Klephten

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Klephten ( Greek Κλέφτες Kleftes "robbers"), also Kleften, one describes rebels in the Greek struggle for freedom against Ottoman rule .

The Klephts were originally recruited from Greeks who, for various reasons, evaded Turkish justice and went to the mountains. In the course of time they changed from robber gangs to resistance fighters . Their leader was Theodoros Kolokotronis .

Since the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 and the subsequent collapse of the Byzantine Empire , there had been smaller, mostly insignificant attempts at uprising by small groups and individual settlements, which were always crushed by the local Ottoman forces. Nevertheless, there were many who went to mountains and forests for their struggle for freedom, in order to repeatedly launch attacks from there. Mainly caravans and supply units flying under the Ottoman flag were attacked. The rebels were by no means popular with the entire population, as the mostly innocent farmers had to pay for their attacks.

In 1770 they organized an uprising against Turkish rule. Although there were no further successes on the part of the Greeks until the beginning of the revolution in 1821, a myth was born that gave courage and hope. The Klephts thus played a not insignificant part in the struggle for freedom. Their free life in the mountainous regions of Greece found expression in folk songs and ballads and lives on to this day in the so-called klephten songs and legends.

Famous Klephten

See also

  • Heiducken , name of the freedom fighters in the other south-east European countries
  • Kleftikos , a Greek dance
  • Kleftiko , a Greek stew

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Duden | Klephte | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved November 1, 2017 .
  2. ^ Berthold Seewald: Karl Wilhelm von Heideck: A Bavarian General in Liberated Greece. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, accessed November 2, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Prof Dr Jürgen Nautz: The great revolutions of the world . marixverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8438-0034-1 ( google.de [accessed on November 2, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Anuschka Albertz: Exemplary heroism: The history of the reception of the Battle of Thermopylae from antiquity to the present . Oldenbourg Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-59637-3 ( google.de [accessed on November 2, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Duden | Klephten songs | Spelling, meaning, definition. Retrieved November 1, 2017 .
  6. ^ Eberhard Rondholz : Greece: A country portrait . Ch. Links Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86284-119-6 ( google.de [accessed on November 2, 2017]).