Canto The Eighth
A more civil age seemed at first to be dawning,
And Ionian reps could at times be seen yawning
At the great Swiss convention to regulate war.
But if powers need rules, weaker ones need them more.
Yet the nation did grieve in the May of next year,
At the untimely loss of their admiral, dear;
‘Aristidis Kallergis – we have ill news – is dead.’
Wrote the papers, ‘In other news, Haiti is red!’
But adventures in Africa vied for attention;
Big game hunting in Ujiji, Zanzibar’s wild diversions,
People eaten by cannibals, or so it was assumed,
And most wondrous of all, the young pharaoh exhumed.
Until trouble began, on the Portuguese border;
An Ionian ventured, while following orders,
A little too far and got nabbed in Macao.
Only one thing to do: ‘It was always ours!’ vow.
Macao was rioting at around that time,
But Zanzibar’s brigade soon put things in line –
In line to be shot; while off Portugal’s coast
The two fleets competed who could outgun the most.
It was then that the Sultan, with timing most cunning,
Launched his third great invasion, and the one most alarming,
Since the Ionian ships, with a few weak exceptions,
Fought the far Portuguese, and could give no protection.
In Corfu they landed, 26,000 men,
Said Bey’s dread army, on conquest intent.
But Corfu then hosted the Ionian home army –
Three brigades, but led by a man not too barmy,
Strategos Venizelos, his first name Leonidas,
Like his name-sake of yore, he stood fast under fire,
And commanded his men in an epic defence –
If he failed, all was lost; so the battle commenced.
In October the fleet, being recalled in haste,
Reached the Ionian Sea, as it seemed not too late,
To battle the Ottomans for naval control –
Their new commerce raiders the lanes did patrol.
The fleet was victorious and then, in November,
The Ottoman army, surrounded, surrendered
Its arms and its flags to the bold Venizelos –
The defending Ionians, then, let out great bellows.
Not as lucky was Chios, which was left undefended,
And the Turks’ second army sailed across uncontested,
Before the Ionian fleet could react.
But it did sink some Ottoman ships in the act.
The war escalated on land and on sea;
Venizelos campaigned to set Epiros free,
But he had to retreat when the Turks brought reserves,
After his expedition got on their nerves.
On sea, two new ships the Ionians christened,
The ironclad ‘Diakos’, so new that it glistened,
And the new monitor ‘Filiki Eteria’ –
They joined the good fight, mostly in the Aegean.
But the Ottomans too had a new card to play,
When with monitors they came back into the fray.
There were many fights fought ‘till 1899,
When a white peace was signed, and all was then fine.
But a war yet remained, and with Swedish support
The Portuguese hoped the Ionians to thwart.
Yet they didn’t have boots on the ground to oppose
In Lindi and Somalia their colonial foes.
So when peace was decided with the Ottoman Porte,
They couldn’t do much for their African ports.
The Ionian navy went on the attack,
While Swedish troops failed to get Somalia back.
In July the Swedish king sued for a peace.
Macao was Ionian and the triumphant fleet
Gathered in Zante for the last great parade
Of the century – the parliament victory claimed.
