Battle of Baphaeon

Between 1260 and 1320, the Turcomans, mobilized by their ghazi tribal chiefs, and in tandem with the Seljuk waged jihad against Byzantine forces.

Their leader was Osman Ghazi (Osman I), who held the frontier land in western Asia Minor that was farthest north and closest to the Byzantines. Osman had become master of an area stretching from Eskishehir to the plains of Iznik and Brusa and had organized a fairly powerful principality.

When Osman I besieged around 1301, the Byzantines sent an army to raise the siege. The emep0ror depstahced against Osman a force of 2,000 men under the command of the Hetaereiarch Muzalon charged with the task relieving Iznik.

This army was defeated by Osman I in the summer of 1301 at Baphaeon, on the southeastern shores of the Sea of Marmara.

The local population was panic-stricken and started to leave, seeking shelter in the castle of Nicomedia.

This victory over the Byzantine imperial army made Osman prominent among other frontier lords the prospect of new conquest, booty and land attracted a wave of Turcoman warriors to be Ottoman principality.

Many other nomadic Turkish soldiers came to Konya, Osman’s capitol. They became known as beys, commanders of complements of fighters who were loyal to them, just as they in turn, were loyal to Osman.

In Ottoman tradition this victory is known as the victory won near Yalakova over the forces of the emperor during the siege do Iznik.
Battle of Baphaeon

Tamerlane vs Bayezid I in Battle of Ankara

Battle of Ankara is a battle between the Ottomans and the Timurids.  The decisive battle of Ankara, or battled of Cubukabad, was fought at Cubukabad near Ankara on July 20, 1402.

Timur (1336-1405), known in the west as Tamerlane, from Samarkand, had founded a vast Eurasian empire stretching from India to Russian.

Regarding himself as the legitimate successor of the Mongol ruler, he considered Bayezid I’s ambition to conquer Muslim states a challenge to his authority.

Sultan Bayezid I led an Ottoman army against a force led by Timur. Bayezid became sultan in 1389 after the assassination of his father Murad on the battlefield at Kosovo.

In battle of Ankara, Bayezid’s army was a hardened and disciplined force of 85,000 men, while Timur commanded between 140,000 and 200,000 men.

The Ottoman troops fought heroically and some 15,000 Turks and Christians are said to have been fallen in the attempt to break the Mongol lines.

When the rest had fled, Bayezid and his rearguard continued to resists far into the night until they were overwhelmed.

Defeated and taken prisoner, Bayezid I was first chivalrously treated by Timur, but later after attempting to escape is said to have been locked up and carried around in an iron cage.

While still in Timur’s custody he died on March 8, 1403, according to some sources by his own.

The Ottoman defeat at the battle of Ankara was a serious blow to the merging new empire, which did not recover until the period of Mehmed II.
Tamerlane vs Bayezid I in Battle of Ankara

A Prelude to the French Occupation of Tunisia

Tunisia entered the 19th century under the reign of Hammouda ibn Ali, the Bey of Tunis, as a minor Mediterranean power thanks to trade and extortion of European states through piracy (see the Barbary States), enjoying its quasi-independent autonomy from the Ottoman Porte in Constantinople. By the end of the 19th century, Tunisia fell in debt, the French achieved total economic control, the Bey signed a treaty with the French, stripping its sovereignty and placing the country under French protection whilst installing an appointed Resident-General from Paris to "advise" the Bey ( effectively a nominal ruler) and to oversee the country.

In this article, we shall delve into the details and events leading up to (and not after) the Treaty of Bardo, which solidified French control over the country.

The Treaty of Bardo

The French Maghreb:

Historically, Tunisia had ancient links with the European mainland. After all, the extinct Carthaginian civilisation originated here and along with it the Punic Wars with Rome. Just as those wars of ages past were about control over the Mediterranean, the story with Tunisia is remarkably familiar.

The French merchants of Marseille regularly traded goods to and from Tunisia, and it is no surprise the French made their first permanent presence in Tunis by establishing a consulate in 1577. During the height of the Age of Imperialism in the 18th century, the traditional influence of the French in Tunis was contested by the English, the Ottomans and the Italians. The French sought to assert their control through a series of concessional treaties, the most notable of which was signed in 1802 where the Bey formally acknowledged (to Napoleon) France's privileged position.

