Ukrainian Greeks are a Greek minority that reside in or used to reside in the territory of modern Ukraine . The majority of Ukrainian Greeks live in Donetsk Oblast and are particularly concentrated around the city of Mariupol .
90-460: According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census , there were 91,548 ethnic Greeks in Ukraine, or 0.2% of the population. However, the actual percentage of those with Greek ancestry is likely to be much higher due to widespread intermarriage between ethnic Greeks and those Ukrainian citizens who are Ukrainian Orthodox , particularly in eastern Ukraine, as well as the absence of strong links to Greece or use of
180-625: A fait accompli , Ypsilantis remained in Iaşi and ordered the executions of several pro-Ottoman Moldavians. In Bucharest , where he 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,
270-580: A Phanariote serving in the Russian army as general and adjutant to Alexander, who accepted. The Filiki Eteria expanded rapidly and was soon able to recruit members in all areas of the Greek world and among all elements of the Greek society. In 1821, the Ottoman Empire mainly faced war against Persia and more particularly the revolt by Ali Pasha in Epirus, which had forced the vali (governor) of
360-570: 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
450-528: A member of the ultra-rich Mavrocordatos family, three monks and a priest of the Orthodox church, and three ordinary Greeks accused of planning to poison the city's water supply. In the city of Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey), which until 1922 was a mostly Greek city, Ottoman soldiers drawn from the interior of Anatolia on their way to fight in either Greece or Moldavia/Wallachia, staged a pogrom in June 1821 against
540-530: A population over 500,000. The census recorded over 130 nationalities . Note: listed are those nationalities which comprise more than 0.1% of regional population. Numbers are given in thousands. Greek war of independence Independence of Greece [REDACTED] Greek Revolutionaries [REDACTED] Ottoman Empire 1822–1824 Greek civil wars of 1824–1825 Egyptian intervention (1825–1826) Great powers intervention (1827–1829) The Greek War of Independence , also known as
630-586: A precedent for the Greeks, when Peter appealed to Orthodox Christians to join the Russians and rise against the Turks to fight for " faith and homeland ". The Russo-Turkish wars of Catherine II (1762–1796) made the Greeks consider their emancipation with the aid of Russia. An independence movement in Peloponnesus (Morea) was incited by Russian agents in 1769, and a Greek flotilla under Lambros Katsonis assisted
720-520: A provincial elite, though not a social class, whose members would muster under a common goal. As the armatoloi' s position gradually turned into a hereditary one, some captains took care of their armatolik as their personal property. A great deal of power was placed in their hands and they integrated in the network of clientelist relationships that formed the Ottoman administration. Some managed to establish exclusive control in their armatolik , forcing
810-562: A small fleet under Lambros Katsonis , which was a nuisance for the Ottoman navy; during the war klephts and armatoloi (guerilla fighters in mountainous areas) rose once again. At the same time, a number of Greeks enjoyed a privileged position in the Ottoman state as members of the Ottoman bureaucracy. Greeks controlled the affairs of the Orthodox Church through the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , as
900-547: Is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March. All Greek territory, except the Ionian Islands , the Mani Peninsula , and mountainous regions in Epirus, came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century. During the following centuries, there were Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule. Most uprisings began in the independent Greek realm of the Mani Peninsula , which was never conquered by
990-600: Is ready to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the center of the Greek minority in Ukraine, a city dear to our hearts and symbol of the barbarity of the war". Raions of Donetsk Oblast with significant Greek minority: 2001 Ukrainian Census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine . It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after
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#17327763710011080-426: 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. Michael Soutzos , then Prince of Moldavia and a member of Filiki Etaireia, set his guard at Ypsilantis' disposal. In
1170-602: The Constantinople Massacre of 1821 . The Orthodox Patriarch Gregory V was executed on 22 April 1821 on the orders of the Sultan despite his opposition to the revolt, which caused outrage throughout Europe and resulted in increased support for the Greek rebels. 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
