Ottomans vs. Cretans
Crete was the last Greek region to be subjugated by the Ottoman Turks, falling after a long and bloody war that lasted from 1645 to 1669. After Greece gained its independence, reunification of Crete with Greece became a burning international issue in the nineteenth century. successive rebellions of varying range and intensity broke out throughout the nineteenth century (1821, 1833, 1841, 1858, 1866, 1878, 1889, 1895, 1897). After uprisings against Ottoman rule, and autonomous status between 1897 and 1913, Crete became part of Greece.
The largest island in Greece and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean, Crete is 243 kilometers long and varies in width from twelve to fifty-six kilometers. It is located about seventyfive kilometers southeast of the easternmost peninsula of the Peloponnesus. The island's topography is dominated by rugged mountains that rise from the sea to form a rocky southern coastline. The slope downward to the northern coast is more moderate, forming a coastal plain and several natural harbors. The highest point is Mt. Ida (Idi), 2,456 meters high, roughly in the center of the island. The central east-west spine of mountains breaks into four segments; the major flatland is the Mesara Plain in the south-central region. That region and several upland basins provide agricultural land that has seasonal flooding. Crete has six rivers, whose flow varies greatly according to the season, and there is one fresh-water lake.
The few notices found of Crete in history always represent them as engaged in local wars among one another; and Polybius relates that the history of Crete was one continued series of civil wars, which were carried on with a bitter animosity exceeding all that was known in the rest of Greece. Though it was continually torn by civil dissensions, the island maintained its independence of the various Macedonian monarchs by whom it was surrounded; but having incurred the enmity of Rome, first by an alliance with the great Mithradates, and afterwards by taking active part with their neighbours, the pirates of Cilicia, the Cretans were at length attacked by the Roman arms, and, after a resistance protracted for more than three years, were finally subdued by Q. Metellus, who earned by this success the surname of Creticus (67 BC).
It continued to form part of the Byzantine empire till the 9th century, when it fell into the hands of the Saracens (823). It then became a formidable nest of pirates and a great, slave mart; it defied all the efforts of the Byzantine sovereigns to recover it till the year 960, when it was reconquered by Nicephorus Phocas. It was later sold to the Venetians, and thus passed under the dominion of that great republic, to which it continued subject for more than four centuries. The government of Crete by the Venetian aristocracy was, like that of their other dependencies, very arbitrary and oppressive, and numerous insurrections were the consequence. Daru, in his history of Venice, mentions fourteen between the years 1207 and 1365, the most important being that of 1361–1364. It was not till 1645 that the Turks made any serious attempt to effect the conquest of the island; and from 1669 Crete continued subject to Ottoman rule without interruption till the outbreak of the Greek revolution.
During the second half of the 19th-century the affairs of Crete were repeatedly occupied the attention of Europe. Owing to the existence of a strong Mussulman minority among its inhabitants, the warlike character of the natives, and the mountainous configuration of the country, which enabled a portion of the Christian population to maintain itself in a state of partial independence, the island has constantly been the scene of prolonged and sanguinary struggles in which the numerical superiority of the Christians was counterbalanced by the aid rendered to the Moslems by the Ottoman troops. This unhappy state of affairs was aggravated and perpetuated by the intrigues set on foot at Constantinople against successive governors of the island, the conflicts between the Palace and the Porte, the duplicity of the Turkish authorities, the dissensions of the representatives of the great powers, the machinations of Greek agitators, the rivalry of Cretan politicians, and prolonged financial mismanagement. A long series of insurrections—those of 1821, 1833, 1841, 1858, 1866–1868, 1878, 1889 and 1896 may be especially mentioned—culminated in the general rebellion of 1897, which led to the interference of Greece, the intervention of the great powers, the expulsion of the Turkish authorities, and the establishment of an autonomous Cretan government under the suzerainty of the Sultan.
After the conquest a large part of the inhabitants embraced Mahommedanism, and thus secured to themselves the chief share in the administration of the island. But far from this having a favourable effect upon the condition of the population, the result was just the contrary, and according to R. Pashley (Travels in Crete, 1837) Crete was the worst governed province of the Turkish empire. In 1770 an abortive attempt at revolt, the hero of which was “Master” John, a Sphakiot chief, was repressed with great cruelty. The regular authorities sent from Constantinople were wholly unable to control the excesses of the janissaries, who exercised without restraint every kind of violence and oppression.
During the course of the nineteenth century, the countryside gradually became Christian (in 1881, 82.4 percent of the rural population was Christian) and tightly enclosed the Muslim towns (Muslims made up 70 percent of the urban population). The steady flight of Muslims from the countryside, and especially from regions remote from the castles, was the result both of the changed terms of exploitation of the land and of the sense of insecurity created within the ranks of the Muslim population.
In 1833 thousands of Christians assembled, unarmed, in the village of Mournies to protest against the taxation and other arbitrary actions of Mustafa Pasha. The authorities reacted violently, and forty-one of the leaders of the movement and several other Christians were arrested and hanged, as an example to the others. The next rebellion took place in 1839 to 1841. The Cretans arose in a rebellion that began in February 1841 and lasted about five months. A number of bloody clashes took place, initially in Western Crete and then in the rest of the island, though without substantial outcome. This was followed by a fairly long period of peace. An insurrection broke out owing to the violation of the provisions of an imperial decree (February 1856), whereby liberty of conscience and equal rights and privileges with Mussulmans had been conferred upon Christians. The latter refused to lay down their arms until a firman was issued (July 1858), confirming the promised concessions. These promises being again repudiated, in 1864 the inhabitants held an assembly and a petition was drawn up for presentation at Constantinople by the governor. The sultan's reply was couched in the vaguest terms, and the Cretans were ordered to render unquestioning obedience to the authorities.
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