As France's economic power began to grew, the Bey's powers began to wane. His Turkish army corps had rebelled twice in 1811 and 1816, his naval forces suffered disastrously in 1827 after participating in the Battle of Navarino alongside the Ottomans (which he was obliged to do) during the Greek War of Independence. Outbreaks of plague in 1825 further weakened the Bey's economic capabilities. Weakened, the Bey had to sign a capitulation treaty in 1829 that allowed French citizens to only be tried by the French consul in Tunis.

Tunisia (dark blue) with the rest of French Africa (light blue)

French influence and power in the region grew greater after the 1830 invasion of Algeria. The French had numerous reasons to invade this autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire; raw materials, trading, establishment of settler colonies (but this is a topic for a different article). It is worth noting that the colonial policy to Algeria was greatly different than that of Tunisia. While Tunisia was to be a protectorate, Algeria was not to be a simple colony. It was a settler colony that officially became a part of France in 1848, where Republican workers and the unemployed from France would be shipped across the sea to their new homes, most of which were lands deprived from native Algerians.

The political fallout from the invasion of Algeria reached every capital throughout Europe. In Constantinople, the loss of Algiers was a blow to the already-declining Ottoman Empire. To the Germans, British and Italians, the French presence in Algeria presented a threat to their own imperial ambitions in the African continent and the Mediterranean and immediately began to seek ways to compensate (my previous post dealt with what the Italians did).

Within a month of the invasion, the Tunisians signed yet another treaty with the French, which opened the Tunisian market to French-manufactured goods, which undermined the country's traditional artisans and raised prices of local goods. The treaty also allowed European consuls to judge cases involving European citizens. As a result, European consuls were able to interfere in Tunisian domestic affairs.

Beys, Debts And A Constitution:

Ahmed Bey ruled Tunisia from 1837 to 1855 and it was under his rule that the beginning of the end had begun. When the benevolent Bey came to power, Tunisia's sovereignty was not only the target of French ambitions but of a newly-reinvigorated Ottoman Empire, eager to spread the Tanzimat (administrative restructuring and reform) that would strengthen the Sultan's control in the face of growing European powers. However, these reforms directly threatened the Bey's independence. The French, seeking to take advantage of the situation, offered to protect Tunisia from Ottoman and other European encroachment. Ahmed Bey declined, knowing what France's true intentions are.

Ahmed Bey

Ahmed Bey began a reform program of his own, which sought to expand and modernise the Tunisian professional army. By 1847, Ahmed Bey's army boasted 26,000 men. Under Ahmed Bey (and pressure from the British consulate), slavery was abolished and tax farms were created in the countryside to provide revenue for the state. While this new army was loyal to Tunis and not Constantinople, it did little to prevent the country's decline. Encouraged by a corrupt Mustafa Khaznader (Ahmed Bey's finance minister), Ahmed Bey embarked on a costly administrative and building program that plunged the country into debt. As a result of corrupt tax collectors, drought, cholera and plague outbreaks, agricultural and tax revenues declined heavily. Ahmed Bey had to personally finance the equipment and transport of 4000 soldiers to serve in the Crimean War for the Ottomans.

Mohammed Bey, Ahmed's successor, was more terrible. He overturned the abolition of slavery and administered his own arbitrary system of justice that was unfavourable to non-Tunisians, to the anger and frustration of European consuls. Concerned about the security and investment of their citizens, the British and French consuls pressured Mohammed Bey to accept reforms that provided greater security for foreigners. Adopted in September 1857, the Security Pact established legal equality between Tunisians and non-Tunisians, and gave Europeans the right to acquire property. These new freedoms, especially the new right to acquire property, made it easier for European interests to acquire a greater hold of the Tunisian economy.

This sparked calls by Tunisian intellectuals for the establishment of 'dustur' (دستور) or constitution which sought to create an institutionalised check on the Bey's power. Written in 1860, this was the Arab World's first constitution. In it, it confirmed the Bey as the hereditary head of state, it called for the establishment of a 60-member Supreme Council with substantial power that controls taxation and expenditure, whilst also having the ability to dismiss ministers.

The constitution only lasted for 4 years. The French and other European consuls did not like how it complicated their relationships with the Bey nor were they fond of the idea that their nationals would be subject to Tunisian law, which they argued violated previous treaties signed in the past. A flaw with the Supreme Council was that its members were directly appointed by the Bey himself. As a result, it did not live up to the expectations of Tunisian intellectuals. In 1864, the constitution was suspended and poll taxes were doubled to help pay the country's mounting debt. In response, Berber tribes and towns in the country's interior revolted. In 1866, the Tunisian government appealed to the Rothschild Banking House for 115 million francs to pay off the country's foreign debt. They refused.