1260-537: The Danube . The death of Rigas fanned the flames of Greek nationalism; his nationalist poem, the "Thourios" (war-song), was translated into a number of Western European and later Balkan languages and served as a rallying cry for Greeks against Ottoman rule. Another influential Greek writer and intellectual was Adamantios Korais who witnessed the French Revolution. Korais' primary intellectual inspiration
1350-660: The Danubian Principalities , but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. These events urged Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots were first to declare war. In September 1821, the Greeks, under the leadership of Theodoros Kolokotronis , captured Tripolitsa . Revolts in Crete , Macedonia , and Central Greece broke out, but were suppressed. Greek fleets achieved success against
1440-628: 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, at Three Holy Hierarchs Monastery in Iași (Jassy) , the capital of Moldavia , Ypsilantis issued a proclamation calling all Greeks and Christians to rise up against the Ottomans: Fight for Faith and Fatherland! The time has come, O Hellenes. Long ago
1530-795: The Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821 , was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted by the British Empire , Kingdom of France , and the Russian Empire , while the Ottomans were aided by their vassals, especially by the Eyalet of Egypt . The war led to the formation of modern Greece , which would be expanded to its modern size in later years. The revolution
1620-783: The Greek foreign ministry released a statement claiming that three soldiers of the Ukrainian Army "murdered" two diaspora Greeks and injured two others in the village of Granitna in Eastern Ukraine over "a trivial matter". Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , ten diaspora Greeks were killed by Russian airstrikes near the city of Mariupol . In the village of Sartana , outside Mariupol, two diaspora Greeks were killed by Russian airstrikes. The Russian diplomatic mission in Athens published material, according to which during
1710-505: The Greek language by many with Greek ancestry in these areas and who therefore are not classified as Greeks in official censuses. Most Greeks in Ukraine belong to the larger Greek diaspora known as Pontic Greeks . But there are also a small recent group of Greek expats and immigrants to Ukraine. A Greek presence throughout the Black Sea area existed long before the beginnings of Kyivan Rus' . For most of their history in this area,
1800-656: The Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea. Tensions developed among Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. The Ottoman Sultan called in Muhammad Ali of Egypt , who agreed to send his son, Ibrahim Pasha , to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gains. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and brought most of
1890-651: The Porte to try repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, to eliminate them. By the time of the War of Independence, powerful armatoloi could be traced in Rumeli , Thessaly, Epirus and southern Macedonia. To the revolutionary leader and writer Yannis Makriyannis , klephts and armatoloi —being the only available major military force on the side of the Greeks—played such a crucial role in the Greek revolution that he referred to them as
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#17327763710011980-515: The Siege of Mariupol , Greek expatriates from Mariupol claimed that Ukrainian soldiers were trying to prevent them from leaving the besieged city. One Greek expatriate was reported by AFP to have perished in eastern Ukraine, in which Greece had blamed it on Ukrainian soldiers. Following the Mariupol hospital airstrike , Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted on 18 March 2022 that "Greece
2070-419: The hajduks ) that struck at Muslims and Christians alike. Defying Ottoman rule, the klephts were highly admired and held a significant place in popular lore. Responding to the klephts' attacks, the Ottomans recruited the ablest amongst these groups, contracting Christian militias, known as " armatoloi " ( Greek : αρματολοί ), to secure endangered areas, especially mountain passes. The area under their control
2160-436: The last Soviet Union census in 1989. The next Ukrainian census was planned to be held in 2011 but has been repeatedly postponed. The total population recorded in 2001 was 48,457,100 persons, of which the urban population was 32,574,500 (67.2%), rural: 15,882,600 (32.8%), male: 22,441,400 (46.3%), female: 26,015,700 (53.7%). The total permanent population recorded was 48,241,000 persons. There were 454 cities : Nine had
2250-563: The "yeast of liberty". Contrary to conventional Greek history, many of the klephts and armatoles participated at the Greek War of Independence according to their own militaristic patron-client terms. They saw the war as an economic and political opportunity to expand their areas of operation. Balkan bandits such as the klephts and armatoles glorified in nationalist historiography as national heroes—were actually driven by economic interests, were not aware of national projects, made alliances with
