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Rūm millet ( Ottoman Turkish : millet-i Rûm , lit.   'Roman nation') was the name of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the Ottoman Empire . Despite being subordinated within the Ottoman political system, the community maintained a certain internal autonomy.

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172-587: After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, all Orthodox Christians were treated as a lower class of people . The Rum millet was instituted by Sultan Mehmet II who set himself to reorganise the state as the conscious heir of the East Roman Empire , adding Caesar of Rome to his list of official titles. The Orthodox congregation was included in a specific ethno-religious community under Graeco-Byzantine domination. Its name

344-625: 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,

516-580: 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

688-472: A court of appeal. Only Greeks of Constantinople were given suffridge to be elected and to vote for the laymen. This election was in two degrees: voters first voted for electors which formed an electoral college, when then chose the lay counselors. No provincial assemblies were established; bishops could govern without needing to consult the Greek Orthodox public. The 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War dealt

860-764: A decisive blow to Ottoman power in the Balkan Peninsula. The Albanians' fear that the lands they inhabited would be partitioned among neighbouring Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece fueled the rise of Albanian nationalism and the League of Prizren was founded. Intense ethnic and national rivalries among the Balkan peoples emerged at the eve of the 20th century in Macedonia, known as the Macedonian Struggle . The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restored

1032-624: A few small-calibre artillery pieces, which in the end proved ineffective. The rest of the citizens repaired walls, stood guard on observation posts, collected and distributed food provisions, and collected gold and silver objects from churches to melt down into coins to pay the foreign soldiers. The Ottomans had a much larger force. Recent studies and Ottoman archival data state that there were some 50,000–80,000 Ottoman soldiers, including between 5,000 and 10,000 Janissaries , 70 cannons , and an elite infantry corps, and thousands of Christian troops, notably 1,500 Serbian cavalry that Đurađ Branković

1204-518: A fleet in February 1453, but the fleet's departure was delayed until April, when it was already too late for ships to assist in battle. Further undermining Byzantine morale, seven Italian ships with around 700 men, despite having sworn to defend Constantinople, slipped out of the capital the moment Giustiniani arrived. At the same time, Constantine's attempts to appease the Sultan with gifts ended with

1376-692: A fleet strength of 110 ships comprising 70 large galleys , 5 ordinary galleys, 10 smaller galleys, 25 large rowing boats, and 75 horse-transports. Before the siege of Constantinople, it was known that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons , but the range of some pieces they were able to field far surpassed the defenders' expectations. The Ottomans deployed a number of cannons, anywhere from 12 to 62 cannons. They were built at foundries that employed Turkish cannon founders and technicians, most notably Saruca, in addition to at least one foreign cannon founder, Orban (also called Urban). Most of

1548-570: 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

1720-565: A future state included all Balkan Orthodox Christians. This Megali Idea intended to revive the Eastern Roman Empire through a large Greek state. This ideology spread among the urban population of Aromanian, Slavic and Albanian origin and which started to view themselves increasingly as Greek. On the other hand, the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms in the middle of the 19th century were aimed to encourage Ottomanism among

1892-545: A huge impact upon the Constantinople's defense capabilities. At the end of March 1453, emperor Constantine XI ordered a census of districts to record how many able-bodied men were in the city and whatever weapons each possessed for defense. George Sphrantzes, the faithful chancellor of the last emperor, recorded that "in spite of the great size of our city, our defenders amounted to 4,773 Greeks, as well as just 200 foreigners". In addition there were volunteers from outside,

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2064-528: 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

2236-586: 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

2408-520: 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

2580-436: A section of the damaged Blachernae walls in the north-west part of the city. This section of the walls had been built earlier, in the 11th century, and was much weaker. The Turkmen mercenaries managed to breach this section of walls and entered the city but they were just as quickly pushed back by the defenders. Finally, the last wave consisting of elite Janissaries , attacked the city walls. The Genoese general in charge of

2752-562: 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

2924-432: A sort as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Still, the eyewitness of those who have seen testifies better than does the hearing of deeds that happened but yesterday or the day before. Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI swiftly understood Mehmed's true intentions and turned to Western Europe for help; but now the price of centuries of war and enmity between the eastern and western churches had to be paid. Since

3096-535: A still-vibrant hub of Orthodoxy. Greek success in the Ottoman Empire can be traced to the Greek tradition of education and commerce exemplified in the Phanariotes . The wealth of the extensive merchant class provided the material basis for the intellectual revival that was the prominent feature of Greek life in the decades leading to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Not coincidentally, on

