Read on Twitter
Images from the 1953 Soviet war film “Ships Storm the Bastions” about the Russian conquest of Corfu in 1799. Corfu would remain a Russian dependency until 1805: Corfu’s half-century of British rule was almost entirely directed towards keeping the island out of Russian hands again
Under Russian rule, Corfu and the Ionian Islands were granted notional independence— the first Greek state since the fall of Byzantium— as an oligarchic Septinsular Republic, with a very cool flag:
The Corfiot nobleman Giovanni Capo d’Istria (better known in Greek historiography as Ioannis Kapodistrias, first ruler of independent Greece), whose ancestors derived from what is now Slovenia’s Koper, then became the Russian foreign minister, and a harsh critic of British rule
As the Tsar’s representative, one of the preeminent statesmen of Europe, a liberal wrestling with Metternich, Kapodistrias oversaw Switzerland’s disentanglement from France and the creation of its modern constitution
As first Governor of independent Greece, he survived one coup attempt through Russian intervention. In 1831 he was assassinated by Maniot noble factions, jealous of their ancient independence, condemning Greece to rule by foreign kings (progenitors of our own King Charles)
The Russian conquest of Corfu, by various circuitous paths of Greek history, led to this outcome:
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
