1810

Spring - Following initial reverses, the Ottoman defense begins to stiffen along the Danube front. In the Caucasus the fortified port city of Poti falls to the advancing Russians.

April - The British, after a long siege, capture the Ionian island of Santa Maura. In this attack they are greatly aided by the First Duke of York's Greek Light Infantry regiment drawn from local Greek bandits. The British then send ships to blockade Ibrahim Pasha, who is being attacked by their ally, Ali Pasha of Janina.

June - July - The rapidly advancing Russian army, now under the command of Gen. Kamenski the Younger, is stunned by three major defeats at Silistria (June 14), Razgrad (June 23) and Shumla (July 4).

July - The Russians repulse an Ottoman attempt to relieve the siege of Ruschok. A joint Russo-Serbian army begins operations against Ottoman strong points along the Danube, cap- turing most of the Danubian line by year's end.

August - The Russians fail to carry the fortress of Ruschuk by assault, losing 8,000 men in the attempt (Aug. 14).

The Russians heavily defeat another attempt to relieve the siege of Ruschuk, with the Ottomans suffering 10,000 casualties in the attempt.

The Ottomans attack Serbia from Nish with a 30,000-man army of light cavalry. The force besieges Deligrad and ravages the countryside. Serb defenses begin to collapse.

September - 10 Russian battalions are sent to strengthen the Serbian front. The Ottoman cavalry can't brealk through the Russian squares at Varvarin and retreats back to Nish.

Austria proposes to intervene indirectly in the Russo-Ottoman War on behalf of the Ottomans sending forces to suppress the revolt in Serbia. Distrustful of Austrian motives, the offer is rejected.

In the Caucasus the Russians finally take Akhalkalaki. While he will continue to fight on until 1811, Mamia Gurieli, the local Ottoman vassal, is forced to surrender his principality to the Russians. In the region, only King Solomon II of Imeretia refuses to accept Russian domination and continues fighting.

October - For 12 days a large Bosnian army attacks the weakening Serb entrenchments at Loznitza. On Oct. 17 Karageorge arrives with a large relief army including several regiments of Russian Cossacks. In two days of hand-to-hand fighting he completely defeats the Bosnians, driving them in flight across the Drina.

Needing funds to carry on the war, the Ottomans appeal unsuccessfully to the British for a loan.

December - With supplies exhausted and without hope of relief, the garrison at Ruschuk surrenders to the Russians.

Winter - While the 1810 Russian campaign in the Balkans has taken much ground, Russian losses have been horrendous. Horrified by the losses and fearful of French advances in Europe, Czar Alexander begins withdrawing troops from the Danubian front. Kamenski is ordered to go on the defensive.

1811

February - A Russian army under Gen. St. Priest defeats an Ottoman army at Plevana, inflicting almost 5,000 casualties.

March - In Egypt the last of the Mamluks are exterminated by Mohammed Ali. Freed of all local opposition, he reorganizes the country, building a powerful army made up largely of Albanian mercenaries. With the assistance of European military advisers he also begins constructing a powerful fleet. At the command of the Sultan he institutes a religious war against the Wahhabi in Arabia.

July - Heavily pressed by the Ottomans, and with more and more troops being withdrawn to face the French, the Russians abandon Silistria and Nicopolis. At Ruschuk the Russians resist an Ottoman attack. While the Ottomans lose more troops, the Russians abandon the field, blowing up Ruschuk and retreating across the Danube.

August - Gen. Kutusov lures the new Grand Vezir and his 50,000-man army across the Danube and there encircles him. Using the threat of the destruction of this army as a lever, Kutusov opens negotiations with the Ottomans.

Ali Pasha of Janina takes Ibrahim's last stronghold at Valona and then advances on Argyrokastron and Delvino. Ali Pasha is now undisputed lord of Albania and Greece.