2340-768: The 15th century. The Urums and Rumaiic Pontic Greeks lived among the Crimean Tatars until the Russian Empire conquered the Crimea in 1783. Then Catherine the Great decided to relocate the Pontic Greeks from Crimea to the northern shores of the Sea of Azov , in an event known as the Emigration of Christians from Crimea . New territory was assigned for them between today's cities of Mariupol and Donetsk , covering
2430-499: The 1770s, which was crushed by the Ottomans after having limited success. After the suppression of the uprising, Muslim Albanians ravaged many regions of mainland Greece. However, the Maniots continually resisted Ottoman rule and defeated several Ottoman incursions into their region, the most famous of which was the invasion of 1770 . During the Second Russo-Turkish War , the Greek community of Trieste financed
2520-660: The 1946–1949 Greek Civil War and settled in the USSR , Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc states. However, even among these late arrivals, there were many communist Greek refugees who settled in Ukraine following the Greek Civil War who were in fact Pontic Greeks or Caucasus Greeks and therefore often had ancestors who had lived within the southern territories of the Russian Empire before settling in Greece in
2610-600: The 4th century BCE, which lasted as a Roman client state until the 4th century AD. Additionally, the Kingdom of Pontus was founded in the 3rd century BC and controlled territory in Ukraine (including the Bosporan Kingdom) until its acquisition by the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. After the 13th century Cuman and Mongol - Tatar Golden Horde invasion of the steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia to
2700-739: The Donetsk Oblast: Yalta -Yalta, Hurzuf -Urzuf, etc. The Filiki Eteria , a Greek freemasonry -style society which was to play an important role in the Greek war of independence , was founded in Odesa in 1814 before relocating to Constantinople in 1818. During 1937–1938, the Pontic Greeks endured another deportation by the Soviet authorities known as the Greek Operation of the NKVD . The Greeks of present-day Ukraine are mainly
2790-676: The Egyptian army withdrew under pressure from a French expeditionary force . The Ottoman garrisons in the Peloponnese surrendered and the Greek revolutionaries retook central Greece. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia allowing for the Russian army to move into the Balkans. This forced the Ottomans to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople and semi-autonomy for Serbia and the Romanian principalities. After nine years of war, Greece
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2880-531: The French Revolution and saw the democracy that came out of it. He spent a lot of his time convincing wealthy Greeks to build schools and libraries to further the education of Greeks. He believed that a furthering in education would be necessary for the general welfare and prosperity of the people of Greece, as well as the country. Korais' ultimate goal was a democratic Greece much like the Golden Age of Pericles. The Greek cause began to draw support not only from
2970-537: 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
3060-598: The Greek revolt aroused widespread sympathy among the public, although at first it was met with lukewarm and negative reception from the Great Powers. Some historians argue that Ottoman atrocities were given wide coverage in Europe, while Greek atrocities tended to be suppressed or played down. The Ottoman massacres at Chios in 1822 inspired Eugène Delacroix 's famous painting Massacre of Chios ; other philhellenic works by Delacroix were inspired by Byron's poems. Byron,
3150-595: The Greek writers and intellectuals was Rigas Feraios . Deeply influenced by the French Revolution, Rigas was the first to conceive and organize a comprehensive national movement aiming at the liberation of all Balkan nations—including the Turks of the region—and the creation of a "Balkan Republic". Arrested by Austrian officials in Trieste in 1797, he was handed over to Ottoman officials and transported to Belgrade along with his co-conspirators. All of them were strangled to death in June 1798 and their bodies were dumped in
3240-405: The Greeks, leading Gordon to write: "3,000 ruffians assailed the Greek quarter, plundered the houses and slaughtered the people; Smyrna resembled a place taken by assault, neither age or sex being respected". When a local mullah was asked to give a fatwa justifying the murder of Christians by Muslims and refused, he too was promptly killed. The news of the revolution was greeted with dismay by
