International Squadron

Background

In 1896, the Great Powers induced the Ottoman Empire to agree to institute reforms in the administration of the island of Crete – which the Ottomans had controlled since 1669 – to protect the interests of the island's Christian population, with whom many people in Greece sympathized. When the Ottomans failed to follow through on the reforms and massacred Christian inhabitants of Canea (Chania), Crete, on 23–24 January 1897, a revolt broke out on 25 January 1897 among the Cretan Christians with a goal of forcing the union of Crete with Greece. With the support of Greek Army troops deployed to the island and Greek Navy warships operating along its coast, the insurgents overran much of the countryside. Ottoman troops generally retained control of Crete's large towns and of isolated outposts scattered around the island.

Anxious to force the Ottomans to adhere to the agreement to institute the reforms promised in 1896 and to avoid a general war breaking out between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which they feared would lead to an inevitable Greek defeat and might spread to become a general war in Europe, six Great Powers – Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom – decided to intervene in the revolt so as to ensure that the reforms would take place. They placed pressure on the Ottomans not to reinforce their garrisons on Crete; in exchange, they took the responsibility for the general safety of the Ottoman garrisons already on the island.

Formation of the squadron

As early as May 1896, the British battleship HMS Hood and a French gunboat had arrived in Cretan waters to protect their countries′ interests and citizens in the face of unrest on Crete, and when major rioting broke out in Candia (now Heraklion) on 6 February 1897, men from the British warship on station, the battleship HMS Barfleur, intervened to bring the situation under control and to protect British subjects by bringing them aboard Barfleur. With the rapid deterioration of the situation on the island in early 1897, ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, French Navy, Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), Imperial Russian Navy, and British Royal Navy all arrived in Crete's waters in early February 1897 as a show of naval might intended to demonstrate the commitment of the Great Powers to an end of fighting on Crete and an arrangement that would protect Christians on the island without separating it from the Ottoman Empire. The first British warships to join Barfleur – led by the battleships HMS Revenge, the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Harris, and HMS Rodney – arrived on 9 February 1897; by 13 February, Austro-Hungarian, French, Italian, and Russian warships had anchored off Crete and Germany had committed to establishing a naval presence there. Anchoring in the harbor at Canea (now Chania), the squadrons soon combined to form the International Squadron, and the admirals commanding the various national contingents began working together to address matters on the island.

Operations

Early actions

While the six powers negotiated over what additional steps their naval forces off Crete should take, Greece took action to support the Cretan Christian insurgents. The Greek Navy ironclad Hydra arrived off Crete in early February 1897, nominally to protect Greek interests and citizens on Crete, and on 12 February a Greek Navy squadron consisting of the steam sloop-of-war Sphacteria and four torpedo boats under the command of Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869–1957) arrived at Canea with orders to support the Cretan insurrection and harass Ottoman shipping. The admirals of the International Squadron informed Prince George that they would use force if necessary to prevent any aggressive Greek actions in and around Crete, and Prince George's squadron departed Cretan waters on 13 February and steamed back to Greece. On the day that Prince George's squadron departed, the admirals received a report that Greek warships had chased and fired on an Ottoman steamship off Crete, and they informed the commander of the Greek Navy that they would not allow Greek ships to fire at Ottoman vessels in the island's waters. However, the situation continued to escalate on 14 February, when a Greek Army expeditionary force commanded by Colonel Timoleon Vassos (1836–1929) consisting of two battalions of Greek Army infantry – about 1,500 men – and two batteries of artillery landed at Platanias, west of Canea; Vassos declared that his troops had come to occupy Crete on behalf of the King of Greece and unilaterally proclaimed Greece's annexation of Crete. This prompted the island's Ottoman vali (governor), George Berovich (also known as Berovich Pasha) (1845–1897), to flee to Trieste on 14 February aboard the Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I.

