Otto (Greece)
Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach ( Greek Όθων Othon , born June 1, 1815 at Mirabell Palace in Salzburg ; † July 26, 1867 in Bamberg ) was a Bavarian prince and the first king of Greece from 1832 to 1862 .
youth
Otto was born on June 1, 1815 in Salzburg, where his father, the Bavarian Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I of Bavaria , resided as governor. His mother was Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen . He was the couple's second son.
Well-known teachers such as Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , Friedrich Thiersch and Georg von Oettl , who later became Bishop of Eichstätt , were responsible for his upbringing . It was shaped by the Restoration and absolutism , while the interest in Greece was largely shaped by philhellenism and classicism . A few years earlier, the Greeks had gained their freedom from centuries of Ottoman rule.
Prehistory of the accession to the throne
After the war of independence against the Ottoman Empire , the newly founded state of Greece was internationally recognized in the London Protocol of February 3, 1830. When his first head of state, Ioannis Kapodistrias , was assassinated in October 1831 and his brother and successor Augustinos Kapodistrias did not manage to stabilize the situation by 1832, a power vacuum developed. The signatory powers of the independence of Greece, Great Britain , France and Russia , intervened and proposed to the Greek National Assembly that a European prince be elected as king.
The meeting chose the 16-year-old Prince Otto of Bavaria after two other princes had rejected the Greek crown: the later King of the Belgians Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Otto's uncle Prince Karl of Bavaria . Otto's election was preceded by the intensive lobbying work of his teacher Friedrich Thiersch. Among other things, he was able to win over the Swiss banker and convinced philhellenic Jean Gabriel Eynard , who was also chairman of the support groups for Greece's struggle for independence, for his candidate. The fact that his father, King Ludwig of Bavaria, had openly supported Greek independence as one of the first European princes, may also have contributed to the choice of the prince.
Since Otto was still a minor, his father had to accept the election for him. Ludwig set conditions regarding the course of the northern border of the new kingdom and a loan of 60 million French francs , which was also granted. But the guarantee powers also made demands, which the king responded to: Otto kept his apanage as Bavarian prince and was accompanied by an auxiliary corps of 3,500 Bavarian soldiers , for whom he donated his own monument to Greece in 1833 . He had to undertake not to take any hostile actions against the Ottoman Empire , and he was allowed to call himself “King of Greece”, but not “King of the Greeks” or “King of the Hellenes”. In view of the numerous Greeks still living in the Ottoman Empire, this would have implied an expansionist course that one did not want to venture against the Turks at the time.
The second London Protocol , which King Ludwig signed for Otto on May 7, 1832 and which was unanimously adopted by the Greek National Assembly on August 8, 1832, appointed Otto King of Greece. From December 1832 Otto traveled to his new kingdom via Italy. Coming from Brindisi , he arrived on February 6, 1833 on board the British frigate Madagascar in the Greek capital of Nafplion .
Regency
Since he was not of legal age when he took office, Otto initially received a regency council consisting of the financial expert Joseph Ludwig von Armansperg , the lawyer Georg Ludwig von Maurer , the administrative specialist Karl von Abel and Major General Karl Wilhelm von Heideck . The reign created the administrative foundations of a modern state. The legislation was based on German models, even the Bavarian beer purity law was valid in Greece.
However, the members of the Regency Council soon fell out. While Armansperg allied themselves with the Russian party, Maurer and Abel relied on France, where they expected the least self-interest. Both sides appealed to King Ludwig. Since the ambassador Armanspergs first reached the king, the decision was made against Maurer and Abel, who were dismissed and replaced by aegis von Kobell and Johann Baptist von Greiner .
Many Germans came to Greece under Otto's rule, not just civil servants and court staff, but also academics and craftsmen. Ludwig Steub reports that the Athenian Germans were not sympathetic to the adventurers who had traveled there. The idea that under a Bavarian king every German could achieve prestige and prosperity in a short time, however, turned out to be a fallacy. As a result, failed returnees reported derogatory about the country. The botanist Carl Fraas , the brewer Karl Fuchs (whose son founded the Athens brewery FIX ) and Gustav Clauss, founder of the Achaia Clauss winery , were successful . The immigration of Germans continued even after Otto was dethroned. Even among Otto's successors, quite a few Germans made careers in the young state: for example Ernst Ziller , the court architect of King George I , or the lawyer Stefanos Streit and his son, Foreign Minister Georgios Streit .
