Randwick City Celebrates 2 Hundredth Anniversary Of Greek Independence Day
The celebration of Greek Independence Day on March 25th draws inspiration from one of the holiest days for Greek Orthodox Christians, the Annunciation of the Theotokos. This is the day that the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a child. Bishop Germanos of Patras seized the chance by elevating the banner of revolution, in an act of defiance towards the Turks and marked the beginning of the War of Independence. These freedom fighters, or klephts as they were called, of Greece sacrificed a lot for their nation. Kolokotronis, Nikitara, Karaiskakis, Bouboulina, and Mpotsaris are a number of the heroes of the revolution. The biggest parade takes place in Athens, where marching bands, military autos, and squadrons from the Hellenic Armed Forces draw hundreds of spectators, including the president.
Following news that the mixed Ottoman–Egyptian fleet was going to assault the island of Hydra, the allied European fleets intercepted the Ottoman navy at Navarino. After a tense week-long standoff, the Battle of Navarino led to the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. The Ottoman garrisons within the Peloponnese surrendered, and the Greek revolutionaries proceeded to retake central Greece. Russia invaded the Ottoman Empire and forced it to just accept Greek autonomy within the Treaty of Adrianople .
Ottoman Rule
Deeply influenced by the French Revolution, Rigas was the primary to conceive and organize a complete nationwide motion aiming at the liberation of all Balkan nations—together with 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 officers and transported to Belgrade along with his co-conspirators. All of them had been strangled to dying in June 1798 and their our bodies have been dumped within 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 towards Ottoman rule.
Throughout the seventeenth century there was nice resistance to the Ottomans within the Morea and elsewhere, as evidenced by revolts led by Dionysius the Philosopher. After the Morean War, the Peloponnese got here underneath Venetian rule for 30 years, and remained in turmoil from then on and throughout the 17th century, because the bands of klephts multiplied. Tensions quickly developed amongst completely different Greek factions, main to 2 consecutive civil wars.
When Is Greek Independence Day?
All true and faithful Hellenes living of their occupied homeland reacted to the Turkish oppression and resisted the attempts to deprive the Greeks of their heritage, their freedom and their faith. During the darkish years of the Ottoman occupation, hundreds have been killed and tortured for attending church or educating their kids tradition, historical past and language. It was the Greek Orthodox Church that helped to retain their very identification by the institution of Crypha Scholia . In addition to the Secret Society of Friends and the Sacred Band prominent world figures including Lord Byron of England, Daniel Webster and Dr. Samuel Gridly Howe of the United States raised the curiosity level among Europeans and Americans.
The insurrection in Chalkidiki was, from then on, confined to the peninsulas of Mount Athos and Kassandra. On 30 October 1821, an offensive led by the brand new Pasha of Thessaloniki, Muhammad Emin Abulubud, resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory at Kassandra. The survivors, among them Pappas, were rescued by the Psarian fleet, which took them primarily to Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros. Despite the Turkish reaction the revolt endured, and thus Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) was pressured to seek assistance from Muhammad Ali of Egypt, attempting to lure him with the pashalik of Crete. On 28 May 1822, an Egyptian fleet of 30 warships and eighty four transports arrived at Souda Bay led by Hasan Pasha, Muhammad Ali’s son-in-law; he was tasked with ending the revolt and did not waste any time in the burning of villages all through Crete.
Ibrahim agreed to write to the Sultan to see if he would change his orders, however he also complained concerning the Greeks with the ability to proceed their attacks. Codrington promised that he would stop the Greeks and Philhellenes from attacking the Turks and Egyptians. After doing this, he disbanded most of his fleet, which returned to Malta, whereas the French went to the Aegean. This influence was bolstered by the issuing of two loans that the Greeks managed to conclude with British fund-holders in 1824 and 1825. These loans, which, in impact, made the City of London the financier of the revolution, impressed the creation of the “British” political celebration in Greece, whose opinion was that the revolution could solely end in success with the assistance of Britain. In March 1823, Canning declared that “when a whole nation revolts in opposition to its conqueror, the nation can’t be thought-about as piratical however as a nation in a state of warfare”.
Outside Greece
Since the period of Peter the Great, Russia envisioned a Christian battle against the Turks under his management. By the time of the War of Independence highly effective armatoloi could be traced in Rumeli, Thessaly, Epirus and southern Macedonia. To the revolutionary chief and writer Yannis Makriyannis, klephts and armatoloi—being the one out there main military pressure on the aspect of the Greeks—played such a vital position in the Greek revolution that he referred to them as the “yeast of liberty”.