First Hellenic Republic

Hellenic Republic Ἑλληνικὴ Πολιτεία Ellīnikī́ Politía
Unrecognized state (1822-1828) Independent (1828-1832)
← 1822–1832 →
National flag Seal of the Provisional Government (1828-1832)
Capital	Nafplion
Language(s)	Greek
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Government	Republic
Governor
- 1828-1831	Ioannis Kapodistrias
- 1831-1832	Augustinos Kapodistrias
- 1832-1833	Governmental Commission
History
- Start of Greek Revolution	February 23, 1821 Wallachia mid March 1821 Peloponnese
- Proclamation of Independence	January 1, 1822
- Treaty of Constantinople	May 7, 1832
- London Protocol	August 30, 1832
Currency	Phoenix

The First Hellenic Republic (Greek: Αʹ Ελληνική Δημοκρατία) is a name used to refer to the provisional Greek state during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. It is a purely historiographical term, highlighting the constitutional and democratic nature of the revolutionary regime prior to the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Greece, and associating this period of Greek history with the later Second and Third Republics. The term "First Hellenic Republic" is hardly ever used in the Greek bibliography, while the term "Second Hellenic Republic" is scantly used and the term "Third Hellenic Republic" is in wide usage.

In the first stages of the 1821 uprising, various areas elected their own regional governing councils. These were replaced by a central administration at the First National Assembly of Epidaurus in early 1822, which also adopted the first Greek Constitution, marking the birth of the modern Greek state. The councils continued in existence however, and central authority was not firmly established until 1824/1825. The new state was not recognized by the Great Powers of the day, which, after initial successes, was threatened with collapse both from within due to civil war and from the victories of the Turko-Egyptian army of Ibrahim Pasha.

However, by this time (1827), the Great Powers had come to agree to the formation of an autonomous Greek state under Ottoman suzerainty, as stipulated in the Treaty of London. Ottoman refusal to accept these terms led to the Battle of Navarino, which effectively secured complete Greek independence.

In 1827, the Third National Assembly at Troezen established the Hellenic State (Ἑλληνικὴ Πολιτεία) and selected Count Ioannis Capodistrias as Governor of Greece. (Therefore the state is often called Governorate.) After his arrival in Greece in January 1828, Capodistrias actively tried to create a functional state and redress the problems of a war-ravaged country, but was soon embroiled in conflict with powerful local magnates and chieftains. He was assassinated by political rivals in 1831, plunging the country into renewed civil strife. He was succeeded by his brother Augustinos, who was forced to resign after six months. The Fifth National Assembly at Nafplion drafted a new royal constitution, while the three "Protecting Powers" (Great Britain, France and Russia) intervened, declaring Greece a Kingdom in the London Conference of 1832, with the Bavarian Prince Otto of Wittelsbach as king.

The Greek Declaration of Independence (1822)

See also: First National Assembly at Epidaurus

While Metternich and his allies were intervening to check reform in southern Europe, the Greeks rose against their masters and declared themselves a free and independent state. This was a source of deep sat­isfaction to the liberal parties in the West, who had suffered so many disappointments since the opening of the Congress of Vienna. A constitutional assembly was convoked in Greece, and, having completed a provisional constitution, it issued the following manifesto:

Memorial with the text of the Declaration of Independence, signed on 1 January 1822 at the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.

"We, descendants of the wise and noble peoples of Hellas, we who are the contemporaries of the enlightened and civil­ized nations of Europe, we who behold the advantages which they enjoy under the protection of the impenetrable aegis of the law, find it no longer possible to suffer without cowardice and self-contempt the cruel yoke of the Ottoman power which has weighed upon us for more than four centuries,- a power which does not listen to reason and knows no other law than its own will, which orders and dis­poses everything despotically and according to its caprice. After this prolonged slavery we have determined to take arms to avenge ourselves and our country against a frightful tyranny, iniquitous in its very essence, - an unexampled despotism to which no other rule can be compared.

The war which we are carrying on against the Turk is not that of a faction or the result of sedition. It is not aimed at the advantage of any single part of the Greek people; it is a national war, a holy war, a war the object of which is to reconquer the rights of individual liberty, of property and honor, - rights which the civilized people of Europe, our neighbors, enjoy to-day; rights of which the cruel and unheard-of tyranny of the Ottomans would deprive us-us alone - and the very memory of which they would stifle in our hearts.

Are we, then, less reasonable than other peoples, that we remain deprived of these rights? Are we of a nature so degraded and abject that we should be viewed as unworthy to enjoy them, condemned to remain crushed under a per­petual slavery and subjected, like beasts of burden or mere automatons, to the absurd caprice of a cruel tyrant who, like an infamous brigand, has come from distant regions to invade our borders? Nature has deeply graven these rights in the hearts of all men; laws in harmony with nature have so completely consecrated them that neither three nor four centuries - nor thousands nor millions of centuries - can destroy them. Force and violence have been able to restrict and paralyze them for a season, but force may once more resuscitate them in all the vigor which they formerly enjoyed during many centuries; nor have we ever ceased in Hellas to defend these rights by arms whenever opportu­nity offered.

Building upon the foundation of our natural rights, and desiring to assimilate ourselves to the rest of the Christians of Europe, our brethren, we have begun a war against the Turks, or rather, uniting all our isolated strength, we have formed ourselves into a single armed body, firmly resolved to attain our end, to govern ourselves by wise laws, or to be altogether annihilated, believing it to be unworthy of us, as descendants of the glorious peoples of Hellas, to live henceforth in a state of slavery fitted rather for unreasoning ani­mals than for rational beings.

Ten months have elapsed since we began this national war; the all-powerful God has succored us; although we were not adequately prepared for so great an enterprise, our arms have everywhere been victorious, despite the power­ful obstacles which we have encountered and still encounter everywhere. We have had to contend with a situation bristling with difficulties, and we are still engaged in our efforts to overcome them. It should not, therefore, appear astonishing that we were not able from the very first to proclaim our independence and take rank among the civilized peoples of the earth, marching forward side by side with them. It was impossible to occupy ourselves with our political existence before we had established our independence. We trust these reasons may justify, in the eyes of the nations, our delay, as well as console us for the anarchy in which we have found ourselves…" EPIDAURUS, January 1822: the First Year of Independence.

War of Independence

Main article: Greek War of Independence

Danubian principalities

"Fight for Faith and Motherland! The time has come, O Hellenes. Long ago the people of Europe, fighting for their own rights and liberties, invited us to imitation ... The enlightened peoples of Europe are occupied in restoring the same well-being, and, full of gratitude for the benefactions of our forefathers towards them, desire the liberation of Greece. We, seemingly worthy of ancestral virtue and of the present century, are hopeful that we will achieve their defense and help. Many of these freedom-lovers want to come and fight alongside us ... Who then hinders your manly arms? Our cowardly enemy is sick and weak. Our generals are experienced, and all our fellow countrymen are full of enthusiasm. Unite, then, O brave and magnanimous Greeks! Let national phalanxes be formed, let patriotic legions appear and you will see those old giants of despotism fall themselves, before our triumphant banners."

Ypsilantis' Proclamation at Iaşi.

Alexander Ypsilantis was elected as the head of the Filiki Eteria in April 1820 and took upon him the task of planning the insurrection. Ypsilantis' intention was to raise all the Christians of the Balkans in rebellion and perhaps force Russia to intervene on their behalf. On 22 February [N.S. 6 March], he crossed the river Prut with his followers, entering the Danubian Principalities. In order to encourage the local Romanian Christians to join him, he announced that he had "the support of a Great Power", implying Russia. Two days after crossing the Prut, Ypsilantis issued a proclamation calling all Greeks and Christians to rise up against the Ottomans. Michael Soutzos, then Prince of Moldavy and a member of Filiki Etaireia, set his guard at Ypsilantis' disposal. In the meanwhile, Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople and the Synod had anathematized and excommunicated both Ypsilantis and Soutzos issuing many encyclicals, an explicit denounce of the Revolution in line with the Orthodox Church policy.

Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Pruth, by Peter von Hess (Benaki Museum, Athens).

Flag of Ypsilantis' Sacred Band.

Instead of directly advancing on Brăila, where he arguably could have prevented Ottoman armies from entering the Principalities, and where he might have forced Russia to accept a fait accompli, Ypsilantis remained in Iaşi, and ordered the executions of several pro-Ottoman Moldavians. In Bucharest, where he had arrived in early April after some weeks delay, he decided that he could not rely on the Wallachian Pandurs to continue their Oltenian-based revolt and assist the Greek cause. The Pandur leader was Tudor Vladimirescu, who had already reached the outskirts of Bucharest on 16 March [N.S. 28 March]. In Bucharest, the relations of the two men deteriorated dramatically; Vladimirescu's first priority was to assert his authority against the newly appointed prince Scarlat Callimachi, trying to maintain relations with both Russia and the Ottomans.

At that point, Kapodistrias, the foreign minister of Russia, was ordered by Alexander I to send Ypsilantis a letter upbraiding him for misusing the mandate received from the Tsar; Kapodistrias announced to Ypsilantis that his name had been struck off the army list and that he was commanded to lay down arms. Ypsilantis tried to ignore the letter, but Vladimirescu took this as the end of his commitment to the Eteria. A conflict erupted inside his camp and he was tried and put to death by the Eteria on 26 May [N.S. 7 June]. The loss of their Romanian allies, followed by an Ottoman intervention on Wallachian soil, sealed defeat for the Greek exiles and culminated in the disastrous Battle of Dragashani and the destruction of the Sacred Band on 7 June [N.S. 19 June].

Alexander Ypsilantis, accompanied by his brother Nicholas and a remnant of his followers, retreated to Râmnicu Vâlcea, where he spent some days negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier. Fearing that his 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 Cozia Monastery, and, on pretext of arranging measures with the Austrian commander-in-chief, he crossed the frontier. However, the reactionary policies of the Holy Alliance were enforced by Francis II and the country refused to give asylum for leaders of revolts in neighboring countries. Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years. In Moldavia, the struggle continued for a while, under Giorgakis Olympios and Yiannis Pharmakis but, by the end of the year, the provinces had been pacified by the Ottomans.

Peloponnese

Plan of the Siege of Tripolitsa. The detachments of Kolokotronis' division, which have surrounded the town are symbolized by the letter "O".

Panoramic view of Nafplion, first capital of modern Greece.

The Peloponnese, with its long tradition of resistance to the Ottomans, was to become the heartland of the revolt. In the early months of 1821, with the absence of the Ottoman governor of the Morea Mora valisi Hursid Pasha and many of his troops, the situation was favourable for the Greeks to rise against Ottoman occupation. The crucial meeting was held at Vostitsa (modern Aigion), where chieftains and prelates from all over the Peloponnese assembled on 26 January. There, Papaflessas, a pro-revolution priest who presented himself as representative of Filiki Eteria clashed with most of the civil leaders and members of the senior clergy, such as Metropolitan Germanos of Patras, who were sceptical and demanded guarantees about a Russian intervention. As news came of Ypsilantis' march into the Danubian Principalities, the atmosphere in the Peloponnese was tense, and by mid-March, sporadic incidents against Muslims occurred, heralding the start of the uprising. According to the tradition, the Revolution was declared on 25 March 1821 by Metropolitan Germanos who raised the banner with the cross in the Monastery of Agia Lavra, although some historians question the historicity of the event.

On 17 March 1821, war was declared on the Turks by the Maniots in Areopoli. The same day, a force of 2,000 Maniots under the command of Petros Mavromichalis advanced on the Messenian town of Kalamata, where they united with troops under Theodoros Kolokotronis, Nikitaras and Papaflessas; Kalamata fell to the Greeks on 23 March. In Achaia, the town of Kalavryta was besieged on 21 March, and in Patras conflicts lasted for many days. The Ottomans launched sporadic attacks towards the city while the revolutionaries, led by Panagiotis Karatzas, drove them back to the fortress.

By the end of March, the Greeks effectively controlled the countryside, while the Turks were confined to the fortresses, most notably those of Patras (recaptured by the Turks on April 3 by Yussuf Pasha), Rio, Acrocorinth, Monemvasia, Nafplion and the provincial capital, Tripolitsa, where many Muslims had fled with their families at the beginning of the uprising. All these were loosely besieged by local irregular forces under their own captains, since the Greeks lacked artillery. With the exception of Tripolitsa, all sites had access to the sea and could be resupplied and reinforced by the Ottoman fleet. Since May, Kolokotronis organized the siege of Tripolitsa, and, in the meantime, Greek forces twice defeated the Turks, who unsuccessfully tried to repulse the besiegers. Finally, Tripolitsa was seized by the Greeks on 23 September [N.S. 5 October], and the city was given over to the mob for two days. After lengthy negotiations, the Turkish forces surrendered Actrocorinth on 14 January 1822.

Central Greece

Panagiotis Zographos illustrates under the guindance of General Makriyannis the battles of Alamana (left) and Vassilika (right) (from his Scenes from the Greek War of Independence).

The first regions to revolt in Central Greece were Phocis (24 March), and Salona (27 March). In Boeotia, Livadeia was captured by Athanasios Diakos on 31 March, followed by Thebes two days later. In mid-April revolutionary forces entered Athens, and forced the Turkish garrison into the Acropolis. Missolonghi revolted in 25 May, and the revolution soon spread to other cities of western Central Greece.

However, these initial Greek successes were soon put in peril after two subsequent defeats at the battles of Alamana and Eleftherohori against the army of Omer Vrioni. Another significant loss for the Greeks was the death of Diakos, a promising military leader, who was captured in Alamana and executed by the Turks, when he denied to declare allegiance to the Sultan. The Greeks managed to halt the Turkish advance at the Battle of Gravia under the leadership of Odysseas Androutsos, who, with a handful of men, inflicted heavy casualties upon the Turkish army. After his defeat and the successful retreat of Androutsos' force, Omer Vrioni postponed his advance towards Peloponnese awaiting reinforcements; instead, he invaded Livadeia, which he captured in 10 June, and Athens, where he lifted the siege of Acropolis. After a Greek force of 2,000 men managed to destroy at Vassilika a Turkish relief army on its way to Turkish forces in Attica, Vrioni abandoned Attica in September and retreated to Ioannina. By the end of 1821, the revolutionaries had managed, after their victories at Vassilika and Gravia, to temporarily secure their positions in Central Greece.

Crete

Cretan participation in the revolution was extensive, but it failed to achieve liberation from Turkish rule due to Egyptian intervention. Crete had a long history of resisting Turkish rule, exemplified by the folk hero Daskalogiannis who was killed while fighting the Turks. In 1821, an uprising by Christians was met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities and the execution of several bishops, regarded as ringleaders. Despite the Turkish reaction, the rebellion persisted, and thus Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) was forced to seek the aid of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, trying to lure him with the pashalik of Crete. On 28 May 1822, an Egyptian fleet of 30 warships and 84 transports, led by Hasan Pasha, Mehmet Ali's son-in-law, arrived at Souda Bay with the task of ending the rebellion and he did not waste any time in the burning of villages throughout Crete.

After Hasan's accidental death in February 1823, another son-in-law of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Hussein Bey led a well-organised and well-armed joint Turkish-Egyptian force of 12,000 soldiers with the support of artillery and cavalry. He located his encampment at Ayia Varvara in Heraklion. On 22 June 1823, Emmanouil Tombazis, appointed Commissioner of Crete by the Greek revolutionary government, held the Convention of Arcoudaina in an attempt to reconcile the factions of local captains and unite them against the common threat. He then gathered 3,000 men in Gergeri to face Hussein. However, the Cretans were defeated by the much larger, and better organised force, and lost 300 men at the battle of Amourgelles on 20 August 1823. By the spring of 1824, Hussein had managed to limit the Cretan resistance to just a few mountain enclaves.

