By Catherine Tsounis
“Fire and Axe to those who submit!”- Theodore Kolokotronis (during a crucial phase of the Greek Revolution, when Ibrahim Pasha invaded the Morea)
Almost every generation of Greeks after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 had revolted, always unsuccessfully, against their Turkish masters. The revolution of 1821 ended in victory. The American, English, French, German, Danish, Swiss, and Italian Phil-Hellenes of all backgrounds fought and died in Greece. Lord Byron made the difference. Russia was always supporting their Orthodox compatriots throughout the occupation. Ibrahim Pasha, the Islamized Greek, devastated, committed genocide and slavery in the entire Morea (Peloponnese). The infighting among Greek leaders almost doomed the Greek nation.
Sir Edward Codrington, Admiral of the English fleet in the Mediterranean, misconstrued his orders in favor of the Greeks. He precipitated the Battle of Navarino, making Greek freedom and independence irrevocable. Together with the Greeks, the Philhellenes had won their war against Turkish tyranny.1
Many factors led inevitably to the epic of the struggle for independence – to a violent conflict that soaked the Greek world with blood. International public opinion was reminded that in this same land, in the past, human dignity had been pitched in battle against barbarity, prepared to pay the heavy price of freedom against the prospect of subjugation.2
European governments seeing their interest in jeopardy, changed their policy of disengagement. The Holy Alliance (England, France, Austria, and Russia) broke up. In late 1825, Nicholas I, the new czar of Russia, drew Britain and France into a mediating solution to the Greek question. In April 1827, Ioannis Capodistria was elected governor of Greece for a 7-year term. This signaled an attempt at more effective organization on a political level on the part of the Greeks. They committed themselves to true intervention in the “Greek Question” on the part of the Greeks. The same year, the London Treaty was signed on July 6, 1827, between Russia, Britain, and France. They committed themselves to true intervention in the “Greek Question”.3
The combined fleets of the Three Powers defeated the combined navies of Turkey and Egypt. Three fourths of the Turkish and Egyptian ships had been sunk or set on fire by their own crews to avoid capture. No European ships were sunk. It was the last significant battle between traditional wooden sailing ships. The Turks defeat was so complete that within 10 months they began to evacuate Greece, leading to is freedom.4
‘The Battle of Navarino’ is shown in Greek textbooks, newspapers, and websites. Ivan Aivazovsky painted the decisive battle that gave Greece its Independence. He was a man educated in Byzantine history that combined this knowledge as an Armenian-Russian painter of the Late Russian empire,”. He was the greatest Russian artist and one of the greatest marine artists in history, who promoted the Greek revolution in his paintings. Scholars told me this Russian drew paintings showing Greek naval battles. I saw this oil painting in a book by the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle. He was awarded numerous medals by the Greek government.”
Ivan Aivazovsky, a man educated in Byzantine history that combined this knowledge as an Armenian-Russian painter of the Late Russian empire,” explained this writer. “Two years ago, in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, I saw paintings of the sea and Constantinople of an artist with a name beginning with ai, a Byzantine root. When I came back to the United States, I discovered he was the greatest marine artist in history, who promoted the Greek revolution in his paintings. He was baptized Hovhannes Aivazian of an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in the Crimea. His brother was the Armenian Catholic bishop, Gabriel Aivazian.”
Ivan Aivazovsky: Remembering Armenia and the Eastern Roman Byzantine Heritage” PowerPoint program was presented by Catherine Tsounis on Wednesday, April 24th, 2018at 1:15 p.m. to a filled church auditorium of the Women’s Guild of the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs in Bayside, New York. On the 200th Anniversary of the Greek Revolution we must remember “The battle of Navarino.
References:
1. Catafygiotu-Topping, Eva. “General William Henry Harrison, Philhellene, Pilgrimage, March 1976, pp.10-11.
2. Delivorrias, Angelo. “Introductory Note- Sketching An Epic”, Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), FROM BYZANTIUM TO MODERN GREECE, New York, Onassis Cultural Center, p. 15.
4. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Navarino
links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Egyptian_invasion_of_Mani- their reply to surrender: From the few Greeks of Mani and the rest of Greeks who live there to Ibrahim Pasha. We received your letter in which you try to frighten us saying that if we don’t surrender, you’ll kill the Maniots and plunder Mani. That’s why we are waiting for you and your army. We, the inhabitants of Mani, sign and wait for you.[1