Mohammad Ali's 18-year-old son, Tussan, is placed at the head of the Egyptian army being assembled at Suez to liberate Arabia from the Wahhabi. While he has many Bedouin allies, he has only about 4,000 Ottoman troops under his own command.

October - Kutusov concludes an armistice with the Ottomans.

Tussan's invasion fleet lands at Yanbo and after two days of light fighting takes the city, but an expected Arab rising against the Wahhabi does not occur, with most of the local tribes taking a wait and see attitude.

1812

January - In an attempt to convince the wavering Arabs to join the Ottoman cause, Tussan advances on Medina. He is ambushed in the valley of Djedeyde, which commands the only effective road from Yanbo into the interior and forced to fall back.

May - As a result of British mediation, the Russians and Ottomans sign the Treaty of Bucharest on May 28. The treaty gives Bessarabia to Russia but Moldavia and Wallachia and Little Wallachia remain under Ottoman control. The Czar is also forced to return his gains north of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus. The treaty allows the Russians to transfer 200,000 troops from the Balkans, the Crimea and the Caucasus for use against Napoleon's invasion.

The British agree to pay Ali Pasha of Janina a regular subsidy to insure his loyalty and to maintain a steady supply of provisions for their bases in the Ionian Islands.

June - Napoleon promises the Ottomans the return of the Crimea and other lost territories if they will join the invasion of Russia. Following his alliance with the Russians in 1807, the Ottomans no longer trust Napoleon and remain neutral.

September - Hurshid Ahmet Pasha, the Pasha of Nish, is named Grand Vezir and given the task of ending the Serbian revolt.

October - Tussan Pasha again advances on Medina. The Wahhabi garrison holds out for 15 days before Ottoman engineers blow a hole in the walls of the city and take it by storm.

November - Ali Pasha attacks the French at Parga, but is repulsed.

December - With the long war against Russia finally over, Sultan Mahmud turn his attention to Ali Pasha, ordering him to send an army against the Serbs, restore the imprisoned Ibrahim Pasha to Berat, and the family of Mustapha Pasha to Delvino. Ali Pasha does none of these, but instead sends massive bribes (literally tons of silver) to the capital.

Following the end of hostilities with Russia, the Ottoman Danube flotilla is modernized along with its bases at Ibrail, Silistria, Ruschuk and Vidin.

Free of outside opposition, Mahmud II uses both force and diplomacy to defeat dissident provincial governors and restore direct Ottoman control of the Black Sea coast.

Having rebuilt from the 1809 British attack on their naval base at Ras al Khaymah, the Wahhabi renew their attacks on Omani and British shipping.

1813

January - Following the capture of Medina, the Ottomans retake Mecca and Jidda. Sherif Galib of Mecca now openly declares himself for the Ottomans. The Wahhabi flee before the Ottomans and fall back on the fortified city Taif about three days east of Mecca. The liberation of the Holy Cities is celebrated throughout the Empire and the Sultan names Tussan a Pasha of three tails.

February - Sherif Galib and the Ottomans attack Taif. After a brief battle the Wahhabi again flee, this time falling back on Turaba further to the east. An Ottoman attack on Turaba is blocked. The summer is spent in a series of hit-and-run raids between the various Bedouin tribes loyal to Sherif Galib and those loyal to the Wahhabi.

September - While headway is being made in Arabia against the Wabhabi, it is being made at a heavy price. In two years of fighting Tussan Pasha has lost 8,000 men, 25,000 beasts of burden and spent 170,000 purses, and still the main power of the Wahhabi remains unbroken. Saying he is going on pilgrimage, Mohammad Ali goes to Arabia to personally oversee the war.

November - Mohammad Ali has Sherif Galib of Mecca and two of his three sons arrested, accusing them of sympathizing with the Wahhabi. This treatment of Galib angers and alarms a number of the friendly Arab tribes who quickly go over to the Wahhabi.