3268-547: 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

3440-514: Is famously reported to have been moved to tears by this, saying, "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction." Looting was carried out on a massive scale by sailors and marines who entered the city via other walls before they had been suppressed by regular troops, who were beyond the main gate. According to David Nicolle , the ordinary people were treated better by their Ottoman conquerors than their ancestors had been by Crusaders back in 1204, stating that only about 4,000 Greeks died in

3612-426: 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

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3784-514: The Encyclopædia Britannica , Mehmed II "permitted an initial period of looting that saw the destruction of many Orthodox churches", but tried to prevent a complete sack of the city. The looting was extremely thorough in certain parts of the city. On 2 June, the Sultan found the city largely deserted and half in ruins; churches had been desecrated and stripped, houses were no longer habitable, and stores and shops were emptied. He

3956-544: The 1856 Imperial Reform Edict , which was fiercely resisted by the gerontes . Eventually the Porte had to send the gerontes to their dioceses, and a constitutional committee produced a series of laws between 1860 and 1862 to govern the Greek millet. Taken together, unlike the Armenian National Constitution , the basic laws for the Greeks did not produce a national assembly, and clerical control of

4128-716: The Aegean , reached the Capital on 27 May and reported to the Emperor that no large Venetian relief fleet was on its way. On 28 May, as the Ottoman army prepared for the final assault, mass religious processions were held in the city. In the evening, a solemn last ceremony of Vespers was held in the Hagia Sophia , in which the Emperor with representatives and nobility of both the Latin and Greek churches partook. Up until this point,

4300-475: The Blachernae district's wall was the most fortified because that section of the wall protruded northwards. The land fortifications consisted of a 60 ft (18 m) wide moat fronting inner and outer crenellated walls studded with towers every 45–55 metres. The army defending Constantinople was relatively small, totalling about 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreigners. The population decline also had

4472-896: The Bosphorus and defended against attack by the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea coast to the north. In fact, the new fortress was called Boğazkesen , which means "strait-blocker" or "throat-cutter". The wordplay emphasizes its strategic position: in Turkish boğaz means both "strait" and "throat". In October 1452, Mehmed ordered Turakhan Beg to station a large garrison force in the Peloponnese to block Thomas and Demetrios ( despotes in Southern Greece ) from providing aid to their brother Constantine XI Palaiologos during

4644-674: The Byzantine army was led by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos . After conquering the city, Mehmed II made Constantinople the new Ottoman capital, replacing Adrianople . The fall of Constantinople and of the Byzantine Empire was a watershed of the Late Middle Ages , marking the effective end of the Roman Empire , a state which began in roughly 27 BC and had lasted nearly 1500 years. For many modern historians,

4816-493: 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

4988-539: The Council of Florence of 1439 proclaiming a Bull of Union . The imperial efforts to impose union were met with strong resistance in Constantinople. A propaganda initiative was stimulated by anti-unionist Orthodox partisans in Constantinople; the population, as well as the laity and leadership of the Byzantine Church, became bitterly divided. Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from

5160-537: 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

5332-660: 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

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5504-628: 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

5676-732: 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

5848-625: The Harbour of Eleutherios . Genoese and Catalan troops were stationed at the Great Palace ; Cardinal Isidore of Kiev guarded the tip of the peninsula near the boom. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano . Two tactical reserves were kept behind in the city: one in the Petra district just behind

6020-618: The Lycus down to the Sea of Marmara . Mehmed himself erected his red-and-gold tent near the Mesoteichion , where the guns and the elite Janissary regiments were positioned. The Bashi-bazouks were spread out behind the front lines. Other troops under Zagan Pasha were employed north of the Golden Horn. Communication was maintained by a road that had been destroyed over the marshy head of

6192-600: 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

6364-842: The Parliament , which had been suspended by the Sultan in 1878. However, the process of supplanting the monarchic institutions was unsuccessful and the European periphery of the Empire continued to splinter under the pressures of local revolts. Subsequently, with the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) and the First World War (1914–1918) the Ottoman Empire lost most of its possessions, except for those in Asia Minor . During these wars and

6536-772: The Pegae Gate with Greek soldiers. The section of the land walls from the Pegae Gate to the Golden Gate (itself guarded by a Genoese called Manuel) was defended by the Venetian Filippo Contarini, while Demetrius Cantacuzenus had taken position on the southernmost part of the Theodosian wall. The sea walls were guarded more sparsely, with Jacobo Contarini at Stoudion , a makeshift defence force of Greek monks to his left hand, and Prince Orhan at

6708-651: 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

6880-539: The conquest of Constantinople , was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire . The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which had begun on 6 April. The attacking Ottoman Army , which significantly outnumbered Constantinople's defenders, was commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II (later nicknamed "the Conqueror"), while

