Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression

For nearly four hundred years the Ottoman Turks governed Greece, subjecting it to crushing and arbitrary tax burdens and its peasants to serfdom; the glories of the ancient past were gone, and under Turkish rule Greece was poor and backward. But inspired by the examples of the American and French revolutions, Napoleon's victories, and the Latin American wars of liberation, the Greek people rose up against their Turkish masters in 1821. For twelve brutal yearsyears of terrible violence and bloody massacrethe Greeks and the foreign volunteers who flocked to their cause fought until independence was finally won in 1833.

The Greek War of Independenceis certain to be the standard history for many years to come. David Brewer has captured it brilliantly, from the ground upthe heroes and villains, the victories and tragic defeats. Greece was, as Byron said, a land with a special destiny"Freedom's home, or Glory's grave." Author Biography: David Brewer was first a Classics scholar at Oxford and afterwards learned modern Greek. The Greek War of Independence, the result of a lifelong interest in the history and culture of Greece, is his first book.