Debts! Damn Debts And Conspiracies:

Poster inviting French people to immigrate to Tunisia (1890)

Tunisia's economic woes posed a conundrum to the European powers. On the one hand, France, Italy and Britain shared a common concern for their investments in the country (France particularly heavily invested in railroads, ports, mines and agriculture). Collapse of the Tunisian government and civil unrest was in none of their interests.

To avert the crisis, the International Financial Commission was established in 1869 to oversee Tunisia's budget. The Commission effectively controlled all state expenditure and organised the repayment of debts. On the other hand, the European powers distrusted each other; though France had the most economic presence in Tunisia, the Italians had the largest population residing there. The British primarily focused their attention on Egypt. Tunisia was seen by Paris as an important buffer between the East and Algeria, and its status needed to be determined decisively.

At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Britain, France and Germany tried to reach an agreement. The German representative, the influential Otto von Bismarck suggested that France's interest in Tunisia should be recognised by both Germany and Britain. They pledged not to intervene in the event of a French claim or occupation of Tunisia. In return, Britain expected that the French would recognise Cyprus as British territory in the Eastern Mediterranean. Bismarck anticipated French resources and attention to be diverted to Africa, away from Europe. Once all this was agreed, they followed common diplomatic protocol and kept it a secret from the Ottomans, because this was basically the equivalent of carving up their empire.

Congress of Berlin, 1878

The French were wary of intervening in another North African state. The previous invasion of Algeria in 1830 resulted in successive rebellions that took four decades to quell, the last of which occurred seven years before the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The French primarily wanted Tunisia to serve as a buffer between French Algeria and Italian Cyrenaica (Libya). So as long as no trouble was caused in Algeria from Tunisia, Paris did not want to risk another costly military campaign and occupation.

By 1880, France controlled the railway and telegraph lines of Tunisia, established a low-interest bank to aid and encourage the growth of French agriculture and industry, invested in a new port in Tunis and in several mines in the countryside. With such heavy investments, it became impossible for the French not to be involved in domestic Tunisian economic and political issues. In the meantime, smuggling and drought made the International Financial Commission's job of paying government bonds harder. The French began to realise that protecting French investments would require more direct involvement.

In 1880, the French consul in Tunis, Adolphe-Francois de Botmilau commented:

"A last attempt is made in this moment to save this country by the financial commission. If it fails, we would have to be forcibly called upon to occupy Tunisia and this will be a troublesome extremity for us"

Page 1 of the Treaty of Bardo

Ignoring the economic aspect, the Italians were another problem. Despite the large Italian population in Tunisia and their contribution to the country, Italy was excluded from the Congress of Berlin. Italian attempts at obtaining land, such as the purchase of railway lines, caused out-roar amongst French colonialists.

But it was neither colonial nor economic hardship that eventually provoked a French occupation of Tunisia. According to the official narration, Khroumour tribesmen from Tunisia engaged in cross-border raids into French Algeria in March 1881. They were repelled by a joint Algerian-French force and felt that they had to cross into Tunisia.

Using this as an excuse, the French army of 36,000-strong occupied Bizerte, and soon turned south towards Tunis. Britain and Germany stood-by, as previously agreed in Berlin.. On 12 May 1881, the Bey signed the Treaty of Bardo, which gave France substantial control over Tunisia and placing the country under French protection where it remained until it achieved independence in 1956..

References:

• Christopher Alexander (2010). Tunisia: Stability and Reform in the Modern Maghreb. London: Routledge . p13-21.
• Assa Okoth (2006). A History of Africa: African societies and the establishment of colonial rule, 1800-1915. East African Publishers. p297-302
• Roslind Varghese Brown, Michael Spilling (2008). Tunisia. Marshall Cavendish. p21-36

Revolt of the Greeks

Revolt of the Greeks
One of the organizations the Ottoman Empire was Hitaria which was form in 1814 by three Greek Patriots in Odessa. This was political organization with the object of revival of ancient Greek Empire.

Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire was necessary to achieve their object. Hitaria accordingly prepared destructive plans against Ottoman Empire. As a result of the French Revolution, along with other regions patriot feeling developed in Greece also.

The revolt broke out in 1821. From political point of view, it was a national revolt. From economic point of view it was a revolt of the peasants, against the feudal land lords.

The revolt broke out in Morea and soon spread out to the whole of the Empire. The feudal land lords most of whom were Greeks were killed by the peasants.