Fall - Mohammad Ali orders 10,000 more troops to be sent to Arabia. With much of his army already engaged, Mohammad is forced to hire mercenaries from throughout the empire. This will eventually bring his force in country to 25,000 men.

December - Tussan advances against Turaba, the main Wahhabi base in the south. When his attack fails he is forced to fight his way back to Taif. The Wahhabi eventually are able to rush his camp by night, capturing all the Egyptian baggage and artillery. Mohammad Ali, angered at Tussan's ill-considered attack, now takes personal command in the south, sending Tussan back to Mecca.

Deprived of Russian assistance, the Serbian revolt is crushed. A three-pronged attack by troops freed from the Russian war invades Serbia from Nish, Vidin and Bosnia. Hurshid Ahmet Pasha's Ottoman forces rout Karageorge's forces on Oct. 7, restoring Serbia as an Ottoman province.

1814

February - Ali Pasha attacks the French-held port of Parga. Ali,s men take the outlying community of Aya but are repelled in their assault on the main city. Fearful that the city might fall to Ali Pasha in the next assault, the citizens secretly surrender it to the British, helping the British imprison their French defenders.

March - Mohammad Ali sends a naval force to take the port of Qunfidha on the Red Sea.

May - The Wahhabi send 10,000 men against Qunfidha. Most of the Ottoman troops escape by sea, but they are forced to leave behind a vast treasure of supplies and weapons that had been poured into the city in preparation for Mohammad Ali's summer campaign.

May - Saud, the supreme Wahhabi commander, dies of fever. With Saud's death the Wahhabi rebellion falls into a temporary chaos as Saud's three brothers contend with one another and against his son Abd Allah for control. After a brief fight, Abd Allah is acknowledged as the supreme Wahhabi. While considered a greater warrior than his father, he lacks his father political skills and under his leadership a number of the great Sheiks begin to assume airs of independence weakening both the alliance and military power of the Wahhabi.

September - In Arabia the Ottomans holding the Zahran district south of Taif are attacked and defeated by large Wahhabi force.

December - In Arabia Mohamrnad Ali sets in motion a plan which capitalizes on the Ottoman strength -- command and control -- which allows them to operate in a coordinated manner over a larger scale. The plan calls for the relatively small Ottoman force to strike almost everywhere at once. Tussan Pasha, operating out of Medina, begin a series of fast, hardhitting raids into the territory of the northern Wahhabi, fixing their attention and that of the main Wahhabi army on the north.

Mohammad Ali places himself at the head of the army which has been assembled between Mecca and Taif and marches on Turaba.

Sultan Mahmud II continues his struggles against dissident provincial governors and uses both force and diplomacy to restore direct Ottoman control of Thrace, Macedonia, the Danubian shores, much of Wallachia and the Chapanoglu districts in northeastern and eastern Anatolia.

A minor rising by the Serbs is savagely repressed.

Wahhabi pirates become such a threat to Omani and British shipping that the Sultan of Oman, with British support, launches an attack on Ras al Khaymah and the neighboring districts. While the attack temporarily suppresses Wahhabi piracy in the Persian Gulf. The Wahhabi soon recover and are again a threat to British and Omani shipping. Attacks and counterattacks continues until 1820 when the British make a particularly crushing attack on Ras al Khaymah, after which the last of the pirate Sheiks are forced to sign a treaty with the British and agree to stop attacking their neighbors.

1815

January - The Wahhabi mass to defend Turaba, drawing in troops from all the tribes of the Yemen Mountains and the southern plains for a stand at Byssel. Mohammad Ali force-marches to Byssel and, with only about 10,000 men, attacks the entrenched 40,000- man Wahhabi force. Excellent strategy and brilliant troop placement allow the Ottomans to destroy the Wahhabi army in a two-day battle.

Spring - Following his great victory over the Wahhabi at Byssel, Mohammad Ali begins a frantic set of attacks that will in a few short months win him the entire southern region of Arabia, quickly taking Turaba, Qunfidha, Ranyah and Bisha.

