Chapter 51: Changing of the Guard
The Changing of the Guard outside the Royal Palace (circa 1910)
The resignation of Prime Minister Ioannis Kapodistrias on the 27th of February 1841, came as a surprise to the general populace of Greece. While the Greek economy had been suffering from a sharp downturn, thanks in no small part to the recent war between Egypt and the Ottomans and the disruption to Greek trade that this conflict had caused, conditions in Greece had generally improved under his leadership and it was hoped that they would continue to do so now that the war was over. The extensive land reforms enacted in 1831 were finally bearing fruit as tens of thousands of new small farms now dotted the countryside providing the Greek people with stability and sustenance. Construction of the ambitious Athens to Piraeus Rail Line had finally started and the development of Athens into a modern European capital was well under way. Exciting new industries and opportunities were emerging across Greece and hugely ambitious projects were being planned. Literacy rates were slowly, but steadily improving; piracy and brigandage had been all but eliminated in Greece, and the spread of lethal pandemics had been dramatically curtailed as well under his stewardship. By all accounts this was all Kapodistrias’ doing and yet to those who worked with him day in and day out, it was clear that Kapodistrias was nearing the end of his tether by the start of 1841.
For 14 long years, Ioannis Kapodistrias worked feverously from sunrise to sunset with hardly any time for rest and relaxation in between. The constant worry and stress he endured as a Head of State during a time of war and then later as a Head of Government during a time of rebuilding had taken its toll greatly aging him well beyond his 65 years. His hair, which had been distinctly grey when he first landed in Greece in January 1827, had gone completely white by the Summer of 1832 and his weight, which had been relatively gaunt to begin with, had gotten noticeably lighter every year. While he was by no means on his deathbed or incapable of running the government, it was becoming abundantly clear that his brilliant mind and relentless energy, that had so defined his earlier years had been thoroughly fatigued by the rigors of public office.
Part of the issue behind this decline in health for Kapodistrias was the sizeable cacophony of detractors, political opponents, personal rivals, and foreign adversaries who relentlessly hounded him at every turn. Though he remained immensely popular with the common man and he held the unequivocal support of King Leopold and several prominent members of the Government, his rivals and political opponents were steadfast in their desire to unseat him as his policies directly threatened their power and privileges. Many of the Anti-Kapodistrians, as they came to be called, came from the old landed Primates of the Morea or the ship masters of the islands. Some came from the clergy while others were Constitutionalists who disagreed with Kapodistrias’ politics, regardless of their origins they all came to oppose the Count uniting to form the broader movement against him.
They criticized his spending policies with some arguing that the government wasted too much on needless vanity projects like his railroads and mines, while others argued that he spent too little to aid those who had been left destitute and homeless after the war. Many critiqued his relentless push for modernization and industrialization as a betrayal of their traditional institutions and life style with the dissolution of over 500 monasteries and churches being a particularly heated point of contention. A few even resisted his efforts to centralize the state as well as any effort to curtail their traditional rights and privileges. No matter the issue, it would have seemed that Kapodistrias was bound to receive some level of scrutiny for his efforts regardless of the positive effect most of his policies had on Greece.
By far though his greatest opposition came from Britain which remained obstinate in its opposition to the former Russian Foreign Minister. Believing him to be nothing more than a willing pawn of the Russian Tsar, despite his claims to the contrary, the British Government supplied his politcial opponents with a large degree of financial and material support in an effort to oust him from power lest he turn Greece into a Russian satellite. Most of their efforts were done through the nascent Greek press, which was heavily dominated by Kapodistrias’ opponents. A constant flurry of editorials and publications deriding Kapodistrias as a Russian stooge filled the streets of every major city in Greece, yet surprisingly they had little to no effect on the majority of the Greek people who continued to support him.
