Greek War of Independence 1821-1832

A sense of Greek identity had long been fostered by the Greek Orthodox Church as well as the survival of the Greek language; this sentiment was magnified by economic development and the spread of Western ideals. Since 1814, members of the Philiki Etaireia (Friendly Brotherhood) promoted national independence from the Ottoman Empire. An attempt to bring about an uprising, led by Alexandros Ypsilantis, by marching a small army west from Russia failed during March 1821. However, spontaneous revolts against Ottoman rule broke out in the Peloponnese, in Greece north of the Gulf of Corinth, and on several islands and by April 6, 1821 (March 25 on the Julian calendar) these revolts had coalesced into the Greek war of independence.

In the course of the year, Greek forces gained control over most of the Peloponnese (or Morea as it was known then) capturing Tripolitza (Tripolis), the main Ottoman fortress as well as Athens. Massacres of civilians were common with tens of thousands of Greeks and Turks being slaughtered. The Greek rebels formed a government and declared independence during January 1822 but political infighting among the leadership resulted in civil war breaking out between March and May 1822 and again during 1824; these internal rivalries prevented the Greeks from extending their control or firmly consolidating their position in the Peloponnese. Meanwhile, an Ottoman attempt to recapture the fortress of Missolonghi in 1822 was defeated as were further attempts to break into the Peloponnese in 1823 and 1824; the Porte now turned to Mohamed Ali of Egypt, an ally and nominal subject of the Ottoman Empire, for military aid.

Greek military forces were fatally weakened in the struggle for political power by the time a force of over 20,000 Egyptians landed on the Peloponnese on February 24, 1825. Egyptian forces fanned out and overran much of the peninsula. In conjunction with the Egyptian invasion by sea, Ottoman forces again invested Missolonghi in the north. The fortress fell in April 1826, shortly after the arrival of Egyptian reinforcements, and by August most of the city of Athens was recaptured by the Egyptian-Ottoman forces. The Athenian acropolis held out until June 1827 but by then almost all of Greece was again under Ottoman control.

The cause of Greek independence was saved by the intervention of the European great powers as a result of strongly pro-Hellenic public sentiment. An offer to mediate was rejected and a demand to cease-fire and a withdrawal of Egyptian forces was refused by the Ottomans. Britain, France and Russia sent naval forces to Greece. On October 20, 1827, the combined fleet anchored in the harbor of Navarino in the middle of the Egyptian-Ottoman fleets. An Ottoman ship fired on a British boat and, in retaliation, the allied fleet opened fire destroying the entire Ottoman fleet with its superior firepower. Although this severely crippled the Ottoman forces, the war continued.

The Ottoman Empire, retaliating against Russian participation in the 1827 Battle of Navarino, repudiated the Akkerman Convention of 1826 risking a military response by the Russian Empire. Seeing an opportunity for territorial expansion, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire on April 26, 1828, on the pretext of coming to the aid of Greeks in their war of independence against the Turks. The armies of Tsar Nicholas I crossed the Danube River into the Ottoman territories of the Balkans and across the mountains of the Caucasus into Anatolia.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian agreement to withdraw its troops from Greece proved ineffectual and the allies settled on France sending an army to the Peloponnese to expel the Egyptians by force. On August 30, 1928, about fourteen thousand French troops landed at Petalidi in the Gulf of Coron. Egyptian evacuation began on September 16th and it was completed on October 5th. Ottoman troops continued to hold several forts, the last of which was surrendered to French forces on October 30th. Nonetheless, the Porte refused to make peace in Greece even though Ottoman forces were now fully engaged in resisting Russian advances to the east.

In the Balkans one Russian army successfully besieged Braila in Wallachia and secured the fortress at Ruschuk (Ruse) and Widdin (Vidin); another Russian army captured Varna after a three-month siege on October 12, 1828. Russian offensives continued. A siege of Silistria ended in a Turkish surrender on June 25, 1829. The Russian captured Adrianople (Edirne) on August 20th and then threatened Constantinople. Meanwhile, in the Caucasus, the Russian army conducted a brilliant campaign which involved marching 350 miles in 4 months; Russian forces conquered Kars in July 1828 and Akhaltsikhe in August. During 1929, the Russian army in the Caucasus won Erivan (Yerevan) before learning the Treaty of Adrianople had been signed.

Russia, victorious on the Balkan and Caucasus fronts, preferred a weakened Ottoman Empire to one that was dismembered by other powers. The resulting Treaty of Adrianople, also called the Treaty of Edirne (September 14, 1829), allowed Russia to annex the islands controlling the mouth of the Danube River and the Caucasus coastal strip of the Black Sea, including the fortresses of Anapa and Poti. The Ottomans recognized Russian title to Georgia and other Caucasian principalities and opened the Straits of the Dardanelles and Bosporus to Russian shipping. Furthermore, in the Balkans, the Ottomans acknowledged Greece as an autonomous but tributary state, reaffirmed the Convention of Akkerman (1826), granting autonomy to Serbia, and recognized the autonomy of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Walachia under Russian sponsorship. The Turks were also assessed war reparations and confirmed the rights of Orthodox Christians in Ottoman territory. This treaty foreshadowed the future dependence of the Ottoman Empire on the European balance of power and also presaged the eventual dismemberment of its Balkan possessions.

The final settlement concerning the future of Greece was determined by the European powers at a conference in London; they adopted a London protocol of February 3, 1830, declaring Greece an independent monarchical state under their protection. By the summer of 1832 the northern frontier of the new state had been set along the line extending from south of Volos to south of Arta; Prince Otto of Bavaria had accepted the crown, and the Ottoman Empire had recognized Greek independence by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832.

Notes

[1] Correlates of War (CoW) lists this war as an intra-state war (505/504) from March 25, 1821 to April 25, 1828 transforming into an inter-state war (4) on April 26, 1828 when Russia declares war. By convention, most sources make such a distinction. Certainly, Russian war aims exceeded securing the future of Greece but it is also the case that the war in Greece was brought to an end by the treaty ending the Ottoman-Russian war. Furthermore, the French army that secured the Peloponnese not only landed after the Russians were formally at war but it did engage in some limited combat.

[2] This is the Gregorian calendar initiation date; the historical Julian calendar date is below.

[3] The intra-state/inter-state battle deaths provided by CoW are reproduced here.

References

Clodfelter, 321-3; COW4, 505/504; Cyprus - A Country Study; Dixon and Sarkees, 235-8; EB - Greek War of Independence; Finlay, 192-3; Kohn, 197-8.

George Finlay. History of the Greek Revolution, Volume 2. William Blackwood. 1861.

Category

Intra-State War/
Inter-State War^[1]

Region

Eastern Europe

Belligerents

Greeks, Ottoman Empire, Russia, France, UK

Dispute

Territory, Governance, Interests

Initiation Date

April 6, 1821^[2]
(March 26, 1821)

Termination Date

September 14, 1829

Duration

8 years, 5 months, 9 days
(3084 days)

Outcome

Imposed Settlement
(Greek, Russian, French, British victory)

Fatalities

Total: 65,000/130,000^[3]
Ottoman: 50,000/80,000
Russia: 59/50,000
Greeks: 15,000/0
UK: 75/0
France: 43/0

Magnitude

5.3