Page 122 - Beholding Liberty!

122 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
Revolution was maintained in Crete until 1824, as well as on Psara and Kasos, both of which were, however, destroyed by Turkish forces in the same year.
From the spring of 1821, the main war regions proved to be the Peloponnese, Sterea Ellada and the islands of the Argosaronic Gulf, especially Hydra and Spetses, which maintained the Revolution in the Cyclades, while farther away, in the northeastern Aegean, it was Samos , despite the fact it was so close to the shores of Asia Minor, would prove to be the miracle of the Greek Revolution, as it succeed in remaining free and fighting to the end of the difficult and long-term events of this uncertain struggle. As far as Mani is concerned, it was located in the southern Peloponnese and succeeded in keeping enemy troops off its lands.
During the two first years of the war, the Greeks experienced significant victories, as well as defeats. In 1821 they were victorious in Valtetsi, Doliana, Lala, Monemvasia, Pylos, Corinth, Hani in Gravia, Tripolitsa, Agrinio and elsewhere, and succeeded in liberating broad regions of the Peloponnese, the western and eastern Sterea Ellada, at the moment when, among other things, strong military leaders like Theodoros Kolokotronis in the Peloponnese and Odysseas Androutsos in Sterea Ellas appeared. In the same year, the first year of the Struggle, the Greeks were defeated in Alamana, Syrrako, and Kalarrytes; thus they missed an opportunity to win the castle of Patras, and witnessed the fleet from Galaxeidi being destroyed, within a short period, having been surprised by the enemy in the port of this famous naval city in the southern mainland.
In 1822, the second year of the war, the Greeks occupied Athens and Nafplio, they won the siege of Missolonghi and, in July of 1822, defeated the army of Dramalis in Dervenakia. This victory proved to be the most significant of the entire Struggle, since the Greeks – and Kolokotronis to whom this great victory was attributed – proved for the first time that they were in a position to defend their land successfully against Ottoman armies, and not just the smaller groups of the Ottoman army against which, until then, they had fought. In 1822, however, Greece’s defeats were not minor. There was a harsh defeat in Peta near Arta, as well as the terrible slaughter with which Chios was destroyed, and remained outside the Struggle until the end.
At the same time, with the actions of the mainland forces, the Greek fleet – with the support of the islands of Hydra, Spetses and Psara – obstructed and defeated the enemy fleet, strengthened and supported the Greeks’ attacks on the seaside castles of the Peloponnese, and interrupted and quashed the sea-based offensives of the Turkish armies in the regions of the revolution.
Within two years, the Revolution appeared to have been secured on land and sea alike. At the same time, the Nation had gathered in its first National Assembly (Dec. 1821 – Jan. 1822) in Piada near Epidaurus, it had elected Members of both the Parliament and the Executive, with the first President of the Executive being the most significant politician of the Revolution, the multilingual, visionary and active man from Fanari, Alexandros Mavrokordatos. According to the model of the American Revolu- tion, the First National Assembly had approved a western-style Constitution, as well as a Declaration of Hellenic Independence; however, it retained the administrative bodies which, upon the outbreak of the Revolution, were established on a regional level. The strongest of them, some distance away, was the Peloponnesian Senate which, from the beginning, coordinated the approximately fifty notable Greek families of the Peloponnese, together with the top clergy of Moria.
The year 1823 brought about major changes to the political scene of the Revolution, when prob- lems began that led to the ill-fated civil war of 1824. The basis of these developments was the overthrow of the balances that had been achieved by the great authority of Theodoros Kolokotronis