Vassos's declaration was a direct challenge to both the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers, and Berovich's departure left Crete with no functioning civil authority. To address both matters, the International Squadron took its first direct action on 15 February 1897 by landing 450 sailors and marines – 100 each from France, Italy, Russia, and the United Kingdom and 50 from Austria-Hungary – from the warships anchored in the harbor at Canea and raising the flags of all six of the Great Powers over Canea. This began both the international occupation of Crete and the role of the International Squadron's admirals in managing the island's affairs via the Admirals Council. When the first Imperial German Navy warship, the protected cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta, arrived off Crete on 21 February, she reinforced the International Squadron's occupying force ashore by landing an additional 50 men. Meanwhile, the International Squadron determined that the senior admiral present among the contingents of all six countries should serve as the squadron's overall commander, and accordingly Italian Vice Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro – on the scene in command of a Regia Marina squadron consisting of the battleships Sicilia (his flagship) and Re Umberto, the protected cruiser Vesuvio, and the torpedo cruiser Euridice – became the commander of the International Squadron on 16 or 17 February (sources vary); he also became president of the Admirals Council. The International Squadron ordered Vassos to come no closer than 6 kilometers (33⁄4 miles) to Canea, but he began operations intended to capture the town, leading to a clash on 19 February 1897 in which his expedition defeated a 4,000-man Ottoman force in the Battle of Livadeia. The International Squadron demanded that Vassos cease his operations against Canea and captured several storeships sent to supply him.

Greco-Turkish War of 1897

Meanwhile, the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also known as the Thirty Days War, had broken out on the mainland of Europe, with Greek forces crossing the border into Ottoman Macedonia on 24 March 1897, followed by an official declaration of war on 20 April. As the Great Powers had expected, the war ended quickly in a disastrous Greek defeat, and a ceasefire went into effect on 20 May 1897. Stymied by the International Squadron's actions and unable to advance beyond Fort Soubashi to threaten Canea or to receive reinforcements or supplies in the face of the blockade, Vassos, who had achieved little since February, accomplished nothing further during the war and left Crete on 9 May 1897. With the ceasefire agreement that ended hostilities on the European mainland requiring all Greek forces to leave Crete, his expeditionary force boarded the British protected cruiser HMS Hawke at Platanias on 23 May 1897 and withdrew from the island. On 20 September 1897, Greece and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Constantinople, formally ending their war.

Seeking peace

Despite the events on the European mainland, the Christian insurrection on Crete continued. However, the military threat to the European Powers dropped so much after March 1897 that the International Squadron and the occupying forces ashore could turn their attention to ceremonial activities in the spring, such as a parade in honor of the Italian participation in the intervention on 4 May 1897 and a celebration of Queen Victoria′s Diamond Jubilee on 22 June 1897.

With the military situation on the island quiet, the Admirals Council attempted to establish a working agreement between the insurgents and Ottoman forces on the island that would bring the revolt to an end without Ottoman forces having to leave Crete. This proved impossible. The Admirals Council then decided to resolve the situation by establishing a new, autonomous Cretan State that would run its own internal affairs but remain under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. Germany, increasingly sympathetic with the Ottoman Empire, disagreed strongly with this decision and withdrew from Crete and the International Squadron in November 1897. Austria-Hungary also left in March 1898. Although the departures of German and Austro-Hungarian ships and troops weakened the International Squadron and the occupying forces, the four remaining Great Powers continued the blockade and occupation, dividing Crete into zones of responsibility among themselves. Italy took the responsibility for the western portion of the island, Russia the west-central portion, the United Kingdom the east-central part, and France the island's eastern area, while Canea and Suda Bay remained under joint, multinational control.

Having decided to establish the Cretan State, the Admirals Council turned its attention in the spring of 1898 to finding someone to serve as High Commissioner of the new state. They offered the position to Vice Admiral Canevaro, but he turned down the offer and left the International Squadron to take office on 1 June 1898 as Italy's Minister of the Navy. French Rear Admiral Édouard Pottier succeeded him in command of the squadron and as president of the Admirals Council, and the search for a high commissioner continued.

