| Cretan revolt of 1897-1898 | |||||||
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| Part of Cretan revolts | |||||||
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 Cretan revolutionaries .svg){kind=small} Kingdom of Greece United Kingdom |
.svg){kind=small} Ottoman Empire | ||||||
The Cretan Revolt of 1897-1898 was an insurrection of the Cretan people against the Ottoman occupation of the island. This insurrection is part of a broader movement of desire for independence of the Cretan people from the Ottoman Empire which has owned the island since the middle of the seventeenth century. This conflict was marked by the end of the Ottoman occupation of the island and the foundation of an autonomous Crete under the authority of Prince George of Greece.
Context Main article: History of Crete.
The conquest of Crete by the Ottoman Empire ended in 1669 with the capture of Candia (present-day Heraklion). Crete then became an Ottoman province. After the independence of Greece in 1821, Crete aspired to a union with Greece and the population revolted several times against the Turkish occupier at the end of the nineteenth century, notably in 1866, 1878 and 1897. In this way, it hopes to draw the attention of the major European powers to the fate of Crete.
The last years of Ottoman occupation
In 1895, the massacre of Armenians in Anatolia shocked international public opinion and forced the great European powers to take an interest in the fate of Crete. On February 3, 1895 (Julian), representatives of the various Cretan provinces (Apokoronas, Kydoniai, Sphakia, Rethymno and Aghios Vasileios) met in Klema, near Chania. They drafted a memorandum which they sent to Greece and the great powers. They called for the appointment of a Christian governor for the island. They also wanted ottoman power to be controlled by the great powers. They actually want to put the island under their protection. On the island, to show its goodwill, the Gate then replaced the governor in office, by a Christian, Alexander Karatheodoris. Cretans of Greek origin are in favour of this appointment, but not those of Turkish origin, and the latter are organised around a pan-Cretan terrorist group. They then multiplied the massacres of Christians in order to force Karatheodoris to resign. In response, Christian groups organized guerrilla warfare and retaliated against Muslims. The Cretan assembly also called for the reinstatement of the clauses of the Halepa Pact of 1878, which were favourable to Christians. Alexander Karatheodoris dissolved the assembly on June 18, 1895.
The Cretan Revolt of 1895
In response, a revolutionary assembly was formed at the instigation of the Consul General of Greece. It meets in Krapi on 10 September. It demanded the declaration of Crete as an autonomous entity, paying an annual tribute to the sultan. This autonomous Crete was to be governed by a Christian governor, appointed for five years, without the sultan having the right to replace him. The rights granted by the Halepa Pact must be restored and some improved. These conditions were deemed unacceptable by Alexander Karatheodoris, who ordered the arrest of the members of the Krapi assembly. On November 27, 1895 (Julian), a first serious confrontation took place at Vryses, near Apokoronas, between Cretan members of the "Transition Committee" and 3,000 men of the Ottoman troops commanded by Tayyar Pasha. The battle lasts all day. The Greeks forced the Turks to retreat after losing 200 men. In the end, the Turkish forces were unable to get their hands on the members of the assembly. Considered ineffective, Alexander Karatheodoris was replaced in March 1896 by Turkhan Pasha. The latter declared a general amnesty, but the revolutionary assembly rejected the idea of interrupting the revolt. The optimism of the Cretan insurgents took on a new dimension with the capture of the Turkish fort of Vámos (4 to 18 May 1896). As for the acts of violence perpetrated by the Turks, they increase tensions between the two communities. On 11 May, murders and looting were perpetrated against the Christians of Chania, before affecting the surrounding countryside and, in particular, the provinces of Kydonia and Kissamos. on June 26, the monks of the monastery of Anopoli were massacred. These events led the great powers to intervene and put pressure on the Ottoman Empire to grant new concessions. In August, Greek volunteers were sent to the island by the Government of Athens. The consuls of the great powers proposed a new constitution to the Christian representatives. This constitution takes up the main demands of the Revolutionary Assembly of Krapi. The main points of this constitution are: the appointment by the sultan, for five years, and with the agreement of the great powers, of a Christian governor; the number of jobs reserved for Christians must be double those reserved for Muslims; the Cretan gendarmerie must be reorganized and directed by European officers; the island is guaranteed full economic and judicial independence under the protection of the great Powers. The revolt died out in August 1896.
Beginning of the revolt of 1897
If the tension subsides for some time, it revives as the Ottoman Empire is slow to implement the constitution. In September 1896, a new governor was appointed, George Verovich Pasha, former governor of the island of Samos. The prosecutor Kriaris was murdered in Chania and threats were made against the Christian community. In mid-January 1897, massacres resumed, the residence of the Bishop of Chania was burned down as well as the Christian neighborhoods. Eleftherios Venizelos, about these fires, is said to have said: "I saw Chania in flames. It was set on fire by the Muslims who thus triggered the great revolt.