The first confrontation between the Ottoman forces and the Greek peasants took place in the neighborhood of the Capital of Morea, in which the Ottoman army was defeated.

The capital city and adjoining territory was thus occupied by the rebels and the Muslims were ruthlessly murdered. The Greeks living in Istanbul and other cities of the Empire like Izmir and Salonika were killed in retaliation. The Greek set up a national government in liberated parts of Morea.
Revolt of the Greeks

Una Fatalia Storica - The Italian invasion of Libya

The Derna, a cargo ship, departed from Turkey in September 1911. Its cargo hold was filled with 20,000 rifles, 2 million rounds of ammunition and machineguns, destined to the Ottoman-Libyan port of Tripoli and to be distributed amongst loyal Libyan tribesmen. On 24 September, Italy caught wind of the ship’s journey and issued a warning to the Ottomans that “sending war materials to Tripoli was an obvious threat to the status quo” and endangered the Italian community in Libya. The ship started unloading its cargo at Tripoli harbor on the 26^th of September. Infuriated, the Italian government issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Ottoman empire on the 28^th: the regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica are to fall under Italian jurisdiction and military occupation or else war would be declared. 

The Ottomans gave a reasonable and conciliatory reply but Italy would have none of it. On the 29^th of September, Italy declared war on Ottoman Libya, a decision described by the Italian prime minister Giovanni Giolitti as fulfilling una fatalia storica – a history destiny.

The Ottoman-Italian war (photo from Commons)

Prelude

 

But why Libya? At the time, Libya (formally called the vilayat of Tripolitania) was a neglected region in the Ottoman empire. It had neither roads nor railways, and produced (in the terms of a contemporary European writer) “products of primitive husbandry” such as livestock and dates. The farming industry barely managed to produce food to feed the whole population. What reasons did the Italians have to be in Libya?

To answer this question, we must go back to the time when Italy was born without Rome nor Venice, in August 1863. The Opinione paper of Turin had warned that 

“If Egypt and with it the Suez Canal falls to the British, and if Tunis falls to the French and if Austria expands into Albania, we will soon find ourselves without breathing space in the dead centre of the Mediterranean. “

The Italian colonial empire, by 1940.

Even earlier, in 1838, Giuseppe Mazzini, who helped unify Italy, declared that North Africa belongs to Italy. In the 19^th century, Italy was a relatively new & poor country that was seemingly surrounded by Great Powers on all three sides; the French, the Austrian Empire, the Ottomans and the British. Determined to become a Great Power in her own right, in the 1860s and 1870s, Italy began to court Tunisia, Rome’s first African colony and then still an Ottoman province. With a large Italian population of 25,000 by 1881, it seemed that Tunisia would be easy-picking for Italy. Unfortunately, the Bey (governor) of Tunisia accepted French rule in May 1881, dealing a blow to Italian pride and sending the country’s politicians panicking. 

France’s interference in Tunisia inadvertedly lead to Italy entering the Scramble For Africa, acquiring the unpromising but strategic regions of Somalia and Eritrea in 1889. Italy soon set its eyes on Ottoman Libya, compensation in their view for Tunisia. Control of Libya provided strategic access over the central Mediterranean, and territory close to the lucrative Suez Canal trade. In Italy’s view, they had to claim Libya to counter French (or others) influence in the Mediterranean. Mussolini later commented,

“For others, the Mediterranean is just a route. For us, it is life itself.”

From the 1880s until 1911, Italy pursued a vague policy of “peaceful penetration”; establishing Italian schools, encouraging the migration of Italian farmers in Cyrenaica (eastern Libya), setting up of Italian banks and funding mineral prospecting expeditions. The Italian public was largely supportive of the movement; as far back as 1889, Italian nationalists, industrialists and the Catholic Church had called for the colonial expansion, arguing that it would combat Italy’s alleged overpopulation and mass emigration to the United States. 

“To emigrate is servile,' Italians were told, 'but to conquer colonies is a worthy task for a free and noble people”

Nationalist newspapers depicted Libya as a good source of grains and olives as well as possessing lucrative trade routes.  Italian explorers ventured to Libya, calling it Italy’s Fourth Shore, and described the potential wealth of the unexploited countryside and the seemingly endless green fields of Cyrenaica (in 1911, a writer went as far as to say that 1/4^th of the country could be cultivated using irrigation).