Meanwhile, by the spring of 1898, the Powers began to relax the blockade, reduce their presence in the International Squadron, and draw down their occupying forces ashore on Crete; for example, the British presence fell to one British Army battalion ashore and typically one battleship (usually anchored at Suda Bay), one cruiser, and one gunboat on station. With the situation on Crete quiet, the British commander of forces on and around Crete, Rear-Admiral Gerard Noel (1845–1918) – who relieved Rear-Admiral Robert Harris (1843–1926) of this duty on 12 January 1898 – withdrew his flag from Crete and delegated his seat on the Admirals Council to whichever officer happened to be the British Senior Naval Officer at Crete at the time of each of the council's meetings, leading to frequent changes in British representation. For its part, the council began to loosen its formerly tight control over affairs on Crete, allowing greater autonomy in the decision-making of lower-ranking officers of the occupation force as they dealt with affairs on Crete. On 25 July 1898, the Admirals Council took the major step of turning over civil administration of Crete, except for the towns under international occupation, to the Christian Assembly, which was intended to become the legislative body of the Cretan State.

Candia riot

Cretan insurgents paid no taxes during the revolt and, with only the Muslim inhabitants of Cretan towns subject to taxation, financing of the administration of the island became increasingly difficult. Finally, the Admirals Council decided to place the customs houses on Crete under British control so that the British could exact an export duty that would fund the general welfare of the island. They ordered the Ottomans to surrender the custom houses and made plans to replace Muslim officials and employees at the houses with Cretan Christians. Takeover of customs houses in Canea and Rethymno on 3 September 1898 took place without incident.

When the British attempted to take control of the custom house at Candia (now Heraklion) on 6 September, however, violent resistance broke out among Muslim inhabitants, who believed that they were being forced to pay for a Christian takeover of their privileges. With only a 130-man detachment of the British Army's Highland Light Infantry ashore and the Royal Navy torpedo gunboat HMS Hazard the only warship present in the harbor, Muslim mobs confronted British officials, soldiers, and sailors at the harbor and the customs house, began a slaughter of Christian inhabitants, and opened a heavy fire on British military personnel at the harbor and not long afterward at the British encampment and hospital at the western end of the town. Hazard landed reinforcements and began to bombard the town in support of the beleaguered British forces ashore. Pressure on the British forces at the harbor gate became so severe that they withdrew to the water distillation ship SS Turquoise in the harbor. The Muslims around the customs house and harbor did not cease fire until Ottoman troops led by the local Ottoman governor, Edhem Pasha (1851–1909), finally appeared late in the afternoon to restore order. When British forces at the camp and hospital fell back on the Ottoman fort west of town, Ottoman troops finally intervened there as well to quell the disturbance, which ended in the early evening. Ottoman forces otherwise made no effort to assist the British, protect Christian civilians, or keep order during the riot. Estimates of deaths during the day vary; the British suffered between 14 and 17 military personnel and at least three civilians killed and between 27 and 39 servicemen wounded, and Muslims slaughtered somewhere between 153 and nearly a thousand Christians, according to different sources.

After a tense night, reinforcements arrived in the form of the British battleship HMS Camperdown on 7 September, and she put a landing party of Royal Marines ashore. French, Italian, and Russian warships also arrived, and Austria-Hungary – although no longer a part of the International Squadron – sent the torpedo cruiser SMS Leopard to the scene. The International Squadron put 300 French marines and Italian mountain troops from Canea ashore at Candia. British Army forces also began to flood into the town, and by 23 September 2,868 British troops were on hand.

Evacuation of Ottoman forces

The Candia riot changed the International Squadron's attitude toward the situation on Crete: Previously it had viewed Christian insurgents as hostile and saw its primary role as supporting and protecting Ottoman forces, but the unhelpful behavior of Ottoman forces during the riot changed this, and thereafter the squadron saw the Ottomans as the hostile force. In the aftermath of the riot, the Admirals Council decided that all Christian and Muslim inhabitants had to be disarmed and all Ottoman forces had to leave Crete. The Ottomans stalled. The Great Powers' patience finally wore out on 4 October 1898, when they demanded that all Ottoman forces leave Crete by 19 October. Agreeing in principle to the evacuation of their forces, but objecting to the withdrawal timeline demanded by the Admirals Council and desirous of a small force of Ottoman troops remaining on Crete to guard the Ottoman flag, the Ottomans continued to stall, but finally began to withdraw their forces from the island on 23 October. However, they halted the withdrawal on 28 October with about 8,000 Ottoman troops still on the island so as to avoid embarrassment of the Ottoman Empire during a visit of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941) to Constantinople. At the insistence of the British, in punishment for the delay in evacuation, the Admirals Council demanded that the Ottoman flag be hauled down in Canea – which it was, on 3 November – and that all Ottoman troops leave the island by 5 November; in the event of them failing to do so the Powers threatened to take steps to sink all Ottoman ships in Suda Bay and bombard and destroy the Izzeddrin Fortress, then expand bombardments to include Canea, Hieraptra, Spinalonga, Kissamos, and Rethymo, requiring the Ottoman government to pay indemnities for any damages resulting from these actions. The International Squadron and the occupying forces ashore developed plans for carrying out these threats; at Candia, for example, plans called for British forces ashore to withdraw to the coast with the support of Cretan Christian insurgent forces and embark aboard the ships of the International Squadron, after which the threatened bombardment would begin.