The British also organized protests and political rallies against him, and on a few occasions they even encouraged their Greek agents to engage in more forceful acts against Kapodistrias during the later years of the war with the upheaval in late 1830 being one such case. Leopold's acceptance of the Greek Crown, however, would do much to alleviate their concerns of Russian dominance in Greece leading them to cease their more duplicitous efforts to unseat Kapodistrias in a bid to preserve the state’s stability. Despite this change in behavior on their part, the innate distrust of Kapodistrias by the British Government would remain for the remainder of his Premiership.
Kapodistrias didn’t help himself much in this regard either as his penchant for rubbing people the wrong way remained as prevalent as it had ever been during the later years of his Premiership. Nowhere was this more evident than in his own cabinet as he quickly burned through no less than 5 different Foreign Ministers, 4 Ministers of the Army, 3 Ministers of the Navy, 2 Justice Ministers, 3 Internal Affairs Ministers, and 3 Treasury Ministers. Kapodistrias would manage to keep a decent working relationship with his Commerce Minister Andreas Zaimis during their nine years of working together, however, his untimely death in December 1840, would unfortunately deprive the Count of a reliable ally in the government. Moreover, his tendency for flaunting the Legislature had earned him several enemies among the so called Constitutionalist wing of the Anti-Kapodistrians during his earlier years in power and while he eventually learned to cooperate with the House on most matters, he would occasionally work around it on some issues. By far the most problematic issue for Ioannis Kapodistrias were his incredibly unpopular brothers, Viaros and Augustinos who had followed their more accomplished sibling to Greece in 1827.
Both brothers possessed many of Ioannis’ faults, yet few of his talents; they were incredibly arrogant, overbearing, and presumptuous, and while they were certainly talented as soldiers, politicians, lawyers, and diplomats to some degree, they were incredibly prone to interfering in the affairs of others. Following his arrival in Greece, Augustinos was summarily appointed to the Hellenic army of Western Roumeli under the command of the Souliot Markos Botsaris. Augustinos would prove himself to be a relatively competent officer leading the Greeks in the liberation of Antirrio and then later Agrinion, whether this success was his own doing or a result of the general collapse of the Ottoman war effort none can say. However, his primary responsibility was as a quartermaster of sorts, giving him control over the payment, supply, and rationing of the Greek army.
Augustinos would prove himself inadequate for this position as he constantly diverted resources to supposedly more important fronts leaving Botsaris’ force to scrounge by with what they had on hand. Many men would be in arrears for weeks on end and some units lacked even the most basic of weapons with which to fight the Ottomans. This would unfortunately delay Botsaris’ effort to liberate Missolonghi in 1828 by several months. Sadly, this chronic supply shortage would appear once more during the Summer of 1829 when Markos Botsaris made his last push toward the Souli Valley and because of Augustinos' close relationship with Ioannis Kapodistrias there was little he could do about it. With gunpowder in short supply and his men teetering on the edge of mutiny over their lack of pay, Botsaris was unable to reach his ancestral homeland before the end of the war.
Viaros’ short tenure as the Governor General of the Aegean Islands was perhaps even worse as the islanders chafed under his disparaging rule. He diminished the islanders’ traditional autonomy, ignored local officials in favor of government appointed ones, and cracked down on any opposition to his brother’s Governorship. While these initiatives were generally successful in establishing the Central Government’s authority over the willful islands, they were also successful at nearly inciting the islanders to revolt against Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1830, a matter which was only averted by the careful diplomacy of King Leopold and the compromise of Kapodistrias.
