Greece History: the Ottomans Period
The Greece Ottomans Period
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Constantinople was renamed Istanbul.
The Ottoman state was a theocracy and its political system was based on hierarchy with at the top, the Sultan, which has the absolute divine rights.
The Ottomans divided the non-Muslim community into “millets”: Armenian, Catholic, Jewish, and Orthodox. The Ottomans gave to the millets a large part of autonomy. The ruler of each millet was the religious leader who was responsible for his subject’s obedience to the Sultan. The head of the Orthodox millet was the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. The patriarch had much power and played an important role to the development of the Greek Orthodox society.
The Ottoman state had, for several reasons, a much decentralised administration. They designed local military leaders, and later the Empire was divided into regions that were governed by “Pashas". Official contact was limited to tax collection and military conscription.
Orthodox priests and Christian primates collected taxes and maintained order but on the other hand kept the Greek language and traditions alive and permitted to keep the national identity.
The Ottoman system discriminated the non-Muslim population by imposing special taxes like the “cizye”, a head tax and tax for freedom.According to Greece’s History, during the Ottoman’s domination, Greeks speakers families moved in many countries: in Romania, Russia, the Hasburg Empire… They monopolized the trade between the Ottoman Empire and the outside world.
These “diaspora” communities also played an important role in the development of a Greek identity. They were influenced by all the modern currents, including the ideology of revolution. Many wealthy diaspora people became wealthy and helped the Greeks by founding schools and other public institutions.
Movements for independence by minorities started to multiply in the beginning of the 19th century.
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On March 25, 1831, after 400 years of Ottoman rule, the modern state of Greece came into existence. The origin of the rebellion is dated to 1814 with the activities of the “Philikí
Etaireía” (Friendly Brotherhood). It was a patriotic conspiracy founded in Odessa (now in Ukraine). The revolt began in March 25 of 1821. Sporadic revolts against the Turkish broke out in the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands by some determined guerrilla fighters. A year later, the rebels gained the Peloponnese and the independence of Greece was declared in January 1822.The Greek cause created a feeling of “philhellenism” from foreigners all over Europe. Many of them also came in Greece to fight and die for the country. The determination of the Greek and the Philhellenes finally won the support of the Great Powers: Russia, Britain and France. The Great power asked to the Turkish Sultan to relent. The Turk refused and the Great Power sent their naval fleets to Navarino. They destroyed the Egyptian fleets that were helping the Turkish force.
A Greco-Turkish arrangement was finally adopted in London which declared Greece an independent monarchical state under the Protection of Britain. But the Great Power was not very generous concerning the borders of the newly built state. For the next century, the
Greek politics focused their efforts into regaining the old Byzantine era and to unify the Greek population scattered around the Mediterranean. Once the War of Independence came to an end, Greece felt into a period of disillusion. The country was very poor, the landowners were asking for their ancient privileges while the peasants wanted a redistribution of the land.
In 1832, the Turkish Sultan finally recognized the Greek Independence and Prince Otto accepted the crown.
Prince Otto was seventeen years old when he arrived at the throne. He was exiled in 1862 for ignoring the Constitution.
Then, the Greeks allowed the installation of the Danish King George I. He ruled over Greece for 50 years and brought stability and a new Constitution in 1864 which specified the monarch’s powers.
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