3330-759: The Italian Carbonari and profiting from their own experience as members of Freemasonic organizations, they founded in 1814 the secret Filiki Eteria ("Friendly Society") in Odessa , an important center of the Greek mercantile diaspora in Russia . With the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in Britain and the United States and with the aid of sympathizers in Western Europe, they planned
3420-613: The Morea, Hursid Pasha , and other local pashas to leave their provinces and campaign against the rebel force. At the same time, the Great Powers , allied in the " Concert of Europe " in opposition to revolutions in the aftermath of Napoleon I of France , were preoccupied with revolts in Italy and Spain . It was in this context that the Greeks judged the time ripe for their own revolt. The plan originally involved uprisings in three places,
3510-751: The Ottoman era. Throughout the 17th century, there was great resistance to the Ottomans in the Morea and elsewhere, as evidenced by revolts led by Dionysius the Philosopher . After the Morean War , the Peloponnese came under Venetian rule for 30 years, and remained in turmoil from then on and throughout the 17th century, as bands of klephts multiplied. The first great uprising was the Russian-sponsored Orlov Revolt of
3600-538: The Ottoman invasions, such as Demetrios Chalkokondyles and Leonardos Philaras , began to call for the liberation of their homeland. Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and "all of the Latins" to aid the Greeks against "the abominable, monstrous, and impious barbarian Turks". However, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The Greek Revolution was not an isolated event; numerous failed attempts at regaining independence took place throughout
3690-399: The Ottomans and robbed Christians as much as Muslims. Nevertheless, they seldom robbed common folk, from whose ranks they came, and more often raided Turks, with whom they were separated by religion, nationality, and social class. They enjoyed the support of the generally oppressed common folk, as they were in opposition to established authority. A vast oral tradition of folk poetry attests to
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3780-559: The Ottomans to stop executing Orthodox priests, which the Porte did not see fit to answer. In the summer of 1821, various young men from all over Europe began to gather in the French port of Marseilles to book a passage to Greece and join the revolution. The French philhellene Jean-François-Maxime Raybaud wrote when he heard of the revolution in March 1821, "I learnt with a thrill that Greece
3870-484: The Ottomans. In 1814, a secret organization called the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. It planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese , the Danubian Principalities , and Constantinople . The insurrection was planned for 25 March 1821, the Orthodox Christian Feast of the Annunciation . However, the plans were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, forcing it to start earlier. The first revolt began on 21 February 1821 in
3960-426: The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, Gregory V , was publicly hanged although he had condemned the revolution and preached obedience to the Sultan in his sermons. Since the revolution began in March, the Sublime Porte had executed at random various prominent Greeks living in Constantinople, such as the serving Dragoman of the Porte and two retired dragomans, a number of wealthy bankers and merchants, including
4050-474: The Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities and Constantinople. The mountains look on Marathon – And Marathon looks on the sea; And musing there an hour alone, I dream'd that Greece might yet be free For, standing on the Persians' grave, I could not deem myself a slave. ... Must we but weep o'er days more blest? Must we but blush? – Our fathers bled. Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead! Of
4140-453: The Revolution was declared on 25 March 1821 ( N.S. 6 April) by Metropolitan Germanos of Patras, who raised the banner with the cross in the Monastery of Agia Lavra (near Kalavryta , Achaea ) although some historians question the historicity of the event. Some claim that the story first appears in 1824 in a book written by a French diplomat François Pouqueville, whose book is full of inventions. Historian David Brewer noted that Pouqueville
4230-483: The Russian fleet in the war of 1788–1792. The Greek revolts of the 18th century were unsuccessful but far larger than the revolts of previous centuries, and they laid the foundation for a national revolution. Revolutionary nationalism grew across Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries (including in the Balkans), due to the influence of the French Revolution . As the power of the Ottoman Empire declined, Greek nationalism began to assert itself. The most influential of
4320-479: 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 alliance with the Eteria. A conflict erupted inside the camp and Vladimirescu 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