Towards the summer of 1825, a body of three to four hundred Cretans, who had fought with other Greeks in the Peloponnese, arrived in Crete, and revitalized the Cretan insurgency (the so-called "Gramvousa period"). On 9 August 1825, led by Dimitrios Kallergis and Emmanouil Antoniadis, this group of Cretans captured the fort at Gramvousa and other insurgents captured the fort at Kissamos, and attempted to spread the insurgency further afield.

Frangokastello.

Although the Ottomans did not manage to retake the forts, they were successful in blocking the spread of the insurgency to western provinces. The insurgents were besieged in Gramvousa for more than two years and they had to resort to piracy to survive. Gramvousa became a hive of piratical activity that greatly affected Turkish–Egyptian and European shipping in the region. During that period the population of Gramvousa became organised and built a school and a church dedicated to the Panagia i Kleftrina ("Our Lady the piratess"), i.e. St. Mary as the patron of the klephts. In January 1828, the Epirote Hatzimichalis Dalianis together with 700 landed in Crete and in following March he took possession of Francocastello castle, Sfakia region. Soon the local Ottoman ruler, Mustafa Naili Pasha, attacked Frangokastello with an army of 8,000 men. The castle's defence was doomed after a seven day siege and Dalianis perished along with 385 men. During 1828, Kapodistrias sent Mavrocordatos with British and French fleets to Crete to deal with the klephts and the pirates. This expedition resulted in the destruction of all pirate ships at Gramvousa and the fort came under British command.

Macedonia

The economic ascent of Thessaloniki and of the other urban centres of Macedonia coincided with the cultural and political renaissance of the Greeks. The ideals and patriotic songs of Rigas Feraios and others had made a profound impression upon the Thessalonians. Α few years later, the revolutionary fervour of the southern Greeks was to spread to these parts, and the seeds of Filiki Eteria were speedily to take root. The leader and coordinator of the revolution in Macedonia was Emmanouel Pappas from the village of Dobista, Serres, who was initiated into the Filiki Eteria in 1819. Papas had considerable influence over the local Ottoman authorities, especially the local governor, Ismail Bey, and offered much of his personal wealth for the cause.

Statue of Emmanouel Pappas in Serres.

Following the instructions of Alexander Ypsilantis, that is to prepare the ground and to rouse the inhabitants of Macedonia to rebellion, Papas loaded arms and munitions from Constantinople on a ship on 23 March and proceeded to Mount Athos, considering that this would be the most suitable spring-board for starting the insurrection. As Vacalopoulos notes, however, "adequate preparations for rebellion had not been made, nor were revolutionary ideals to be reconciled with the ideological world of the monks within the Athonite regime". On 8 May, the Turks, infuriated by the landing of sailors from Psara at Tsayezi, by the capture of Turkish merchants and the seizure of their goods, rampaged through the streets of Serres, searched the houses of the notables for arms, imprisoned the Metropolitan and 150 merchants, and seized their goods as a reprisal for the plundering by the Psarians.

In Thessaloniki, governor Yusuf Bey (the son of Ismail Bey) imprisoned in his headquarters more than 400 hostages, of whom more than 100 were monks from the monastic estates. He also wished to seize the powerful notables of Polygyros, who got wind of his intentions and fled. On 17 May, the Greeks of Polygyros took up arms, killed the local governor and 14 of his men, and wounded three others; they also repulsed two Turkish detachments. On 18 May, when Yusuf learned of the incidents at Polygyros and the spreading of the insurrection to the villages of Chalkidiki, he ordered half of his hostages to be slaughtered before his eyes. The Mulla of Thessalonica, Hayrıülah, gives the following description of Yusuf's retaliations:

Every day and every night you hear nothing in the streets of Thessaloniki but shouting and moaning. It seems that Yusuf Bey, the Yeniceri Agasi, the Subaşı, the hocas and the ulemas have all gone raving mad.

It would take until the end of the century for the city's Greek community to recover. The revolt, however, gained momentum in Mount Athos and Kassandra, and the island of Thasos joined it. Meanwhile, the revolt in Chalkidiki was progressing slowly and unsystematically. In June 1821 the insurgents tried to cut communications between Thrace and the south, attempting to prevent the serasker Hadji Mehmet Bayram Pasha from transferring forces from Asia Minor to southern Greece. Even though the rebels delayed him, they were ultimately defeated at the pass of Rentina.

Letter of Alexander Ypsilantis to Emmanouel Pappas, dated 8 October 1820.

The insurrection in Chalkidiki was, from then on, confined to the peninsulas of Mount Athos and Kassandra. On 30 October 1821, an offensive led by the new Pasha of Thessaloniki, Mehmet Emin Abulubud, resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory at Kassandra. The survivors, among them Papas, were rescued by the Psarian fleet, which took them mainly to Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros. However, Papas died en route to join the revolution at Hydra. Sithonia, Mount Athos and Thasos subsequently surrendered on terms.

Nevertheless, the revolt spread from Central to Western Macedonia, from Olympus to Pieria and Vermion. In the autumn of 1821, Nikolaos Kasomoulis was sent to southern Greece as the "representative of South-East Macedonia", and met Demetrius Ypsilantis. He then wrote to Papas from Hydra, asking him to visit Olympus to meet the captains there and to "fire them with the required patriotic enthusiasm". At the beginning of 1822, Anastasios Karatasos and Aggelis Gatsos arranged a meeting with other armatoloi; they decided that the insurrection should be based on three towns: Naoussa, Kastania, and Siatista.

In March 1822, Mehmed Emin secured decisive victories at Kolindros and Kastania. Further north, in the vicinity of Naousa, Zafeirakis Theodosiou, Karatasos and Gatsos organized the city's defense, and the first clashes resulted in a victory for the Greeks. Mehmed Emin then appeared before the town with 10,000 regular troops and 10,600 irregulars. Failing to get the insurgents to surrender, Mehmed Emin launched a number of attacks pushing them further back and finally captured Naousa in April, helped by the enemies of Zafeirakis, who had revealed an unguarded spot, the "Alonia". Reprisals and executions ensued, and women are reported to have flung themselves over the Arapitsa waterfall to avoid dishonor and being sold in slavery. Those who broke through the siege of Naousa fell back in Kozani, Siatista and Aspropotamos River, or were carried by the Psarian fleet to the northern Aegean islands.

1822–1824

Until 1825, revolutionary activity was fragmented, because of the lack of a strong central leadership and guidance. However, the Greek side withstood the Turkish attacks, because, during the same period, the Ottoman military campaigns were periodic, and the Ottoman presence in the rebel areas uncoordinated due to logistical problems. The Greek military leaders preferred battlefields, where they could annihilate the numerical superiority of the opponent, and, at the same time, the lack of artillery hampered Ottoman military efforts.

The revolutionaries didn't manage to profit from their early successes in 1821 and, consequently, the Ottomans took the offensive, organising two military campaigns in Western and Eastern Greece led by Mustafa Reshit Pasha and Mahmud Dramali Pasha respectively. The latter crossed Roumeli and invaded Morea, but suffered a serious defeat in Dervenakia. The campaign in Western Greece ended alike: Mustafa Reshit's army was defeated in a battle near Karpenisi, during which the Souliot Markos Botsaris was shot dead. The announcement of his death in Europe generated a wave of sympathy for the Greek cause.

Revolution in peril: Infighting

For more details on this topic, see Greek civil wars of 1824–1825.

