organization but faced strong political pushback.
  • Kapodistrias’ background: educated on Ionian Islands, then in Russia (foreign service) under Tsar Alexander and Count Nesselrode.
  • Outcome of the recruitment attempt: Kapodistrias rejected the plan publicly, calling the proposal madness; the conspirators lied to their members about his support, which led to diplomatic embarrassment for Kapodistrias.
  • Tsar Alexander’s response: Kapodistrias was placed on unpaid leave and effectively kept in Russia for the duration of the Greek uprising (unable to leave the country).
• Ali Pasha of Yanina (Epirus) as a catalyst:
  • Local ruler whose power rose amid imperial decline; sought to negotiate with foreign powers and imagined a larger polity for the region, effectively treasonous to the Sultan in Istanbul.
  • Ottoman response: direct military action to kill Ali Pasha; his fall opened space for broader Greek revolutionary planning.
  • Filiki Eteria engagement with Ali Pasha continued in a quiet, opportunistic fashion to keep tension and momentum.
• Two simultaneous Greek outbreaks were planned:
  • First outbreak in the Danubian Principalities (northwestern Balkans) under Alexander Ypsilantis (a Fanarioti Greek elite family) in early 1821.
  • Second outbreak in the Peloponnese (Monastery of Saint Lavrion) on 03/25/1821, following earlier agitation.
• Fanariotis and orthodox nationalism:
  • Fanariotis: elite Greek families in Istanbul with global mercantile networks (e.g., jute trade; widespread commerce from India to New Orleans via Marseille).
  • Alexander Ypsilantis, from this milieu, envisioned uniting Orthodox Christians across Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian, and Greek Orthodox communities, and sought support from Tsar Alexander (which was unlikely to come).
• Martial and logistical contexts for campaigns:
  • Greece’s revolts required money, ships, and manpower, plus a unifying cause for mobilization.
  • Meantime, the Ottomans faced internal challenges but still controlled the core of military power.

Key figures and ideas in the nationalist movement

• Adamantios Corais: major figure in Greek nationalist thought; advocated for refining and purifying the Greek language from foreign influence; emphasized language as a cornerstone of national identity.
• Erikas Feréos: intellect in the Ottoman Empire who promoted nationalism and was arrested and executed by the Ottoman authorities for his ideas.
• Kapodistrias (Ioannis Kapodistrias): central figure in early Greek independence governance; initial leadership and later role (to be covered in a later podcast). His interactions with the Filiki Etairia illustrate tensions between revolutionary leadership and foreign policy pressures.
• National imagery and symbolism:
  • Marianne as the international symbol of the nation; Greek Marian imagery contrasted with French Marianne to reflect how nationalism is visualized and narrated.
  • Religious imagery: the 1821 uprising is framed as a Christian struggle against Islam, with Orthodox Christianity as a national pillar; religious symbolism used to legitimize and mobilize support.
• Important cultural-political themes:
  • Orthodoxy as national identity: the Greek identity was closely tied to the Orthodox faith, and the term “Greek Orthodox” tied language, church, and nationalism together.
  • Language as national project: Corais’ work on Greek language purification highlighted linguistic nationalism as a core element of national revival.

Early military campaigns and the two outbreaks (chronology and geography)

• First outbreak (Danubian Principalities): 03/05/1821
  • Led by Alexander Ypsilantis, who sought to rally Orthodox Christians and gain broader European support; aimed to march toward Istanbul to force negotiations.
  • Outcome: failed to reach Constantinople; campaign defeated and largely absorbed by larger Ottoman resistance.
• Second outbreak (Peloponnese and surrounding regions): 03/25/1821
  • Initiated at the monastery of Saint Lavrion near Patras; gained momentum and broad international sympathy.
  • The two outbreaks illustrate a planned but contingent coordinate strategy: a northern spark and a southern, symbolically potent uprising.
• The role of island networks and naval power:
  • Islands such as Idra (Hydra), Spezzas/Spetses, and other western Aegean islands provided naval bases and ships critical to Greek resistance against the largely land-based Ottoman military.
  • Greek sea power allowed the revolution to outmaneuver Ottoman land forces in various theaters.
• The Ottoman response: suppression of Ali Pasha’s regime freed Ottoman resources to focus on Greece; counterinsurgency aimed to decimate Greek resistance.

