National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Ioannis Kolettis: Of this great idea

IOANNIS KOLETTIS: OF THIS GREAT IDEA Title: Τyς Μεγάλης αυτής EΙδέας (Of this Great Idea) Originally published: Ιt was published in EΗ τyς τρίτης Σεπτεµβρίου dν Άθήναις EΕθνική Συνέλευσις, Athens, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, 1844 Language: Greek The excerpts used are from Constantinos Th. Dimaras, Ελληνικός Ρωµαντισµός (Athens: Ερµής, 1985), pp. 405–406. About the author Ioannis Kolettis [1773, Sirako (Epirus) – 1847, Athens]: medical doctor, politician and writer. He was educated in his hometown of Sirako and in nearby Kalarites, both prosperous towns in eastern Epirus. He then moved to Jannina, the commercial and educational center of the region, where he became involved in trade. From there, in 1800, he traveled to Pisa, where he studied medicine and came into contact with Bonapartist circles. In 1807 he returned to Jannina, where he was appointed as doctor in the service of Muhtar Pasha, the son of Ali Pasha of Tepelen. After Ali Pasha’s defeat by the Ottoman forces and his execution in 1822, Kolettis found refuge in his hometown. During the Greek War of Independence he tried, unsuccessfully, to instigate an uprising there. He then escaped to the Morea (Peloponnese). There, thanks to his education and his political abilities he was soon appointed to the administration, and he served in it throughout the war and then under the first governor Capodistrias and the Regency. As soon as King Otto took over in 1835, Kolettis was sent to Paris, where he served as ambassador, a post he was assigned to in order to keep him away from Athens. During these years, Kolettis came into contact with the political elite of the French capital, for whom he symbolized the warrior-hero of the Revolution, a profile he systematically cultivated. However, with the constitutional movement in 1843 he returned to Greece, where he was appointed prime minister, a position he retained until his death in 1847. During this turbulent period, he managed to monopolize power. Notoriously crafty, he convinced different groups that he was promoting their interests. Above all, he enjoyed the devotion of the Rumeliote παληκάρια (brave young men), whom he used in campaigns of political terrorism. Kolettis is considered the first important politician of the Hellenic state, who skillfully managed to survive in the harsh conditions of the aftermath of the War of Independence by using violence and personal coalitions regardless of ideology. Though he championed universal values, in his political activity he implemented a nationalist discourse which bore little relation to these values. IOANNIS KOLETTIS: OF THIS GREAT IDEA 245 Context During the Greek War of Independence, uprisings broke out in many regions of the Balkans. However, most of them were eventually suppressed and the revolutionary movement managed to hold out only in the Peloponnese and Central Greece. Therefore, after the foundation of the Hellenic state in 1830, only these regions were included within its boundaries. From the Greek point of view, despite the miserable conditions in the newly born state, its boundaries were considered temporary. From the enthronement of the first king of Greece, the Bavarian Prince Otto (r. 1832–1862), until the defeat in the Greek-Turkish War of 1919–1922 and the compulsory exchange of populations , under different circumstances and in several forms the redemption of their ‘enslaved’ brothers had been the predominant ideology of Greek politics . However, in 1843 the king had to deal with a domestic crisis. On 3 September , the veterans of the War of Independence, who had been completely marginalized by the new regime, together with their military officers who could not bear being subject to Bavarian commanders, handed an ultimatum to the king. Their major claim was that Otto should not reign uncontrolled. Therefore, they demanded that a National Assembly was to be convened in order to provide the country with a constitution. The king had no alternative but to accept their demands and proclaim the opening of the Assembly. Many political and military figures now made a glorious return. Among them, Ioannis Kolettis, for years ‘exiled’ in Paris, was called back to take over as the leader of the ‘French party.’ These parties had existed as early as the revolutionary period, the French, the English and the Russian parties being connected to the corresponding Great Powers. However, during the period of Otto’s absolutist rule they had remained in the shadows. Now, under the new circumstances, they resumed their activity. Within this political and ideological atmosphere, on 14 January 1844, the National Assembly debated the articles of the new constitution. One of the most important issues at stake was the third article, which defined Hellenic...