The First National Assembly was formed at Epidaurus in late December 1821, consisted almost exclusively of Peloponnesian notables. The Assembly drafted the first Greek Constitution and appointed the members of an executive and a legislative body that were to govern the liberated territories. Mavrokordatos saved the office of president of the executive for himself, while Ypsilantis, who had called for the Assembly, was elected president of the legislative body, a place of limited significance. Military leaders and representatives of Filiki Eteria were marginalized, but gradually Kolokotronis' political influence grew, and he soon managed to control, along with the captains he influenced, the Peloponnesian Senate. The central administration tried to marginalize Kolokotronis who also had under his control the fort of Nafplion. In November 1822, the central administration decided that the new National Assembly would take place in Nafplio, and asked Kolokotronis to return the fort to the government. Kolokotronis refused, and the Assembly was finally gathered in March 1823 in Astros. Central governance was strengthened at the expense of regional bodies, a new constitution was voted, and new members were elected for the executive and the legislative bodies.

Andreas Londos (left) and Theodoros Kolokotronis (right) were opponents during the first civil war, when the Peloponnesians were divided. They allied themselves during the second and bloodiest phase of the infighting.

Trying to coax the military leaders, the central administration proposed to Kolokotronis that he participate in the executive body as vice-president. Kolokotronis accepted, but he caused a serious crisis, when he prevented Mavrokordatos, who had been elected president of the legislative body, from assuming his position. His attitude towards Mavrokordatos caused outrage amongst the members of the legislative body. The crisis culminated, when the legislature, which was controlled by the Roumeliotes and the Hydriots, overturned the executive, and fired its president, Petros Mavromichalis. Kolokotronis and most of the Peloponnesian notables and captains supported Mavromichalis, who remained president of his executive in Tripolitsa. However, a second executive, supported by the islanders, the Roumeliotes, and some Achaean notables—Andreas Zaimis and Andreas Londos were the most prominent—was formed at Kranidi with Kountouriotis as president. In March 1824, the forces of the new executive besieged Nafplion and Tripolitsa. After one month of fighting and negotiations, an agreement was reached between Kolokotronis, from one side, and Londos and Zaimis, from the other side. In 22 May the first phase of the civil war officially ended, but most of the members of the new executive were displeased by the moderate terms of the agreement that Londos and Zaimis brokered.

During this period, the two first instalments of the English loan had arrived, and the position of the government was strengthened; but the infighting was not yet over. Zaimis and the other Peloponnesians who supported Kountouriotis came into conflict with the executive body, and allied with Kolokotronis who roused the residents of Tripolitsa against the local tax collectors of the government. Papaflessas and Makriyannis failed to suppress the rebellion, but Kolokotronis remained inactive for some period, overwhelmed by the death of his son, Panos. The government regrouped its armies, which now consisted mainly of Roumeliotes and Souliots, and were led by Ioannis Kolettis who wanted a complete victory. Under Kolettis' orders, two bodies of Roumeliotes and Souliots invaded the Peloponnese: the first under Gouras occupied Corinth and raided the province; the second under Karaiskakis, Kitsos Tzavelas and others, attacked in Achaea Londos and Zaimis. In January 1825, a Roumeliote force, led by Kolettis himself arrested Kolokotronis, Deligiannis' family and others. In May 1825, under the pressure of the Egyptian intervention, those imprisoned were released and granted amnesty.

War at sea

Cannon at Hydra.

From the early stages of the revolution, success at sea was vital for the Greeks. If they failed to counter the Ottoman Navy, it would be able to resupply the isolated Ottoman garrisons and land reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire's Asian provinces at will, crushing the rebellion. The Greek fleet was primarily outfitted by prosperous Aegean islanders, principally from three islands: Hydra, Spetses and Psara. Each island equipped, manned and maintained its own squadron, under its own admiral. Although they were manned by experienced crews, the Greek ships were not designed for warfare, equipped with only light guns and staffed by armed merchantmen. Against them stood the Ottoman fleet, which enjoyed several advantages: its ships and supporting craft were built for war; it was supported by the resources of the vast Ottoman Empire; command was centralized and disciplined under the Kapudan Pasha. The total Ottoman fleet size consisted of 23 masted ships of the line, each with about 80 guns and 7 or 8 frigates with 50 guns, 5 corvettes with about 30 guns and around 40 brigs with 20 or fewer guns.

Lykourgos Logothetis (1772 - 1850), the leader of the revolution in Samos.

In the face of this situation, the Greeks decided to use fire ships (Greek: πυρπολικά or μπουρλότα), which had proven themselves effective for the Psarians during the Orlov Revolt in 1770. The first test was made at Eresos on May 27, 1821, when an Ottoman frigate was successfully destroyed by a fire ship under Dimitrios Papanikolis. In the fire ships, the Greeks found an effective weapon against the Ottoman vessels. In subsequent years, the successes of the Greek fire ships would increase their reputation, with acts such as the destruction of the Ottoman flagship by Constantine Kanaris at Chios, after the massacre of the island's population in June 1822, acquiring international fame. Overall, 59 fire ship attacks were carried out, of which 39 were successful.

At the same time, conventional naval actions were also fought, at which naval commanders like Andreas Miaoulis, Nikolis Apostolis, Iakovos Tombazis and Antonios Kriezis distinguished themselves. The early successes of the Greek fleet in direct confrontations with the Ottomans at Patras and Spetses gave the crews confidence and contributed greatly to the survival and success of the uprising in the Peloponnese.

Later, however, as Greece became embroiled in a civil war, the Sultan called upon his strongest subject, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, for aid. Plagued by internal strife and financial difficulties in keeping the fleet in constant readiness, the Greeks failed to prevent the capture and destruction of Kasos and Psara in 1824, or the landing of the Egyptian army at Methoni. Despite victories at Samos and Gerontas, the Revolution was threatened with collapse until the intervention of the Great Powers in the Battle of Navarino in 1827.

Egyptian intervention

See also: Third Siege of Missolonghi and Ottoman–Egyptian Invasion of Mani

Egyptian intervention was initially limited to Crete and Cyprus. However, the success of Muhammad Ali's troops in both places settled the Turks on the horns of a very difficult dilemma, since they were afraid of their wāli's expansionist ambitions. Muhammad Ali finally agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece in exchange not only for Crete and Cyprus, but for the Peloponnese and Syria as well.

Ibrahim attacks Missolonghi by Giuseppe Pietro Mazzola (1748-1838).

The sortie of Missolonghi by Theodoros Vryzakis (1855, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Athens).

Ibrahim Pasha landed at Methoni on 24 February 1825 and a month later he was joined by his army of 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. He proceeded to defeat the Greek garrison on the small island of Sphacteria off the coast of Messenia. With the Greeks in disarray, Ibrahim ravaged the Western Peloponnese and killed Papaflessas at the Battle of Maniaki. The Greek government, in an attempt to stop the Egyptians, released Kolokotronis from captivity, but he too was unsuccessful. By the end of June, Ibrahim had captured the city of Argos and was within striking distance of Nafplion. The city was saved by Commodore Gawen Hamilton of the Royal Navy who placed his ships in a position which looked like he would assist in the defence of the city.

At the same time, the Turkish armies in Central Greece were besieging the city of Missolonghi for the third time. The siege had begun on 15 April 1825, the day on which Navarino had fallen to Ibrahim. In early autumn, the Greek navy under the command of Miaoulis forced the Turkish fleet in the Gulf of Corinth to retreat, after attacking it with fire ships. The Turks were joined by Ibrahim in mid-winter, but his army had no more luck in penetrating Missolonghi's defences.

In the spring of 1826, Ibrahim managed to capture the marshes around the city, although not without heavy losses. He thus cut the Greeks off from the sea and blocked off their supply route. Despite the Egyptians and the Turks offering them terms to stop the attacks, the Greek refused and continued to fight. On 22 April the Greeks decided to sail from the city during the night with 3,000 men to cut a path through the Egyptian lines and allow 6,000 women, children and non-combatants to follow. However, a Bulgarian deserter informed Ibrahim of the Greek's intention and he had his entire army deployed; only 1,800 Greeks managed to cut their way through the Egyptian lines. Between 3,000 and 4,000 women and children were enslaved and many of the people who remained behind decided to blow themselves up with gun powder rather than be enslaved.