4410-461: The Turks called it. They would go out in parties of fifty to a hundred, mounted on fleet horses, and scour the open country in search of Greek peasantry, who might from necessity or hardihood have ventured down upon the plains. After capturing some, they would give the poor creatures a certain distance to start ahead, hoping to escape, and then try the speed of their horses in overtaking them, the accuracy of their pistols in firing at them as they ran, or
4500-401: 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
4590-409: The Ukrainian shores of the Black Sea as early as the 6th century BCE . These colonies traded with various ancient nations around the Black Sea, including Scythians , Maeotae , Cimmerians , Goths and predecessors of the Slavs . These earlier Greek communities had, however, assimilated into the wider, indigenous population of the region. The Greek colonies coalesced into the Bosporan Kingdom in
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#17327763710014680-457: The absence of the Ottoman governor of the Morea ( Mora valesi ) 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
4770-433: 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 cities 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
4860-460: 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 Acrocorinth on 14 January 1822. 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. When
4950-442: The casting out of the Turks as the prelude to the revival of the Golden Age. Alexander Ypsilantis was elected as the head of the Filiki Eteria in April 1820 and took upon himself the task of planning the insurrection. His 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
5040-445: 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 3 April by Yussuf Pasha), Rio , Acrocorinth , Monemvasia , Nafplion and the provincial capital, Tripolitsa , where many Muslims had fled with their families at
5130-412: 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 oral tradition,
5220-414: The conservative leaders of Europe, committed to upholding the system established at the Congress of Vienna , but was greeted with enthusiasm by many ordinary people across Europe. After the execution of the Patriarch Gregory V, the Russian Emperor Alexander I broke off diplomatic relations with the Sublime Porte after his foreign minister Count Ioannis Kapodistrias sent an ultimatum demanding promises from
5310-541: The descendants of various waves of especially Pontic Greek refugees and "economic migrants" who left the region of Pontus and the Pontic Alps in northeastern Anatolia between the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, although some had settled in Ukraine in the late-19th or early-20th centuries. Other Greeks arrived in Ukraine even later, particularly, as Greek Communist refugees from mainly Greek Macedonia and other parts of Northern Greece , who had fled their homes following
5400-435: The early 18th century and onwards, members of prominent Greek families in Constantinople, known as Phanariotes (after the Phanar district of the city), gained considerable control over Ottoman foreign policy and eventually over the bureaucracy as a whole. In times of militarily weak central authority, the Balkan countryside became infested by groups of bandits called " klephts " ( Greek : κλέφτες ) (the Greek equivalent of
5490-404: The early 20th century. By the 2001 census 91,500 Greeks remained, the vast majority of whom (77,000) still lived in the Donetsk Oblast. Higher estimates such as 160,000 were reported previously, the fall being explained by assimilation forced by the Soviet government. Other small populations of Greeks are in Odesa and other major cities. In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine ,
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#17327763710015580-500: The end of Byzantine sovereignty. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia (Asia Minor) , with some exceptions. Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called Rayah by the Turks, a name that referred to the large mass of non-Muslim subjects under the Ottoman ruling class . Meanwhile, Greek intellectuals and humanists, who had migrated west before or during
5670-421: The higher clergy of the Orthodox Church was mostly of Greek origin. Thus, as a result of the Ottoman millet system , the predominantly Greek hierarchy of the Patriarchate enjoyed control over the Empire's Orthodox subjects (the Rum milleti ). The Greek Orthodox Church played a pivotal role in the preservation of national identity, the development of Greek society and the resurgence of Greek nationalism. From
5760-411: The history of the Greeks in Russia and in Ukraine forms a single narrative, of which a division according to present-day boundaries would be an artificial anachronism. Most present-day Greeks in Ukraine are the descendants of Pontic Greeks from the Pontus region between the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829. Greeks established colonies on what are now
