I - 47 : When the Cyclades were Russian

Recognize this Naval Flag? A Russian Ship-of-the-Line sailing thru the Bosporus in 1798

Were we travelling 250 years earlier on our route this summer, we would probably bump into a Russian Fregate patrolling the Aegean and looking for enemy ships. From 1770 to 1775, the Cyclades were a Russian "colony" and hosted a sizeable naval base in Paros. What were the Russians doing there? Why did they come and why did they leave?

Nobody suspects that the peaceful Bay of Naousa was once a major Russian Naval Base

When Russia won the Battle of Poltava (1709), it replaced Sweden as Europe’s dominant northern power. Catherine II (the Great) - ruling from 1762 to 1796 - used her power to expand the Russian empire further. Her armies pushed west to conquer Poland-Lithuania and south to take Crimea from the Ottomans. Getting a borderline with Prussia and Austria made her a European player. Winning the Crimea gave her access to the Black Sea, Russia’s first sea shore which stayed open in winter time. The fiord of Sebastopol was turned into a fortified naval base (1783) – something it still is today. But am getting ahead of myself. Let’s return to 1768, the outbreak of the Russian – Ottoman War.

The Expansions under Catherine II the Great are in ocre

Catherine II continued what Peter the Great left unfinished. He wanted to get ful control over the Don and Dnjepr river basins. Catharine II added the control of the Dnjester and the north Caucasus to the war goals. In 1768, at the war's beginning, the Ottoman Fleet acted with impunity and almost no restrictions on the rivers and the Black Sea shores. Having no naval assets to speak of in the Blatck Sea, the Tsarina knew something had to be done. She split her unused Baltic Fleet and formed a new Mediterranean Task Force to attack the Ottomans from the south. The TF consisted of 9 ships-of-the-line (with >60 guns), 3 fregates, 4 fire and six other ships.

It must have looked like this - albeit this is the Russian Black Sea Fleet crossing the Bosporus in 1798 to participate in the Napoleonic Wars - it liberated Corfu where our 1st trip started

It sailed in September 1869 and crossed in harsh winter weather the Danish Straits, then the English Channel followed by the Straits of Gibraltar before finally arriving on the 1st of March 1770 off the southern coast of the Peloponnese. The Task Force had two goals:

• Ignite and support local rebellions against the Ottomans to tie down Turkish troops

• Destroy the Ottoman Fleet

Plans were immediately set in motion. Under Commander-in-Chief Count Alexei Orlov the Russians supplied Greek freedom fighters with weapons and supplies. The “Orlov” revolt had started. It still lingers in Greek memory.

At the Battle of Chesme the entire Ottoman Fleet was destroyed with Fire Ships

Within less than three months, the Task Force’s Naval Commander, Admiral G Spiridov, found his Turkish opponent in the Bay Chesme  just opposite Chios and destroyed it in July 1770. We visited Chesme in summer 2022.

Russian Movements in the Aegean when the Cyclades were a Russian "colony" 1770-1774

The Russian Fleet was now free to conquer the Cyclades. Efforts were made to break through the Dardanelles and attack Istanbul. But the Russian Fleet was not able to pass the Turkish Forts. By November 1770, it desperately needed a port for the winter. Orlov selected Naousa (Auza in Russian sources) in Paros. Here, the fleet could be maintained. Paros was also a good base to intercept Ottoman ships in the Aegean.

Paros on Google Maps - the natural Harbor of Naousa is on the Island's North

Naousa was a tiny village with only 200 houses. The Russian had to build everything from scratch. 2’500 soldiers from the Schlisselburg Regiment arrived followed by around 15’000 Albanian mercenaries. They built new arracks south of the Greek village. Immediately, the bay was fortified. By early March 1771, three large batteries controlled the bay entrance. On the western side, a hospital, ponton docks to haul-over ships, wind mills, the admiralty and sail and rope factories were established. 400 ship workers from St Petersburg were brought in. People called Paros the "Kronstadt of the Mediterranean". The new Russian buildings were meticulously mapped by French cartographer Gabriel Choiseul-Gouffier who visited Paros a few years later.

Zoom in to see the many Details in Choiseul-Gouffier's Map of Naousa

With the establishment of their base in Paros, Russia's appetite for a colony in the Aegean grew.  Catherina would have loved to split Greece from the Ottoman Empire and make it a vassal state. However, the cost of maintaining a base so far away was exorbitant. The Russian fleet had not succeeded in opening the Dardanelles and Bosporus yet. The Crimea was still under Turkish sovereignty. Sebastopol not built yet. Crimea was annexed only in 1783. The same year, the Imperial Black Sea Fleet was created. Any supply for a permanent colony in the Cyclades or an independent Greek State had to be shipped a long way all around Europe.

The Mamluk Rebellion against the Ottoman in 1772 was fully supported by Russia's Fleet

Still, the presence of a large Russian Fleet changed the balance of power in the region. The Russians conquered the Port of Beirut twice (1772 and 1773). Orlov also played an active role in the rebellion of Ali Bey Al-Kabir, the Mamluk usurper of Egypt, who by 1772 controlled not only Egypt but also the Red Sea, Palestine and the Levant. The Ottoman Sultan had no forces left to oppose.

The small Village of Naousa in 1772 with some of the Russian Barracks

The war between Russia and Turkey ended in 1774, when the Ottoman were routed at the battle of Kozluca in Bulgaria. Peace negotiations started quickly. Whilst the Ottomans did not have to give up large chunks of territory, they had to conceed that the Crimea became independent (and was absorbed by Russia in 1783) and lost two major ports, Azov and Kerch (both well known from the current Ukraine – Russian war). More importantly, Russia became the official protector of the Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire. This clause allowed the Russian Tsars again and again to interfere in Turkish politics.

Luckily there are Signs since there is almost nothing to be seen

For the Greek inhabitants of Naousa, the 20’000 Russian sailors and soldiers disappeared in 1775 as unexpected as they arrived. The Russian forts and barracks were dismantled. The fleet sailed away. There is pretty little that reminds us today of the Russian presence. Where once Russian fregates were overhauled, sailboats are now repaired. There is a tiny museum with a few maps next to the Monastery of St John. But if you do not know that this was once a major Russian naval base, you would have no clue.

The tiny Museum holds a few interesting Maps but has no other Artifacts

The idea that there could be an independent Greek state which the “Orlov” rebels spread from 1770 to 1775 stayed in people’s mind. Europe began to take an interest in Greece. In my view the War of Greek Independence (1821 – 1832) has its roots in Russia’s supports for the Peloponnese rebels during the five years they ruled the Cyclades.