Greek War of Independence

Greek War of Independence
Part of the Revolutions during the 1820s
Top left: The camp at Phaliro. Top right: The burning of an Ottoman frigate by a Greek fire ship. Bottom right: The Battle of Navarino. Bottom left: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt at the Third Siege of Missolonghi.
Date 21 February 1821 – 12 September 1829[2] (8 years, 6 months and 3 weeks) Location Ottoman Greece (present-day Greece) Result Greek victory London Protocol (1830) London Conference of 1832 Treaty of Constantinople (1832) Territorial changes The Peloponnese, Saronic Islands, Cyclades, Sporades and Continental Greece ceded to the independent Greek state Crete ceded to Egypt
Belligerents
Greek Revolutionaries In detail: Klephts Armatoloi  Filiki Eteria (1821)  Sacred Band (1821) Messenian Senate (1821) Peloponnesian Senate (1821–1823) Senate of Western Continental Greece (1821–1823) Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece (1821–1823) Temporary regime of Crete Military-Political System of Samos After 1822:  First Hellenic Republic Military support: Philhellenes Italian revolutionaries[1] Serbian revolutionaries Romanian revolutionariesa  Russian Empireb  Kingdom of Franceb  United Kingdomb Diplomatic support:  Haitic  United States	Ottoman Empire Supported by:  Egypt Algiers  Tripolitania  Tunis Danubian Sich
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Ypsilantis # Demetrios Ypsilantis Ioannis Kapodistrias Theodoros Kolokotronis Alexandros Mavrokordatos Andreas Zaimis Germanos III # Petros Mavromichalis Georgios Karaiskakis † Athanasios Diakos  Grigorios Papaflessas † Markos Botsaris † Yannis Makriyannis Nikitas Stamatelopoulos Emmanouel Pappas # Odysseas Androutsos  Andreas Miaoulis Konstantinos Kanaris Laskarina Bouboulina † Manto Mavrogenous Philhellenes: Lord Byron # Charles Nicolas Fabvier Richard Church European support: Nicholas I Lodewijk Heiden Henri de Rigny Nicolas Joseph Maison Edward Codrington	Mahmud II Nasuhzade Ali Pasha † Omer Vrioni Mahmud Dramali Pasha # Kara Mehmed Hursid Pasha † Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha Mustafa Pasha Bushatli Reşid Mehmed Pasha Mehmed Selim Pasha Egyptian support: Muhammad Ali Pasha Ibrahim Pasha Ismael Gibraltar † Algerian support: Hussein Dey
Casualties and losses
240,000+ total casualties
a 1821 b From 1826 c Haiti was the first nation to recognize the independence of Greece.

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The Greek War of Independence,^[a] also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829.^[3] In 1826, the Greeks were assisted by the British Empire, Kingdom of France, and the Russian Empire, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals. The war led to the formation of modern Greece, which would be expanded to its modern size in later years. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March.

All Greek territory, except the Ionian Islands, the Mani Peninsula, and mountainous regions in Epirus, came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century.^[4] During the following centuries, there were Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule. Most uprisings began in the independent Greek realm of the Mani Peninsula, which was never conquered by the Ottomans.^[5] In 1814, a secret organization called the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. It planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, and Constantinople. The insurrection was planned for 25 March 1821; the Orthodox Christian Feast of the Annunciation. However, the plans were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, forcing it to start earlier.

The first revolt began on 21 February 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. These events urged Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots were first to declare war. In September 1821, the Greeks, under the leadership of Theodoros Kolokotronis, captured Tripolitsa. Revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece broke out, but were suppressed. Greek fleets achieved success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea. Tensions developed among Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. The Ottoman Sultan called in Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son, Ibrahim Pasha, to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gains. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and brought most of the peninsula under Egyptian control by the end of that year. Despite a failed invasion of Mani, Athens also fell and revolutionary morale decreased.

The three great powers—Russia, Britain, and France—decided to intervene, sending their naval squadrons to Greece in 1827. They destroyed the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet, at the Battle of Navarino, and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. In 1828, the Egyptian army withdrew under pressure from a French expeditionary force. The Ottoman garrisons in the Peloponnese surrendered and the Greek revolutionaries retook central Greece. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia allowing for the Russian army to move into the Balkans. This forced the Ottomans to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople and semi-autonomy for Serbia and the Romanian principalities.^[6] After nine years of war, Greece was recognized as an independent state under the London Protocol of February 1830. Further negotiations in 1832 led to the London Conference and the Treaty of Constantinople, which defined the final borders of the new state and established Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of Greece.

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