Ibrahim sent an envoy to the Maniots demanding that they surrender or else he would ravage their land as he had done to the rest of the Peloponnese. Instead of surrendering, the Maniots simply replied:

“

From the few Greeks of Mani and the rest of Greeks who live there to Ibrahim Pasha. We received your letter in which you try to frighten us saying that if we don't surrender, you'll kill the Maniots and plunder Mani. That's why we are waiting for you and your army. We, the inhabitants of Mani, sign and wait for you.

”

Ibrahim tried to enter Mani from the north-east near Almiro on 21 June 1826, but he was forced to stop at the fortifications at Vergas in northern Mani. His army of 7,000 men was held off by an army of 2,000 Maniots and 500 refugees from other parts of Greece until Kolokotronis attacked the Egyptians from the rear and forced them to retreat. Ibrahim again tried to enter Mani, but again the Maniots defeated the Turkish and Egyptian forces. The Maniots pursued the Egyptians all the way to Kalamata before returning to Vergas. This battle was costly for Ibrahim not only because he suffered 2,500 casualties, but it also ruined his plan to invade Mani from the north. Ibrahim tried several times to take Mani, but each time his forces were repulsed, and suffered much heavier casualties than the Greeks.

British/French/Russian Intervention

See also: Battle of Navarino and Eastern Question

Initial hostility

When the news of the Greek Revolution were first received, the reaction of the European powers was uniformly hostile. They recognized the degeneration of the Ottoman Empire but they did not know how to handle this situation (a problem known as the "Eastern Question"). Afraid of the complications the partition of the empire might raise, the British foreign minister, Viscount Castlereagh, as well as the Austrian foreign minister, Prince Metternich, and the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I, shared the same view concerning the necessity of preserving the status quo and the peace of Europe. They also pleaded that they maintain the Concert of Europe.

Metternich also tried to undermine the Russian foreign minister, Ioannis Kapodistrias, who was of Greek origin. Kapodistrias demanded that Alexander declare war on the Ottomans in order to liberate Greece and increase the greatness of Russia. Metternich persuaded Alexander that Kapodistrias was in league with the Italian Carbonari (an Italian revolutionary group) leading Alexander to disavow him. As a result of the Russian reaction to Alexander Ypsilantis, Kapodistrias resigned as foreign minister and moved to Switzerland. Nevertheless, Alexander's position was ambivalent, since he regarded himself as the protector of the Orthodox Church, and his subjects were deeply moved by the hanging of the Patriarch. These factors explain why, after denouncing the Greek Revolution, Alexander dispatched an ultimatum to Constantinople on 27 July 1821. However, the danger of war passed temporarily, after Metternich and Castlereagh persuaded the Sultan to make some concessions to the Tsar. On December 14, 1822, the Holy Alliance denounced the Greek Revolution, considering it audacious and clumsy.

Change of stance

Left: George Canning was the architect of the Treaty of London, which launched European intervention in the Greek conflict. Right:Tsar Nicholas I co-signed the Treaty of London, and then launched the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, which finally secured Greek independence.

In August 1822, George Canning was appointed by the British government as Foreign Secretary succeeding Castlereagh. Canning was influenced by the mounting popular agitation against the Ottomans and believed that a settlement could no longer be postponed. He also feared that Russia might undertake unilateral action against the Ottoman Empire. In March 1823, Canning declared that "when a whole nation revolts against its conqueror, the nation cannot be considered as piratical but as a nation in a state of war". In February of the same year, he notified the Ottoman Empire that the United Kingdom would maintain friendly relations with the Turks only under the condition that the latter respected the Christian subjects of the Empire. The Commissioner of the Ionian Islands that belonged to the United Kingdom, was ordered to consider the Greeks in a state of war and give them the right to cut off certain areas from which the Turks could get provisions. These measures led to the increase of British influence. This influence was reinforced by the issuing of two loans that the Greeks managed to conclude with British fund-holders in 1824 and 1825. These loans, which, in effect, made the City of London the financier of the Revolution,^{[citation needed]} inspired the creation of the "British" political party in Greece, whose opinion was that the Revolution could only end in success with the help of the United Kingdom. At the same time, parties affiliated to Russia and France made their appearance. These parties would later strive for power during king Otto's reign.

When Tsar Nicholas I succeeded Alexander in December 1825, Canning decided to act immediately: he sent the Duke of Wellington to Russia, and the outcome was the St. Petersburg Protocol of April 4, 1826. According to the Protocol, the two powers agreed to mediate between the Ottomans and the Greeks on the basis of complete autonomy of Greece under Turkish sovereignty. Before he met with Wellington, the Tsar had already sent an ultimatum to the Porte, demanding that the Principalities be evacuated immediately and that plenipotentiaries be sent to Russia to settle outstanding issues. The Sultan agreed to send the plenipotentiaries, and on October 7, 1826 signed the Akkerman Convention, in which Russian demands concerning Serbia and the principalities were accepted.

The Naval Battle of Navarino by Ambroise Louis Garneray (1827).

The Greeks formally applied for the mediation provided in the Petersburg Protocol, while the Turks and the Egyptians showed no willingness to stop fighting. Canning therefore prepared for action by negotiating the Treaty of London (July 6, 1827) with France and Russia. This provided that the Allies should again offer negotiations, and if the Sultan rejected it they would exert all the means which circumstances would allow to force the cessation of hostilities. Meanwhile, news reached Greece in late July 1827, that Mehmet Ali's new fleet was completed in Alexandria and sailing towards Navarino to join the rest of the Egyptian-Turkish fleet. The aim of this fleet was to attack Hydra and knock the island's fleet out of the war. On 29 August, the Porte formally rejected the Treaty of London's stipulations, and, subsequently, the commanders-in-chief of the British and French Mediterranean fleets, Admiral Edward Codrington and Admiral Henri de Rigny sailed into the Gulf of Argos and requested to meet with Greek representatives onboard the HMS Asia.

Portrait of Muhammad Ali Pasha (by Auguste Couder, 1841, Palace of Versailles), whose expedition to the Peloponnese precipitated European intervention in the Greek conflict.

After the Greek delegation, led by Mavrocordatos, accepted the terms of the Treaty, the Allies prepared to insist upon the armistice, and their fleets were instructed to intercept supplies destined for Ibrahim's forces. When Mehmet Ali's fleet, which had been warned by the British and French to stay away from Greece, left Alexandria and joined other Ottoman/Egyptian units at Navarino on September 8, Codrington arrived with his squadron off Navarino on September 12. On October 13, Codrington was joined, off Navarino, by his allied support, a French squadron under De Rigny and a Russian squadron under L. Heyden. Upon their arrival at Navarino, Codgrinton and de Rigny tried to negotiate with Ibrahim but Ibrahim insisted that by the Sultan's order he must destroy Hydra. Codrington responded by saying that if Ibrahim's fleets attempted to go anywhere but home, he would have to destroy them. Ibrahim agreed to write to the Sultan to see if he would change his orders but he also complained about the Greeks being able to continue their attacks. Codrington promised that he would stop the Greeks and Philhellenes from attacking the Turks and Egyptians. After doing this, he disbanded most of his fleet which returned to Malta while the French went to the Aegean.

However, when Frank Hastings, a Philhellene, destroyed a Turkish naval squadron, Ibrahim sent out a detachment of his fleet out of Navarino in order to defeat Hastings. Codrington had not heard of Hastings actions and thought that Ibrahim was breaking his agreement. Codrington intercepted the force and made them retreat and did so again on the following day when Ibrahim lead the fleet in person. Codrington assembled his fleet once more, with the British returning from Malta and the French from the Aegean. They were also joined by the Russian contingent led by Count Login Geiden. Ibrahim now began a campaign to annihilate the Greeks of the Peloponnese as he thought the Allies had reneged on their agreement.