7052-419: 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

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7224-742: The mutual excommunications of 1054, the Pope in Rome was committed to establishing unity with the eastern church . The union was agreed by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon , and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors had since been received into the Latin Church . Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV , with

7396-402: The "Genoese, Venetians and those who came secretly from Galata to help the defense", who numbered "hardly as many as three thousand", amounting to something under 8,000 men in total to defend a perimeter wall of twelve miles. At the onset of the siege, probably fewer than 50,000 people were living within the walls, including the refugees from the surrounding area. Turkish commander Dorgano, who

7568-506: 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

7740-423: 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

7912-400: The Bosphorus and a smaller castle at the village of Studius near the Sea of Marmara were taken within a few days. The Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara were likely taken by Admiral Baltoghlu 's fleet during this phase of the siege. Mehmed's massive cannons fired on the walls for weeks but due to their imprecision and extremely slow rate of fire, the Byzantines were able to repair most of

8084-509: The Byzantines, but they were unable to secure the funds needed to hire him. Orban then left Constantinople and approached Mehmed II, claiming that his weapon could blast "the walls of Babylon itself". Given abundant funds and materials, the Hungarian engineer built the gun within three months at Edirne . However, this was the only cannon that Orban built for the Ottoman forces at Constantinople, and it had several drawbacks: it took three hours to reload; cannonballs were in very short supply; and

8256-457: 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

8428-467: The European envoys at his new court. But Mehmed's mild words were not matched by his actions. By early 1452, work began on the construction of a second fortress ( Rumeli hisarı ) on the European side of the Bosphorus , several miles north of Constantinople. The new fortress sat directly across the strait from the Anadolu Hisarı fortress, built by Mehmed's great-grandfather Bayezid I . This pair of fortresses ensured complete control of sea traffic on

8600-472: 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

8772-518: The Great Logothete George Sphrantzes : 200,000; the Cardinal Isidore of Kiev and the Archbishop of Mytilene Leonardo di Chio: 300,000). Mehmed built a fleet (crewed partially by Spanish sailors from Gallipoli ) to besiege the city from the sea. Contemporary estimates of the strength of the Ottoman fleet span from 110 ships to 430 (Tedaldi: 110; Barbaro: 145; Ubertino Pusculo: 160, Isidore of Kiev and Leonardo di Chio: 200–250; (Sphrantzes): 430). A more realistic modern estimate predicts

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8944-422: 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

9116-484: 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,

9288-541: 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

9460-405: 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

9632-535: The Horn. The Ottomans were experts in laying siege to cities. They knew that in order to prevent diseases they had to burn corpses, sanitarily dispose of excrement, and carefully scrutinize their sources of water. The city had about 20 km of walls ( land walls : 5.5 km; sea walls along the Golden Horn: 7 km; sea walls along the Sea of Marmara: 7.5 km), one of the strongest sets of fortified walls in existence. The walls had recently been repaired (under John VIII ) and were in fairly good shape, giving

9804-405: 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

9976-401: The Latin spelling of his name, "John Justinian", named after the famous 6th century Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great . Around the same time, the captains of the Venetian ships that happened to be present in the Golden Horn offered their services to the Emperor, barring contrary orders from Venice , and Pope Nicholas undertook to send three ships laden with provisions, which set sail near

10148-449: 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,

10320-438: 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

10492-527: The Ottoman invaders captured children and took them away to their tents, and became rich by plundering the imperial palace and the houses of Constantinople. The Ottoman official Tursun Beg wrote: 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

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10664-485: 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

10836-420: The Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday. The army converged upon the Augusteum , the vast square that fronted the great church of Hagia Sophia whose bronze gates were barred by a huge throng of civilians inside the building, hoping for divine protection. After the doors were breached, the troops separated the congregation according to what price they might bring in

11008-407: The Ottoman siege. Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman emperor Constantine the Great . In the following eleven centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once before: the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while

11180-399: 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

11352-405: The Ottomans from entering the city and the defenders were overwhelmed at several points along the wall. Janissaries, led by Ulubatlı Hasan , pressed forward. Many Greek soldiers ran back home to protect their families, the Venetians retreated to their ships and a few of the Genoese escaped to Galata. The rest surrendered or committed suicide by jumping off the city walls. The Greek houses nearest to

11524-439: The Ottomans had fired 5,000 shots from their cannons using 55,000 pounds of gunpowder. Criers roamed the camp to the sound of the blasting horns, rousing the Ghazis. Shortly after midnight on Tuesday 29 May, the offensive began. The Christian troops of the Ottoman Empire attacked first, followed by successive waves of the irregular azaps , who were poorly trained and equipped and Anatolian Turkmen beylik forces who focused on