Following the end of the war, Viaros would be removed from the Aegean Islands and sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs where he was named Chief of the Royal Gendarmerie. In 1832 he was appointed Internal Affairs Minister following the reassignment of Spyridon Trikoupis to Foreign Affairs Minister and then in 1836, Viaros was appointed Justice Minister following Christodoulos Klonaris’ selection to the Supreme Court. His younger brother Augustinos would similarly leave the Army in 1833 to become Ambassador to Russia, a post which he held for the remainder of Kapodistrias’ Premiership. The reason behind his brothers appointments to important posts likely lay in his innate distrust of the Greek notables who governed Greece before his arrival and in his cynicism, he appointed only those that he could trust to positions of power. But because of the continued prominence of his brothers in the Government, Ioannis Kapodistrias was frequently charged with nepotism and corruption by his many opponents throughout his Premiership. Despite the continued scandals and crises incurred by his brothers, Ioannis would continue to publicly defend them time after time even at great cost to his own political capital. Despite Kapodistrias’ great vigor and incredible talent, even he had his limits and by the start of 1841 he had reached it.
During a public appearance at the grand reopening of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens following an extensive period of renovations and expansions, he collapsed while giving a speech before a crowd of several hundred people. Though it was a minor incident it was enough to shake his own confidence. After fourteen years in charge of the Greek Government, fourteen years of constant criticism and opposition, fourteen years of controversies, scandals, and crises, he knew his time in Office was at an end and on the 27th of February 1841, Ioannis Kapodistrias produced his letter of resignation to King Leopold. His intention had been to serve until the following January when a new Legislature would be ushered in following the completion of the elections in October, but this recent health scare, combined with the fallout over the Cyprus Affair and the management of the ongoing economic downturn had clearly worn him out, necessitating his premature resignation. After a brief, but entirely cordial conversation between the two men, King Leopold reluctantly accepted Ioannis Kapodistrias’ resignation from the Office of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Greece.
Despite officially leaving office, Kapodistrias would remain in Athens to provide insight to the King and the Greek Government from time to time. Freed from the confines and scrutiny of public office, he was reinvigorated to some degree allowing him to pursue other passions like charity, education, and medicine. During this time, he would also take up a position as the Rector of the University of Athens from August 1841 to May 1844 when he finally retired from public life. The final years of his life would be spent writing his memoirs and records of the Greek War for Independence which have provided a vivid, albeit somewhat biased firsthand view of the conflict. Ioannis Kapodistrias would pass away in his sleep on the 9th of October 1848 at the ripe old age of 72 and though he had been despised by some in life and feared by others, by the time of his death there was not a soul in Greece who did not appreciate the tireless and thankless work he did on behalf of his country. When his casket was carried through the streets of Athens towards his final resting place, throngs of people from all walks of life turned out in the pouring rain to see him off one last time. To this day, his grave site at the First Cemetery of Athens is among the most visited sites in the entire city reflecting the great influence and respect this man had and still has in Greece today.
A Monument to Ioannis Kapodistrias, Governor and Prime Minister of Greece
Of all his many accomplishments - of which there are many - his greatest were his efforts to secure the well being of the Greek people. It was his hope that one day every Greek man, woman, and child would not go hungry, that they could enjoy the fruits of their labors, and experience a life free from oppression. His initiative for land reform in 1831 had been in the pursuit of this goal so that the people of Greece would be able to feed themselves and their families, that they would be able to make ends meet, and that they could experience some degree of upward mobility. To aid in that initiative, he gradually developed and redeveloped the education system in Greece first with simple church schoolhouses and then institutes of higher education such as the University of Athens. Though it would take several years, by the end of the 19th Century, literacy rates in Greece would approach 60% - up from 20% at the end of the war - and Greece would once more be recognized as a land of learning. Finally, he encouraged the construction of numerous clinics and hospitals around the countryside, from every seaside town to every mountaintop village, he wanted the people of Greece to have at least some access to basic medical assistance. His most lasting achievement in this regard would be the Kapodistrian School of Medicine at the University of Athens which to this day is considered one of the finest medical institutes in the world.
