| Expulsion of Otto of Greece | |||||||
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 King Otto and Queen Amalia embarking on HMS Scylla. | |||||||
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King Otto of Greece was deposed in a popular insurrection in October 1862. Starting on 18 October in Vonitsa, it soon spread to other cities and reached Athens on 22 October.
King Otto had ruled the Kingdom of Greece since May 1832. [1] Greece had been transformed into a constitutional monarchy in the aftermath of the 3 September 1843 Revolution. However, Otto continued to intervene into the internal affairs of the state by frequently dissolving Parliament and ignoring large-scale electoral fraud when it benefited him and his allies. By 1861, Greek opposition had grown into a broad front, which largely saw parliamentary politics as futile and instead wished to remove Otto from power. In March 1861, Greek authorities uncovered a plot to overthrow the King consisting mainly of university students and low ranking military officers. On 6 September, student Aristeidis Dosios attempted to assassinate Queen Amalia. The following day, a crackdown was launched on the anti-Ottonian opposition. [2]
On 1 February 1862, an insurrection broke out in Nafplion, led by Theodoros Grivas, Dimitrios Grivas , Petros A. Mavromichalis and Dimitrios Botsaris. [3] Soon, the revolt started to spread to Santorini, Hydra, Syros, Tripolis, Argos and Messenia. [4] [5] However, the royal authorities quickly managed to restore control by thwarting an outbreak of the revolt in Athens and mobilising a large body of troops to suppress it. [6] The revolt was suppressed by 20 March. [7]
On 16 October, King Otto and Queen Amalia left for a royal visit to Peloponnese in order to strengthen the bonds between the Greek people and the Crown. However, an insurrection erupted two days later in Vonitsa, on the Ambracian Gulf, led by Dimitrios Voulgaris, Konstantinos Kanaris and Benizelos Roufos. Soon, the insurrection spread to Missolonghi and Patras. On 22 October, the insurrection reached the capital Athens and a provisional government was established, with Rouphos as the Prime Minister. On the following day, the revolutionaries proclaimed the deposition of the royal couple, and convened an assembly for the election of a new monarch. [8]
The royal couple was then brought from Kalamata by the Minister of Police and placed under the protection of a British warship, HMS Scylla. At the same time, the property of the royal couple, which remained in the Old Royal Palace, was inventoried before being returned to their legitimate possessors. Advised by ambassadors of the Great Powers, Otto and Amalia left Greece and went into exile. In spite of everything, the King refused to abdicate and did not envision his departure as being definitive. [9]
Alexander was King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his death on 25 October 1920.
Otto was King of Greece from the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed in October 1862.
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Amalia of Oldenburg was a Oldenburg princess who became Queen of Greece from 1836 to 1862 as the wife of King Otto Friedrich Ludwig. She was loved widely by the Greeks due to her patriotic love for the country and her beauty. During her tenure as queen, she was dedicated to social improvement and the founding of many gardens in Athens, and she was the first to introduce the worldwide Christmas tree to Greece.
Athanasios Miaoulis was a Greek military officer and Prime Minister of Greece. Born in Hydra in 1815, Miaoulis was the son of the famous Greek admiral Andreas Miaoulis, from whom he learned his navigation skills.
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Dimitrios Karatasos, known as Yero-Tsamis or Yero-Karatasos, was a Greek chieftain who participated in the Greek War of Independence and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
Vonitsa is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. The beach town is situated on the south coast of the Ambracian Gulf, and is dominated by a Venetian fortress on a hill. Vonitsa is 13 kilometres southeast of Preveza, 18 kilometres northeast of Lefkada (city) and 90 kilometres northwest of Agrinio. The Greek National Road 42 passes through Vonitsa.
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Dimitrios Meletopoulos was a Greek revolutionary leader of the Greek War of Independence and later a politician.
Juliane Wilhelmine Ditlefine von Plüskow was a German noblewoman and Greek court office holder. Von Plüskow was the principal lady-in-waiting of the queen of Greece Amalia of Oldenburg from 1839 to 1862. Von Plüskow was considered to have a strong influence with the queen. Von Plüskow was described in the diary of Christiane Lüth.
Vikentios Lantsas, originally Vicenzo Lanza was an Austrian Empire-born Greek painter and art professor; primarily known for his murals and depictions of Ancient Greek buildings. Most of his works were watercolors.
Philorthodox Society was a secret political and revolutionary organization. Established in June 1839, it aimed to strengthen the position of the Eastern Orthodox Church within the Kingdom of Greece and expand its borders. The organization was directly associated with the Russian Party.
The search for a candidate for the throne of Greece began soon after the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire (1821–1829) and concluded two years after the international recognition of the country's independence in 1830, and was a pivotal moment in Greek history. The conflict was significantly shaped by the involvement of major European powers, namely the United Kingdom, Russia, and France, as well as internecine Greek conflicts during and after the War of Independence.
Following Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821–1829) and the establishment of a monarchy in 1832, a coronation ceremony based on Byzantine tradition was contemplated for the newly crowned sovereign, Otto I, and regalia were crafted for the planned event, which was scheduled to take place upon the king's coming of age (1835). However, as Otto was not prepared to renounce Catholicism and embrace Orthodoxy, the Church of Greece declined to crown him, and a more modest enthronement ceremony was subsequently arranged.
Theodoros Grivas, also known as Theodorakis Grivas, was a Greek general and politician who fought in the Greek War of Independence.
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