Eva-Redi
zizani with a twist
Reged: Wed
Posts: 1186
Loc: Adelaide, South Australia
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Melbourne's 'Greek Independence Day Parade' - 2006
(Presented by: The Pan Maniot Youth Union of Australia)
Date: 19/03/2006
Event Venue: Shrine Of Rememberance, Melbourne
The Greek commemorative march, held annually towards the end of march, has nostalgic significance for the Greek Community. It commemorates events that occurred back in 1821, where the Greek people began the Revolution against the Ottoman Occupying forces, and ultimately re-gained freedom and independence for Greece on the 25th of March, 1821.
Every year the Greek Community of Melbourne gathers together across from the Art Gallery in Melbourne, and begins the march toward the Shrine of Remembrance.
(http://www.mani.org.au/events2.asp)
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Background/History > Greek War of Independence - 1821 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_War_of_Independence)
The Ottoman Empire had ruled all of Greece, with the exception of the Ionian islands since its conquest of the Byzantine Empire over the course of the 14th and 15th centuries The had ruled all of Greece, with the exception of the since its conquest of the over the course of the and centuries. But in the 18th and 19th century, as revolutionary nationalism grew across Europe (due, in part, to the influence of the French Revolution), and the power of the Ottoman Empire declined, Greek nationalism began to assert itself and drew support from Western European "philhellenes".
In 1814, Greek nationalists formed a secret organization called the Friendly Society (Filiki Eteria) in Odessa. With the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in Britain and the United States, the aid of sympathizers in Western Europe and covert assistance from Russia, they planned a rebellion. John Capodistria, an official from the Ionian Islands who had become the Russian Foreign Minister, was secured as the leader of the planned revolt. The start of the uprising can be set on March 6 when Alexander Ypsilanti accompanied by several other Greek officers crossed the river Prut in Romania, or on March 23 when rebels took control of Kalamata in Peloponnese. Simultaneous risings were planned across Greece, including in Macedonia, Crete and Cyprus.
The Revolution initially broke in the Peloponnese and Central Greece and quickly spread across the whole Aegean to Crete and Cyprus. In January 1822 the 1st National Assembly at Epidauros declared the independence of the Greek Nation and consolidated their position with remarkable victories on land and sea until 1823 when attempts by the revolutionaries to assert control beyond the Peloponnese ended in a stalemate.
Several massacres of the Turkish populations of the Peloponnese made the Ottomans retaliate violently in other parts of Greece, and uprisings were brutally suppressed by the Ottoman government, massacring the Greek population of Chios and other towns. These attacks, however, drew sympathy for the Greek cause in western Europe - although the British and French governments suspected that the uprising was a Russian plot to seize Greece and possibly Constantinople from the Ottomans. The Greeks were unable to establish a coherent government in the areas they controlled, and soon fell to fighting among themselves. Inconclusive fighting between Greeks and Ottomans continued until 1825, when the Sultan asked for help from his most powerful vassal, Egypt.
Egypt was then ruled by the Albanian Mehemet Ali Pasha who was eager to test his newly modernized armed forces. The Ottoman Sultan also promised Ali concessions in Syria if Egypt participated. The Egyptian force, under the command of Ali's son Ibrahim, was successful and quickly gained dominance of the seas and Aegean islands through the navy. Ibrahim was also successful in the Peloponnese, where he managed to recapture Tripolis, the administrative center of the area.
In Europe, the Greek revolt aroused widespread sympathy. Greece was viewed as the cradle of western civilization, and it was especially lauded by the spirit of romanticism that was current at the time. The sight of a Christian nation attempting to cast off the rule of a Muslim Empire also appealed to the western European public.
One of those who heard the call was the poet Lord Byron who spent time in Albania and Greece, organising funds and supplies, but died from fever at Messolonghi in 1824. Byron's death did even more to augment European sympathy for the Greek cause. This eventually led the western powers to intervene directly.
Foreign Intervention:
On 20 October 1827 the British, Russian and French fleets, on the initiative of local commanders but with the tacit approval of their governments, attacked and destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Navarino (Πύλος). This was the decisive moment in the war of independence, although the British Admiral Edward Codrington ruined his career (see Great Naval Blunders) since he wasn't ordered to achieve such a victory or destroy completely the Turko/Egyptian fleet. In October 1828, the Greeks regrouped and formed a new government under Ioannis Kapodistrias (Καποδíστριας). They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible, including Athens and Thebes, before the western powers impose a ceasefire. The Great Powers, in the London Conference of 1832 determined that the new Greek state would be a monarchy and invited Otto, the second son of the Bavarian King Ludwig I to be King of Greece, thus, Greece was finally recognised as a sovereign state. This state of affairs and an agreed border was formally recognized by the Turks and the European powers with the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832.
The new state, however, contained fewer than one third of the Greek inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire and for much of the next century the Greek state was to seek the liberation of the "unredeemed" Greeks of the Ottoman Empire.
The Movement for Independence:
The reasons why the Greeks were the first to break away from the multi-ethnic, multi-religious Ottoman Empire and secure recognition as a sovereign power are several. The fact that the Ottoman Empire was in manifest decline made such a revolt feasible. In a number of ways Greeks enjoyed a privileged position in the Ottoman state. They controlled the affairs of the Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch, based in Constantinople, and the higher clergy were always Greek. From the 18th century onwards Phanariot Greek notables (Turkish-appointed Greek administrators from the Phanar district of Constantinople) played an influential role in the governance of the Ottoman Empire.
A strong maritime tradition in the islands of the Aegean together with the emergence in the 18th century of an influential merchant class generated the wealth necessary to found schools and libraries and to pay for young Greeks to study in the universities of Western Europe. Here they came into contact with the radical ideas of the European Enlightenment and the French Revolution.Rigas Velestinlis (Pheraios), aimed to overthrow Ottoman rule in an armed uprising, although Rigas was killed by the Turks before he could put his ideas into practice. In 1814 three young Greeks, much influenced by the martyrdom of Rigas, founded the Filiki Eteria, the secret "Friendly Society" which laid the organizational groundwork for the revolt. The society was founded in Odessa, an important centre of the Greek mercantile diaspora. The Greeks' success marked the beginning of the gradual break-up of the Ottoman Empire, Moreover, the other peoples of the Balkan peninsula were to follow the Greek example in seeking their freedom from Ottoman rule.
Major Greek figures
John Capodistria
Theodoros Kolokotronis
Georgios Karaiskakis
Petros Mavromichalis
Prince Alexander Mavrocordato
Athanasios Diakos
Markos Botsaris
(Painting of a Greek Warrior Defending Hellas - Benaki Museum - Athens)
 
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Βρήκες ακατάλληλη στιγμή να με ανταμώσεις. Eγώ δεν έχω τίποτα, πάλι σου το θυμίζω. Mια καρδια μου έμεινε ♥ παρ’την, σου την χαρίζω. Δεν έχω όνειρο, ούτε φτερά για να πετάξω ...
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