1822 - Political Events

Political Events

A Greek assembly at Epidauros proclaims independence from the Ottoman Empire January 13 (see 1456; 1821). The Albanian brigand Tepelenë Ali is shot dead at Janina (later Ioánnina) February 5 at age 77, having ruled capriciously over much of Albania, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, and the Morea since 1788. An Ottoman fleet takes the island of Chios in April, massacres much of the island's population, and sells most of the rest into slavery. Ioánnis Kapodistrías takes an extended leave from his position in the Russian foreign service, Greek Admiral Konstantinos Kanáris, 32, sets the Ottoman admiral's flagship afire off Chios June 18, and a flotilla under his command forces the Ottoman fleet to retreat to the Dardanelles June 19. A 35,000-man Ottoman army invades Greece in July, overrunning the peninsula north of the Gulf of Corinth, and forces the new Greek government to take refuge in the islands, but Admiral Kanáris destroys another large Turkish ship at Tenedos in November. Greek guerrilla leaders gain victories over the Turks; the guerrillas include Demetrius Ypsilanti, 29, Alexander's brother (see 1823).

Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount Castlereagh, slits his throat with a penknife at London August 12 and dies at age 53. Paranoid in recent months, he has either been blackmailed or thought he was going to be charged with homosexual acts and was about to sail for Italy, where the Congress of Verona is scheduled to open in October. He is succeeded as foreign minister and leader of the Commons by George Canning, now 52. Politician Robert Peel, now 34, becomes secretary for home affairs, and a liberal wing of the Tory cabinet begins to make important reforms.

Orangemen at Dublin attack the British viceroy and the city has bottle riots.

The Congress of Verona that opens October 20 addresses issues raised by the second Treaty of Paris in November 1815 plus questions related to the Spanish monarchy and the revolt of Spain's colonies. Russia's Aleksandr I and Prince Metternich have settled issues regarding the Greek insurrection in preliminary conferences at Vienna in September but they attend the Verona meetings in person, as does Count Nesselrode; Prussia's chancellor Karl, Fürst von Hardenberg; the duke of Wellington (who has gone in place of the late Viscount Castlereagh); writer-statesman François René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, now 54; Mathie de Mont-Morency-Laval, vicomte de Montmorency, 56; and others. Montmorency favors armed intervention in Spain, Aleksandr offers to march 150,000 troops through Germany to Piedmont and hold them there in case they are needed for action against Jacobins either in France or Spain, Metternich and Montmorency reject that idea, Wellington rejects Metternich's suggestion that all four countries address a joint note to Madrid supporting French intervention, the Congress finally adopts Metternich's proposal that the Allies send four separate notes to Madrid supporting French intervention, but Wellington takes no further part in the conferences (see 1823); Montmorency resigns in December and is made a duke.

Prussian chancellor Karl August, Fürst von Hardenberg dies at Genoa November 26 at age 72 after attending the Congress of Verona. In his 12-year ministry he has put through legislation that regulated the redemption of peasant land holdings, introduced freedom of trade and a tax on profits, given the executive branch more flexibility in handling administrative problems, and granted civic equality to Jews. Created a prince (Fürst) in 1814 for having held Prussia together in the face of overwhelming French military might, his reforms encountered resistance beginning in 1815 and his efforts to create a representative assembly will not bear fruit until 1847.

An Ashanti War begins in West Africa following an exchange of insults between an Ashanti trader and a Fanti policeman. The tribesmen go into battle blowing war horns, the other side plays "God Save the King"; hostilities will continue for 9 years (see 1824).

Portuguese colonial authorities tighten their hold on Angola, Mozambique, part of Guinea, parts of India (Daman, Diu, and Goa), East Timor in the East Indies, and Macao off the southern coast of China as Brazil breaks away to become an independent empire.

The Portuguese princess Maria Leopoldina at Rio de Janeiro persuades her husband, Dom Pedro, to defy his father's orders to return to Lisbon (see 1821). He announces January 9 that he will remain in Brazil, makes José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva his prime minister, proclaims independence September 7, is crowned emperor December 1, and will reign until 1831 as Pedro I over the country that occupies 47 percent of South America (see Silva Xavier, 1792). Now 24, Dom Pedro took refuge in Brazil with his father 15 years ago when the French invaded Portugal, has been prince regent since his father's return to Portugal last year, and has sided with the Brazilians against the reactionary policies of Lisbon, but the emperor has met the voluptuous beauty Domitila de Castro, 25, at São Paulo and begun an adulterous affair that he will make little effort to conceal from Leopoldina (see 1823; Portugal, 1824).

The Battle of Pichincha outside Quito May 24 gives José de Sucre a decisive victory over a Spanish royalist army. Sucre has moved up the Andes, José de San Martín has sent forces to help him, he liberates Quito, and San Martín meets with Simón Bolívar at Guayaquil July 26 (see 1821). San Martín returns quickly to Lima, resigns the protectorship of Peru, and exiles himself to Europe, where he will spend the rest of his life living with his daughter at Brussels and Boulogne-sur-Mer. Bolívar becomes dictator of Peru (see 1824).

Haiti conquers Santo Domingo from Spain and takes over the entire island of Hispaniola (see 1818; 1825).

Mexico's revolutionary coalition dissolves as Agustín de Iturbide strips General Vicente Guerrero and his insurgents of power and crowns himself emperor May 19 (he is formally crowned July 21) (see 1821). A first-generation Creole, Agustín I dismisses congress October 31 and rules through an appointed 45-man junta; he sends troops to bring other Central American nations into the new Mexican Empire, which gains recognition from the United States December 12 when the Mexican minister is received at Washington, D.C. (see 1823).

General John Stark dies at his Manchester, New Hampshire, farm May 8 at age 93, the last surviving general of the Continental Army. His wife, Molly, died of typhus in 1814 at age 78.