11696-402: 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

11868-484: 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

12040-426: 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

12212-474: 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

12384-571: The Pope, promising to implement the union, which was declared valid by a half-hearted imperial court on 12 December 1452. Although he was eager for an advantage, Pope Nicholas V did not have the influence the Byzantines thought he had over the Western kings and princes, some of whom were wary of increasing papal control. Furthermore, these Western rulers did not have the wherewithal to contribute to

12556-568: 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

12728-605: 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

12900-583: The Tanzimat era, a similar program was carried out within the Ottoman millets. Unlike the Armenian millets, the reform in the Greek millet was slower. Most Ottoman Greek intelligentsia were more interested in the Megali Idea than millet reform. Conservatism was also a powerful movement lest reform precipitate Bulgarian demands for their own autocephalous church. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

13072-686: The Theodosian Walls, the intricate series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from an attack from the West and the only part of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city on 2 April 1453, the Monday after Easter . The bulk of the Ottoman army was encamped south of the Golden Horn. The regular European troops, stretched out along the entire length of the walls, were commanded by Karadja Pasha. The regular troops from Anatolia under Ishak Pasha were stationed south of

13244-583: 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

13416-461: 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

13588-583: 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

13760-508: 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

13932-433: 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

14104-523: 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

14276-432: The bishops themselves had their own council. At the bottom of the hierarchy sat the village, which every St. George's Day would elect the village elders and kocabaşıs , or local ethnarchs. Kocabaşı s would administer the finances of institutions, collect taxes, carry out minor cases of justice, and in the 19th century, collect the bedl-i askeri . The Patriarch was traditionally elected by an assembly including members of

14448-433: The bishops. The ultimate decision on the election was made by the clerical members, and the Porte reserved the right to strike candidates they deemed inappropriate. The Patriarch administered his flock with a 12 bishop synod and a 4 bishop 8 layman mixed council, which could be combined so that some questions could give ecclesiastics large majorities. The mixed council supervised finances, schools, hospitals, and functioned as

14620-487: The cannon is said to have collapsed under its own recoil after six weeks. The account of the cannon's collapse is disputed, given that it was only reported in the letter of Archbishop Leonardo di Chio and in the later, and often unreliable, Russian chronicle of Nestor Iskander . Having previously established a large foundry about 150 miles (240 km) away, Mehmed now had to undertake the painstaking process of transporting his massive artillery pieces. In preparation for

14792-462: The cannons at the siege were built by Turkish engineers, including a large bombard by Saruca, while one cannon was built by Orban, who also contributed a large bombard. Orban, a Hungarian (though some suggest he was German ), was a somewhat mysterious figure. His 27-foot-long (8.2 m) cannon was named " Basilica " and was able to hurl a 600-pound (270 kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6 km). Orban initially tried to sell his services to

14964-730: 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

15136-479: The city on their own account. Cardinal Isidore , funded by the Pope, arrived in 1452 with 200 archers. An accomplished soldier from Genoa , Giovanni Giustiniani , arrived in January 1453 with 400 men from Genoa and 300 men from Genoese Chios . As a specialist in defending walled cities, Giustiniani was immediately given the overall command of the defence of the land walls by the Emperor. The Byzantines knew him by

15308-445: 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

15480-488: 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,

15652-421: The common people than their ethnic origins. This community became a basic form of social organization and source of identity for all the ethnic groups inside it and most people began to identify themselves simply as "Christians". However, under Ottoman rule ethnonyms never disappeared, which indicates that some form of ethnic identification was preserved. This is evident from a Sultan's Firman from 1680 which lists

15824-679: 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

15996-419: The cost of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. For some of the oldest of you were sharers in many of the exploits carried through by them—those at least of you who are of maturer years—and the younger of you have heard of these deeds from your fathers. They are not such very ancient events nor of such

16168-442: The damage after each shot, mitigating the effect of the Ottoman artillery. Despite some probing attacks, the Ottoman fleet under Baltoghlu could not enter the Golden Horn due to the chain across the entrance. Although one of the fleet's main tasks was to prevent any foreign ships from entering the Golden Horn, on 20 April, a small flotilla of four Christian ships managed to get in after some heavy fighting, an event which strengthened

16340-474: The dead ones ... without caring how near they came to the city walls. Our men shot at them with guns and crossbows, aiming at the Turk who was carrying away his dead countryman, and both of them would fall to the ground dead, and then there came other Turks and took them away, none fearing death, but being willing to let ten of themselves be killed rather than suffer the shame of leaving a single Turkish corpse by