The Ottomans responded by resuming the evacuation of their troops, but after the 5 November deadline passed, about 500 Ottoman troops remained in Candia. The British took administrative control of Candia on 5 November, so British troops evicted the remaining Ottoman troops from their barracks on 6 November 1898 and ensured that – supervised by officers and men of the British battleships HMS Revenge and HMS Empress of India – the last Ottoman forces in Crete embarked on the British torpedo gunboat HMS Hussar for transportation to Salonica. Their embarkation on Hussar brought 229 years of Ottoman occupation of Crete to an end. However, a few Ottoman troops remained behind into December 1898 to supervise the withdrawal of Ottoman munitions and ordnance, and as late as December arguments broke out between the Ottomans and the occupying powers over such matters as how many Ottoman troops could remain behind and what military ranks they could hold.

Transportation of Prince George

On 26 November 1898, the Admirals Council formally offered the position of High Commissioner of the Cretan State to Prince George of Greece and Denmark. Prince George accepted. With the last Ottoman forces gone from Crete, the International Squadron's final task was to arrange for Prince George's arrival on the island to take up his duties, marking the establishment of the new state. Complications arose over his transportation to Crete. He originally proposed that he would arrive aboard the Greek royal yacht, but the Admirals Council rejected this idea. Greece proposed that a Greek Navy warship transport him to the island, but this idea did not meet with the approval of the International Squadron's admirals either. Greece then proposed that a Greek merchant ship flying the Greek flag carry him to the island, but the four powers unanimously rejected this idea as well. Finally, the Admirals Council informed Prince George that the International Squadron would bring him to Crete, with a European warship flying her own national flag carrying him, escorted by warships of the other three powers flying their own national flags.

Prince George's arrival suffered a last-minute delay when an argument broke out among the four powers over the design of the flag of the new Cretan State. After the new flag's design met with the approval of all four powers, the four flagships of the countries making up the International Squadron – the French protected cruiser Bugeaud with the International Squadron's senior commander, Vice Admiral Édouard Pottier, aboard; the Italian battleship Francesco Morosini, carrying the admiral commanding the squadron's Italian ships; the Russian armored cruiser Gerzog Edinburgski with the senior Russian commander, Rear Admiral Nikolai Skrydlov, aboard; and the British battleship HMS Revenge with the British commander, Rear Admiral Gerard Noel, aboard – finally steamed on 19 December 1898 to Milos, where Prince George awaited them on his yacht. He boarded Bugeaud on 20 December. Escorted by the other three flagships, Bugeaud took him to Suda, where he disembarked on 21 December 1898 to take up duties as High Commissioner of the new Cretan State. His arrival on the island brought 229 years of direct Ottoman rule of Crete – as well as de facto control of the island by the Admirals Council – to an end.

On 26 December 1898, the Admirals Council formally was dissolved. Its duties completed, the International Squadron dispersed.

Legacy

The Cretan State, created by the decisions of the International Squadron's admirals as they negotiated the status of Crete on behalf of their governments, existed until 1913. Foreign troops continued to garrison the island until 1909, and Royal Navy ships remained on station there until 1913. In 1913, after the Greek victory in the Second Balkan War, Greece formally annexed Crete in the Treaty of Athens.