How Greek Diaspora Merchants Contributed to the 1821 War of Independence

The contribution of the Greek Diaspora merchants was of great importance for the 1821 Greek War of Independence due to their financial aid and connections with the European elite.

The nineteenth century Greek diaspora in civilized Europe was active in circulating the idea of a Greek revolt against the occupying Ottomans. Steeped in the ideas of European Enlightenment, Greek merchants had close contact with the three great powers—England, France, and Russia—who were opposed to Ottoman expansionism.

Greek merchants lived throughout Europe, including in Italy, Hungary, France, Austria, and Transylvania, but also in Russia and Egypt. One thing they had in common was that they were all eager to help liberate the motherland. Economic relations maintained with the European and Ottoman centers aided in the transfer of ideas and wealth to the enslaved country.

Furthermore, the Greek diaspora acted as a powerful migration network that kept Greece interconnected with Europe and Western civilization. It was they who lit the torch of the Greek Revolution and supported it financially.

Filiki Eteria, or the Society of Friends, was established in 1814 by three diaspora Greeks. Emmanouil Xanthos and Nikolaos Skoufas were merchants. The third was Anastasios Tsakalov. It was they who decided when the Revolution would start.

As Greek historian Vassilis Panagiotopoulos wrote, with the involvement of diaspora Greeks, “the cohesion of Hellenism intensified and became functional on multiple levels. The Greek-Christian world of the time was looking for a national identity and therefore a national hearth, which would guarantee them, both in the European and the Ottoman environment, their cultural integrity and their personal freedom.”

Greek Merchants in Russia and Eastern Europe

Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, played an important role in the development of commerce in Russia. This brought about a dynamic emergence of Greek pre-revolutionary merchant shipping in Russia, and there was a significant presence of Greek families on Russian soil.

Wealthy merchants and shipowners of the Greek islands traded in the Mediterranean as early as the mid-eighteenth century. The signing of the treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca after the end of the First Russo-Turkish War boosted the activities of Greek merchants. One of the terms of the treaty was that Greek ships with Russian flags would be permitted to navigate the Bosphorus freely. Greek merchants and shipowners dominated the transport of Russian grain to Europe.

For the most part, the Greeks transported the goods in barges, or small ships, which, however, had permission to carry cannons to fight pirates. Within a few years, Greek merchants acquired quite a large commercial fleet, and Hydra had 186 ships, while Spetses and Psara had 64 and 40 ships, respectively.

From the end of the eighteenth century onwards, Odessa was one of the most prosperous cities, with churches, schools, associations, and clubs among other things. Between 1819 and 1849, Odessa was a free port under the protection of the tsar. At the time, the ideas of philanthropy and freemasonry flourished. In this ideal climate, Odessa Greeks developed ideas of liberation from the Turkish yoke. Filiki Eteria and, later on, the Greek Philanthropic Society (1821) were established there.

The Greeks expanded into the European area, slowly and steadily creating settlements and commercial enterprises. Soon enough, they were spread out from the Sea of Azov to London and dominated grain transport.

When the revolution began, Greek merchant ships were converted into warships, although they could not engage in naval battles, as they were only lightly armed. The fighters mainly confronted the Turkish ships with cannons.

Greek Merchants in Central Europe

Commercial centers in Europe with particularly large settlements were, at that time, Trieste, Paris, and Marseilles. Aside from these, there were also the Danubian hegemonies of Iasi, Bucharest, and Odessa.

In the Greek town of Trieste, merchants had been initiated into Filiki Eteria since 1819,  and from the city’s port, many Philhellenic volunteers set out to join Alexandros Ypsilantis‘ army prior to the onset of the 1821 Greek War of Independence.

Prior to the revolution, Greek merchants of Wallachia and Hungary financed schools and literature for enslaved Greeks. A little further west in Vienna, which, at that time, was the unofficial center of the Holy Alliance, a large Greek community, which had grown to about four thousand people by 1814, flourished.

In Vienna, Greek merchants had established the primacy in transit trade with the East and established the city as a crossroads of commercial exchange in Central Europe. The economic prosperity of the Greek commercial companies, among other things, also cultivated the conditions for the spiritual rise of the Greek community in Vienna. It was the greatest intellectual and cultural center of Central Europe at the time. The merchants of Vienna provided refuge to leaders of the Greek Revolution of 1821.

Scholar priests such as Anthimos Gazis, Neophytos Doukas, and Konstantinos Koumas transformed Vienna into a spiritual center of the Greek pre-revolutionary period. At the same time, intense publishing activity had developed, and Greek books were printed. The first Greek newspaper in history was published there in December 1790 in the printing house of the Markides Pouliou brothers.

Rigas Feraios chose the Austrian capital to publish his emblematic revolutionary Thourios hymn in 1797 so as to raise the spirit for the Greek uprising. In the printing house of the Markides Pouliou brothers, he printed three thousand copies of his revolutionary manifesto and maps of Greece, along with a copper engraving of Alexander the Great. These were all made to reach the enslaved homeland.

Ironically, Austria was part of the Holy Alliance, which was against the Greek uprising. Austria had control of Trieste, and in August 1821, Vienna prohibited Greek volunteers and Philhellenes hoping to join the fighting Greeks from departing from the port of Trieste.

France and the Marseille Port

The port of Marseille in France played a vital role in the 1821 Greek War of Independence. It was one of the most important boarding points for Hellenic volunteers. There, weapons and all kinds of supplies destined for Greece were loaded. It was also a known place of reception for Greek refugees.

Nikolaos Prasakakis, Themistocles Petrokokkinos, Eustratios Argentis from Chios, and other Greek merchants contributed financially to the Greek War of Independence. They participated in philhellenic organizations and often assumed the responsibility of organizing and financing philhellenic missions.

The most active were probably the Prasakakis family, who in 1825, financed two expeditions to Greece. The first cost 125,000 francs while the second one amounted to 59,000 francs. They were also present when the reception of Greek refugees, who began arriving at the French port as early as July 1821, was being organized.