Independent government
Before the capital and residence city was moved to Athens in 1834 , the court resided in Nafplio . In 1841 Otto moved into the palace built by Friedrich von Gärtner in Athens , today's parliament building . The first drafts for a residence came from Leo von Klenze . Influences can also come from an older design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel , who had previously planned the palace on the Acropolis . In 1836 King Otto laid the foundation stone for the new city palace.
Domestic politics
The political scene in Greece was shaped by factions that were oriented towards the protecting powers and ultimately their political interests. The Russian Party expected the Ottoman Empire to be dissolved soon. Since there was a considerable proportion of the Greek population in some areas, this party sought to reestablish the Byzantine Empire that fell in 1453 , the so-called “Great Idea” . For Otto, this perspective was tempting.
The British Party , on the other hand, relied on the power of Great Britain, which had created a naval base in the eastern Mediterranean with Greece, but was not interested in anything else, and certainly not in enlarging Greece at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. In British politics, the Ottoman Empire was still needed as a buffer against Russian access to the Mediterranean.
The French party tried - in competition with Great Britain - also to achieve political influence and, if necessary, territorial gains in the eastern Mediterranean. However, due to the superiority of Great Britain, it only succeeded to a limited extent, for example in the Syrian area.
Constitution
On his 20th birthday, now of legal age , Otto took over the government on June 1, 1835, and ascended the throne as By God's Grace , King of Greece . His neo-absolutist concept of kingship made him reject the demand for a constitution and thus the participation of subjects in the government. However, he was too weak, the means available to him too few, to be able to enforce his absolute claim to power in political practice in the long term.
Armansperg was appointed prime minister. Initially, Greeks had no vote in the king's cabinet, as the government continued to consist exclusively of Bavaria. A state council set up to compensate for this, a purely advisory body, remained without any influence. His subjects ridiculed this system as " Bavarocracy " (Βαυαροκρατία). Armansperg, reappointed regent during the king's absence in Germany in 1836, was overthrown after his return.
administration
While a civil administration headed by Bavarian officials was slowly establishing itself, a modern army was out of the question. The targeted troop strength of 9400 men was clearly missed with only 6000 men, most soldiers were recruited from Bavaria as mercenaries and burdened the household. The discipline by military regulations imported from Central Europe could not be enforced against the self-confidence gained from the freedom struggles and the different mentality of the Greek militias . On the other hand, the country remained marked by minor uprisings and revolts, so that the military played an important domestic political role.
Finances
Greece was heavily depopulated after the war of liberation. It was structurally disadvantageous that the agricultural land was in the hands of a few large landowners. When the state was founded, the guarantee powers France, Great Britain and Russia imposed a loan of 60 million francs on Greece, of which only 3/4 were actually paid and of which 12 million had to be paid as compensation to the Sublime Porte . The state's deficit grew steadily until 1835, but in 1840 it was possible for the first time to present a balanced budget and begin to repay the accumulated deficit. The main creditors were Great Britain and the Rothschild Bank . This gave Great Britain another leverage against an independent Greek policy.
Otto's investment program was very ambitious and was financially supported by Greek patrons abroad and his father as guarantor. Numerous projects were designed for the long term and only unfolded their effect decades later, like investments in education.
In the end, Greece's debts to Bavaria amounted to 1,933,333 guilders and 20 kreuzers or 4,640,000 drachmas . Without the last loan of one million guilders made possible by King Ludwig, Greece would have had to declare national bankruptcy. The non-repayment of the loan burdened the Greek-Bavarian relations until the final negotiated solution in 1881.
Marriage and succession
On November 22, 1836 Otto married in Oldenburg the gifted and conservative Duchess Amalia of Oldenburg . In addition to Otto, she also began to get involved politically. So she campaigned for the concerns of farmers. The childlessness of marriage became increasingly a problem, although with the constitution of 1844 the right of succession to the throne was extended to Prince Adalbert , Otto's younger brother, and his descendants. The next youngest prince, Luitpold , refused from the outset to switch to the Orthodox creed in the event of his succession to the throne. Otto had to accept as a condition that at least the heir to the throne had to convert to the Orthodox creed in the event of inheritance.
church
The Greek Orthodox Church declared itself autocephalous in 1833 because the Patriarch of Constantinople was under Ottoman control. Otto, a convinced Roman Catholic , refused to convert . Nevertheless, he was declared head of the new regional Orthodox Church. This step, which deviated from the orthodox tradition and aimed at making the church as state-compliant as possible, caused unrest. The Russian party was behind the church. In 1850, the Archbishop of Athens was appointed head of the Greek Church, and autocephaly was recognized by Constantinople. The king was granted a veto right against resolutions of the Synod of Bishops .
