The Greek War of Independence The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation

by Brewer, David

• ISBN13: 9781585673957
• ISBN10: 1585673951
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-25
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Summary

The Greek War of Independence is a masterful work -- the first comprehensive study in thirty years -- of one of the most heroic and bloody struggles for independence any people has ever waged. This was the revolution of the Romantic Age, inspiring painters, poets, and patriots the world over, fired as much by Lord Byron's ringing words and Delacroix's brilliant paintings as by Greece's seemingly hopeless plight. For nearly four hundred years the Ottoman Turks governed Greece, subjecting the country to crushing and arbitrary tax burdens and its peasants to serfdom; the glories of the ancient past were gone, and under Turkish rule Greece was poor and backward. But inspired by the examples of the American and French revolutions, Napoleon's victories, and the Latin American wars of liberation, the Greek people rose up against their Turkish masters in 1821. For twelve brutal years -- years of terrible violence and bloody massacre -- the Greeks and the foreign volunteers who flocked to their cause fought until independence was won in 1833. The Greek War of Independence is certain to be the standard history for many years to come. David Brewer has captured the period brilliantly, from the ground up -- the heroes and villains, the victories, and the tragic defeats. Greece was, as Byron said, a land with a special destiny: "Freedom's home, or Glory's grave." Book jacket.

Author Biography

David Brewer was a Classics scholar at Oxford and then studied modern Greek. The Greek War of Independence, the result of a lifelong interest in the history and culture of Greece, is his first book.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
A note on pronunciation	xiii
A note on currencies and prices	xiv
Maps	xv
Revolution and the Great Church	1	(7)
Resentment and Regeneration	8	(9)
Two Prophets of Revolution	17	(9)
The Philiki Eteria	26	(10)
Ali Pasha	36	(13)
Revolt along the Danube	49	(13)
Doubts and Deliberations in the South	62	(8)
The Storm Breaks	70	(9)
The Land War	79	(10)
The War at Sea	89	(11)
The Turkish Reaction	100	(11)
The Capture of Tripolis	111	(13)
Forming a Government	124	(11)
The Eyes of the World on Greece	135	(10)
The Philhellenes in Action	145	(9)
Chios	154	(14)
The Expedition of Dramali	168	(12)
The Greeks Divided	180	(14)
Byron's Road to Greece	194	(10)
Byron at Mesolongi	204	(16)
Gold from London	220	(6)
Civil War in Greece	226	(8)
Ibrahim in the Peloponnese	234	(13)
The Involvement of the Powers	247	(11)
Odysseus and Trelawny	258	(11)
The Fall of Mesolongi	269	(20)
The Second English Loan	289	(8)
Desperate Remedies	297	(9)
Athens, the Last Ottoman Success	306	(10)
The Treaty of London and the Admirals' Instructions	316	(9)
Navarino	325	(12)
Kapodhistrias, a Border and a King	337	(15)
Notes	352	(19)
Select Bibliography	371	(6)
Index	377