5850-421: The keenness of their sabres' edge in cutting off their heads". Those not cut down or shot down during the "Greek hunts" were impaled afterwards when captured. The 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
5940-455: The large Greek merchant diaspora in both Western Europe and Russia , but also from Western European Philhellenes . This Greek movement for independence was not only the first movement of national character in Eastern Europe, but also the first one in a non-Christian environment, like the Ottoman Empire. Feraios' martyrdom was to inspire three young Greek merchants: Nikolaos Skoufas , Emmanuil Xanthos , and Athanasios Tsakalov . Influenced by
6030-427: The meanwhile, Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople and the Synod had anathematized and excommunicated both Ypsilantis and Soutzos issuing many encyclicals, an explicit denunciation of the Revolution in line with the Orthodox Church's policy. 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
6120-403: The most celebrated philhellene of all, lent his name, prestige and wealth to the cause. Byron organized funds and supplies (including the provision of several ships), but died from fever at Missolonghi in 1824. Byron's death strengthened European sympathy for the Greek cause. His poetry, along with Delacroix's art, helped arouse European public opinion in favor of the Greek revolutionaries to
6210-407: The north, Greeks had remained only in the towns on the southern slopes of the Crimean Mountains and became divided into two sub-groups: Tatar -speaking Urums and Rumaiic Pontic Greeks with Rumeíka Greek as their mother tongue. The Crimean Principality of Theodoro gained independence from the Empire of Trebizond in the early 14th century and lasted until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in
6300-410: The peninsula under Egyptian control by the end of that year. Despite a failed invasion of Mani , Athens also fell and revolutionary morale decreased. The three great powers —Russia, Britain, and France—decided to intervene, sending their naval squadrons to Greece in 1827. They destroyed the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino , and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. In 1828,
6390-533: 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
6480-476: The point of no return, and led Western powers to intervene directly. Philhellenism made a notable contribution to romanticism , enabling the younger generation of artistic and literary intellectuals to expand the classical repertoire by treating modern Greek history as an extension of ancient history; the idea of a regeneration of the spirit of ancient Greece permeated the rhetoric of the Greek cause's supporters. Classicists and romantics of that period envisioned
6570-644: The rebellion. The society's basic objective was a revival of the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as the capital, not the formation of a national state. In early 1820, Ioannis Kapodistrias , an official from the Ionian Islands who had become the joint foreign minister of Tsar Alexander I , was approached by the Society in order to be named leader but declined the offer; the Filikoi (members of Filiki Eteria) then turned to Alexander Ypsilantis ,
6660-409: 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
6750-621: The revolution began, most of the Christian population of Athens fled to Salamis. Missolonghi revolted on 25 May, and the revolution soon spread to other cities of western Central Greece. The Ottoman commander in the Roumeli was the Albanian general Omer Vrioni who become infamous for his "Greek hunts" in Attica, which was described thus: "One of his favourite amusements was a 'Greek hunt' as
6840-628: The siege of the Acropolis. After a Greek force of 2,000 men managed to destroy at Vassilika a Turkish relief army on its way to Vrioni, the latter abandoned Attica in September and retreated to Ioannina . By the end of 1821, the revolutionaries had managed to temporarily secure their positions in Central Greece. The news that the Greeks had revolted sparked murderous fury all over the Ottoman Empire. In Constantinople, on Easter Sunday,
6930-462: The southern portion of the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine. Ukrainians and Germans, and afterwards Russians, were settled among the Greeks. The Ukrainians mostly settled villages and some towns in this area, unlike the Greeks, who rebuilt their towns, even giving them their original Crimean names. Since this time in Ukraine the names of settlements in the Crimea match names of places in the south of
7020-448: The sympathy they evoked and their reputation for patriotism. Some famous armatoles leaders were Odysseas Androutsos , Georgios Karaiskakis , Athanasios Diakos , Markos Botsaris and Giannis Stathas . Due to economic developments within and outside the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century, Greek merchants and sailors became affluent and generated the wealth necessary to found schools and libraries, and to pay for young Greeks to study at