16512-481: The defenders on land, Giovanni Giustiniani , was grievously wounded during the attack, and his evacuation from the ramparts caused a panic in the ranks of the defenders. With Giustiniani's Genoese troops retreating into the city and towards the harbour, Constantine and his men, now left to their own devices, continued to hold their ground against the Janissaries. Constantine's men eventually could not prevent

16684-485: The defenders sufficient reason to believe that they could hold out until help from the West arrived. In addition, the defenders were relatively well-equipped with a fleet of 26 ships: 5 from Genoa , 5 from Venice , 3 from Venetian Crete , 1 from Ancona , 1 from Aragon , 1 from France, and about 10 from the empire itself. On 5 April, the Sultan himself arrived with his last troops, and the defenders took up their positions. As Byzantine numbers were insufficient to occupy

16856-487: 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

17028-723: The effort, especially in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years' War , Spain's involvement in the Reconquista , the internecine fighting in the Holy Roman Empire , and Hungary and Poland's defeat at the Battle of Varna of 1444. Although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city-states in northern Italy, the Western contribution was not adequate to counterbalance Ottoman strength. Some Western individuals, however, came to help defend

17200-554: 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

17372-618: The end of March. From the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily arrived in Constantinople the condottiero Gabriele Orsini del Balzo , duke of Venosa and count of Ugento , together with 200 Neapolitan archers, who died fighting for the defense of the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, in Venice, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of assistance the Republic would lend to Constantinople. The Senate decided upon sending

17544-511: The establishment of its own schools, churches, hospitals and other facilities. These activities effectively moved the Christian population outside the framework of the Ottoman political system. During Ottoman rule, those in the millet were provided with certain protections and privileges, and were treated with preference over Catholic Christians. In some areas such as Crete, both Muslims and Orthodox Christians were permitted to attempt to convert

17716-741: The ethnic groups in the Balkan lands of the Empire as follows: Greeks (Rum), Albanians (Arnaut), Serbs (Sirf), "Vlachs" (Eflak, referring to Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Romanians) and the Bulgarians (Bulgar). Christian Armenians who belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church were not included as they were given a separate millet. Christians were guaranteed some limited freedoms, but they were not considered equal to Muslims , and their religious practices would have to defer to those of Muslims, in addition to various other legal limitations. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

17888-634: The eve of 1821, the three most important centres of Greek learning were situated in Chios , Smyrna and Aivali , all three major centres of Greek commerce. Greek success was also favoured by Greek domination in the leadership of the Eastern Orthodox church. In the early 19th century, the Greek Orthodox intellectuals tried to reconceptualize the Rum millet. They argued for a new ethnic "Romaic" national identity and new Byzantine state, but their visions of

18060-627: The events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 by the Greeks and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, played a significant role. Ultimately, the attempted union between east and west failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. In the summer of 1452, when Rumeli Hisarı was completed and the threat of the Ottomans had become imminent, Constantine wrote to

18232-403: The execution of the Emperor's ambassadors. Fearing a possible naval attack along the shores of the Golden Horn , Emperor Constantine XI ordered that a defensive chain be placed at the mouth of the harbour. This chain, which floated on logs, was strong enough to prevent any Turkish ship from entering the harbour. This device was one of two that gave the Byzantines some hope of extending

18404-423: The fall of Constantinople marks the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period . The city's fall also stood as a turning point in military history . Since ancient times, cities and castles had depended upon ramparts and walls to repel invaders. The Walls of Constantinople , especially the Theodosian Walls, protected Constantinople from attack for 800 years and were noted as some of

18576-610: The fall of Constantinople stated the Ottoman invaders pillaged the city, murdered or enslaved tens of thousands of people, and raped nuns, women and children: All the valuables and other booty were taken to their camp, and as many as sixty thousand Christians who had been captured. The crosses which had been placed on the roofs or the walls of churches were torn down and trampled. Women were raped, virgins deflowered and youths forced to take part in shameful obscenities. The nuns left behind, even those who were obviously such, were disgraced with foul debaucheries. During three days of pillaging,

18748-517: The fifth-century Theodosian Walls . By 1450, the empire was exhausted and had shrunk to a few square kilometers outside the city of Constantinople itself, the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara and the Peloponnese with its cultural center at Mystras . The Empire of Trebizond , an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade , was also present at

18920-456: The final assault began in the evening of 26 May and continued to the next day. For 36 hours after the war council decided to attack, the Ottomans extensively mobilized their manpower for the general offensive. Prayer and resting was then granted to the soldiers on 28 May before the final assault would be launched. On the Byzantine side, a small Venetian fleet of 12 ships, after having searched