The maritime pivot: Mehmet Ali of Egypt and the Bay of Navarino

• Mehmet Ali (Mehmet Ali Pasha) of Egypt becomes a major independent power in the region:
  • He controlled vast territories in Egypt and western Anatolia; his fleet and resources offered strategic leverage against the Greeks.
  • The Ottoman Sultan sought to leverage Mehmet Ali’s navy to defeat the Greeks; in return, offered Crete and most of the Peloponnese for Mehmet Ali’s control.
• Ibrahim Pasha’s campaign:
  • Ibrahim Pasha led his father Mehmet Ali’s fleet and army; employed scorched-earth tactics: burning villages, destroying orchards, killing livestock to starve Greek defenders, and advancing through Crete to the Peloponnese and toward Athens.
• Great Powers’ intervention (Britain, France, Russia): the “Great Powers” opposed to continuous revolutions but sympathetic to humanitarian images of Greek suffering.
  • They sought to halt fighting via diplomacy rather than outright suppression, arguing for more favorable conditions for the Greeks within the empire.
  • Their tactic: send armistice proposals to the Sultan in Istanbul; attempt to broker a settlement without ceding formal independence.
  • The Sultan ignored these proposals, trusting Ibrahim Pasha’s success to end resistance.
• Navarino Bay (Bay of Navarino) crisis (10/20/1827):
  • The Great Powers assembled a combined fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Codrington to deter further Ottoman resistance and force a negotiated settlement.
  • Orders to Codrington: do not initiate hostilities; defend the fleet if attacked; aim to compel an armistice without initiating battles.
  • Outcome: during the night, Ibrahim Pasha’s fleet engaged the Allied fleet; Codrington defended his position and, in the morning, defeated and sank the Egyptian-Ottoman fleet in Navarino Bay.
  • Consequences:
  • The destruction of the Mehmet Ali fleet and the Ottoman fleet represented a de facto recognition of Greek independence, though this outcome was not intended by the Great Powers.
  • Codrington was later demoted for exceeding orders (he claimed self-defense) and was removed from European service.
  • The event shocked European capitals and accelerated the end of Ottoman resistance in Greece; it legitimized Greek independence in the eyes of many European observers.
• Immediate aftereffects and interpretations:
  • The Greeks achieved independence largely as an unintended consequence of broader geopolitical maneuvers rather than a pre-planned outcome by the Great Powers.
  • Kapodistrias, in Saint Petersburg, reportedly welcomed the outcome as beneficial to Greek interests, setting the stage for his future role in a new Greek state.

Theoretical debates on nationalism in the Greek context

• Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1983):
  • Nationalism arises when a suitable elite teaches a broad population what it means to belong to a nation; nationalism becomes possible after widespread literacy and printing technology.
  • The term “imagined communities” captures the idea that nations are constructed social realities, created and reinforced by elites and media (printing, pamphlets, newspapers).
• Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (1991):
  • Nationalism can originate from a shared plural base of language, history, culture, religion, and homeland, even without a printing press or elite instruction.
  • Nations may emerge from a long-standing sense of common identity that predates modern forms of mass print culture; nationality can be rooted in ethnos rather than being solely “invented.”
• J. B. Fommeriah (discussed in lecture):
  • Challenged the Greek claim of a direct, continuous link to ancient Athens; argued that Slavic and other incursions diluted the Hellenic lineage over time.
  • This argument feeds into debates about authenticity and continuity in nationalist nostalgia and historical claims.
• Relevance to the Greek case:
  • The Greek movement sits at the crossroads of elite-led mobilization and widespread public identification with a historical Greek nation.
  • The Filiki Eteria’s activities, diaspora networks, and religious-symbolic imagery show how nationalist sentiment can be mobilized through both elite and popular channels.
  • The question of whether nationalism was “taught” by elites or “pre-existing” resonates with ongoing scholarly debates about the birth of modern national identities in the Greek context.

Cultural, religious, and symbolic dimensions of Greek nationalism

• Orthodoxy as national identity:
  • Orthodox Christianity is presented as a central pillar of Greek identity, tightly interwoven with language and culture.
  • National imagery often fused religious symbols with national symbols (e.g., religious imagery supporting the fight for independence).
• Language and national purification:
  • Corais’ program to purge foreign words from Greek to restore a “pure” Greek language; language reconstruction seen as a core element of national revival.
• Visual propaganda and imagery:
  • Depictions of Greeks as righteous and divine, and Ottomans as dark or barbaric; propaganda imagery served to mobilize Western sympathy and support.
  • The parallel imagery of Marianne (French iconography) and the Greek Marian imagery demonstrates how nations leverage shared visual tropes to gain legitimacy on the world stage.
• Diaspora as a source of legitimacy and strategy:
  • Diaspora Greeks used their global trading networks to fund and promote revolutionary activities while simultaneously pressuring European powers for support.

Geography, logistics, and military dynamics

• Strategic geography:
  • The Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, Epirus (Ali Pasha’s domain), Crete, and the Ionian Islands played pivotal roles in the conflict’s dynamics.
  • Naval power and control of archipelagos were decisive against land-heavy Ottoman forces.
• Local governance and “primates”:
  • Greece’s rural regions were governed by local leaders (primate or primates) who controlled villages and families; their cooperation and revenue extraction affected the war effort.
• Economic incentives and revolution financing:
  • Filiki Etairia members leveraged mercantile interests to finance arms, ships, and campaigns; the war depended on money and logistics as much as on ideology.

