The Greek Revolution of 1821-33 was made more violent by being a religious war. The Greek Orthodox Christians fought the Moslem Ottoman Turks with a murderous fervor. Slaughter was the order of the day and taking no prisoners, regardless of age or sex, was the norm. Both sides committed countless acts of vengeance and retribution. Atrocities are supposed to be rare which is why so much is made of their occurrence. However during this war, every victory seemed to be followed by the massacreing of POWs and civilians. It was so bad that the major European powers began to post ships near besieged towns in an effort to ensure an orderly release and safe passage for surrendered garrisons.

I have opened the article with these comments because I do not intend to list every incident in which atrocities occurred as I trace the progress of the war.

Phases

The war can clearly be divided into distinct phases. The early Uprising Phase contained seiges and massacres with local Turk garrisons being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Greek fighters. The April "Other Sieges" entry in the Chronology provides and indication of the extent of the uprising. The main Turkish force was concentrated in beseiging the rebel troops under Ali Pasha in Albania. The lack of a central authority prevented the Greeks from consolidating their gains.

After the Ali Pasha revolt was crushed, the Ottomans recaptured some towns but often lost them just as quickly. This phase was characterized on land by the dominance of Irregular forces on both sides. While on the sea the poor seamanship of the Turks, provided the Greeks with victories for their "Brig Navy" or "Pirate Fleet".

The Egyptian Phase reflects the employment of regular troops from Egypt in Crete and Greece. The Egyptians swept away opposition on Crete and after being delayed by the Greek navy made a landing in Morea. Once in Greece, the regular troops defeated the irregular Greek forces in open battle but became bogged down in an endless series of siege operations. Relationships between the Turkish and Egyptian command was poor and cooperation was rare. As a result both Ottoman forces consolidated their own spheres of control which allowed the Greeks to survive and reoganize along the fringes of both spheres.

The Intervention-Civil War Phase ensured that the Greeks would secure their independence. The combined French-Russian and British fleet blockaded the Greek coast, destroyed the Turkish navy and isolated the Ottoman and Egyptian forces. With the subsequent Russian declaration of war on Turkey many of the Ottoman garrisons in mainland Greece were stripped to send troops to counter the Russians. Without reinforcements and supplies the Ottoman rule in Greece destined to end. Once the Ottomans had departed, Greek factions began to fight for control.

The year of 1832 was considered one of the most devastating on the entire war with Greeks fighting Greeks. The country became so desolate that "Greek farmers would not sow because the harvest would be done by brigands, merchants would not sail for fear of pirates and artisans would not work because they would not be paid." (Phillips, 1897). The Foreign troops now acted as policemen and occasionally had to fight Greeks in an effort to stabilize the situation. Finally with the assumption of Otto I of Bavaria as the Greek king, both the War of Independece and the Greek Civil War ended.

Lengthy War

The war was lengthy with opportunities to bring it to a quick close being lost by both sides. The Ottomans for the most part never regarded the Greeks as having the ability to maintain the war. They may have been correct if the European people, not necessarily their governments, had not began to send aid to the Greek cause. The main problem of the Greek forces was its divisiveness. The Greeks lacked a strong central government to control its forces. This caused many local leaders to become warlords over various parts of the area. When the Ottoman forces were reorganizing, the Greeks often turned their efforts to fighting among themselves. Several patriot leaders would even agree to truces with isolated Turkish commands in an effort to strengthen their own position, thus, allowing the Turks to regroup. Even towns attacked each other to "address" old grievances, while the navy turned into pirates if the Turkish fleet was not around to harass. In 1826 it was estimated that 25% of all Greeks were involved in pirate activities on the sea.

Regular troops were few on both sides during the early stages of the war. The character of both armies was of an irregular force with men devoted to a leader or obtaining loot rather than advocating a patriotic nature. The stronger the leader the larger his force. The both central governments hired mercenaries but these were also irregular in nature. The fragmented nature of the Greek movement was such that forces were not referred to as Greek but by their locale composure such as Moeriots, Suilots, Klephts, etc. While there might be rival groups operating together, mutual support in a mission often failed to occur.