19092-433: The final assault, Mehmed had an artillery train of 70 large pieces dragged from his headquarters at Edirne, in addition to the bombards cast on the spot. This train included Orban's enormous cannon, which was said to have been dragged from Edirne by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men. There was another large bombard, independently built by Turkish engineer Saruca, that was also used in the battle. Mehmed planned to attack

19264-706: The following Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) , the Orthodox Christians there were subject to persecution and deportation, with the Assyrians and Greeks subject to a Genocide . This put an end to the community of the Rum millet. The Treaty of Lausanne from 1923, led to the recognition of the new Republic of Turkey and to the end of the Ottoman Empire . Fall of Constantinople 40,000–50,000 in total (Turkish sources) 60,000–80,000 in total (Modern sources) Naval forces: Naval forces: 26 ships The fall of Constantinople , also known as

19436-450: The hands of the Turks as Ottoman possessions. The Emperor was not willing to leave the city without a fight: As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives. Around this time, Mehmed had a final council with his senior officers. Here he encountered some resistance; one of his Viziers,

19608-530: 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

19780-491: The hill, directly into the Golden Horn on 22 April, bypassing the chain barrier. This action seriously threatened the flow of supplies from Genoese ships from the nominally neutral colony of Pera and it demoralized the Byzantine defenders. On the night of 28 April, an attempt was made to destroy the Ottoman ships already in the Golden Horn using fire ships but the Ottomans forced the Christians to retreat with many casualties. Forty Italians escaped their sinking ships and swam to

19952-481: The idea that Constantinople was inevitably doomed is incorrect and the situation was not as one-sided as a simple glance at a map might suggest. It has also been claimed that Constantinople was "the best-defended city in Europe" at that time. At the beginning of the siege, Mehmed sent out some of his best troops to reduce the remaining Byzantine strongholds outside the city of Constantinople. The fortress of Therapia on

20124-510: The impending siege of Constantinople. Karaca Pasha , the beylerbeyi of Rumelia , sent men to prepare the roads from Adrianople to Constantinople so that bridges could cope with the massive cannons. Fifty carpenters and 200 artisans also strengthened the roads where necessary. The Greek historian Michael Critobulus quotes Mehmed II 's speech to his soldiers before the siege: My friends and men of my empire! You all know very well that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now hold at

20296-576: The initial assault, the Ottoman army fanned out along the main thoroughfare of the city, the Mese, past the great forums and the Church of the Holy Apostles , which Mehmed II wanted to provide as a seat for his newly appointed patriarch to better control his Christian subjects. Mehmed II had sent an advance guard to protect these key buildings. The Catalans that maintained their position on the section of

20468-421: 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

20640-408: The land walls and one near the Church of the Holy Apostles , under the command of Loukas Notaras and Nicephorus Palaeologus, respectively. The Venetian Alviso Diedo commanded the ships in the harbour. Although the Byzantines also had cannons, the weapons were much smaller than those of the Ottomans, and the recoil tended to damage their own walls. According to David Nicolle , despite many odds,

20812-519: 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

20984-405: The local Catholic population. This bias towards the Orthodox worked to secure the loyalty of those within the millet . It worked to make newly conquered citizens focus less on internal divisions and more on the conflict between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Further encouragement of Orthodox artisans who made ecclesiastical silverware, robes, and chalices made Constantinople, although under Ottoman rule,

21156-473: The loot they could get from raiding the city's houses, so they decided to attack the city instead. The Venetian captain ordered his men to break open the gate of the Golden Horn. Having done so, the Venetians left in ships filled with soldiers and refugees. Shortly after the Venetians left, a few Genoese ships and even the Emperor's ships followed them out of the Golden Horn. This fleet narrowly escaped prior to

21328-543: 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

21500-405: The millet stayed strong. Only an organ designed for the patriarch's election was established which ostensibly gave the laity a large majority: 1 banker, 5 merchants, 10 artisans, 4 professional men, 8 public officials, members of a new mixed council, and 28 representatives of provincial bishoprics. But the laity were only allowed to consult and suggest other candidates from a list of three prepared by

21672-436: The mines and kill the miners. The Byzantines intercepted the first tunnel on the night of 16 May. Subsequent tunnels were interrupted on 21, 23 and 25 May, and destroyed with Greek fire and vigorous combat. On 23 May, the Byzantines captured and tortured two Turkish officers, who revealed the location of all the Turkish tunnels, which were destroyed. On 21 May, Mehmed sent an ambassador to Constantinople and offered to lift

