From the beginning of March 1821, there was an uproar of war in Mani. The actions of Papaflessas, Anagnostaras and the arrival of Theodoros Kolokotronis in Kardamili contributed to this.
Kolokotronis on horseback with an army escort. Under Nikolaos Varveris. Koutlidis Collection
In mid-March, a ship loaded with munitions, sent by the Friends of Smyrna, arrives at the port of Almyros, outside Kalamata. Nikitaras and Anagnostaras undertook to carry the cargo, which was accompanied by armed men.
"The "prankster" of souls Papaflessas stirs up the enslaved Greeks"
Painting by Vangelis Drakos, 1971.
The fact is reported to the Ottoman authorities of Kalamata, who are however informed that it is oil and that the cargo is being guarded because there are robbers in the area. Papaflessas and his associates were simultaneously spreading rumors about the existence of dangerous bandits in the area.
The then governor of Kalamata, Suleiman Agas Arnautoglu, summoned the city's prefects, fearing an impending danger. In this meeting the candidates managed to convince him that the 150 Turkish guards in the city were not enough for the safety of its citizens. It was proposed to reinforce her garrison with Maniates. Thus, on March 20, a body of 150 Maniatians arrived in Kalamata under Petrobei's son, Ilias Mavromichalis.
Upon his arrival, Ilias Mavromichalis advises Arnautoglou to ask Petrobeis for other reinforcements because he had information that thieves were about to invade Kalamata with the aim of looting the city. Arnautoglou, who had not yet realized the trap that was set for him, notified Petrobeis to send other Maniates to the city.
This was the slogan that the captains who had gathered in Kitries, outside Kalamata, were waiting for. On March 22, from the afternoon until the dawn of the next day, 2,000 armed Maniates with Petrobeis Mavromichalis, Theodoros Kolokotronis, the Mourtzinos, the Kapetanakides, the Koumoundourakides, the Kyvelos, the Christeteides, and Panagiotis Venetsanakos occupied the hills around the city . At the same time, Papaflessas, Mitropetrovas, Anagnostaras, Papatsonis, Kephalas, Nikitaras, Sambazotes, Amblakiotes and Pisinochorites approach the city from the other side and surround it.
It was too late when Arnautoglou realized what had happened. On the morning of March 23, 1821, the revolutionaries entered the city of Kalamata. Ilias Mavromichalis asks Arnautoglou to surrender. He surrenders unarmed and surrenders the city and the Turkish armament by protocol.
Representation of the doxology of March 23 in Kalamata by the painter Evangelos Drakos (Historical and Folklore Museum of Kalamata)
At noon of the same day, a doxology is held in a Byzantine church on the banks of Nedon, probably of the Holy Apostles. Priests bless the flags and swear in the fighters.
The eulogy was followed by a meeting of the chieftains, during which it was decided to establish a revolutionary committee called the Messinian Senate or Senate in order to better coordinate the struggle. Honorary leadership was assigned to Petrobeis Mavromichalis who now bore the title "commander-in-chief of the Spartan forces". On the same day, the Messinian Senate issued the Proclamation "Warning to the European Courts". With it, the Messinian Senate informed the Christian peoples of the nation's decision to shake off the yoke of Ottoman tyranny and asked for their assistance.
Petrobeis Mavromichalis during the uprising in Messinia.
History
The Liberation of Kalamata took place on 23 March (O.S.) 1821 when Greek irregular revolutionary forces took control of the city after the surrender of the Ottoman garrison, without fighting. It was one of the first events of the Greek War of Independence. Kalamata became the first major town to be liberated.
Background
From the first days of March 1821, the revolutionary sentiment was prevailing in the Peloponnese and this worried the Ottomans, who sent their families to nearby fortresses. At the same time, the army chief of Kalamata, Suleiman Aga Arnaoutoglou, called the local Greek elites to express his concerns about reports of a forthcoming uprising.
He was told that the area was being looted by dangerous brigands and that his 150 Ottoman guards were not enough to defend the town. He was then persuaded to seek the help of the Maniots and their bey, Petrobey Mavromichalis. At the same time, Papaflessas, who was pulling the strings in the Peloponnese, had managed to persuade Petrobey to take a leading role in the uprising.
The plan was set up perfectly by the Greeks, who were extremely persuasive in making Suleiman Aga ask for help from Petrobey. The bey sent 150 experienced fighters from Mani together with his son Ilias Mavromichalis, under the pretext of protecting the town from the brigands. After gaining the confidence of the aga, Ilias Mavromichalis requested additional aid from Mani because rumors of an impending invasion of the town were growing. Indeed, the aga asked for reinforcements from Petrobey. This was the signal for the Greek rebels to attack.
Liberation
On 22 March 1821, a force of 2000 armed men led by Theodoros Kolokotronis tightened the siege around the city coming from the southeast and occupying the surrounding hills. At the same time, Dimitrios Papatsonis arrived with a body of over a thousand Messinian fighters, including Mitros Petrovas and Panagiotis Kefalas, joining the Maniots of Petrobey Mavromichalis, and the forces of Papaflessas, Anagnostaras and Nikitaras.
Mavromichalis' "warning to the European courts" (March 23, 1821).
On the morning of 23 March 1821, the Messinian revolutionaries occupied the town. The Ottomans surrendered without fighting and Suleiman aga handed over the town and the Turkish armaments to the Greek revolutionaries. At noon of the same day, in front of the Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles in Kalamata, a doxology was performed by 24 priests and monks.
Aftermath
Soon, one of the first tactical regiments was created in the city under the command of the Corsican philhellene Joseph Balestra. A meeting of the chiefs and local leaders followed, where it was decided to form the Messenian Senate, a revolutionary committee that was the first administrative institution of the revolting Greeks.
The Greeks soon began the sieges of the fortresses of Neokastro and Monemvasia.
About doxology
The doxology in Kalamata is mentioned in their memoirs by fighters of 1821 such as Kolokotronis, Panagiotis Papatsonis, Chrysanthopoulos (Fotakos), Spiliadis et al. Philemon mentions more details. George Finley places it on 5 April / 24 March and mentions it as the first 'Te Deum' for the success of the Revolution. He describes the emotion by saying that "Patriotic tears rolled down the cheeks of the fierce warriors, and wild men-at-arms wept like children. All present felt that the event opened a new era in Greek history, and when modern Greece produces historians, artists, and poets, this scene will undoubtedly find its place in the Pantheon of Glory."
The written testimonies of the time do not mention in which church the doxology of 1821 took place. In secondary sources the opinion prevailed that it took place in the Church of the Holy Apostles, wrongly because in their time it was the only surviving church in the area but also based on a rough note the which is considered fake, according to the historian N. Zervi. According to him, the doxology took place in the Church of Ag. John the Forerunner (today "Agiannis"), as mentioned in a speech of 1865 by the then teacher Adamantios Ioannidis. . The church in question was originally Byzantine, destroyed in Orlovika in 1770, rebuilt before the Revolution of 21, destroyed by Ibrahim in 1825 and rebuilt in 1865.
The first representation of the liberation of Kalamata?
According to the General Archives of the State, the symbolic representation of the parade of the captains, who took the sacred oath "Freedom or Death", took place for the first time in 1952 in Kalamata.