On 20 October 1827, as the weather got worse, the British, Russian and French fleets entered the Bay of Navarino in peaceful formation to shelter themselves and to make sure that Egyptian-Turkish fleet did not slip off and attack Hydra. When a British frigate sent a boat to request the Egyptians to move their fire ships, the officer onboard was shot by the Egyptians. The frigate responded with musket fire in retaliation and an Egyptian ship fired a cannon shot at the French flagship, the Sirene, which returned fire.

A full engagement was begun which ended in a complete victory for the Allies and in the annihilation of the Egyptian-Turkish fleet. Of the 89 Egyptian-Turkish ships that took part in the battle, only 14 made it back to Alexandria and their dead amounted to over 8,000. The Allies didn't lose a ship and suffered only 181 deaths. The Porte demanded compensation from the Allies for the ships but his demand was refused on the grounds that the Turks had acted as the aggressors. The three countries' ambassadors also left Constantinople. In England, the battle was criticized as being an 'untoward event' towards Turkey who was called an 'ancient ally'. Codrington was recalled and blamed for having allowed the retreating Egyptian-Turkish ships to carry 2,000 Greek slaves. In France, the news of the battle was greeted with great enthusiasm and the government had an unexpected surge in popularity. Russia formally took the opportunity to declare war on the Turks.

In October 1828, the Greeks regrouped and formed a new government under Kapodistrias. They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible, including Athens and Thebes, before the Western powers imposed a ceasefire. As far as the Peloponnese was concerned, the United Kingdom and Russia accepted the offer of France to send an army to expel Ibrahim's forces. Nicolas Joseph Maison, who was given command of the French expeditionary Corps, landed on August 30, 1828 at Petalidi, and helped the Greeks evacuate the Peloponnese from all the hostile troops by October 30 . Maison thus implemented the convention Codrington had negotiated and signed in Alexandria with Muhammad Ali, and which provided for the withdrawal of all Egyptian troops from the Peloponnese.

The final major engagement of the war was the Battle of Petra, which occurred north of Attica. Greek forces under Demetrius Ypsilantis, for the first time trained to fight as a regular European army rather than as guerilla bands, advanced against Aslan Bey's forces and defeated them. The Turks surrendered all lands from Livadeia to the Spercheios River in exchange for safe passage out of Central Greece. As George Finlay stresses:

Thus Prince Demetrius Hypsilantes had the honor of terminating the war which his brother had commenced on the banks of the Pruth.

From autonomy to independence

Left:Ioannis Kapodistrias was the first head of state (Governor) of independent Greece. Right:After Kapodistrias' assassination, the London Conference (1832) established the Kingdom of Greece with Otto of Bavaria as the first King.

On 21 December 1828 the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Russia, and France met in the island of Poros, and prepared a Protocol, which provided for the creation of an autonomous state ruled by a monarch, whose authority should be confirmed by a firman of the Sultan. The proposed borderline ran from Arta to Volos, and, despite Kapodistrias' efforts, the new state would include only the islands of Cyclades, Sporades, Samos, and maybe Crete. Based on the Protocol of Poros, the London Conference agreed on the Protocol of 22 March 1829, which accepted most of the ambassadors' proposals, but drew the borders farther south than the initial proposal, and did not include Samos and Crete in the new state.

Map showing the original territory of the Kingdom of Greece as laid down in the Treaty of 1832 (in dark blue).

Under the pressure of Russia, the Porte finally agreed on the terms of the Treaty of London of 6 July 1827, and of the Protocol of 22 March 1829. Soon afterward, the United Kingdom and France conceived the idea of an independent Greek state, trying to limit the influence of Russia on the new state. Russia was not delighted by the idea, but could not reject it, and, consequently, the three powers finally agreed to create an independent Greek state under their joint protection, and concluded the Protocols of 3 February 1830. By one of the Protocols, the Greek throne was initially offered to Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the future King of Belgium. Discouraged by the gloomy picture painted by Kapodistrias and unsatisfied with the Aspropotamos-Zitouni borderline, which replaced the more favorable line running from Arta to Volos considered by the Great Powers earlier, he refused. Negotiations temporarily stalled after Kapodistrias was assassinated in 1831 in Nafplion by the Mavromichalis' clan after having demanded that they unconditionally submit to his authority. When they refused, Kapodistrias put Petrobey in jail, sparking vows of vengeance from his clan.

The Τreaty of Constantinople was the product of the Constantinople Conference which opened in February 1832 with the participation of the Great Powers (Britain, France and Russia) on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire on the other. The factors which shaped the treaty included the refusal of Léopold, King of Belgium, to assume the Greek throne. He inter alia was not at all satisfied with the Aspropotamos-Zitouni borderline, which replaced the more favorable Arta-Volos line considered by the Great Powers earlier.

First administrative and political institutions

The flag of the Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece with symbols of faith, charity (love), and hope.

After the fall of Kalamata, the Messenian Senate, the first of the Greeks' local governing councils, held its inaugural session. At almost the same time, the Achean Directorate was summoned in Patras, but its members were soon forced to flee to Kalavryta. With the initiative of the Messenian Senate, a Peloponnesian assembly convened, and elected on May 26 a Senate. Most of the members of the Peloponnesian Senate were local notables (lay and ecclesiastical) or persons controlled by them. When Demetrios Ypsilantis arrived in Peloponnese as official representative of Filiki Eteria, he tried to assume control of the Revolution's affairs, and he thus proposed a new system of electing the members of the Senate, which was supported by the military leaders, but opposed by the notables. Assemblies convened also in Central Greece (November 1821) under the leadership of two Phanariots: Alexandros Mavrokordatos in the western part, and Theodoros Negris in the eastern part. These assemblies adopted two local statutes, the Charter of Western Continental Greece and the Legal Order of Eastern Continental Greece, drafted mainly by Mavrokordatos and Negris respectively. The statutes provided for the creation of two local administrative organs in Central Greece, an Areopagus in the east, and a Senate in the west. The three local statutes were recognized by the First National Assembly, but the respective administrative institutions were turned into administrative branches of the central government. They were later dissolved by the Second National Assembly.

National Assemblies

See also: Greek National Assemblies

First National Assembly of Epidaurus

Main article: First National Assembly at Epidaurus

Alexandros Mavrokordatos played a significant role in the first National Assemblies.

Monument for the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.

The First National Assembly of Epidaurus (Greek: Α' Εθνοσυνέλευση της Επιδαύρου, 1821–1822) was the first meeting of the Greek National Assembly, a national representative political gathering of the Greek revolutionaries.

The assembly opened in December 1821 at Piada (today Nea (New) Epidaurus). It was attended by representatives from regions involved in the revolution against Ottoman rule.

The majority of the representatives were local notables and clergymen from the provinces of the Morea, Rumeli and the islands. In addition, a number of Phanariotes and academics attended. However, a number of prominent revolutionaries, including Alexandros Ypsilantis and the most prominent chieftains from Rumeli and the Peloponnese were absent. Of the 59 representatives at the assembly, 20 were landowners, 13 were ship-owners, 12 were intellectuals, 4 were military leaders, 3 were archpriests, 3 were merchants, with and 4 others.

The assembly passed a number of important documents, including the:

• The Provisional Regime of Greece (Προσωρινό Πολίτευμα της Ελλάδος), sometimes translated as Temporary Constitution of Greece (more commonly known as the Greek Constitution of 1822), which also included a Declaration of Independence

The Assembly elected a five-member executive on 15 January 1822, which was presided over by Alexandros Mavrocordatos. The executive in turn appointed the first government which had 8 ministries.

The first legislature had 33 members.

Another characteristic of the First National Assembly is the absence of any reference in the Constitution to the Filiki Eteria, although Dimitrios Ypsilantis, brother of Alexandros Ypsilantis and official representative of the Filiki Eteria, was appointed president of the legislature, a body controlled by the local notables.