21844-401: The morale of the defenders and caused embarrassment to the Sultan. Baltoghlu was most likely injured in the eye during the skirmish. Mehmed stripped Baltoghlu of his wealth and property and gave it to the janissaries and ordered him to be whipped 100 times. Mehmed ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn and dragged his ships over

22016-401: The most advanced defensive systems in the world at the time. However, these fortifications were overcome with the use of gunpowder , specifically from Ottoman cannons and bombards , heralding a change in siege warfare. The Ottoman cannons repeatedly fired massive cannonballs weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) which created gaps in the Theodosian Walls for

22188-403: 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

22360-433: The northern shore. On orders of Mehmed, they were impaled on stakes, in sight of the city's defenders on the sea walls across the Golden Horn. In retaliation, the defenders brought their Ottoman prisoners, 260 in all, to the walls, where they were executed, one by one, before the eyes of the Ottomans. With the failure of their attack on the Ottoman vessels, the defenders were forced to disperse part of their forces to defend

22532-469: 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,

22704-533: 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

22876-476: 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

23048-577: 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 ,

23220-409: 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

23392-468: The remainder of the Byzantine Empire splintered into a number of successor states, notably Nicaea , Epirus and Trebizond . They fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, reestablishing the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty . Thereafter, there

23564-564: 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

23736-523: The sea walls along the Golden Horn. The Ottoman army had made several frontal assaults on the land wall of Constantinople, but they were costly failures. Venetian surgeon Niccolò Barbaro , describing in his diary one such land attack by the Janissaries, wrote They found the Turks coming right up under the walls and seeking battle, particularly the Janissaries ;... and when one or two of them were killed, at once more Turks came and took away

23908-501: The secessionist subject nations and stop the nationalist movements within the Empire, but failed to succeed. With the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire , the Rum millet began to degrade as new millets established themselves. The Bulgarian Exarchate recognized by the Ottomans in 1870 was the answer to the unilateral declaration of an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece in 1833 and of Romania 's in 1865. The Serbian Orthodox Church also became autocephalous in 1879. During

24080-413: The side of Ottoman Eastern Orthodox subjects, and most of the Porte's political tools of pressure became ineffective. At that time the Rum millet had a great deal of power—it set its own laws and collected and distributed its own taxes. The rise of nationalism in Europe under the influence of the French Revolution had extended to the Ottoman Empire and the Rum millet became increasingly independent with

24252-421: The siege if they gave him the city. He promised he would allow the Emperor and any other inhabitants to leave with their possessions. He would recognize the Emperor as governor of the Peloponnese. Lastly, he guaranteed the safety of the population that might choose to remain in the city. Constantine XI only agreed to pay higher tributes to the sultan and recognized the status of all the conquered castles and lands in

24424-628: 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,

24596-652: The siege until the possible arrival of foreign help. This strategy was used because in 1204, the armies of the Fourth Crusade successfully circumvented Constantinople's land defences by breaching the Golden Horn Wall , which faces the Horn. Another strategy employed by the Byzantines was the repair and fortification of the Land Wall ( Theodosian Walls ). Emperor Constantine deemed it necessary to ensure that

24768-786: The siege, he was shifted to the Mesoteichion to join Constantine, leaving the Myriandrion to the charge of the Bocchiardi brothers. Girolamo Minotto  [ el ; es ; fr ; it ] and his Venetians were stationed in the Blachernae Palace , together with Teodoro Caristo, the Langasco brothers, and Archbishop Leonardo of Chios . To the left of the emperor, further south, were the commanders Cataneo, who led Genoese troops, and Theophilus Palaeologus, who guarded

24940-399: The siege, while according to a Venetian Senate report, 50 Venetian noblemen and over 500 other Venetian civilians died during the siege. Many of the riches of the city were already looted in 1204 , leaving only limited loot to the Ottomans. Other sources claim far more brutal and successful pillaging by the Ottoman invaders. Leonard of Chios made accounts of the atrocities that followed

25112-407: The slave markets. Ottoman casualties are unknown but they are believed by most historians to be severe due to several unsuccessful Ottoman attacks made during the siege and final assault. The Venetian Barbaro observed that blood flowed in the city "like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm" and that bodies of Turks and Christians floated in the sea "like melons along a canal". According to

25284-448: 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

25456-535: The synod, various Greek notables, and trade guild members. After the 18th century however, this power was informally in the hands of five metropolitans known as gerontes which themselves were suspicious of any reform that could take away their power. While the Armenians quickly and organically moved to draw up a constitution based on the French constitution, the Porte had to pressure the Greek millet for reform after

