Cretan Fighters

Cretans played a dynamic part in the defence of the towns on their island. The garrison at Chania is a typical instance, consisting of 800 professional soldiers and 1 000 civil guards, most of whom were Cretans. In the hinterland too, Venetian exhortations on the one hand, and atrocities committed by irregular units in the Ottoman army on the other, led several locals to resist the invaders. Among prominent Cretans who chose to fight alongside the Venetians, one outstanding figure was that of philosopher, theologian and philologist Gerasimos Vlachos.