But why not simply invade? Why go through this decades-long process? The reason was that the Italians feared an invasion of Ottoman Libya would result in a greater European war, with perhaps the Austrians making unacceptable gains in the Balkans, and potential backlash with France or other European powers. As a result, the Italian diplomatic goal was to secure assurances and guarantees from Europe’s powers. In the 1900s, Italy acquired assurances from Britain, Austria & Germany (both being Allies), Russia and the United States. Year after year, the Italians waited for their opportunity to strike. In 1911, in the aftermath of the Agadiz crisis that saw France gain even more territory in North Africa, Italy decided to act, scheduling an invasion in the autumn, when the sea was calmest. 

Italy needed a casus belli and it found one. In 1908, two Italians (one of them a priest) were murdered in Tripoli, and the Ottoman investigation proved inconclusive. The Italian media hunched onto the story, claiming that Italian lives and property were in danger in Libya and campaigned furiously for an occupation. With the backing of the majority of the public (minus the Socialists, who rioted against the idea of an “imperialist invasion”, interestingly enough Mussolini was amongst the rioters and was jailed for his criticism of the invasion) and the Catholic Church (who praised the “crusading spirits” of the masses) , the invasion seemed in place. 

War & Peace:

Italian landing at Tripoli, October 1911

After the Dernaincident, four Italian battleships disembarked from Italy on the 1^stof October and anchored the next day outside of Tripoli. It was only at 3:15pm on the 3^rd of October that the ships began bombarding the three Ottoman forts of Tripoli. On the 5^th , 900 marines landed and captured the badly-damaged forts. The Turkish commander and his depleted garrison, seeking to spare the city from bombardment, withdrew from the city. By nightfall, around 1,700 more marines occupied the town of Tripoli. The Ottoman garrison, numbering less than 5,000, regrouped with Libyan tribesmen inland whilst the Italian vanguard awaited the arrival of the main expeditionary force, which arrived a week later.  

 

The Italian fleet, off the coast of Tobruk, in October 1911

Italy had hoped the Turks would seek negotiations after the capture of Tripoli but they had no intention to. The Italians were surprised to face stiff resistance from the native Libyans whom they thought would welcome them as liberators. East of Tripoli, the Italians were almost overwhelmed by a combined Libyan-Turkish assault at Henni on the 23^rd of October. Meanwhile in Cyrenaica, Italian amphibious landings and shelling resulted in the capture of Tobruk, Derna and Homs on the 4^th, 18^th and 21^st of October.

 On 18 October, another Italian battle fleet (consisting of 7 battle cruisers and 20 transport ships) anchored outside Benghazi and issued a 24-hour ultimatum, demanding the town’s surrender. The 280-man garrison defended the town against hopeless odds. After the ultimatum expired, the fleet shelled the city to the ground, destroying the city’s Grand Mosque and damaging the Franciscan mission as well as the British and Italian consulates, all of which were packed with refugees. Later that day, the Turkish garrison surrendered, but the Italian occupiers faced unexpected resistance from the inhabitants of the suburbs. The Turko-Libyan forces withdrew from the town in the next few days.

Italian battery bombardment of Benghazi

By the end of October 1911, Italy controlled five beachheads on the Libyan coast and had deployed 34,000 men, 6,300 horses,  1,050 wagons, 145 warships amongst others. The war was the first to see the deployment of new technologies such as machineguns, radio-telegraph and motor-transport as well as aeroplanes in battle. 

The town of Tripoli rioted against the Italians at the end of October but was brutally suppressed. On 5 November 1911, the Italian King Victor Emmanuel issued a royal decree, bringing Tripolitania and Cyrenaica under the Italian Crown. In what is comparable to George Bush’s premature “Mission Accomplished” declaration in 2003, so too was King Victor’s. It would take twenty years before Libyan resistance was effectively subdued. 

The invasion was a disaster primarily because it failed to account for the actions of the native Libyan population. The Italians had hoped the Libyans would welcome them as saviours from the corrupt Turks or at the very least to stay neutral in the war. However, the Italians failed to recognize that the Libyans and the Ottomans were bound in religion. Both people were Muslim and to the Libyans, they were fighting against an invading Christian army akin to the Crusaders. This blunder lead to the war being dragged out for a year, much to the relief of the Turks who were also surprised by the support they were given.

 Due to Italian naval supremacy and Britain’s reluctance to allow Ottoman troops to march through Egypt, reinforcements could not be directly sent. However, colonels and generals (such as a young Mustafa Kemal) smuggled their way through Egypt into Libya. Arms were smuggled from Greece and French Tunisia also.  The influential Sanussi tribesmen of Cyrenaica’s desert rallied armies in support of the Ottomans, though with poorly armed weaponry. 

