Alexandra Krantonelli, Ph.D., with this volume completes a trilogy of the history of piracy in the four hundred and more years of Ottoman rule. In this volume, she focuses on the intensive piracy and the corsairs that the Greeks exercised in the 18th century and up until the Greek Revolution.
Three international circumstances allowed the Greeks to profitably engage in piracy and corsair activities in the Greek maritime space in the 18th century. They acted with foreign flags of powerful European forces, initially on their small boats and later on their ships. The first circumstance is the coalition of European states against France and the attacks on French trade and shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean. At that time, France's enemies, particularly the English, turned to the Greeks and encouraged them to become privateers, raising the English flag on their vessels. The conflict between the English and the French for dominance at sea and in the colonies allowed the Greeks to profitably engage in corsair activities against French merchant ships in Greek waters. The second circumstance is the realization of Russia's expansionist aspirations against the Ottoman Empire. To achieve its plans during the three Russo-Turkish wars, Catherine II and her successors turned to the Orthodox Greeks, the ragiades, and the subjects of the Venetian Republic. They encouraged them to raid the Turks, raising the Russian flag. The Greeks rose up but became lawless. They carried out raids against foreign and Greek ships. With the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji in 1774, Russia provided asylum to thousands of Greek islanders and indirectly facilitated the granting of Russian citizenship to Greek shipowners who could safely travel under the Russian flag. The third circumstance is the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the British blockade of the beaches of the Western Mediterranean.
The Greeks capitalized on their maritime experience and accumulated profits from piracy, corsair activities, legal trade, and smuggling to build larger sailing ships. They used their familiar method of pirate attacks and maneuvers to break the British blockade and achieve profits by supplying the blockaded beaches. The Greeks were not a nation of pirates. They were a nation of sailors and merchants. To survive, they used many means. One of them was piracy.