Greek and international intervention
While the great powers are trying to prevent the unrest on the island from worsening, the Greek Prime Minister, Theódoros Deligiánnis, is yielding to pressure from the opposition and public opinion by deciding to intervene in Crete. He placed Prince George of Greece at the head of a fleet tasked with preventing Turkish ships from supplying the island. He placed Timoléon Vassos at the head of an army of 1,500 men charged with taking control of the island. This army landed at Kolymbari on February 1 (Julian) / February 16 (Gregorian) 1897 and immediately declared the union of Crete with Greece in an atmosphere of general jubilation. He established his headquarters in Platania Alikianos. On February 19, a group of 600 men, composed of Rebels, Volunteers and Greek soldiers, stormed and captured the Turkish fortress of Voukolias, about ten kilometers from Chania. From this event, the European admirals refused to allow food to be sent to the Greek army until Vassos had decreed a ceasefire. Timoleon Vassos' answer was that he would not enter the four cities where the European fleets were present, but that his intention was to occupy the rest of Crete. Since May 1896, France and the United Kingdom had maintained a naval force in Cretan waters to protect their interests. During 1897, an international expeditionary force was formed, bringing together the squadrons of these two powers, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia and Italy.
Akrotiri
While the Cretans again took up arms, Eleftherios Venizelos organized a camp in the Akrotiri peninsula. It was near Chania that the Assembly of Crete and the provisional government it established settled. It is also in this place near the Bay of Souda that he can enter into talks with the admirals of the European fleets stationed in the bay. Akrotiri's insurgents quickly hoisted the Greek flag and proclaimed the annexation of the island by Greece. They received material aid from Greece, which sent them, on the night of 11 February 1897, 300 volunteers and 800 boxes of ammunition. Greece's barely hidden aid is becoming more and more evident every day. Warships or troop and ammunition transports regularly defy the vigilance of European fleets. On February 12, Prince George of Greece arrived in Chania at the head of a whole flotilla. The next day, the insurgents attacked Chania from the heights of Halepa. British Admiral Harris, suspecting the Greeks of insturing the insurgents, forced Prince George to return to Greece on 13 February. On 21 February, akrotiri camp was the target of the guns of the European fleets. Their exact target is the hill of the Prophet Elijah, the location of the headquarters of Eleftherios Venizelos. The ships in charge of the bombardment were the British cruisers Revenge, Dryad and Harrier, the Russian ship Alexander II, the German Kaiserin Augusta and the Austrian Maria Theresa. Present, the French and Italian ships did not participate in the assault because masked by the previous ones. According to Kerofilas, the purpose of this bombing was to shoot down the Greek flag flying over Akrotiri. On the morning of the 21st, the rebels received a final ultimatum to remove the flag. Venizelos himself replied: "You have cannons. Pull! But our flag will not fall." As the bombs fell on the camp and the flag wavered, a young Cretan threw himself in front of the bombs and raised the banner, provoking the admiration even of the European admirals. The month after the bombardment, the French and British settled in positions opposite Akrotiri, making the blockade even stricter. On 10 March, Venizelos received the French, Italian and British admirals. The latter came up against the will of the Cretans who asked Greece for union.
Change of position of Europeans
Faced with the Cretan problem, the European powers have three solutions: the restoration of Turkish authority, the union of Crete with Greece (a solution favoured by public opinion and the European press) or autonomy. Germany initially proposed to blockade the port of Piraeus, thus forcing the Greek army present in Crete to withdraw, a solution rejected by Great Britain. The idea of autonomy is first formulated by the latter. Autonomy would prevent the annexation of the island by Greece and thus preserve the principle of Turkey's integrity. On March 15, 1897, the European powers sent Greece their proposal for autonomy for the island. The Greek Government, driven by public opinion, categorically rejects this solution. However, on March 20, the powers declared the autonomy of Crete, placed under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire and, with their fleets, blockaded the island from the 21st. European admirals were confronted with the will of the Cretans as early as 22 March, when they learned that the occupants of a Turkish fort in Malaxa were on the verge of starvation after they had found themselves surrounded by the Cretans, despite the white flag hoisted for several days. The admirals sent the insurgents, on the 23rd, a request for withdrawal on pain of bombardment. Faced with a new refusal by the Cretans, the admirals had difficulty, this time, to go on the offensive.