Chronology: key dates and milestones (summary)

• Filiki Etairia founded: 1814 in Odessa by merchants Skoufas, Xanthos, and Galatas
• Napoleon's Hundred Days and postwar window for funds and ships: 1815
• Outbreak planning and initial leadership attempts (Kapodistrias): 1814–1815 era; Kapodistrias’ refusal occurs around 1820–1821
• First outbreak: Northwest Balkans (Danubian Principalities): 03/05/1821 by Alexander Ypsilantis
• Second outbreak: Peloponnese (Saint Lavrion monastery): 03/25/1821
• Ali Pasha killed: 1822
• Navarino crisis and battle: night of 10/20/1827, morning after; Allied fleet destroys Ibrahim Pasha’s fleet
• Aftermath: Greek independence secured; Kapodistrias’ later role in Greek affairs anticipated

Immediate consequences and historical significance

• Independence outcome:
  • Greek independence emerges largely as an unplanned result of European diplomacy and naval action, rather than a premeditated objective of all major actors.
• International dynamics:
  • The Great Powers (Britain, France, Russia) used the crisis to pursue strategic interests, sometimes supporting reforms within the Ottoman system rather than outright independence.
  • The Ottoman Empire’s capacity to suppress revolts weakened under combined naval pressure and internal factionalism.
• Aftermath for Greek leadership:
  • Kapodistrias’ role becomes central in establishing a functional governance framework post-independence; his complex relationship with Moscow and Western powers shapes the early Greek state.
• Ethical and practical implications:
  • The Greek struggle highlights tensions between liberal-nationalist ideals and realpolitik; humanitarian narratives intersect with strategic calculations.
  • The use of violence, massacres, and foreign intervention raises questions about the ethics of humanitarian intervention, imperial ambition, and the costs of nation-building.

Connections to prior lectures and broader themes

• Link to the broader decline of empires and the rise of nationalist movements in the 19th century.
• The Greek case as a concrete example of nationalist theory in practice (Anderson vs. Smith dichotomy).
• The role of diasporas in spreading ideas and funding revolutions—a pattern seen in other nationalist movements.
• The interplay between religion, language, and identity in nation-building, especially in multi-ethnic empires.

Practical takeaways and exam-ready points

• Four Ottoman decline factors and how they enabled nationalist uprisings: administrative isolation, economic lag, Enlightenment ideals, military weakness.
• Filiki Etairia as a case study in revolutionary organization: origin, funding, leadership strategies, and deception in Kapodistrias’ situation.
• The two outbreaks (03/05/1821 and 03/25/1821) and why March 25 is commemorated as Greek Independence Day.
• The strategic role of Ali Pasha and the pivot to Crete, the Peloponnese, and the western Aegean in sustaining the revolt.
• Mehemet Ali’s intervention and the Bay of Navarino as a turning point—even if the Great Powers’ intent was not to grant independence, the outcome aligned with Greek aims.
• Theoretical debates on nationalism provide lenses for interpreting the Greek case: elite-driven versus organically emerging national identities.
• The significance of religion and language in formulating a coherent Greek national identity during a period of upheaval.

Quick glossary of key terms and people

• Filiki Eteria (Filiki Eteria): secret Greek revolutionary society founded in 1814 in Odessa by Skoufas, Xanthos, and Galatas.
• Kapodistrias (Ioannis Kapodistrias): educated Greek, recruited by the Filiki Etairia, later central to Greece’s governance; placed on unpaid leave by Tsar Alexander during the revolt.
• Alexander Ypsilantis: member of the Fanariot elite; led the Danubian outbreak on 03/05/1821.
• Ali Pasha of Yanina: local ruler whose ambitions destabilized the region; killed in 1822 as part of Ottoman suppression of dissent.
• Ibrahim Pasha: Mehmet Ali’s son; commanded Egyptian forces against the Greeks with brutal tactics; pivotal in the later stages of the conflict.
• Admiral Codrington: British admiral who commanded the Allied fleet at Navarino; criticized for following orders but achieving a de facto Greek independence outcome.
• Mehemet Ali (Mehemt Ali Pasha): ruler of Egypt; his fleet and army supported the Ottoman war effort against the Greek revolt; later allied with Ottoman interests against Greece.
• J. B. Fommeriah: scholar who questioned direct continuity between classical and modern Greek identity; represents challenges to nationalist narratives.
• Benedict Anderson: Imagined Communities (1983) – nationalism as a construct taught by elites post-printing press.
• Anthony Smith: The Ethnic Origins of Nations (1991) – nationalism rooted in history, language, and shared identity across populations.

Note: This set of notes captures the major and nuanced points raised in the transcript and ties them to broader historical themes and debates. For exam preparation, use these bullets to recall timelines, key figures, turning points, and the theoretical lenses used to interpret nationalism and independence movements.