Second National Assembly at Astros

Main article: Second National Assembly at Astros

The Second National Assembly at Astros (Greek: Β' Εθνοσυνέλευση στο Άστρος) was the second Greek National Assembly, a national representative body of the Greeks who had rebelled against the Ottoman Empire.

It convened at Astros between 29 March and 18 April 1823 under the chairmanship of Petros Mavromichalis. Its most important task was the revision of the Constitution of Epidaurus, adopted in the First National Assembly. The new Constitution was voted on April 13, and was called the Epidaurus Law to stress its continuity with the one of 1822. It was legally more articulate as compared to its predecessor. It allowed a slight superiority to the Legislative power as opposed to the Executive, given the fact that the latter's veto power was circumcised from an absolute to a suspending one. The new Constitution also marked an improvements as far as the protection of human rights was concerned: property was protected, as was the honor and the security not only of Greeks but of all persons on Greek territory; it established the freedom of the press and abolished slavery. It also abolished local governments. However, the great disadvantage of the yearly term of the Administrative branches remained unaltered, a result of the ever-growing distrust between politicians and the military. The Assembly of Astros passed a new electoral law, according to which the right to vote was bestowed to men rather than to seniors, while the voting age went down from 30 to 25 years.

Third Greek National Assembly at Troezen

Main article: Third National Assembly at Troezen

The Third Greek National Assembly at Troezen (Greek: Γ' Εθνοσυνέλευση της Τροιζίνας) was convened during the latter stages of the Greek Revolution.

The long-delayed Third National Assembly was initially convened in April 1826 at Piada, but cut short by the news of the Fall of Missolonghi. Attempts to arrange a new Assembly in the autumn also failed due to disagreements among the various factions. Instead, two rival assemblies were established at Aegina and Kastri. Finally, after much deliberation, all parties agreed to participate in an assembly at Troezen. 168 delegates assembled there on 19 March 1827, under the chairmanship of Georgios Sisinis.

Having suffered from internal dissensions, the Assembly decided to create a supreme post to preside over the Executive, creating thus the office of Governor of Greece, to which it elected the then most distinguished Greek, Count John Capodistria, for a seven-year term, on April 3. A Governmental Commission was set up to administer Greece until his arrival.

On 1 May, the Assembly approved by vote of the Political Constitution of Greece. For the first time, the Constitution was not labeled "Provisional", signaling the Greek aspirations for complete independence from the Ottoman Empire. This Constitution consisted of 150 articles. It established key principles in Greek Constitutional history which remain to this day, such as the statement "Sovereignty lies with the people; every power derives from the people and exists for the people". It established a strict separation of powers, vesting the executive power to the Governor and assigning to the body of the representatives of the people, named Boule, the legislative power. The Governor only had a suspending veto on the bills, and lacked the right to dissolve the Parliament. He was inviolable, while the Secretaries of the State, in other words the Ministers, assumed the responsibility for his public actions (thus introducing into the text of the 1827 Constitution the first elements of the so called parliamentary principle).

On 4 May 1827, a day before its dissolution, the Assembly also voted for establishing Nafplion as the capital of Greece and seat of both parliament and government.

Fourth National Assembly at Argos

Main article: Fourth National Assembly at Argos

The Fourth National Assembly at Argos (Greek: Δ' Εθνοσυνέλευση Άργους) was a Greek convention which sat at Argos from 11 July to 6 August 1829, during the Greek War of Independence.

The Fourth National Assembly followed on from the Third National Assembly at Troezen (1827), which had adopted a new constitution selected Ioannis Kapodistrias as Governor of Greece with extensive powers for a seven-year term. The Assembly counted 236 representatives from all over Greece (including territories, such as Crete or Macedonia, that were still under Ottoman control), for the first time elected via suffrage.

The Assembly adopted a series of reforms suggested by Kapodistrias, most notably:

• the replacement of the Panellinion advisory council with a 27-member Senate
• the adoption of the phoenix as the country's currency

Fifth National Assembly

Main article: Fifth National Assembly at Nafplion

The Fifth National Assembly (Greek: Ε' Εθνοσυνέλευση) of the Greeks convened at Argos on 5 December 1831, before relocating to Nafplion in early 1832.

The Assembly, the last of a series of similar conventions of the Greek War of Independence, approved the selection, by the Great Powers, of the Bavarian prince Otto as King of Greece. On 15 March 1832, it adopted a new constitution, titled the "Political Constitution of Greece" (Πολιτικόν Σύνταγμα της Ελλάδος) and often referred to as the "Hegemonic Constitution" (Ηγεμονικόν Σύνταγμα). In the event, the assembly disbanded soon after owing to intense differences among its members. After Otto's arrival in February 1833, the constitution was ignored by the Regency which exercised government until 1835, and after that by Otto himself, who ruled as an absolute monarch. Independent Greece received its first constitution only after the 3 September 1843 Revolution.

Constitutions

Constitution of 1822

Main article: Greek Constitution of 1822

The Greek Constitution of 1822 was a document adopted by the First National Assembly of Epidaurus on January 1, 1822. Formally it was the Provisional Regime of Greece (Προσωρινό Πολίτευμα της Ελλάδος), sometimes translated as Temporary Constitution of Greece. Considered to be the first constitution of Modern Greece, it was an attempt to achieve temporary governmental and military organisation until the future establishment of a national parliament.

It replaced a number of texts which had been passed by local revolutionary committees, such as the Senate Organization of Western Greece, the Legal Order of Eastern Greece and the Peloponnesian Senate Organization. These committees had formed the previous year, which saw the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence. The Constitution was mainly the work of the Italian V. Gallina and deliberately avoided the liberal and democratic principles of the French revolutionary constitutions of 1793 and 1795), as well as the 1787 constitution of the United States of America. This was done in order as to not to alarm the Holy Alliance. For the same reason, there was no reference in the Constitution to the Filiki Eteria.

As far as the formation of two organs of the administration is concerned a multi-central model was adopted with the composition of two annual bodies (deliberative and executive) which had unclearly defined and separated duties. This declaration took the official form of a constitutional text; this is the Constitution of Epidauros, the first constitution in the modern history of Greece.

The constitution was divided into four parts and 109 articles:

• Part I dealt with the religious and civil rights of the Greeks and ruled on the predominance of the Greek Orthodox Church and regulated certain important human rights.
• Part II dealt with administrative issues
• Part III outlined the duties of the legislature
• Part IV outlined the duties of the executive

The constitution is regarded as liberal and democratic, although it represented a compromise between the military leaders of the Revolution and the landowners, who dominated the First National Assembly. The creation of an executive and a legislature displays the desire of these two power centres to maintain a political balance. The constitutional equivalence between the legislature and the executive reflects the suspiciousness among the members of the National Assembly and resulted in the paralysis of the law-making procedure. In any case, the needs and the difficulties of the revolution impeded the full implementation of the Constitution.

Greek Constitution of 1823

Main article: Greek Constitution of 1823

Greek Constitution of 1823 is the second constitutional text adopted during the Greek War of Independence, which started in 1821. In the spring of 1823 (March-April) took place the 2nd National Assembly, which adopted the new constitution, named "Law of Epidauros" (Νόμος της Επιδαύρου). This was a difficult period, just before the beginning of the first bitter civil war during the Revolution.

The Constitution of 1823 comprises 99 articles and it consists of seven sections:

• Section Α': About the religion.
• Section Β': About the civil rights of Greeks.
• Section Γ': About the function of the Administration.
• Section Δ': About the duties of the Legislative Body.
• Section Ε': About the duties of the Executive Body.
• Section ΣΤ': About the deputies.
• Section Ζ': About the Judicial Branch.

Basically, the Constitution of 1823 has the same structure with the Constitution of 1822. The provisions for the human rights are more extended and the function of the justice is regulated in a more detailed way. Petrobey Mavromichalis was reelected as president of the Executive Body. The 2nd Assembly dissolved all the local legislative bodies and repealed the title of the "High Commander in Chief", which was previously attributed to Theodoros Kolokotronis.