Towards the end of the conflict
On April 17, 1897, the Ottoman Empire officially declared war on Greece. Among akrotiri's volunteers, those from mainland Greece then expressed the wish to return to the country to help their king. On 9 May, Timoléon Vassos also returned to Greece and, a few days later, Greece officially renounced its annexation ambitions. However, on 13 May, Venizelos declared that he and his companions would not lay down their arms until the last Turkish soldier had left the island, and the conflict continued in Crete even after the armistice between Greece and Turkey. On July 10, 1897, in Armeni, Sphakiannakis was elected president of the revolutionary assembly. His plan was to organize a government for the island, headed by a prince of a European royal family, chosen by the European powers and approved by the sultan. In August, Eleftherios Venizelos took the lead of the assembly, now meeting in Acharnes and, in November, the assembly became the Cretan Assembly and no longer revolutionary. Towards the end of 1897, Turkey, in a baroud of honor, decided to send 5,000 men as reinforcements to the island. But it is being blocked in this endeavour by the European powers, which refuse to intervene. But the attitude of the powers did not prevent uncertainty on the part of the Cretans. Thus, between August 1897 and February 1898, 1,500 people fled Crete from Rethymno alone. It was also at the end of 1897 that Russia first proposed the name of George of Greece as governor of Crete. A proposal that has the support of Great Britain and does not meet with opposition on the French side. But Germany and Austria reject this option. It was not until March 1898 that the situation settled down on the side of the powers. On 16th March Germany announced its withdrawal from Cretan affairs, given its lack of interest in the Mediterranean and the lack of favourable response to its proposals. The German government also specified that it would not oppose or approve the choice of Prince George as governor. The next day, the ship Oldenburg left Chania. Germany was imitated by Austria on April 12. Rid of Germany and Austria, it is now easier for other European nations to agree on the future of Crete. They organized themselves into an administrative council and asked for the gathering of Turkish troops in certain points of the island. The admirals in turn ask their respective governments for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island, deeming their presence a source of danger. On 1 July, the administrative council of admirals gave the Cretan Assembly the power to elect an executive committee. On the 28th, a committee of five members was elected, including Eleftherios Venizelos. The seat of government, also chosen by the admirals, is in Halepa, on the outskirts of Chania.
End of Ottoman rule
In September 1898, western admirals chose to collect taxes. On September 3 (Julian) / September 15 (Gregorian), the Turkish governor of Candia refused to accept the collection without having received the sultan's order. After three days of talks, British troops tried to take the governor's premises by force. They are besieged inside, then massacred. The Turkish population then went to the residence of the British vice-consul and set it on fire, killing the diplomat. During this riot, fourteen Britons and 500 Cretans were killed, and many others wounded. Upon the news, Great Britain, followed by the other European countries, issued an ultimatum to Turkey on 17 October 1898. Its troops and citizens must have left Crete within a month.
Autonomy of Crete On 25th November the representatives in Athens of France, Italy, Great Britain and Russia proposed to the King of Greece the appointment of his son George as High Commissioner of Crete. The proposal is for an appointment for three years, during which the prince must pacify the island and provide it with an administration. He had to recognize the sultan's sovereignty over the island and let the Turkish banners float over the fortresses. Each of the four protecting nations grants a loan of one million francs to the new High Commissioner to carry out his task.
Prince George arrived in Crete on 9 December, welcomed by the admirals of the European fleets.
Epilogue
Prince George's government appointed a sixteen-member committee (twelve Christians and four Muslims) to draft a constitution, the first on the island. The Constitution of the Cretan Assembly was adopted on 9 January 1899. Elections were held for 138 Christian deputies and 50 Muslims. From 1898 to 1904, Crete experienced a period of peace. In the spring of 1905, an insurrection broke out against the Cretan government. It was led by Eleftherios Venizelos, who denounced the corruption of Prince George's entourage and the latter's inability to make the great powers accept the idea of annexation of Crete by Greece. Finally, the beginning of the First Balkan War in 1912 opened the doors of the Greek Parliament to Cretan deputies, but did not yet mean formal union. It was not until the Greek victory of 1913 that the union was official.
Sources
- An Index of events in the military history of the greek nation., Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate, Athènes, 1998.
- S. M Chester, Life of Venizelos, with a letter from His Excellency M. Venizelos., Constable, Londres, 1921.
- Teocharis Détorakis, A history of Crete, Heraklion, 1994
- C. Kerofilias, Eleftherios Venizelos, his life and work., John Murray, 1915.
- Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Eleftherios Venizelos : the trials of statesmanship., Institute for Neohellenic Research, National Hellenic Research Fondation, 2006.
- Jean Tulard, Histoire de la Crète, PUF, 1979