7110-531: The three hundred grant but three, To make a new Thermopylae. Because of the Greek origin of so much of the West's classical heritage , there was tremendous sympathy for the Greek cause throughout Europe. Some wealthy Americans and Western European aristocrats, such as the renowned poet Lord Byron and later the American physician Samuel Howe , took up arms to join the Greek revolutionaries. In Britain there
7200-524: The universities of Western Europe. There they came into contact with the radical ideas of the European Enlightenment , the French Revolution and romantic nationalism. Educated and influential members of the large Greek diaspora, such as Adamantios Korais and Anthimos Gazis , tried to transmit these ideas back to the Greeks, with the double aim of raising their educational level and simultaneously strengthening their national identity. This
7290-542: Was accurate, without making any reference to the purported Anglophobia or Francophilia of Germanos. Also, some European newspapers of June and July 1821 published the news of declaration of revolution by Germanos either in Patras on 6 April/25 March 1821 or in the "Monastery of Velia Mountain" (Agia Lavra) on a non-specified date. On 17 March 1821, war was declared on the Turks by the Maniots in Areopoli . The same day,
7380-546: Was achieved through the dissemination of books, pamphlets and other writings in Greek, in a process that has been described as the modern Greek Enlightenment (Greek: Διαφωτισμός ). Crucial for the development of the Greek national idea were the Russo-Turkish Wars of the 18th century. Peter the Great had envisaged a disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the re-institution of a new Byzantine Empire with an Orthodox emperor. His Pruth River Campaign of 1711 set
7470-565: Was an Anglophobe , and in his account of the speech by Germanos in his book, Pouqueville has the Metropolitan express Anglophobic sentiments similar to those commonly expressed in France, and has him praise France as Greece's one true friend in the world, which led Brewer to conclude that Pouqueville had made the entire story up. However, a study on the archive of Hugues Pouqueville (François Pouqueville's brother) claims that François' account
7560-485: Was called an "armatolik", the oldest known being established in Agrafa during the reign of Murad II (r. 1421–1451). The distinction between klephts and armatoloi was not clear, as the latter would often turn into klephts to extort more benefits from the authorities, while, conversely, another klepht group would be appointed to the armatolik to confront their predecessors. Nevertheless, klephts and armatoloi formed
7650-695: Was captured in Alamana and executed by the Turks when he refused 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 on 10 June, and Athens, where he lifted
7740-588: Was from the Enlightenment, and he borrowed ideas from Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. When Korais was a young adult he moved to Paris to continue his studies. He eventually graduated from the Montpellier School of Medicine and spent the remainder of his life in Paris. He would often have political and philosophical debates with Thomas Jefferson. While in Paris he was a witness to
7830-580: 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. The outbreak of the war was met by mass executions, pogrom-style attacks, the destruction of churches, and looting of Greek properties throughout the Empire. The most severe atrocities occurred in Constantinople, in what became known as
7920-625: Was recognized as an independent state under the London Protocol of February 1830. Further negotiations in 1832 led to the London Conference and the Treaty of Constantinople , which defined the final borders of the new state and established Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of Greece . The Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and the subsequent fall of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire marked
8010-529: Was shaking off her chains" and in July 1821 boarded a ship going to Greece. Between the summer of 1821 and end of 1822, when the French started to inspect ships leaving Marseilles for philhellenes, some 360 volunteers travelled to Greece. From the United States came the doctor Samuel Gridley Howe and the soldier George Jarvis to fight with the Greeks. The largest contingents came from the German states, France and
8100-737: Was strong support led by the Philosophical Radicals, the Whigs, and the Evangelicals. Many helped to finance the revolution. The London Philhellenic Committee helped insurgent Greece to float two loans in 1824 (£800,000) and 1825 (£2,000,000). The Scottish philhellene Thomas Gordon took part in the revolutionary struggle and later documented some of the first histories of the Greek Revolution in English. In Europe,
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