Greek Constitution of 1827

Main article: Greek Constitution of 1827

The Greek Constitution of 1827 was signed and ratified in June 1827 by the Third National Assembly at Troezen during the latter stages of the Greek War of Independence and represented the first major step towards realizing a centralised system of Government pooling together some of the more disparate elements of the liberation struggle. The Third National Assembly initially convened in Piada in 1825 and subsequently in Troezen in 1827. After unanimously electing John Capodistria as Governor of Greece for a seven-year term, it voted for the Political Constitution of Greece. The Assembly wanted to give the country a stable government, modeled on democratic and liberal ideas, and for this reason it declared for the first time the principle of popular sovereignty: "Sovereignty lies with the people; every power derives from the people and exists for the people". This key democratic principle was repeated in all the Greek Constitutions after 1864.

The Constitution consisted of 150 articles. It established a strict separation of powers, vesting the executive power to the Governor and assigning to the body of the representatives of the people, named Vouli, the legislative power. The Governor only had a suspending veto on the bills, and he lacked the right to dissolve the Parliament. He was 'inviolable', while the Secretaries of the State, in other words the Ministers, assumed the responsibility for his public actions (thus introducing into the text of the 1827 Constitution the first elements of the so called 'parliamentary principle'). The Constitution was also comparatively developed in its approach to human rights for the time.

Administration of Ioannis Kapodistrias

Ioannis Kapodistrias.

On his arrival, Kapodistrias launched a major reform and modernisation programme that covered all areas. He re-established military unity, bringing an end to the second phase of the civil war; re-organised the military, which was then able to reconquer territory lost to the Ottoman military during the civil wars; introduced the first modern quarantine system in Greece, which brought epidemics like typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery under control for the first time since the start of the War of Independence; negotiated with the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire the borders and the degree of independence of the Greek state and signed the peace treaty that ended the War of Independence with the Ottomans; introduced the phoenix, the first modern Greek currency; organised local administration; and, in an effort to raise the living standards of the population, introduced the cultivation of the potato into Greece.

Face and Obverse of a Phoenix coin.

The way Kapodistrias introduced the cultivation of the potato remains famously anecdotal today. Having ordered a shipment of potatoes, at first he ordered that they be offered to anyone interested. However the potatoes were met with indifference by the population and the whole scheme seemed to be failing. Therefore Kapodistrias, knowing of the contemporary Greek attitudes, ordered that the whole shipment of potatoes be unloaded in public display on the docks of Nafplion, and placed severe-looking guards guarding it. Soon, rumours circulated that for the potatoes to be so well guarded they had to be of great importance. People would gather to look at the so-important potatoes and soon some tried to steal them. The guards had been ordered in advance to turn a blind eye to such behaviour, and soon the potatoes had all been "stolen" and Kapodistrias' plan to introduce them to Greece had succeeded.

Furthermore, as part of his programme he tried to undermine the authority of the traditional clans or dynasties which he considered the useless legacy of a bygone and obsolete era. However, he underestimated the political and military strength of the capetanei (καπεταναίοι – commanders) who had led the revolt against Ottoman Empire in 1821, and who had expected a leadership role in the post-revolution Government. When a dispute between the capetanei of Laconia and the appointed governor of the province escalated into an armed conflict, he called in Russian troops to restore order, because much of the army was controlled by capetanei who were part of the rebellion.

Hydriot rebellion and the Battle of Poros

George Finlay's 1861 History of Greek Revolution records that by 1831 Kapodistrias's government had become hated, chiefly by the independent Maniates, but also by the Roumeliotes and the rich and influential merchant families of Hydra, Spetses and Psara. The Hydriots' customs dues were the chief source of the municipalities' revenue, so they refused to hand these over to Kapodistrias. It appears that Kapodistrias had refused to convene the National Assembly and was ruling as a despot, possibly influenced by his Russian experiences. The municipality of Hydra instructed Admiral Miaoulis and Mavrocordatos to go to Poros and to seize the Hellenic Navy's fleet there. This Miaoulis did, the intention being to prevent a blockade of the islands, so for a time it seemed as if the National Assembly would be called.

Kapodistrias called on the British and French residents to support him in putting down the rebellion, but this they refused to do, but Admiral Richord (or Ricord) took his ships north to Poros. Colonel (later General) Kallergis took a half-trained force of Greek Army regulars and a force of irregulars in support. With less than 200 men, Miaoulis was unable to make much of a fight; Fort Heidek on Bourtzi Island was overrun by the regulars and the brig Spetses (once Laskaria Bouboulina's Agamemnon) sunk by Richord's force. Encircled by the Russians in the harbor and Kallergis's force on land, Poros surrendered. Miaoulis was forced to set charges in the flagship Hellas and the corvette Hydra, blowing them up when he and his handful of followers returned to Hydra. Kallergis's men were enraged by the loss of the ships and sacked Poros, carrying off plunder to Nauplion.

The loss of the best ships in the fleet crippled the Hellenic Navy for many years, but it also weakened Kapodistrias's position. He did finally call the National Assembly but his other actions triggered more opposition and that led to his downfall.

Assassination and creation of the Kingdom of Greece

Assassination of Ioannis Kapodistrias by Dionysios Tsokos.

The Entry of King Otto in Athens by Peter von Hess.

In 1831, Kapodistrias ordered the imprisonment of Petrobey Mavromichalis, the Bey of the Mani Peninsula, one of the wildest and most rebellious parts of Greece. This was a mortal offence to the Mavromichalis family, and on October 9, 1831 (September 27 in the Julian Calendar) Kapodistrias was assassinated by Petrobey's brother Konstantis and son Georgios on the steps of the church of Saint Spyridon in Nafplio.

Kapodistrias woke up early in the morning and decided to go to church despite the urges of his servants and bodyguards to stay at home. When he reached the church he saw his assassins waiting for him. When he reached the church steps, Konstantis and Georgios came close as if to greet him. Suddenly Konstantis drew his pistol and fired, missing, the bullet sticking in the church wall where it is still visible today. He then drew his dagger and stabbed Kapodistrias in the stomach while Georgios shot Kapodistrias in the head. Konstantis was shot by General Fotomaras, who watched the murder scene from his own window. Georgios managed to escape and hide in the French Embassy; after a few days he surrendered to the Greek authorities. He was sentenced to death by a court-martial and was executed by firing squad. His last wish was that the firing squad not shoot his face, and his last words were "Peace Brothers!"

Ioannis Kapodistrias was succeeded as Governor by his younger brother, Augustinos Kapodistrias. Augustinos ruled only for six months, during which the country was very much plunged into chaos. Under the protocol signed on May 7, 1832 between Bavaria and the protecting Powers, and basically dealing with the way in which the Regency was to be managed until Otto reached his majority (while also concluding the second Greek loan, for a sum of £2,400,000 sterling), Greece was defined as an independent kingdom, with the Arta-Volos line as its northern frontier. The Ottoman Empire was indemnified in the sum of 40,000,000 piastres for the loss of the territory. The borders of the Kingdom were reiterated in the London Protocol of August 30, 1832 signed by the Great Powers, which ratified the terms of the Constantinople Arrangement in connection with the border between Greece and the Ottoman Empire and marked the end of the Greek War of Independence creating modern Greece as an independent state free of the Ottoman Empire.

Heads of State

• Alexandros Mavrocordatos (January 15, 1822 - March 29, 1823)
• Petros Mavromichalis (March 29, 1823 - March 1824)
• Georgios Kountouriotis (March 1824 - March 19, 1827)
• Ioannis Kapodistrias (January 24, 1828 - October 9, 1831)
• Augustinos Kapodistrias (October 9, 1831 - April 9, 1832)
• Governmental Commission (April 9, 1832 - February 2, 1833)

See also

• History of the Hellenic Republic

External links

• Hellenic Parliament - Constitutional History of Greece