Cultural policy
Otto was perhaps the most successful in cultural policy: The numerous buildings that were built under Otto, often with the support of Greek patrons, are known, such as the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens . The introduced education system goes back to German models. Otto himself was soon fluent in the Greek language .
Foreign policy
In the dispute between Great Britain and Russia over influence in the eastern Mediterranean, Otto was more of a plaything than an actor. Greek chauvinists accused him of this and demanded that he should more courageously and militarily access areas of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, a policy that was difficult to implement in view of the interests of its main protective power, Great Britain.
When Greece attempted to annex Crete around 1841 , Britain's navy blocked the port of Piraeus . This was repeated in 1850 when Great Britain used this leverage to decide a dispute over two islands in its favor and incorporated them into its protectorate over the Ionian Islands . The whole thing was repeated again when Greece joined the Russian side in the Crimean War of 1853 in order to benefit from the expected Ottoman booty. The port of Piraeus and the capital Athens were occupied, and the Greek fleet was confiscated by the Western powers. The king's powerlessness against such foreign intervention weakened his position. Such foreign policy projects also put a financial burden on the Greek state.
The press in Germany painted a pessimistic picture of the country and local tumults were turned into riots. The architect Ludwig Lange , who works as a drawing teacher at the Athens grammar school, reported on falsified reporting in Germany and, in contrast, a quiet situation in Greece.
Regional resistance to Otto
In 1843 the last Bavarian troops were withdrawn from Greece as agreed. The king was now left with no reliable military power. A military coup immediately broke out in Athens, which developed into a popular uprising against Otto. The subjects defied their king to participate in power. Otto finally granted the required constitution in 1844 and Andreas Metaxas was appointed prime minister. However, he and all his successors only held office for a short time, which reflected the violent feuds of the various parties that were oriented towards the guarantor powers.
The second major uprising broke out in October 1862 while the royal couple were on a tour. It immediately tried to return to Athens, but - since the guarantee powers withdrew their support - had to be evacuated by an English ship, since even the crew of the royal ship could no longer be relied on. The Greek crown jewels , which he had brought from Bavaria in 1832, took Otto to again. Albrecht of Bavaria handed it over to the Greek King Paul in 1959 . They are still kept in Greece today.
exile
Otto returned to Bavaria with his wife, where they lived in the former prince-bishop's residence in Bamberg until their death . Every day as a reminder of their time in Greece they had a Greek lesson in which they spoke exclusively in Greek. Only Greek is spoken every evening between six and eight . The court, consisting of 50 people, was dressed in traditional Greek costumes.
In addition to guests from Greece, the court was also visited by the high nobility, including Queen Amalie Auguste of Saxony , a half-sister of Otto's father, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands and Prince Gustav von Wasa .
Despite the austerity budget, in 1866 he financed a delivery of arms to the Cretans, who had rebelled against Ottoman rule, with his entire annual tapping .
According to contemporary witnesses , Otto's last words were Greece, my Greece, my dear Greece . The sarcophagi of King Otto and Queen Amalia are located in the crypt of the Theatine Church in Munich , one of several burial sites of the Wittelsbach royal family.
Pedigree
reception
Museums
- In the town hall of the Munich suburb of Ottobrunn , which gave itself its name in memory of Otto, there is the Otto King of Greece Museum .
- Otto's first Athens residence was expanded into what is now the Athens City Museum. Some rooms have been restored to their original state with many original items.
- The later residence of King Otto of Greece is today's Greek Parliament , in which the furniture from his time in office and an extensive archive (only limited or accessible during exhibitions) are kept. Opposite (on Syntagma Square) a street is named after him (Odos Othonos).
Monuments
sorted alphabetically by location
- Bad Aibling : The Theresienmonument was erected on the site of Prince Otto's farewell to his mother, Queen Therese of Bavaria, in front of the Mangfall Bridge and unveiled on June 1, 1835.
- Bamberg : A bronze plate for the Greek royal couple Otto and Amalie in the rose garden of the New Residence, the inscription in Greek and German.
- Kiefersfelden , at the border crossing to Austria ( Kufstein ): King Otto Chapel in memory of his departure to Greece (architect: Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller ).
