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| 2. Greece |
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| KINGS OF GREECE: DANISH LINE (1863-) |
| The Peloponnesus offered favorable conditions for a revolution by 1821: the Greeks lived under considerable autonomy under their own church primates, the control of the countryside was more Greek than Ottoman, there was a large concentration of the military in the area, and it was possible to maintain close contact with the islands. Growing trade gave Greek merchants, particularly on the islands, contact with French revolutionary ideas, including nationalism. The time was right in 1821 as the Ottomans concentrated their activities on reining in the disobedient Muhammad Ali Pasha (See 1805–48). The independence of numerous local governments caused problems for the revolution, however, making unified action difficult. | 1 |
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| 1821–31 |
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| Greek War of Independence. This war resulted directly from growing prosperity of the Greeks in the later 18th century (Black Sea grain trade), the cultural renaissance (Korais, Rhigas), the encouragement of Russia (Catherine's Greek Scheme), revolt of 1769–76, and the influence of the French Revolution and the intrigues of Napoleon. A secret revolutionary society, the Philiké Hetairia, was founded at Odessa in 1814 and was in close touch with the Russian government (Count Giovanni Capo d'Istria, close friend of Tsar Alexander I). At the head of the movement was Alexander Ypsilanti, member of a powerful Greek phanariot family from Moldavia and an officer in the Russian army. | 2 |
| The new Greek state included none of the large Greek commercial centers, all of which remained in the Ottoman Empire, and embraced only three-quarters of the empire's 2 million Greeks. The existence of such a large diaspora outside its borders dictated Greece's foreign policy throughout the century, as its leaders strove constantly to expand. Economically, Greece suffered chronically from foreign debt. The need for external credit frequently outweighed the need for economic and political reform. The result was a lack of industrialization and high rates of emigration (one-sixth of the population left between 1890 and 1914). | 3 |
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| 1821, Feb |
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| Outbreak of an insurrection in Wallachia against Ottoman-Greek rule. This precipitated action by the Greeks. | 4 |
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| March 6 |
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| Ypsilanti proclaimed the revolt in Moldavia and appealed to the tsar for aid. Tsar Alexander, under Metternich's influence, disavowed him and refused to countenance a revolutionary movement. Ypsilanti lost courage and was defeated by an Ottoman force at Dragashan (June 26). He fled but was captured and imprisoned by the Austrians. | 5 |
| At the same time a more imposing insurrection took place in the Morea, which was joined by some of the more prosperous islands. The Ottomans, a small minority, were ruthlessly slaughtered, and the movement spread rapidly to the rest of Greece. The Ottomans retaliated by hanging the Greek patriarch and massacring Greeks in Constantinople. | 6 |
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| July 27 |
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| Russian ultimatum to the Ottomans, demanding restoration of Christian churches, protection of the Christian religion, and so on. The Ottomans rejected this, and relations were severed. War was prevented only through the efforts of Metternich and Castlereagh, who reminded the tsar of the dangers of supporting revolution. | 7 |
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| Oct. 5 |
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| The Greeks took Tripolitsa, the main Ottoman fortress in the Morea. Massacre of 10,000 Ottomans. | 8 |
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