A young Mustafa Kamel, in Derna (1912)

In 1912, a stalemate was reached. The Italians in Tripoli had managed to extend their radius of control by a few miles, the port of Misrata was captured in February. Italian troops were deployed to the Tunisian frontier to cease the arms smuggling. After 11 months, none of the five beach-heads had linked up. The Italian army dugged in in Derna were besieged by a 10,000-man irregular army.  

 

The signing of the treaty of Lausanne

The war was demoralizing for Italy (who expected it to be a walk-in-the-park) but worse for the Turks, who faced unrest in the Balkans and other regions.

 In July 1912, the Turks and Italians quietly met in Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva. It was only on 17 October 1912 that both parties declared peace, much to the surprise of Libyans who felt betrayed.  The treaty they signed was vague; the Ottoman Sultan was to declare Tripolitania and Cyrenaica as independent and that Libyans were now Italian subjects. In return, the Italians withdrew from the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. The Sultan also retained the power to appoint the grand religious cleric of Tripoli, allowing the Ottomans to retain religious control over the region. 

For the Italians, it was a cheap and fairly easy victory. The Ottomans could not afford to continue the war. However, Libyan irregulars continued to fight on. With the Italians only in control of the coastal settlements, Libya’s interior remained hostile tribal territory. To the Ottomans, their fight ended. To the Libyans, their fight has just begun.

References:

• A History of Libya by John Wright, pages 101-114.

• The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance by Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, pages 104-105
• Photos from Wikimedia Commons

Writer's note: This post was originally written for itshistorypodcasts.com and published on 6 August 2013 (viewable here).

Ottoman Greece, Independence and the World Wars

An artist's impression of the Battle of Lepanto (from National Maritime Museum)

By the start of the 1500s, much of mainland Greece and its islands were under Ottoman control, with the notable exceptions of Cyprus and Crete which were under the control of Venice (these two islands would later be conquered in 1571 and 1670 respectively). While most Greeks residing in Constantinople (the Ottoman capital) enjoyed a prosperous living, the majority of Greeks in mainland Greece were poor. This was a result of heavy taxation and an inefficient serfdom system.

In Constantinople, the Sultan recognized the Greek Orthodox Church to be the sole representative of Christians in the empire, Orthodox or not (this is evident when the Greeks were given preference over other sects in the custodianship of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as highlighted in an old post). Despite the Ottomans having a policy of no forced-conversions, many Christians and others converted for tax benefits.

Greeks generally had a negative feeling towards their Ottoman occupiers, participating in most wars against them. This has been notably seen in the naval Battle of Lepanto in 1571, as well as many revolts in the Great Turkish War of Europe in the late 17th century. These rebellions were quelled violently.

Greek Independence:

Greek independence movements emerged at the start of the 19th century (1814), most notably was the secret-organization Filiki Eteria , which had the main goal of achieving Greek independence and expelling the Ottomans from Greece. The Greek War of Independence kicked off on the 6th of March, 1821, initially as a revolt occurring in the Wallachia region (in present-day Romania). This revolt was successfully repressed by the Ottomans.

The flag of Filiki Eteria

News of the suppression reached Greeks in the Peloponnese (a peninsula in Southern Greece) and enraged them. On the 17th of March, 1821, Greeks in the region started rebelling. Within a month, the whole peninsula was in open revolt. Simultaneous revolts occurred in Macedonia, Crete and Central Greece, though each of these revolts were suppressed. The Ottomans, called upon Egypt (which was effectively a vassal state of the Ottomans) for aid.

In return for territorial gain, an Egyptian army was deployed to the Peloponnese in February 1825 and had immediate success: by the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control, and the city of Missolonghi—put under siege by the Turks since April 1825—fell in April 1826. The Egyptians had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese and Athens had been retaken.

After years of consulting with each other and intense negotiations, the European powers (Russia, France and the United Kingdom) agreed to intervene by deploying their navy to the Greek peninsula. This allied fleet clashed with the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet , resulting in the destruction of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet. With French troops, the Greeks drove the Turks out of the Peloponnese and central Greece by 1828.

"Freedom or Death"

By 1832, the war was over via the Treaty of Constantinople (1832) and the Kingdom of Greece was established, the first Greek state since the pre-Byzantine era. It would seem appropriate that its national anthem would later be titled "Freedom or Death".

