Konstantinos Kanaris
Κωνσταντίνος Κανάρης

Konstantinos Kanaris during the Greek War of Independence. Lithography by Karl Krazeisen, 1831.

Konstantinos Kanaris, Prime Minister of Greece.
Prime Minister of Greece
In office 16 February 1844 – 30 March 1844
Monarch	Otto I
Preceded by	Andreas Metaxas
Succeeded by	Alexandros Mavrokordatos
In office 15 October 1848 – 12 December 1849
Monarch	Otto I
Preceded by	Georgios Kountouriotis
Succeeded by	Antonios Kriezis
Prime Minister of Greece
In office 6 March 1864 – 16 April 1864
Monarch	George I
Preceded by	Dimitrios Voulgaris
Succeeded by	Zinovios Valvis
In office 26 July 1864 – 26 February 1865
Monarch	George I
Preceded by	Zinovios Valvis
Succeeded by	Benizelos Roufos
In office 7 June 1877 – 2 September 1877
Monarch	George I
Preceded by	Alexandros Koumoundouros
Succeeded by	Alexandros Koumoundouros
Personal details
Born	c. 1790 Psara, Ottoman Greece
Died	2 September 1877 (aged 87) Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Nationality	Greek
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	First Hellenic Republic Kingdom of Greece
Branch/service	Hellenic Navy
Years of service	1821–1844
Rank	Admiral
Battles/wars	Greek War of Independence

Konstantinos Kanaris, also anglicised as Constantine Kanaris or Canaris (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κανάρης; c. 1790^[1] – 2 September 1877^[2]), was a Greek admiral, Prime Minister, and a hero of the Greek War of Independence.^[3]

Biography

Early life

Konstantinos Kanaris was born and grew up on the island of Psara, close to the island of Chios, in the Aegean. The exact year of his birth is unknown. Official records of the Hellenic Navy indicate 1795, however, modern Greek historians consider 1790 or 1793 to be more probable.^[4]

He was left an orphan at a young age. Having to support himself, he chose to become a seaman like most members of his family since the beginning of the 18th century. He was subsequently hired as a boy on the brig of his uncle Dimitris Bourekas.

Military career

Kanaris gained his fame during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829). Unlike most other prominent figures of the War, he had never been initiated into the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends), which played a significant role in the uprising against the Ottoman Empire, primarily by secret recruitment of supporters against the Turkish rule.^[5]

By early 1821, the movement had gained enough support to launch a revolution. This seems to have inspired Kanaris, who was in Odessa at the time. He returned to the island of Psara in haste and was present when it joined the uprising on 10 April 1821.^[6]

The island formed its own fleet and the famed seamen of Psara, already known for their well-equipped ships and successful combats against sea pirates, proved to be highly effective in naval warfare. Kanaris soon distinguished himself as a fire ship captain.^[7]

At Chios, on the moonless night of 6–7 June 1822, forces under his command destroyed the flagship of the Ottoman admiral Nasuhzade Ali Pasha in revenge for the Chios massacre. The admiral was holding a Bayram celebration, allowing Kanaris and his men to position their fire ship without being noticed. When the flagship's powder store caught fire, all men aboard were instantly killed. The Turkish casualties comprised 2,300 men, both naval officers and common sailors, as well as Nasuhzade Ali Pasha himself.^[8]

Kanaris led another successful attack against the Ottoman fleet at Tenedos in November 1822. He was famously said to have encouraged himself by murmuring "Konstantí, you are going to die" every time he was approaching a Turkish warship on the fire boat he was about to detonate.^[9][10]

The Ottoman fleet captured Psara on 21 June 1824. A part of the population, including Kanaris, managed to flee the island, but those who didn't were either sold into slavery or slaughtered. After the destruction of his home island, he continued to lead attacks against Turkish forces. In August 1824, he engaged in naval combats in the Dodecanese.^[11]

The following year, Kanaris led the Greek raid on Alexandria, a daring attempt to destroy the Egyptian fleet with fire ships that might have been successful if the wind had not failed just after the Greek ships entered Alexandria harbour.^[12]

After the end of the War and the independence of Greece, Kanaris became an officer of the new Greek Navy, reaching the rank of admiral, and became a prominent politician.

Political career

Konstantinos Kanaris was one of the few with the personal confidence of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Head of State of independent Greece. After the assassination of Kapodistrias on 9 October 1831, he retired to the island of Syros.^[13]

During the reign of King Otto I, Kanaris served as Minister in various governments and then as Prime Minister in the provisional government (16 February – 30 March 1844). He served a second term (15 October 1848 – 12 December 1849), and as Navy Minister in Alexandros Mavrokordatos' 1854 cabinet.

