I. The Selection of the First Ruler of Independent Greece

1. Ioannis Kapodistrias was from a wealthy family on the island of Kerkyra (Corfou)

1. From 1815 the Ionian Islands had been technically free and independent (as the Septinsular Republic), but they were really under British control.
2. Kapodistrias was a talented administrator and he was in the service of the tsar.

1. Even before the Treaty of London (July 1827) most of the Greeks had come to accept the necessity of foreign intervention.
2. In April of 1827 a national assembly met at Damala/Troezene (in the southern Argolid) and elected Kapodistrias as kyvernitis (governor) of Greece for a seven-year term.

1. Kapodistrias was respected for his experience and diplomatic skill, and the fact that he was acceptable to the Powers.
2. He was nonetheless feared as a potential autocrat.

1. The assembly of Troezene drew up another constitution for the new nation.

1. Like its predecessors this was a remarkably liberal document.
2. It said that sovereignty resided in the people.
3. Clear divisions were made between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

II. Capodistrias in Power

1. Shortly after the Battle of Navarino (20 October 1827) Kapodistrias made plans to go to Greece, arriving in January 1828.
2. He established his capital in Nafplion.
3. He quickly made it clear that he would not abide by the constitution of Damala/Troezene.

1. He abolished the national assembly and replaced it with the Panhellenion, a body of 27 men directly under his control.
2. He convened another national assembly at Argos in July 1829: this abolished the Panhellenion and established a senate as the legislative body of Greece.

                D. Kapodistrias was by temperament an autocrat and he believed that Greece could not afford the luxury of a                        democracy.

                E. Kapodistrias' policies were founded on a belief that the future of Greece depended on maintaining the good will of                       the Powers and that the internal institutions of Greece had to be created and strengthened.

III. Sovereignty and the National Borders

1. The Treaty of London had not actually created an independent Greece, since it was still assumed that Greece would still be under Ottoman suzerainty.
2. The continued growth of Russian power, and the Treaty of Adrianople (September 1829) by which the Russo-Turkish was ended, with significant gains for Russia, caused England to favor creation of a truly independent Greece.
3. The Conference of London (made up of the British foreign secretary and the ambassadors of Russia and France) undertook to make arrangements for the new nation.
4. The Conference decided that Greece should be a monarchy.

1. A search was instituted to find a suitable king, not directly connected to the rulers of Britain, France, or Russia.
2. In 1830 the crown of Greece was offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Colburg, but he turned it down.

                E. Meanwhile, debate continued about where the northern boundary of Greece should be and which of the islands it                        should include.

1. The Conference suggested a line between Arta in the west and Volos in the East, but this was rejected by the Porte.
2. The issue of the frontier was not settled for some time.

IV. Foreign Loans and Domestic Policies

1. Kapodistrias tried to create a centralized administrative structure for the state.

1. In most cases these institutions simply had not existed before:

1. army
2. educational system
3. banking system
4. transport and communication
5. administrative bureaucracy

                                    2. Many people were very much against these policies.

1. Under Ottoman authority the Greeks had been used to considerable autonomy and the near absence of any governmental institutions in Greece itself.
2. Greece had been under foreign occupation for at least 400 years and the tradition was very strong that the "government" was a bad thing--to be opposed in any way possible.
3. The klefts and kapetanioi were certainly opposed to Kapodistrias.

            B. Kapodistrias sought to carry out significant land reform.

1. The lands formerly belonging to the Turks were considered state property.
2. He wished to distribute these lands to the poor, and to the refugees who had flooded into independent Greece from areas where the revolt had failed.
3. Powerful Greeks, however, took the land over and would not give it up, so his policies could not be accomplished--this meant that there was considerable differential in wealth.

            C. Kapodistrias thus managed to alienate nearly all the powerful elements in Greek society.

1. The primates because they opposed his land policies;
2. The kapetanioi because he sought to limit their freedom to plunder;
3. The intellectuals because he was authoritarian and not liberal in sentiment.

            D. Murder of Kapodistrias

1. Kapodistrias had arrested a number of the kapetanioi, including Petrobey Mavromichalis.
2. Members of the powerful Mavromichalis clan (from the Mani) thought that Petrobey was going to be executed.
3. Two of his nephews--George and Constantine Mavromichalis--assassinated Kapodistrias in Nafplion: 9 October 1831.

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