European views of Cretan Christians

It’s unlikely that too many of the British and other European enlisted/conscripted troops sent to Crete in 1897 had much idea about who they would be involved with on their arrival on the island. However, British and European civilians, and presumably some of the Officers, were being ‘informed’ about the parties involved in the fighting on Crete – albeit the information given often had to do more with the fanciful thinking of the journalists and illustrators rather than what was actually happening.

The massacre in Canea. as imagined by Le Petite Parisien, 1897.

(It may safely be assumed that the illustrator of the above had never been to Canea, the city isn’t in the middle of impossibly tall mountains, furthermore, turbans were banned throughout the Ottoman Empire in 1829. )

Cretan Christian Insurgents as seen by Le Petite Parisien 14 March 1897.

Insurgents lighting signal fires in the mountains. Illustrated London News, 23rd March 1897.

A band of Cretan Insurgents at Tsiliphe. Illustrated London News, 6 March 1897.

Insurgents. Illustrated London News, 1897.

The illustrator above was clearly using his imagination when it came to the armament carried by the Christians.

Cretan Christian Insurgents at Acrotiri – outside Canea.

The above group could have been some of those described by Capt. Egerton 1/Seaforths:

“……I took out about 25 men, and we marched through Halepa to the extreme Turkish outpost below Akreterion. The Insurgents showed much interest in our movements, and we were all very anxious that they should send a shot or two at us when I should have smacked in two volleys at them for firing on the British Flag, which we carried in front of us.

But though we trailed our coats all along the front of our position they were too wise to let off their “bundooks[?]”. We had to put in 4 hours out of door somehow, so we loafed about under the olive groves, passing the time of day to Turkish Officers on the outpost, and generally had rather a good time of it.”

Cretan Christian Insurgents 1897.

The uniformed soldiers on the right hand side appear to be Russians, possibly indicating that the photograph was taken in the Rethymnon  area; the Russian Secteur of the island.

Cretan Christian Insurgents 1897.

The legend on the flag reads: Enosis H Thanatos – Union (with Greece) or Death.

 

God’s revenge

On a number of occasions the European fleet opened fire on Cretan Christian insurgents. On one occasion, on 21st February 1897, shells from a Russian warship hit a Greek church, Profitis Ilias, which was near the base Cretan Christians had been using for a threatened bombardment of Canea.

Although the Russian government later paid for the rebuilding of the church, the Cretan Christian propaganda machine wasn’t slow to make the link between the ‘desecration’ of a Christian church and the, purely accidental, explosion on board the Russian battleship ‘Sissoi Veliky‘ on 15th March that year.

 

Greek/Cretan Christian postcard – the divine consequences of the European bombardment.

The caption on the postcard reads; The bombardment of Cretans on Akrotiri: The Crime and the Divine Punishment.

Insurrectionists or Plagiarists ?

On arrival in Crete in March 1897, the ‘enemy’ the British troops faced were the invading Greek forces and Cretan Christian insurrectionists.

The photograph below, ‘A contingent of Cretan insurrectionists’ appeared in the Illustrated London News on 6 March 1897. The attribution is to ‘A Naval Officer On Board one of the Ships off Crete.’

“The Heads of the Insurrection.”

The photograph above, ‘The Heads of the Insurrection’, appeared in the Supplement to ‘Black and White’ Magazine, 20 March 1897, and is attributed to R. G. Kruger. The text on the magazine page suggests the photograph was taken near Canea.

Other than an apparent case of plagiarism, there are several things in particular to note about the photograph.

Third from the left in the back row is a figure dressed in what appears to be a regular military uniform. This is possibly one of the Greek officers or artilleryman who are known to have traveled with a number of the insurgent bands.

The two figures on the extreme left of the front row are both dressed in western European clothes, complete with kepis, as is the figure fifth from the left, but without a hat. These are possibly western journalists, several of whom accompanied insurgent groups. These included The Times Journalist R.A.H. Bickford-Smith who was present at the relief of Kandanos ,

Post script. Within 12 hours of posting I received the following via facebook:

The second from right in the middle row with the white beard and black clothes, is the Cydonia chieftain Dimitris Gelasakis (1853-1912), uncle of my grandfather, and a close friend and associate of Eleftherios Venizelos!

Bombardment of rebels above Canea

Bombardment of Canea

On 21 February 1897, Cretan Christian rebels, amongst whom was Eleftherios Venizelos, a future Prime Minister of Greece, occupied the heights outside Canea and threatened to open fire on the city with artillery recently landed from Greece. On been instructed by the European Powers to take down the Greek flag that they were flying, the rebels refused and as a consequence the fleet opened fire on them.

According to the Royal Navy’s report on the incident:

‘Three common shell were fired from a 6 inch gun from Her Majesty’s ship “Revenge” at 4.700 yards, all three shells bursting in a walled farmstead which formed the base of their outposts on the ridge of the hill above the town. The gun-vessels fired sharpnel and common shell; the French and Italian ships did not fire as their guns were masked by other ships.’

The rebels withdrew without firing on Canea having suffered three dead and a number wounded.

(The illustration, which appeared in The Graphic on 13th March 1897, appears to have been reversed in printing since the rebel’s position was, in reality, to the east of Canea i.e. to the left of the city viewing it from the sea. The International bombardments to the west of the town were for the most part carried out by much smaller gunboats.)

1895 – Greek fighters leaving Crete

Greek volunteers leaving Crete c. Oct 1895.

The rebellion in Crete was started in September 1895 by a local group of Cretan Christians calling themselves the Epitropi, the Central Political Committee. They were aided by arms and me from the Greek mainland, some of whom are illustrated here returning home as the winter of 1895 drew in.

August 1896 Cretan fighters

British illustration of Cretan Christian revolutionaries.