Theodoros Kolokotronis and the Greek Revolution: From Civil Strife to Political Maturity
In the battles fought in the spring of 1824, the armed forces of the Kranidi government, led by Londos and Zaïmis, successfully confronted the forces of Kolokotronis and imposed the dominance of the islanders and the leading notables who supported the loans. The surrender of Nafplio, which was in the hands of Panos Kolokotronis, to the so-called “governmentals” in late May, in exchange for part of the foreign loan, initially seemed as if it would ease tensions. However, this did not happen. A new crisis now emerged from discontent within the government camp itself.
The administration was controlled by the Kountouriotis family, Kolettis and Mavrokordatos, who had access to money and troops and appeared to be recognized, even unofficially, as the legitimate government. Many Peloponnesian notables found themselves sidelined. Their reaction was to ally themselves with Kolokotronis, the only leading Peloponnesian who could still mobilize and command a significant number of armed men.
The troops that invaded the Morea on behalf of the central government soon defeated the Peloponnesians, firmly establishing the dominance of Kountouriotis and his allies. In these clashes the son of Kolokotronis, Panos, was killed. The defeated leaders were imprisoned in Hydra – among them Kolokotronis and Deligiannis – or fled to other regions, while the Roumeliot armed bands engaged in looting and destruction in several Peloponnesian provinces.
After the end of this second civil conflict, the government of Kountouriotis appeared to have political control over the situation in revolutionary Greece and to be recognized as the legitimate national administration. The alliance of the Kountouriotis family with Kolettis and Mavrokordatos, which controlled both funds from the first loan and armed forces, succeeded in prevailing over the opposing camp. The firm stance of the central government against the Peloponnesian rebels and the redefinition of authority according to principles of western-type national political organization would characterize the end of the civil war.
In the meantime, Ibrahim, son of the Pasha of Egypt, Mehmet Ali, disembarked strong forces without resistance at Methoni and advanced into the interior of the Peloponnese in January 1825. To confront this new danger, the government appointed the Hydriot naval officer Kyriakos Skourtis as lieutenant-general of the Peloponnese. Ibrahim’s continuous successes forced the government, on 18 May, to release the imprisoned military leaders and entrust Kolokotronis and Petrobey Mavromichalis with the command of the Greek forces.
The return of Kolokotronis to military leadership generated great enthusiasm throughout the Peloponnese, and soon a significant Greek force gathered at the Dervenakia of Liontari to confront the enemy troops. However, Kolokotronis’s slow reaction led to the battle of Trampala, where the Greek forces were unable to withstand the regular Egyptian army. The Greeks scattered after the battle, and Kolokotronis withdrew to Karitena. The military situation in the Peloponnese was now dire, and the presence of Kolokotronis alone could not halt Ibrahim’s advance.
Ibrahim captured Tripolitsa without resistance on 11 June. After a failed campaign against Nafplio on 13 June, he returned with his forces to Tripolitsa, from where he continued his successful operations throughout Arcadia and Messenia. On 24 June, the battle of Trikorfa followed, where the Greek forces were defeated once again, despite the bravery they showed against Ibrahim’s superior and better-trained army. Greek morale suffered a severe blow, which became evident on 10 July, when the Greek camp at Vervena dissolved at the mere appearance of Ibrahim’s army.
Facing the danger that the Revolution might be extinguished, its defenders began seriously considering new ways to secure mediation by the European powers – Britain, France and Russia – for the resolution of the Greek question. This effort was undertaken by the three parties that had appeared on the political scene: the English Party, the French Party and the Russian Party, each named after the Great Power to which it was oriented.
A decisive initiative was taken by the Committee of Zakynthos, which drafted a document requesting that Greece be placed under the exclusive protection of Great Britain. This petition, known as the “petition for protection” or “act of submission”, was signed by almost all the leading protagonists of the Revolution. Kolokotronis signed it on 24 or 25 June, and on 20 July he was declared an outlaw by the Legislative Corps. Around the same time, a similar move was attempted by the Francophile group towards the Duke of Nemours. A third petition offered submission to Russia; this, too, appears to have been signed by Kolokotronis, Ypsilantis, Nikitas (Nikitaras) and their supporters.
Theodoros Kolokotronis had fully grasped the magnitude of the danger the Revolution now faced. By adding his signature, he consented to the promotion of the Greek cause through the diplomatic maneuvers of Great Britain, which showed increased activity in the Eastern Mediterranean due to its own interests there. It is clear that he was not a British “agent”. The fact that he signed more than one petition for protection may simply create the impression that he sought to improve his political position within a rapidly shifting landscape.
These diplomatic developments did not immediately put an end to Ibrahim’s continued offensive. While Ibrahim was besieging Messolonghi, Kolokotronis attempted to capture Tripolitsa in order to deprive the enemy of its permanent base of operations in the Peloponnesian hinterland.