February - Tamy, the southern Wahhabi commander, gathers about 8,000 to 10,000 troops around the powerful fortress of Tor in the Yemen Mountains to resist MohammadAli's advance. In a two-day battle the Ottoman artillery superiority breaks this last Wahhabi resistance in the south.

March - The overwhelming Ottoman victory at Byssel causes many of the Sheiks of the northern tribes to abandon the Wahhabi cause and flock to Tussan's banner.

April - Mohammad Ali arrives in Medina to begin his campaign against the northern Wahhabi but finds Tussan is already in the desert fighting. Tussan is anxious to emulate his father,s success in the south and to build his own reputation. As a result when he receives word that his father is at Medina awaiting his return, he instead strikes out for Qasim.

May - News of Napoleon's escape from Elba and rumors that he will once again attack Egypt cause Mohammad Ali to rush back to Egypt to put the country in readiness for an attack. It is at this time that he begins the large-scale introduction of the European mode of exercise among his troops, and, just as it had with Sultan Selim III years earlier, it sparks revolts.

Tussan's expedition arrives in the Qasim district, just a few days west of the Wahhabi capital at Dariye. While several of the Sheiks of the district join him, Hedjeylan, the great Sheik of the Qasim, remains loyal to the Wahhabi cause and assembles his forces at Buraida. Abd Allah also advances into the Qasim with the main Wahhabi army. Outnumbered and isolated, Tussan cannot attack. But Abd Allah is badly shaken by the recent defeat at Byssel and hesitates to attack. So instead the two sign a truce dividing Arabia into Wahhabi and Ottoman spheres of influence.

Summer - Finally free of war with England, the United States sends a large naval squadron into the Mediter- ranean to reassault the Barbary States. It quickly and completely defeats the Ottoman vassals in Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.

September - With Arabia quiet, Tussan returns to Egypt, arriving on Nov. 8. He is greeted as a conquering hero. A few days later he contracts the plague and dies.

Fall - Tussan's withdrawal and death emboldens Abd Allah who quickly breaks the truce. By the end of 1815 his troops are starting to retake large sections of the southern region that Mohammad Ali had just conquered. Mohammad Ali, heavily alarmed by the British who are continuing to make encroachments in his areas of influence, becomes convinced a British invasion is now imminent and therefore has no troops to spare for Arabia.

The Serbians, now under the leadership of Milos Obrenovic, an opponent of Karageorge, rebel once more against Ottoman rule and capture the fortress of Passarovitz. The Ottomans suppress the revolt but recognize Obrenovic as hereditary Prince of Serbia when he agrees to Ottoman suzerainty.

1816 and beyond

January - Mohammad Ali begins preparations for a new Arabian campaign. This time he appoints his oldest son, Ibrahim, known as "the lion of the brave," as commander-in-chief in the Hijaz.

Summer - Ibrahim Pasha begins his advance against the Wahhabi. One by one the desert forts are taken and occupied. In 1817 he does what his brother had failed to do and becomes master of Qasim. He now begins his assault on the Wahhabi capital of Dariye, which he takes in September 1818 after a five-month siege. On Mohammad Ali's direct orders Dariye is razed to the ground to erase all memory of a Wahhabi capital. The region will remain under Ottoman rule until the Arab revolt of 1916, which will be led by a direct descendant of Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, the leader of the Wahhabi.

Unable to reform the Janissaries and Sipahis, Mahmud quietly but constantly increases the artillery force, eventually raising its strength to 10,000 cannoneers and 4,400 cannon-wagon men. When the Janissaries rebel once again in 1826, he uses this force to destroy the Janissaries once and for all. With the Janissaries out of the way, a total reform of the Ottoman Empire is possible and the empire takes on new vitality and strength, allowing it to survive until the end of World War I.

More Ottoman Military History Chronology

1787-1789
1790-1799
1800-1809
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