The Historical Context
The eleven-year Greek War of Independence (1821-1832) ended with the Great Powers signing the Protocol of Independence (1830) and the last victorious battle being fought in Petra of Boeotia (1832) under the command of D. Ypsilantis, G. Diovouniotis and N. Kriezotis. A large part of Greece was now free. Τhe Naval Battle of Navarino (1827), Ibrahim's unsuccessful invasion of the Peloponnese (1826) and a series of hundreds of victories and failures on the battlefields were proceeded.
However, the Greek Revolution is not only full of glorious moments and heroic feats but is also full of betrayals, assassinations, personal intrigues and passions, bloody civil wars and mismanagement that almost blew the whole venture up. Along with the first victories on the battlefield (Battle of Valtetsi, Battle of Dervenakia, conquer of cities such as Tripolitsa and many others) came discord. Former fellow combatants found themselves fighting each other, with the Government unable to control the chaotic situation. The civil war (1823-1825) was an atrocious period of the Greek Revolution with needless bloodshed, imprisonment of combatants, loans from England not being used for the purposes of the war and a general undermining of operations against the enemy.
The Philhellenic Movement and its characteristics
In an atmosphere of cooperation and polarization, heroism and pettiness, personalities who gave their lives or survived the war to see Greece free came to the surface. Greeks, Slavic-speakers and Albanian-speakers fought for a common goal: tο free themselves from the Ottoman rule. Many citizens from foreign nations also collaborated with fierce warriors and warless politicians. They were the so-called Philhellenes, people of various social classes who came to Greece voluntarily or were sent by their governments to participate in the War of Independence.
The wave of support for the Greek revolutionaries was constantly increasing during the 19th century. Two factors contributed to this: on the one hand, since the Renaissance, the peoples of Western Europe had culturally identified themselves with the ancient Greco-Roman past, being morally prepared to defend the descendants of the ancient Greeks who were fighting against the "barbaric" Ottomans. The Romantic Movement (18th-19th century) also played an important role in idealizing nations fighting for freedom. On the other hand, the extreme retaliations of the Turks with unspeakable massacres (Chios, Psara, Samothraki, Kasos, etc.) in response to the military achievements of the Greeks, sensitized an appreciable part of the European public opinion.
The countries that provided support to the revolutionary Greece were the German States, Britain, France, Switzerland, the United States of America, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, even and British India. In all these countries, with greater or lesser intensity, money, medicine, and food were collected, articles in favor of the Greeks were published in the newspapers, while at the same time, hundreds of volunteer warriors, who wished to fight on the side of the revolutionaries traveled to Marseilles and Livorno and, from there, passed in the Peloponnese, Roumeli and Hydra.
The Participants of the Philhellenic Movement
Among the Philhellenes were many poets and writers who, with their fiery texts, aroused Philhellenic feelings to the European nations. Among them, G. F. von Goethe, B. Hugo, Al. Pushkin, P. Shelley, Lord Byron, Chateaubriand and many others. Several painters depicted the struggle of the Greeks with daily events and portraits of the revolutionaries. The best known was the Eugène Delcroix who depicted, among other events, the Massacre of Chios in a heartbreaking way. Adam Friedel and Louis Dupre traveled to Greece, met several of the fighters and left, as a legacy, their portraits and scenes from of that period.
The Philhellenic volunteers and soldiers collaborated with the chieftains on the battlefields as well as with the politicians in the assemblies. Several were working for the Greek interest while others were trying to reconcile their decisions with the interest of their country. Many of those who arrived in warring Greece were military commanders on land or sea. Some as emissaries of their governments and others as volunteers occupied positions of military officers and led many operations, offering with their knowledge many services to the irregular army of the revolutionaries. Thomas Gordon and Charles Fabvier came to Greece as volunteers, being very beloved among the revolutionaries. Especially Fabvier is said to have dressed up with Greek clothes and therefore it was difficult to distinguish him among the warriors. Thomas A. Cochrane and Richard Church took up key positions organizing the defense and attacks of the irregulars. The decisive Naval Battle of Navarino led by Edward Codrington, Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny and Lodewijk van Heiden stroke decisively the Ottoman fleet and gave a new life into the Greek War of Independence.
Also famous are the dialogues of various fighters with foreign commanders and Philhellenes such as that of Kolokotronis with the English officer William Hamilton when he asked him to capitulate with the Ottomans receiving the answer: "that will never happen, freedom or death". Or the words of the general Makirgiannis when Comte de Rigny warned him about the numerical superiority of Ibrahim before the battle of Myloi (1825): "we may be few and weak, but we have the Almighty God with us and we will win".
There were numerous Philhellenes who fell on the battlefields or perished from hard conditions and diseases. It is estimated that four hundred Philhellenes lost their lives in Greece fighting bravely in different battles or sieges. Among them Santorre di Santa Rosa who was killed at Sphakteria, the fervent Philhellene Frank Abney Hastings who was wounded and died at Messolonghi, Joseph Balestra who was killed at Rethymno, Karl von Normann- Ehrenfels who died at the battle of Peta (where almost all the young Philhellenes lost their lives) and Adolf von Lybtow who fell in the besieged Messolonghi. The most famous of all was Lord Byron who died on the side of the Greek revolutionaries in Messolonghi, aged only 36.
Byron's death triggered a wave of philhellenic reactions in Europe as well as in the United States. There were not a few American Philhellenes who arrived in Greece such as George Jarvis who died in 1828 or doctor Samuel Gridley Howe who had a first-hand experience of those events and left a valuable memoir entitled Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution.
However, the Philhellenic Movement was not only limited to the Christian States of Europe or America but was also expressed by individual Muslim fighters; a brilliant example is Mustafa Geka who fought alongside the chieftains Od. Androutsos, I. Gouras and G. Karaiskakis and was wounded twice on the battlefield. In general, the contribution of the Arvanite (Albanian) chieftains to the development of the war was decisive, with the bodies of the fighters being composed of Greeks, Arvanites and Slavs dedicated to the idea of liberation.
The list of Philhellenes who either lived the experience of the Greek Revolution up close or encouraged philhellenic sentiments from far away is long. It is worth mentioning a few more people who contributed to the War of Independence: the humanist philologist Friedrich Thiersch, the historian George Finlay, the banker Jean-Gabriel Eynard, the soldier Joseph Abbati, the politician Frederick North, the colonel Antonio Figueira d' Almeida, the colonel Friedrich Eduard von Rheineck, the doctor Heinrich Treiber, in whose arms G. Karaiskakis died, and so many others unknown and forgotten.
The historical sources and the personal opinions of the eyewitnesses, concerning the personalities of several Philhellenes differ. Many were accused of suspicious actions in favor of their countries’ interests, of greed, and even of treason. Personal passions and weaknesses were certainly many. However, what is significant in History is the willingness of those who sacrificed their lives, fortunes and comfort in order to stand by a warring nation fighting for liberty.
The Exhibition
This exhibition highlights the persons who, with their philhellenic activity, contributed the most to the Greek War of Independence. Politicians, soldiers, artists, scholars and benefactors are presented via (a number of) documents. All these people stood by the famous and unknown fighters and chieftains who carried out successfully the long and bloodstained struggle for freedom. Let’s meet the Philhellenes of 1821.