On the political level, the Third National Assembly took place under conditions quite different from the previous two. The civil clashes of 1824 had ended, without, however, resolving the structural weaknesses of the administration. Persecutions of the defeated camp continued even after Ibrahim had landed in the Peloponnese. Under these circumstances, preparations for a new National Assembly, which had begun in September 1825, stalled, while rival factions reorganized and a new climate of tension emerged.
The Third Assembly finally convened on 6 April 1826 at Piada, but soon suspended its proceedings due to the fall of Messolonghi. The Kountouriotis government resigned, and a new governing body, the Administrative Committee, was formed to deal with the difficult circumstances.
In the autumn of the same year, attempts were made once again to convene the Assembly, without success. Instead, small-scale civil clashes broke out in Corinthia and Nafplio. Early in 1827 the rival factions convened separate assemblies in Aegina and at Kastri (Hermione). Eventually, the two assemblies merged in Trizina at the end of March 1827, expressing the desire of both sides to reach a common political agreement. The Third National Assembly concluded in early May, making two crucial decisions: the election of Ioannis Kapodistrias as Governor of Greece (2 April 1827) and the appointment of General Church as commander of the land forces and Admiral Cochrane as head of the Greek navy.
From the summer of 1826 onwards, the Greeks began to realize that their enemy was not invincible. The Administrative Committee and Mavrokordatos stressed both Ibrahim’s weaknesses and the Greeks’ inertia in taking military initiative. Nevertheless, they believed that time was starting to work in their favor and that, through continuous guerrilla warfare and the steady attrition of the enemy, they would manage to keep the Revolution alive. The danger of defeat and submission seemed gradually to recede.
Kolokotronis was among the first to understand that he could not confront the Egyptian troops with conventional, pitched battles. He therefore turned decisively to irregular warfare, to the traditional klepht guerrilla tactics.
Ibrahim answered with the policy of proskynéma (submission): he granted pardon to all those who declared their obedience to him. This strategy saw some success in northwestern Peloponnese, but gradually took on alarming proportions due to the exhaustion of the local population.
Kolokotronis was among the first to perceive the danger that this mass submission entailed. He acted vigorously to reverse the situation, gathering around 5,000 men at Kerpini under the command of Gennaios Kolokotronis and Dimitrios Plapoutas, and threatening the “submitted” villages that they would pay the same price in violence and destruction as they had under Ibrahim. Thus, communities and local populations that had recognized Ibrahim’s authority and renounced the Revolution in order to save their lives and property now faced a new threat, coming this time from the Greek government and the armed bands loyal to it.
At the same time, the central authority of the Revolution sought to annul these acts of submission and to reintegrate the “submitted” into its ranks through forgiveness and the granting of official “letters of pardon”, following practices rooted in the traditional political culture of Greek society. In this way, it became clear who had the right to govern the land, who expressed the will of the Greek nation and who was the unique bearer of political legitimacy.
After the arrival of Kapodistrias in Greece on 6 January 1828, Kolokotronis became one of his firmest supporters, despite reservations about some members of the Governor’s entourage. After Kapodistrias’s assassination in 1831, Kolokotronis was appointed a member of the three-man Administrative Committee alongside Augustinos Kapodistrias and Ioannis Kolettis. He was later removed from office when Kapodistrias’s supporters restored full power to Augustinos. Kolokotronis again took part in a new governing committee composed of both Kapodistrian and constitutionalist members until the arrival of King Otto.
Seeking a solution to the problem of fragmented authority, Kolokotronis accepted the election and arrival of Otto as King of Greece. Initial enthusiasm, however, gave way to disagreement over the Regency’s measures to disband the irregular forces. His opposition to Bavarian policies eventually led to his prosecution and imprisonment. Although associated with the Russian Party, he was accused of participating in a conspiracy aimed at abolishing the Regency and entrusting royal power directly to the still-minor Otto.
On 18 September 1833, Theodoros and Gennaios Kolokotronis, Dimitrios Plapoutas, Kitsos Tzavelas and several others – either Kapodistrians or former allies of Kolokotronis – were arrested. On 25 May 1834, Kolokotronis and other leading members of the Russian Party were sentenced to death. However, the stance of the English Party and Prime Minister Alexandros Mavrokordatos, as well as the refusal of two of the five judges – Anastasios Polyzoidis and Georgios Tertsetis – to sign the verdict, brought the Regency to an impasse.
King Otto subsequently commuted the sentences to life imprisonment and, after reaching his majority, granted them a full pardon. Kolokotronis was given the rank of general and appointed to the Council of State. He spent his final years in Athens, at the corner of today’s Kolokotroni and Lekka streets, where he died on 4 February 1843.
Until the very end, the “Old Man of the Morea” retained his mental clarity and vivid memory, as is evident from his memoirs, which he dictated to Georgios Tertsetis. Published in 1851 under the title Narration of Events of the Greek Nation from 1770 to 1836, they remain one of the most valuable sources for the history of the Greek War of Independence.
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