| Expulsion of Otto of Greece | |||||||
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 King Otto andQueen Amalia embarking onHMSScylla. | |||||||
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King Otto of Greece was deposed in a popular insurrection in October 1862. Starting on 18 October inVonitsa, it soon spread to other cities and reachedAthens on 22 October.
King Otto had ruled theKingdom of Greece since May 1832.[1]Greece had been transformed into aconstitutional monarchy in the aftermath of the3 September 1843 Revolution. However, Otto continued to intervene in the internal affairs of the state by frequently dissolvingParliament and ignoring large-scaleelectoral fraud when it benefited him and his allies. By 1861, Greek opposition had grown into a broad front, which largely saw parliamentary politics as futile and instead wished to remove Otto from power. In March 1861, Greek authorities uncovered a plot to overthrow the King consisting mainly of university students and low ranking military officers. On 6 September, studentAristeidis Dosios attempted to assassinateQueen Amalia. The following day, a crackdown was launched on the anti-Ottonian opposition.[2]
On 1 February 1862, an insurrection broke out inNafplion, led byTheodoros Grivas,Dimitrios Grivas [el],Petros A. Mavromichalis [el] andDimitrios Botsaris.[3] Soon, the revolt started to spread toSantorini,Hydra,Syros,Tripolis,Argos andMessenia.[4][5] However, the royal authorities quickly managed to restore control by thwarting an outbreak of the revolt in Athens and mobilising a large body of troops to suppress it.[6] The revolt was suppressed by 20 March.[7]
On 16 October, King Otto and Queen Amalia left for a royal visit toPeloponnese in order to strengthen the bonds between the Greek people and the Crown. However, an insurrection erupted two days later inVonitsa, on theAmbracian Gulf, led byDimitrios Voulgaris,Konstantinos Kanaris andBenizelos Roufos. Soon, the insurrection spread toMissolonghi andPatras. On 22 October, the insurrection reached the capitalAthens and a provisional government was established, with Rouphos as thePrime Minister. On the following day, the revolutionaries proclaimed the deposition of the royal couple, and convened an assembly for the election of a new monarch.[8]
The royal couple was then brought fromKalamata by the Minister of Police and placed under the protection of aBritish warship,HMSScylla. At the same time, the property of the royal couple, which remained in theOld Royal Palace, was inventoried before being returned to their legitimate possessors. Advised by ambassadors of theGreat Powers, Otto and Amalia left Greece and went into exile. In spite of everything, the King refused to abdicate and did not envision his departure as being definitive.[9]
TheConstitution of 1864 was established to implement the transition fromconstitutional monarchy to acrowned republic under a new sovereign.
