Howdy partners, i posted this a while ago in Greek-Turkish forum...i think it belongs here...cheers
Marine's Hymn: An appreciation for Greek military help
Few of the US marines know and hardly anyone on Greece does, that when the Marine's Hymn is sang, it actually lauds and celebrates the very first Greek and American military combat cooperation that took place in 1805 and resulted in the release of 308 Americans held hostage for ransom by Mediterranean pirates. "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea,” run the first two lines in the first stanza of the United States Marine's Hymn.
The reference to American marines in action on "the shores of Tripoli” commemorates a US marine in action on a stronghold of the Pasha of Tripoli (Libya), who along with the rulers of three other petty North African states, Morocco, Tunis and Algiers, practiced piracy against commercial shipping in the Mediterranean in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Known as the Barbary rules or Barbary pirates, these tribal autocrats send their corsairs in the Mediterranean to attack merchantmen for loot and to capture sailors and travelers whom they held for ransom. The Americans, who were commercially active in the Mediterranean, suffered numerous humiliations in the hands of the pirates and were forced to pay substantial amounts of tribute money to them. At one time a US man-of-war named George Washington, was forced by the Bey of Algiers to haul down its flag, replace it by that of Algiers and carry the Bey's Ambassador to Constantinople carrying presents for the Porte. When the American captain protested the Bey told him: "You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves. I have therefor, the right to order you as I may think proper.”
Inevitably things came to a head and war broke out between the US and the Pasha of Tripoli. However, one of the frigates, the Philadelphia, sent to block and bombard the port-town of Tripoli, hit a reef and its captain and 307 men were taken prisoners by the Pasha. Another humiliation befell the Americans.
At this point the American Consul at Tunis William Eaton, a former army officer, came to the rescue. He persuaded President Thomas Jefferson that neither the bombardment nor the blockade would have yielded results and that only a land attack on Tripoli would have forced the Pasha's hand. Eaton's plan, accepted by Washington, was for the US to espouse the cause of a pretender to the Tripolitan "throne, then in exile in Egypt, and to aid him militarily to overthrow the Pasha of Tripoli. In this way the US would have a client ruler in Tripoli beholden to it that would later become all too familiar and a half mark of CIA operations in many parts of the world, including Greece.
The implementation of Eaton's plans are detailed in his papers and correspondence, which Professor Harry Psomiades, Director of the Centre of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Queen's College, made public in 1977. A company of nine marines were sent to help Eaton who, after reaching an agreement with the pretender, proceeded to organize a small army comprised mostly of Arabs and a few Europeans. But prominent amongst the recruits were a company of 40 Greeks, fully armed and led by two captains.
Eaton's army crossed the Libyan desert from Egypt and stormed Tripoli's second most important city, Derne. Eaton then made preparations to attack the main port-city of Tripoli. In his report Eaton cites the number of casualties his army suffered which included three marines. He adds that the rest were "chiefly Greeks, who in this little affair, well supported their ancient character.”
He also notes that the Greeks had saved the whole operation, including his own life and that of the marines, when prior to the attack the Arab recruits conspired to rebel, kill the Americans and steal the war chest they were carrying. But the Greeks got wind of the conspiracy and neutralized it.
The fall of Derne sacred the Pasha of Tripoli who compromised with the Americans and released the prisoners. However, Washington dealt with the Pasha behind Eaton's back and actually even paid him $60,000 for the release of the prisoners. Washington also signed a peace treaty with him. This act so infuriated Eaton, who was ready to storm Tripoli, that upon his return to the US he launched a better attack on Washington decision makers for their "betrayal” for the "dishonorable peace” and for the "stab in the back” of American fighting men.
Of the Greeks little else is said except that the Americans evacuated them to Sicily. According to Psomiades, the Greeks were members of organized military companies that offered their services to the British, French, Americans, Russians and even the Ottomans. He speculates that this particular group was probably from the Peloponnese who fled to North Africa after the Russian-supported 1770 Greek revolt against the Ottomans failed. But Psomiades notes that they could just as easily have been Souliotes or Roumeliotes who fled Greece to escape Turkish tyranny and who fought for their living. They probably belonged to the rank of the kleftes (the band of thieves) or the armatoloi (or the then known "bad boys” or sinners), who a few years later would lead the 1821 revolt against the Turks.
The lesson of this first Greek-American military venture have not been forgotten by the US marines. However, the same cannot be said today of those that lead them militarily and politically, most of whom have become obsequious apologists for the Turkish caudillos and their tank democracy. It is true that the 1805 Greeks were paid for their services. But they could have just as easily have made more money by allowing the Arabs to kill Eaton and his nine marines. Their Greek "filotimo” (generosity), however, did not allow betrayal, something the marines, at least, appreciate.
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Harbor/2858/articles/marines.htm