- In Kyselka , Czech Republic , the Otto source of Mattoni mineral water is named after him. [Receipt?]
- Nauplia : King Otto monument with details of his reign.
- Ottobrunn : Otto column
Further
- 12th Infantry Regiment "King Otto of Greece" , Neu-Ulm (existed from 1814 until the 20th century)
- Hotel King Otto of Greece in Rosenheim
Quotes about Otto
- Heinrich Heine , whom Ludwig's rejection of his application for a professorship in Munich had driven into permanent hostility, also targeted his son Otto in his hymns of praise to King Ludwig I : Mr. Ludwig is a courageous hero, like Otto the child , his little son; He got the diarrhea in Athens, And there defiled his little throne.
literature
- Reinhold Baumstark (Ed.): Das neue Hellas: Greeks and Bavaria at the time of Ludwig I = catalog for the exhibition of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich from November 9, 1999 to February 13, 2000, Munich 1999.
- Leonard Bower, Gordon Bolitho: Otho I, King of Greece: A Biography . Selwyn & Blount, London 1939.
- Christian Dümler, Kathrin Jung: From Athens to Bamberg: King Otto of Greece. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the New Residence Bamberg from June 21 to November 3, 2002 . Ed .: Bavarian Palace Administration. Munich 2002.
- Anita Eichholz: The Greek Court of Bamberg, pp. 149-184 in: From Athens to Bamberg: King Otto of Greece. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the New Residence in Bamberg from June 21 to November 3, 2002. Ed .: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung. Munich 2002.
- Anita Eichholz: Queen Amalie's years of exile and widowhood in Bamberg (1863–1875), pp. 161–176 in: Amalie 1818–1875, Duchess of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, accompanying volume for the exhibition "Amalie - Duchess of Oldenburg - Queen of Greece "from August 29th to October 24th, 2004 in the Palais Rastede. Ed .: Kunst- und Kulturkreis Rastede eV, Rastede 2004.
- Thomas Gallant: Modern Greece . Oxford University Press 2003, ISBN 0-340-76336-1 .
- Karl Theodor von Heigel : Otto, King of Greece . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 691-699.
- Reinhard Heydenreuter: The dreamed nation: Greece's rebirth in the 19th century [companion volume to the exhibition of the same name]. Pictures and documents on Bavarian-Greek relations in the 19th century, Munich 1995.
- Franz Menges: Otto I .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , pp. 687 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Ludwig Trost (Ed.): King Ludwig I of Bavaria in his letters to his son, King Otto of Greece. Bamberg 1891.
- Otto I . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 12, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 565.
- Katharina Weigand: Greece. Otto on the Greek throne. A bad speculation by King Ludwig I? In: Alois Schmid , Katharina Weigand: Bavaria in the middle of Europe. From the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52898-8 , pp. 320–338.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Baptismal Register - TFB5 | Salzburg-St. Andrae | Salzburg, rk. Diocese | Austria | Matricula Online. Retrieved November 1, 2017 .
- ^ Johann Georg August Galletti, Johann Günther Friedrich Cannabich, Hermann Meynert: Allgemeine Weltkunde. CA Harthleben, 1840, pp. 415/418 m.
- ^ Wolf Seidl: Bavaria in Greece. Süddeutscher Verlag, 2nd edition, 1970, p. 131.
- ↑ Hans Philippi: Studies on the history of Bavaria's relations with the German Empire 1871-1914. Bismarck and the foreign policy representation of Bavaria 1875–1882. In: Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte (ZBLG) 26 (1963), pp. 323–369, here: 339 ff. ( Digital )
- ↑ Church of Greece on pro-oriente.at
- ↑ Christoph Rösler: Non-profit papers for instruction and entertainment; as a simultaneous companion of the combined Ofner and Pester Zeitung, issue 24, 1834, p. 301 .
- ↑ "Greece, my Greece, my dear Greece" King Otto gives Bamberg an exotic court.
- ↑ Heinrich Heine: Reread poems 1828–1844.
Web links
- Literature by and about Otto in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Otto in the German Digital Library
- Heiner Wember : 08.08.1832 - Otto von Bayern becomes king of Greece WDR ZeitZeichen (podcast).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Augustinos Kapodistrias as President of Greece |
King of Greece 1832–1862.svg) |
George I. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Otto |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach; Othon; Vasileus tis Ellados |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Greece |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1815 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Salzburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 26, 1867 |
| Place of death | Bamberg |