The slow but steady growth of Greece to the modern day

The rivalry between the Ottomans and Greeks did not end just yet. The Greeks were united, in their determination to liberate the Greek-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Especially in Crete, a prolonged revolt in 1866–1869 had raised nationalist fervour. When war broke out between Russia and the Ottomans in 1877, Greek popular sentiment rallied to Russia's side, but Greece was too poor, and too concerned of British intervention, to officially enter the war. Nevertheless, in 1881, Thessaly and small parts of Epirus were ceded to Greece as part of the Treaty of Berlin, while frustrating Greek hopes of receiving Crete.

Greeks in Crete continued to stage regular revolts, and in 1897, the Greek government under Theodoros Deligiannis, bowing to popular pressure, declared war on the Ottomans. In the ensuing Greco-Turkish War of 1897 the badly trained and equipped Greek army was defeated by the Ottomans. Through the intervention of the Great Powers however, Greece lost only a little territory along the border to Turkey, while Crete was established as an autonomous state under Prince George of Greece.

As a result of the Balkan War, Greece's overall territory once again increased.

World Wars:

 On the eve of WWI, the Greek government was divided between the pro-German King Constantine and the pro-Britain Prime Minister Venizelos. The division was so serious that there were two de facto governments, the King's government was based in Athens while the Prime Minister's was in Thessaloniki. In 1917, the two governments united and Greece would later enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente (the British-French-Russian side). Greece's old enemy , the Ottoman empire, was on the Central Powers' (Germany) side. Once again, the two rivals clashed.

Territorial changes as stated in the Treaty of Sevres

After the war ended, the Ottoman Empire was forced to sign the Treaty of Sèvres (text here) which effectively partitioned the empire between the victorious Allies. Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and much of the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia was to be carved up by the British, Greeks, French and Armenians. The Turkish public was outraged and, under the leadership of WWI Turkish veteran Mustafa Kemal, fought a series of wars called the Turkish War of Independence. One of these wars was the Greco-Turkish War that lasted from 1919 to 1922.

The war was disastrous for the Greeks, with Greek losses amounting to almost 20,000 dead as well as over 100,000 casualties. The war ended with Greece returning to pre-war boundaries and leading both sides to exchange populations (Greeks in Turkey to Greece and vice versa). A testament to this change was that the population of Greeks in Istanbul dropped from 300,000 in 1900, to just over 3,000 currently. Over 1.5 million Greek refugees arrived in Greece.

In 1924, the monarchy was abolished via a referendum and a Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed. Though, a decade later, the monarchy was restored once again in 1935. A coup occurred in 1936 which installed fascist elements into the government. Though it was primarily fascist, Greece was still friendly to the Allied powers and not aligned with the Axis.

German war flag being raised in Athens

On 28 October 1940 Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but the Greek government refused. As a result, the Greco-Italian War followed and effectively saw Greece enter WWII on the side of the Allies.

Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the Allies their first victory over Axis forces on land. The country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched German forces during the Battle of Greece (Wikipedia covers it extensively here). The German occupiers nevertheless met serious challenges from the Greek Resistance. Over 100,000 civilians died from starvation during the winter of 1941–42, and the great majority of Greek Jews were deported to Nazi extermination camps By the time the war was over, over 400,000 Greeks perished (the vast majority being civilians).

After the war was over, a power vacuum emerged. The Communist party (backed by Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria) wanted to rule over Greece but they were met with opposition from the 'democratic government' (backed by UK and USA). A brutal three-year civil war occurred between 1946 to 1949. Greece was one of the first theaters of the Cold War.

This distrust and tension between the two sides lasted for more than three decades and caused political polarisation. In 1965, after the Greek King dismissed the government, a coup deposed the King and ushered in a military junta. The brutal suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising on 17 November 1973 sent shock-waves through the regime, and a counter-coup occurred. On 20 July 1974, as Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus, the military junta regime collapsed.

Present-day Cyprus. Nicosia remains the only divided capital in the world

 On 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus .The first multiparty elections since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republican constitution was promulgated on 11 June 1975 following a referendum which chose to not restore the monarchy.

Relations with neighbouring Turkey improved when successive earthquakes hit both nations in 1999,ushering in greater cooperation and leading to the lifting of the Greek veto against Turkey's bid for EU membership. In 1981, Greece joined the European Communities (a precursor to the European Union) and an economic boom followed.