Kapodistrias’ retirement in February 1841 would leave the Greek Government in a bit of a quandary, however, as there existed no clear candidate to succeed him. By right of the Constitution of 1831, the King maintained the sole prerogative to nominate whichever candidate he chose for the position, provided they could win a majority vote in the House. However, it remained to be seen if any one candidate could actually succeed Ioannis Kapodistrias as Prime Minister given the powerful grip he had held on the country for so long. While his supporters, the so called “Kapodistrians” possessed the largest number of seats in the Vouli at 59 – down from 63 as one “Kapodistrian” had retired in 1839 and another three had resigned in 1840 following the Cyprus Affair - they had only been nominally tied together due to their shared support of Ioannis Kapodistrias. Now with his retirement, it was unclear where many of these men stood regarding his successor as various candidates across all corners of Greek politics presented their cases for the office, chief among them being Ioannis Kolettis, Alexandros Mavrokordatos, Panos Kolokotronis, and Constantine Kanaris.
Of the four main contenders, Ioannis Kolettis had the smallest, but arguably most vocal band of supporters in the Vouli. Following his bruising at the hands of the klepht captain Sotiris Charalamvis in January 1825, Kolettis retreated from the realm of politics for several months while he treated his wounds as well as his wounded pride. During his short time away from the Revolutionary Government, the Epirote doctor reinvented himself as a military man and embarked on a military campaign ostensibly to aid the Greeks of Pelion who were at that time under attack by the Ottoman Serasker Resid Pasha.
[1] The Greek expedition was poorly coordinated however and Kolettis’ skills as a military strategist were found to be incredibly wanting, resulting in an unmitigated disaster on the part of the Greeks and the collapse of the last major pocket of Greek resistance north of Lamia. Rather than reviving his flagging support, the venture only served to humiliate Kolettis even further, leading him to retreat from public life once more. During this second period of self-imposed exile Kolettis turned to writing where he quickly found his mark as a romanticist and nationalist who espoused the dream of a Greater Greece, a belief that would gain a great following among the Greek people in the years that followed the war.
When Kapodistrias first arrived in Greece in January 1827, Kolettis initially positioned himself behind the Count as a firebrand supporter, constantly praising his work in his editorials and theses. For this dogged support, Kolettis was appointed to the Senate in late 1827 and was later made Ambassador to France in 1832. Despite this the pair had a rather mixed relationship as Kolettis’ views routinely clashed with Kapodistrias’ especially on matters of the press, which Kapodistrias was frequently against, and on foreign policy, where Kolettis espoused incredibly vocal Francophile views. Moreover, Kolettis had a very troubled relationship with King Leopold as Kolettis had been among the strongest and loudest proponents of the Duc de Nemours’ candidacy for the Greek Crown and would remain so right until the day Leopold landed in Greece, but it was Kolettis’ politics that truly bother Leopold. While he had once considered himself a liberal in his younger years, Leopold had grown more conservative with age, making Kolettis’ staunch liberalism an uncomfortable feature for the King to stomach in his prospective Prime Minister. Ultimately, Kolettis was passed over by Leopold for the position because of these reasons.
Kolettis Announcing the Election of Kapodistrias as Governor in 1827
Alexandros Mavrokordatos had been equally troublesome for Prime Minister Kapodistrias over the past decade as the de facto leader of the “Anti-Kapodistrians”. Following the 1831 National Assembly, Mavrokordatos had been appointed to Kapodistrias’ Cabinet as Foreign Minister in a show of unity, however, they immediately began arguing over foreign policy as well as matters of internal policy, namely the preservation and enacting of the Constitution. As a result, it came as no surprise that Mavrokordatos resigned from office less than a year after originally assuming the post in March 1832. He would then emerge as the loudest voice in opposition to Kapodistrias charging the count with acts of tyranny and authoritarianism as he continually delayed elections from 1834 to 1835, then 1836, before finally setting them for October 1837 nearly six and a half years after the 1831 National Assembly had originally called for them. Despite this concession by Kapodistrias to the “Constitutionalists”, they would remain his greatest critics throughout the remainder of his Premiership leading King Leopold to sour on Mavrokordatos as a potential successor to Kapodistrias despite their shared Anglophilic views.