In 1862, he was among the rare War of Independence veterans who took part in the bloodless insurrection that deposed the increasingly unpopular King Otto I and led to the election of Prince William of Denmark as King George I of Greece. During his reign, Kanaris served as a Prime Minister for a third term (6 March – 16 April 1864), fourth term (26 July 1864 – 26 February 1865) and fifth and last term (7 June – 2 September 1877).^[14]

Kanaris died on 2 September 1877 whilst still serving in office as Prime Minister. Following his death his government remained in power until 14 September 1877 without agreeing on a replacement at its head. He was buried in the First Cemetery of Athens, where most Greek prime ministers and celebrated figures are also buried. After his death he was honoured as a national hero.

Greek War of Independence
Clockwise: The camp of Georgios Karaiskakis at Phaliro, the burning of an Ottoman frigate by a Greek fire ship, the Battle of Navarino and Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt at the Third Siege of Missolonghi
Date 21 February 1821 – 12 September 1829[1] (8 years, 6 months and 3 weeks) Location Greece Result Greek independence: Establishment of the First Hellenic Republic (1822–1832) Start of the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) London Protocol Treaty of Constantinople Establishment of the Kingdom of Greece (1832) Start of the First Egyptian-Ottoman War Territorial changes The Peloponnese, Saronic Islands, Cyclades, Sporades and Continental Greece ceded to the independent Greek state Crete ceded to Egypt
Belligerents
Before 1822: Filiki Eteria Greek Revolutionaries Sacred Band (Ieros Lohos) After 1822: Hellenic Republic Supported by:  United Kingdom Romanian Revolutionaries Russian Empire Kingdom of France Serb volunteers Montenegrins volunteers	Ottoman Empire Egypt Algeria Tripolitania Tunis
Commanders and leaders
Alexandros Ypsilantis (Commander-in-Chief) Demetrios Ypsilantis Ioannis Kapodistrias Theodoros Kolokotronis Alexandros Mavrokordatos Germanos III Petros Mavromichalis Georgios Karaiskakis † Athanasios Diakos  Grigorios Papaflessas † Markos Botsaris † Yannis Makriyannis Nikitas Stamatelopoulos Emmanouel Pappas Odysseas Androutsos  Andreas Miaoulis Constantinos Kanaris Laskarina Bouboulina † Richard Church Vasos Mavrovouniotis Hadži-Prodan † European support: Nicholas I Lodewijk Heiden Edward Codrington Henri de Rigny Nicolas Joseph Maison	Mahmud II (Commander-in-Chief) Nasuhzade Ali Pasha † Omer Vrioni Mahmud Dramali Pasha Kara Mehmed Hursid Pasha † Husrev Pasha Mustafa Pasha Bushatli Reşid Mehmed Pasha Mehmed Selim Pasha Egyptian support: Muhammad Ali Pasha Ibrahim Pasha Ismael Gibraltar †

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution (Greek: Ελληνική Επανάσταση, Elliniki Epanastasi; referred to by Greeks in the 19th century as simply the Αγώνας, Agonas, "Struggle"; Ottoman: يونان عصياني Yunan İsyanı, "Greek Uprising"), was a successful war of independence waged by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1830. The Greeks were later assisted by Great Britain, France and Russia, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March.

Greece came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century, in the decades before and after the fall of Constantinople.^[2] During the following centuries, there were sporadic but unsuccessful Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule.^[3] In 1814, a secret organization called Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded with the aim of liberating Greece, encouraged by the revolutionary fervor gripping Europe in that period. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, and Constantinople itself. The insurrection was planned for 25 March 1821 (on the Julian Calendar), the Orthodox Christian Feast of the Annunciation. However, the plans of Filiki Eteria were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, forcing the revolution to start earlier. The first revolt began on 6 March/21 February 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese (Morea) into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots were first to declare war. In September 1821, the Greeks under the leadership of Theodoros Kolokotronis captured Tripolitsa. Revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece broke out, but were eventually suppressed. Meanwhile, makeshift Greek fleets achieved success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea.

Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. The Ottoman Sultan called in his vassal Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gains. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and brought most of the peninsula under Egyptian control by the end of that year. The town of Missolonghi fell in April 1826 after a year-long siege by the Turks. Despite a failed invasion of Mani, Athens also fell and the revolution looked all but lost.

At that point, the three Great Powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene, sending their naval squadrons to Greece in 1827. Following news that the combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleet was going to attack the island of Hydra, the allied European fleets intercepted the Ottoman navy at Navarino. After a tense week-long standoff, the Battle of Navarino led to the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. In 1828 the Egyptian army withdrew under pressure of a French expeditionary force. The Ottoman garrisons in the Peloponnese surrendered, and the Greek revolutionaries proceeded to retake central Greece. Russia invaded the Ottoman Empire and forced it to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople (1829). After nine years of war, Greece was finally recognized as an independent state under the London Protocol of February 1830. Further negotiations in 1832 led to the London Conference and the Treaty of Constantinople; these defined the final borders of the new state and established Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of Greece.