25628-531: 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

25800-488: The time on the coast of the Black Sea . When Mehmed II succeeded his father in 1451, he was 19 years old. Many European courts assumed that the young Ottoman ruler would not seriously challenge Christian hegemony in the Balkans and the Aegean . In fact, Europe celebrated Mehmed coming to the throne and hoped his inexperience would lead the Ottomans astray. This calculation was boosted by Mehmed's friendly overtures to

25972-524: 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

26144-443: The veteran Halil Pasha , who had always disapproved of Mehmed's plans to conquer the city, now admonished him to abandon the siege in the face of recent adversity. Zagan Pasha argued against Halil Pasha and insisted on an immediate attack. Believing that the Byzantine defence was already weakened sufficiently, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force and started preparations for a final all-out offensive. Preparations for

26316-458: The wall that the emperor had assigned them, had the honor of being the last troops to fall. The sultan had Pere Julià, his sons and the consul Joan de la Via, amongst others, beheaded. A few civilians managed to escape. When the Venetians retreated over to their ships, the Ottomans had already taken the walls of the Golden Horn. Luckily for the occupants of the city, the Ottomans were not interested in killing potentially valuable slaves but rather in

26488-501: The walls in their entirety, it had been decided that only the outer walls would be guarded. Constantine and his Greek troops guarded the Mesoteichion , the middle section of the land walls, where they were crossed by the river Lycus. This section was considered the weakest spot in the walls and an attack was feared here most. Giustiniani was stationed to the north of the emperor, at the Charisian Gate ( Myriandrion ); later during

26660-498: The walls were the first to suffer from the Ottomans. It is said that Constantine, throwing aside his purple imperial regalia, led the final charge against the incoming Ottomans, perishing in the ensuing battle in the streets alongside his soldiers. The Venetian Nicolò Barbaro claimed in his diary that Constantine hanged himself at the moment when the Turks broke in at the San Romano gate. Ultimately, his fate remains unknown. After

26832-463: The walls. After these inconclusive attacks, the Ottomans sought to break through the walls by constructing tunnels to mine them from mid-May to 25 May. Many of the sappers were miners of Serbian origin sent from Novo Brdo under the command of Zagan Pasha . An engineer named Johannes Grant , a German who came with the Genoese contingent, had counter-mines dug, allowing Byzantine troops to enter

27004-542: 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,

27176-598: 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

27348-451: 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

27520-433: 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

27692-533: 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

27864-420: Was derived from the former Eastern Roman (a.k.a. Byzantine ) subjects of the Ottoman Empire, but all Orthodox Greeks , Bulgarians , Albanians , Aromanians , Megleno-Romanians , Romanians and Serbs , as well as Georgians and Arab Melkites , were all considered part of the same millet in spite of their differences in ethnicity and language. Belonging to this Orthodox commonwealth became more important to

28036-439: Was forced to supply as part of his obligation to the Ottoman sultan — just a few months before, Branković had supplied the money for the reconstruction of the walls of Constantinople. Contemporaneous Western witnesses of the siege, who tend to exaggerate the military power of the Sultan, provide disparate and higher numbers ranging from 160,000 to 300,000 ( Niccolò Barbaro : 160,000; the Florentine merchant Jacopo Tedaldi and

28208-404: 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

28380-475: Was in Constantinople working for the Emperor, was also guarding one of the quarters of the city on the seaward side with the Turks in his pay. These Turks kept loyal to the Emperor and perished in the ensuing battle. The defending army's Genoese corps were well trained and equipped, while the rest of the army consisted of small numbers of well-trained soldiers, armed civilians, sailors and volunteer forces from foreign communities, and finally monks . The garrison used

28552-463: 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

28724-441: Was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins , Serbs , Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks . Between 1346 and 1349, the Black Death killed almost half of the inhabitants of Constantinople. The city was further depopulated by the general economic and territorial decline of the empire, and by 1453 , it consisted of a series of walled villages separated by vast fields encircled by

28896-428: 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

29068-418: Was recognized as the highest religious and political leader, or ethnarch , of all Orthodox subjects. The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid , which were autonomous Eastern Orthodox Churches under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch, were taken over by the Greek Phanariotes during the 18th century. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca , from 1774, allowed Russia to intervene on

29240-425: 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

29412-427: 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,

29584-438: Was traditionally the most powerful non-Muslim in the Ottoman Empire. Though there were multiple ecclesiastical hierarchies, the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem (and the autocephalous church of Cyprus) were much less and powerful. The Sultan conferred the Patriarch of Constantinople supreme civil authority over all Greek Orthodox people in the Empire. The Patriarch had a synod of bishops, which helped elect him, while

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