Panos Kolokotronis was a surprising candidate for the office of Prime Minister. Of the four main choices, he was the youngest at 40, and of the four he had the least political experience, his only foray into politics had been a brief tenure as commandant of Tripolitsa during the war. However, of all the candidates he maintained the single largest block of support in the legislature, having near unanimous support among the Moreot delegation to the Vouli. He was well connected, through his marriage to Eleni Bouboulina, daughter of the famous Admiral Laskarina Bouboulina and he held the full support and friendship of King Leopold, having worked with him personally for many years. By far though his greatest support came from the people of the Morea who loved and respected Panos Kolokotronis, as he had vehemently defended them numerous times during the Revolution. He was recognized as a hero for his efforts during the war; the Liberator of Kalamata, the Captain of the Morea, and the Scourge’s Bane among a host of other accolades and accomplishments all of which earned him the rather disappointing honor of being named King Leopold’s Aide de Camp once the war came to an end.
In truth, this position would have been a tremendous waste of Panos’ great talents and abilities had King Leopold not trusted him so deeply and had Panos not taken full advantage of the situation presented to him. Over the years, Panos would manage to glean the finer details of statecraft and governance from King Leopold and Prime Minister Kapodistrias through his firsthand interactions with the two men. Wise beyond his years and charismatic beyond all measures, he was a marvelous speaker who could hold the King’s attention for hours on end, a feat not even Ioannis Kapodistrias could boast. Thus, it came as no surprise that Panos quickly began to rise through the ranks of the Hellenic Army from the King’s Aide de Camp in 1831 to Chief of the General Staff in 1838. Though his rivals would attempt to attribute his meteoric rise to the sudden death, retirement, or resignation of those officers ahead of him in the chain of command, it cannot be denied that he was incredibly deserving of the post and now in 1841, it seemed as if he was poised to rise in stature once more to Prime Minister.
However, in an act of humility or political expediency, Panos Kolokotronis would surprisingly decline the offer for the position, citing his own inexperience in politics as well as an undisclosed personal reason. Most likely his reasoning had something to do with Ioannis Kolettis’ relatively strong support in the Legislature, which combined with the Anti-Kapodistrians of Mavrokordatos provided an arduous barrier to his nomination. Though time had done much to heal old wounds, Kolettis almost certainly remembered the humiliation he had endured at the hands of Panos’ former benefactor and ally Sotiris Charalamvis during the war, and likely attributed part of that humiliation to Panos, which now manifested itself in this current debate. In addition, his youthful antics during the war had earned him the ire of many powerful men who now found themselves in Parliament and would more than likely oppose his candidacy as well.
The final of the original four candidates, the Minister of the Navy Constantine Kanaris was similarly forced to decline the King’s considerations as he had unfortunately fallen ill in the preceding days with a terrible case of tuberculosis. Though he was a prominent supporter of Kapodistrias, Kanaris had earned the begrudging respect of the island magnates during the war for his gallantry and vigorous naval campaigns to liberate Psara and Chios in 1827/1828. It also helped that he lacked some of Panos Kolokotronis’ weaknesses, namely he had served with these very same men in government as both a member of the Senate and then as Minister of the Navy while Panos had only recently taken a seat in the Cabinet as General Chief of Staff in late 1838. Though Kanaris would eventually recover in late May, his opportunity to become Prime Minister in 1841 had sadly passed him by. With the four main contenders out, Leopold was forced to look elsewhere for Kapodistrias’ replacement. It was fortunate then that Ioannis Kapodistrias made perhaps his most important decision in his entire Premiership at this time by suggesting to King Leopold that the Eptanesian Andreas Metaxas be considered for the position.
