A leading figure in the Greek War of Independence (1821-1832), Ioannis Makriyannis (1797-1864) lacked both formal education and military training. His desire to record his participation in the remarkable events that secured the freedom of Greece from the Ottoman Empire, and the subsequent chaos that ensued at the conclusion of that struggle, inspired him to write the Memoirs. Makriyannis, therefore, set out to learn the remaining sixteen letters of the alphabet to supplement the eight he had learned as a child to write his name. Not published until forty-five years after his death, it would take more than another half-century for an abridged translation to appear in English (H.A. Lidderdale, editor and translator, Makriyannis: The Memoirs of General Makriyannis, 1797-1864 [Oxford University Press, 1966]).
The Memoirs provide detail into the guerrilla tactics of the Greek soldiers against their Turkish opponents and the importance of what Max Boot terms European “humanitarian intervention” to win liberty for the fledgling nation. Makriyannis’ narrative is vivid and dramatic. He writes of the zeal of the Greek soldiers that he led, but also of the challenge he faced trying to grapple with their undisciplined nature. While crediting the military contributions of the English, French, and Russians, Makriyannis nevertheless was wary of their influence in the post-revolutionary period, in part because of the influence that European intellectuals had upon the leaders of Greece’s newly installed government—an influence that distinguished them from the experience of the ordinary Greek citizen. He writes in the Epilogue: “You came to give us freedom, you, our great statesmen, when we had raised the revolt by ourselves and for the first years had fought side by side with the statesmen reared within our borders—that struggle is clear for all to see, as is the patriotism and brotherliness that dwelt within us. When you arrived you schooled us in dissention and introduced us to faction and other such blessings: and you brought this poor innocent nation to ruin.”
Makriyannis’ Memoirs is an intensely personal meditation on patriotism and religious faith. For those wishing to appreciate and understand the motivation of insurgencies against foreign occupiers, the influence of foreign fighters, and the hazards of forming new political institutions in the wake of victory, the Memoirs is an excellent place to start.