Poster's comment:
That concludes the post. I felt that a country, with such a rich history, should have more positive news. I honestly wish for the best for Greece. I hope that you, dear reader, would appreciate what Greece has been through throughout its most turbulent years and I am confident, that one day, Greece will rise up again.

The Great Franco-Russian Rivalry in Jerusalem

Jerusalem was always thought of as a sacred place, after all, it was a holy city to the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Being the capital of the promised land to the Jews, being the city where Jesus Christ was crucified in and being the city where the Prophet Mohammed ascended to Heaven.

As each of the religions developed into sects, the primary focus in this article is that of Christianity.

France had , throughout the Reformation and beyond, been the vanguard of Roman Catholicism in Europe and had generally seen itself as the protector of Catholic pilgrims to Jerusalem.

In Russia, the princes of Moscovy saw themselves as the heir to the Byzantine Empire when Constantinople fell in 1453. This led to the adoption of the Byzantine double-headed eagle as well as the title 'Caesar' - Tsar .
Throughout Russia's history with the Islamic khanates and Ottomans in the Crimea, the leading Tsars promoted the Russian Empire as a 'Sacred Orthodox crusade '. [1]

Russia had a de facto obsession with Jerusalem; the iconic onion-shaped domes of Russian churches were seen as an attempt to copy such churches of Jerusalem. (In fact, a mini-Jerusalem was built !)To an average Russian, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem meant salvation.

New methods of travel such as railways and steamships simplified the travel to Jerusalem, particularly the Odessa to Jaffa route [2] . A French monk had observed that in a typical year, out of 4,000 Christian pilgrims, only 4 were Catholics, with the rest being of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On the 10th of April 1846 (Good Friday), both the Orthodox and Catholic Easters fell on the same day. Amusingly in Jerusalem, both side raced to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Orthodox won the race. The Catholics, behind them, challenged them. A standoff ensued and the monks engaged in a brawl, using everything from crucifixes, candle sticks and lamps to guns.[3]

By the time Ottoman soldiers intervened, 40 people lay dead. Word of the shooting spread, and outrage followed. Perhaps the first episode of the French-Russian rivalry.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher (note the domes)

The Tsar, Nicholas I, was a great follower of the Jerusalem pilgrimage tradition, Jerusalem was his target and for many years, he had tried to use his charm to persuade Britain to partition the Ottoman Empire, (infamously) nicknaming it "the sick man of Europe", hoping to obtain the Orthodox rich provinces in the Balkans and the main prize; Jerusalem.

Obviously, that did not work. In fact, Queen Victoria shrewdly commented[4]:

"Very clever, I don't think him. His mind is an uncivilized one"

By this time, Russian uniforms (of princes and generals) were a common sight in Jerusalem, as well as the sheepskins and smocks of thousands of peasant pilgrims. The British consul in Jerusalem even warned London that:

"the Russians could, in one night during Easter, arm 10,000 pilgrims within the walls of Jerusalem and seize the city"

Meanwhile, the French pursued their own mission to protect the Catholics. By now, it had become evident of the tension around Jerusalem.

On the 31st of October, 1847, the silver star on the marble floor on the Grotto of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, was stolen (the star was previously donated by the French in the 18th century). It was widely believed that the Greeks (being orthodox) stole it. The French claimed the right to replace the star and to repair the roof of the Church in Jerusalem; the Russians claimed it was their right and both had cited 18th century treaties.[5]

The sultan, battered by pressure from both sides, decreed in 1852, confirmed the Orthodox paramountcy in the Church with concessions to the Catholics. The French were outraged and (after citing several agreements dating back to Napoleon's invasion, an alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent, the French Crusader Kings of Jerusalem and even to Charlemange! [5]), the Sultan granted paramountcy to the Catholics.

Nicholas was deeply outraged at this act and demanded the restoration of Orthodox rights in Jerusalem as well as an 'alliance' that would've effectively reduced the Ottoman Empire to a Russian protectorate!

When the Sultan refused, Nicholas invaded Ottoman territories in Romania and believing that he had Britain's approval in it. He was gravely mistaken.

Britain and France threatened war, Nicholas stubbornly refused citing it as a war dedicated to the Christian cause.

On the 28th of March, 1853, the French and British declared war on Russia.

The great Franco-Russo rivalry finally manifested into the Crimean War.


References:
1. Simon Sebag Montefiore's Jerusalem: A Biography (page 339)
2. Montefiore (page 339)
3. Montefiore (page 340)
4. W. Bruce Lincoln's Nicholas I (page 223)
5. Montefiore (page 340)