Andreas Metaxas, Ioannis Kapodistrias’ successor and 2nd Prime Minister of Greece
Born in 1790 on the island of Cephalonia to the prestigious Metaxa family, Andreas Metaxas enjoyed a relatively comfortable life in Argostoli where he worked as a bailiff and solicitor. Over the years, however, he became increasingly infatuated with the idea of Greek Independence and promptly joined the Filiki Eteria (the Friendly Society) in the months leading up to the War for Independence. When the Revolution finally began in March 1821, Andreas Metaxas, alongside his brother Anastasios and their cousin Konstantinos, traveled to mainland Greece with several hundred volunteers to fight against the Ottomans. While his brother and cousin would show great valor in battle, Andreas’ fighting days were ended before they ever truly began when he suffered terrible injuries to his hands in the Battle of Lalas in late May 1821.
[3] Unable to fight on the field of battle, Metaxas turned to politics where he would continue to fight for Greek independence as the Minister of Police and the Minister of War. It was during his time as a politician that he met with Ioannis Kapodistrias and became one of the primary actors behind his election to the Governorship in 1826.
Under Kapodistrias’ government, Metaxas would serve as a member of the Senate and then as the Nomarchos (Prefect/ Governor) of Laconia after the war. He was later elevated to the Office of Foreign Minister in 1833 following the appointment of Spyridon Trikoupis as Ambassador to Great Britain, and then Minister of the Army in 1838 following the death of Demetrios Ypsilantis. Though he was a stalwart supporter of Ioannis Kapodistrias, Metaxas was well respected in the Legislature, making him a perfectly acceptable pick for even the most hardened Anti-Kapodistrians. Despite his own Russophile views, Metaxas would also earn the strangely candid support of the British Ambassador to Greece Lord Lyons. With no major signs of complaint, King Leopold approached Metaxas and tasked him with forming a government.
While lacking some of Kapodistrias’ great brilliance and ingenuity, Metaxas had been a loyal supporter of the Prime Minister for many years and would reliably continue the Count’s policies of modernization and industrialization. It is no surprise then that Metaxas continued some of the more questionable policies of Kapodistrias as well, namely his penchant for major industrial projects such as the Corinth Canal and the draining of lake Copais. Both projects were frequently delayed unfortunately, due to concerns of high costs and would not come to fruition during his comparatively short Premiership. He also supported the expansion of educational institutions across the country, he expanded many of the Government’s charitable initiatives to help widows and orphans who had lost family in the war, and most importantly he continued the various economic reformations to uplift the common people of Greece.
Metaxas also engaged in several rearrangements of the Cabinet retaining his close colleague Constantine Kanaris as Minister of the Navy and appointing his allies Panos Kolokotronis and Rigas Palamidis as Minister of the Army and Internal Affairs Minister respectively. Yet, in a surprising act of unity, Metaxas would also go on to appoint several allies of Alexandros Mavrokordatos and Ioannis Kolettis to the Cabinet much to the King’s chagrin. Moreover, the Ministry of Commerce was dissolved, with its assets and responsibilities absorbed by the Treasury Ministry while a new Ministry was created in its stead, the Ministry of Culture, Education, Religious Affairs headed by the Phanariot lawyer Michael Schinas.
The Metaxas Government in 1841:
Prime Minister: Andreas Metaxas
Foreign Minister: Iakovos Rizos Neroulos
Internal Affairs Minister: Rigas Palamidis
Justice Minister: Leo Malas
Minister of the Army: Panos Kolokotronis
Minister of the Navy: Constantine Kanaris
Treasury Minister: Nicolas Theocharis
Minister of Education and Religious Affairs: Michael Schinas
The end of Kapodistrias’ tenure as Prime Minister also marked the end of an era in Greece as many of the great leaders, generals, and politicians of the revolution began to leave office -intentionally or not - in favor of the younger generation. Bishop Metris Meletios of Argos, who presided over the coronation ceremony of King Leopold in Nafplion so many years ago, had unfortunately passed away in January 1835 from what was believed to be pneumonia. He was followed a few months later by the Greek Admiral, Minister of the Navy, and Hydriot ship captain Andreas Miaoulis who died in his sleep on the 15th of June 1835, leaving behind a wife of 43 years in Irene Bikou and six children. In honor of his great efforts to liberate Greece and in re-founding the Greek Navy during the war, Miaoulis was laid to rest overlooking the Aegean Sea in Piraeus where according to legend the Great Athenian sailor and statesman Themistocles was also buried.
