Vido () is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

group of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Location

This small island (less than a kilometer in diameter) is at the mouth of the port of

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

, about 1 km north of the old fort.

History

The island was known to the ancients as Ptychia (). At some point during the

Peloponnesian war The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

generals used Ptychia in order to keep some prisoners in captivity. There was once three forts on the island: Fort Schulenburg, Fort George in the southeast and Fort Wellington in the southwest close to the harbour. The first one was Fort Schulenburg, built in the northwest of the island on the initiative of Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg; its building started in 1716 and was completed in 1727 - along with an enclosure around the whole island. Then the French expanded Fort Schulenberg and built two more forts: Napoleon’s Redoute and Signal Redoute, adding tunnels to connect those to the existing fortifications. When the British took over the Ionian Islands, they too expanded Fort Schulenburg, adding towers with four canons at the top; furthermore, they demolished all the French buildings and replaced them with three new forts, designed by Lieutenant W. Worsley. These were built in secret and their maps drawn incorrectly to deceive potential enemies. But in 1864 the

were given to Greece and, as part of that agreement, the fortresses were blown up. Some remnants of Fort Wellington can still be seen. The island was involved in the

Siege of Corfu (1798–99) Siege of Corfu may refer to: * Siege of Corfu (1537) by the Ottoman Turks led by Hayreddin Barbarossa * Sieges of Corfu 1571 and 1573, see Corfu#Venetian rule and : Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) * Siege of Corfu (1716) by the Ottoman Turk ...

, where the Russo-Ottoman allies captured it from the French on 28 February 1799. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

served as an island hospital and quarantine for sick

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n soldiers following the epic retreat of the Serbian army and part of the civilian population through Montenegro and Albania in 1915, after the Austro-German-Bulgarian invasion of Serbia (see Serbian Campaign). While the main camps of the recuperating army were on Corfu itself (a contingent was sent to

Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...

as well, and many of the civilian refugees were accepted by France), the sick and near-dying, mostly soldiers, were treated on Vido to prevent epidemics. In spite of Allied material help, the conditions of both the improvised medical facilities and many of the patients on the island resulted in a high fatality rate. Due to the small area of the island and its rocky soil, it soon became necessary to bury the dead at sea (weighting the corpses with rocks to prevent them from floating). Over 5,000 people were buried at sea near the island of Vido. A monument of gratitude to the Greek nation was erected at Vido by Serbs in the 1930s. Wildlife on the island include peacocks,

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

s and

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

s. The waters around Vido island are sometimes referred to as the '' Blue Sea Tomb'' (Serbian: ''Plava Grobnica''), after a poem written by

Milutin Bojić Milutin Bojić ( sr-Cyrl, Милутин Бојић; – ) was a Serbian war poet, theatre critic, playwright, and soldier. A native of Belgrade, he began writing poetry at an early age and published a number of literary reviews under a p ...

after World War I. File:VidoSerbianMausoleum.jpg, Serbian World War I soldiers' mausoleum File:Vido-Mauzolej-Unutrasnjost.jpg, Interior of mausoleum File:Vido-PlavaGrobnica-ploca.jpg, Blue Graveyard memorial plaque

Location

History

References

See also

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