Also I rarely saw mention of irregular units with members from several areas. What the Greeks lacked in equipment and experienced leadership, they made out for in numbers. In many engagements the Greeks could outnumber the Turks, if all of the Greeks leaders would cooperate. Another factor was that many Greek irregular troops were actually veterans with many years of service in the Ottoman army or in the service of various countries during the recent Napoleonic Wars. During the later stages of the war, more regular troops were employed when the Greeks began to hire foreign advisors and after more Christian military veteran volunteers arrived.

The Ottomans used a mix of local levies, Albanian tribes and religious zealots to supplement a small core of Janissaries (assigned mainly to the area near the capital) and Delhis. Often the new commander of an expedition would bring fresh troops from his recent assignment whose loyalty was mainly to him. There is some mention of Greeks fighting for the Ottomans but they were often considered suspect in loyalty.

Though few Greek sources mention pro-Turkish Greek troops, the factors of local impressment, mercenary attitudes, warlord alliances, regional rather than national loyalties and family vendetta memories all point to the natural conclusion that some Greeks did fight for the Ottomans. (It reminds me of an Alabama situation where a quarter of all Alabama soldiers fought for the Union during the US Civil War but few Alabama citizens today will believe or acknowledge the fact.) The main Ottoman forces continued to be deployed along the Russian and Austrian border with some forces watching the Persian frontier. After agreeing to turn over Crete and Morea to the Egyptians in exchange for sending troops to Greece, the Ottomans obtained numerous regular troops.

In regards to weapons, the Greeks were poorly armed. They lacked an field artillery except for those captured during the war. Their naval guns were so small that they could barely damage the larger Turkish vessels. Except for captured weapons, the Greeks had few firearms and a majority of them were old matchlocks. Their most common weapon was the native long knife.

Battles

A great many of the battles occurred at specific locations. In the countryside, the Greeks attempted to hold isolated hilltops or rugged mountain passes which commanded the surrounding land. Several battles were fought in and around the siege entrenchments which were found near many of the cities. Also in many towns the dominant miltary feature was the local church or monastery which were extremely well built structures. Thus, able to withstand a limited amount of bombardment.

REFERENCES

Several books were written in the late 1800s about the war but many of them are in languages other than English and their age makes them difficult to locate.

William Johnson. "The Crescent Among the Eagles: The Ottoman Army During the Napoleonic Wars". Nafziger Collection Series, 1999, Ohio. Johnson also produces a magazine devoted to the study of the Ottoman Army. Though this book is about the recently concluded Napoleonic Wars, much of the organization and equipment is the same.

W. A Phillips "The Greek War of Independence 1821-1833". 1897, Scribners.

Hellenic Army General Staff "An Index of Events in the Military History of the Greek Nation". Athens , 1998. Thankfully, it is actually printed in English.

Yannis Mylonas "The Evones" . J Floros Publishing, Athens. 1900s ? , date not listed.

My thanks to Nicolas Protonotarios of Athens who provided me with much of the resource material and the interesting works on uniforms of the Greek Army.

D. Alexandris. "Great Britain and the Eastern Question : Greek War of Independence 1821-28", Website. Provides a good political background on the Revolution

Steven W Sowards. "The Greek Revolution and the Greek State". Lecture notes located on a website. It provides a good background of the revolution and its causes.

Spyros Koumousis. "Freedom or Death". A set of minature rules which cover the conflict, as well as, providing some background material.

More Greek War of Independence: 1821-33

Introduction
Glossary of Terms and Key Units
Listing of Notable Units and Expeditionary Forces
Notes on Uniforms
Greek Revolutionary War Personalities
Wargaming Notes

Chronology of Key Events

1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829-33