Three years later in 1838 Miaoulis’ counterpart, the former Archstrategos of the Hellenic Army, Chief of the General Staff, and Minister of the Army Demetrios Ypsilantis died from what was later identified as Myotonic dystrophy, a terrible disease which had left him bedridden and in excruciating pain during his final days. Ypsilantis was survived by his wonderful wife of 11 years Manto Mavrogenous and two young sons, Constantine and Alexander. For his heroic actions during the war, Ypsilantis was given the honor of a state funeral attended by the King and Prime Minister Kapodistrias and was laid to rest in the First Cemetery of Athens. More recently was the unfortunate death of the former President of the Executive and incumbent Commerce Minister Andreas Zaimis who succumbed to a terrible illness in December 1840 leaving behind a wife of 19 years in Eleni Delliyani, and a son, Thyrasyvoulos. His passing exacerbated the already tumultuous Kapodistrian government which had had more than its fair share of turnover in its 14 years.
The Hellenic Army also experienced its fair share of upheaval and reorganization as the famed Souliot Strategos Markos Botsaris, the Hero of Missolonghi and the Commander of the 1st Army of the Hellenic Army was forced into an early retirement as his injuries from the war rendered him unfit for continued military service in 1836. Rather than seek public office, Botsaris retired to the countryside of Missolonghi where he lived in peace for the remainder of his days. Strategos Yannis Makriyannis, the Hero of Myloi would also leave the Hellenic military following an especially heated argument with Ioannis Kapodistrias and King Leopold. When the House was finally opened in 1838 it came as no surprise that Makriyannis was found among their membership as a vocal Anti-Kapodistrian. Ypsilantis’ death, Botsaris’ retirement, and Makriyannis’ resignation would leave a substantial hole in the upper echelons of the officer’s corps of the Hellenic Army that was filled with a cadre of younger officers like Panos Kolokotronis.
The resignation of Kapodistrias and the appointment of Metaxas in 1841 exemplified the burgeoning Greek Democratic system of Government. Power was peacefully transferred between the two individuals in a manner that would come to form the basis of future successions in Greece for decades to come. It also marked a shift in Greek society away from the years of rebuilding and recovery that had followed the war and into a period of peace and prosperity of the 1840’s and early 1850’s. 1841 would also see another important transfer of power far across the Atlantic Ocean in the United States of America, where the new President William Henry Harrison began his Presidency.
Next Time: Land of Liberty
Author's Note: Apologies for the excessive length of this part, but I wanted to get all of this in one update. In the future I'll try to have smaller updates at a more frequent pace.
[1] I mentioned way earlier in the timeline that there were pockets of Greek fighters in Thessaly and Macedonia that persisted several years into the war. One of the last pockets was in the area to the east of Volos, in the foothills of Mount Pelion, which was reconquered by Resid Pasha in early 1825 both in OTL and in TTL.
[2] Technically this is a picture of his half-brother, Panos Kolokotronis who was born after the war and named in honor of his murdered older brother Panos, the one featured ITTL. To my disappointment, I could not find any pictures of the elder Panos Kolokotronis in any of the sources I used, so I opted for a picture of his younger brother instead.
[3] These injuries would earn Metaxas the nickname Conte Lalas. It wasn’t intentional on my part, but the first two Prime Ministers of Greece have both come from the Ionian Islands and they are both “counts” although in the case of Metaxas it is purely satirical.
