Page 292 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙ.7.B
Army and navy
THE ORGANIZATION of the military forces of the Greeks was not an easy task, since the predominant military tactics of the revolted was that of guerrilla war (klephtopolemos), namely sudden attacks, usually following an ambush, by small groups of local character. Weapons like rifles, scimitars and knives but also natural fortresses, such as rocks and trees or artificial, the sconces worked as defense positions for the guerrillas.
It was Dimitrios Ypsilantis who made one of the first attempts at forming regular corps, in July 1821, which took part in sev- eral clashes, it was however dissolved after its crush in the battle of Peta (4 July 1822). It was reinstated by the French col- onel Fabvier in 1825 and participated in a series of operations, producing though poor results.
In general, in the pre-Kapodistrian period the regular troops do not seem to be able to prosper, due to the economic diffi- culties and the opposite interests of notables and chieftains, who viewed the westernizing military formations as foreign in relation to the mentality of armatolism. After the arrival of the Governor, the Bavarian colonel Karl von Heideck was appointed commander, who within a year created a fight worthy corps, consisting of regiments of Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry and Com- bat Engineers, while in February 1828 Dimitrios Ypsilantis to whom the rank of field Marshall was awarded, took charge of the construction of the Military Organization.
With regard to the naval forces, already since the pre-evolution period the Greeks had remarkable merchant shipping as well as military experience by serving in missionary, but also in pirate ships. After the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774), a dynamic social class of ship owners and captains had emerged on the islands, which resulted in the contribution to the Struggle of all the occupied by the Turks islands, and especially of the three more powerful ones –Hydra, Spetses and Psara – that proved to be decisive, not only in military but also in administrative and financial level. The supply or the isolation of various cities through the sea, the breaking of the sieges, the control of the marine routes and the dominance in critical naval battles com- prised the infamous “naval battle” of the Greeks.
292 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
ΙΙ.7.B.1
Application for the promotion of officers due to acts of bravery
(Nafplio, 7 March 1825)
Archives of the Greek Regeneration, vol. 18, no 38 [p. 25] Library of the Hellenic Parliament
N. KONTOGIANNIS asks the promotion to the rank of chiliarch and sub-chiliarch of men who fought under his instructions and performed great deeds, in order «to increase their zeal for the country and the Administration to further enhance their pride».
The ranks of military hierarchy had been instituted by the First National Assembly of Epidaurus, by voting in January 1822 the Military Regulation, according to which the following ranks were established: general, lieutenant general, chiliarch (in command of one thousand men), sub-chiliarch, hecatontarch (in command of one hundred men), penticontarch (in command of fifty men) flag-bearer, eikosipentarch (in command of twenty-five men), decarch (in command of ten men) and soldier. The fact, how- ever, that the integration of the chieftains into the new military hierarchy depended on the Revolutionary Administration, led to nepotism: thus, the massive distribution of military offices and diplomas was not always in accordance with the skills of the can- didates, but with their loyalism and political connections.