Second Siege of Missolonghi

Second Siege of Missolonghi
Part of the Greek War of Independence
Date20 September – 30 November 1823
LocationMissolonghi, Aetolia-Acarnania
Result Greek victory
Belligerents
Greece Greek revolutionaries Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Konstantinos Metaxas Mustafa Reshit Pasha
Strength
3,500 13,000 troops
Casualties and losses
Heavy losses[1]
Konstantinos Metaxas
Kitsos Tzavelas

The Second Siege of Missolonghi was a second attempt by Ottoman forces to capture the strategically located port town of Missolonghi during the third year of the Greek War of Independence (1823). The second siege is usually ignored however, and the name is often applied to the greater siege of 1825–1826.

Background

After the first unsuccessful attempt to take the town in 1822, another expedition to western Central Greece was undertaken by Mustai Pasha of Shkoder. Mustai proceeded through the city of Trikala to Karpenisi, where a first Greek attempt to stop his advance resulted in the Battle of Karpenisi. During this battle, the Ottoman casualties were 1,200 troops, but the Greeks lost their commander, Markos Botsaris. The second unsuccessful Greek attempt to stop Mustai at Mount Kaliakouda, on 29 August 1823, resulted in 200 Greek casualties.[2]

Siege

The Ottoman army arrived before Missolonghi and began the siege on 20 September with a bombardment of Aitoliko, an island which controlled the seaways of the Missolonghi lagoon. The subsequent attack on Aitoliko failed however.[3] On 17 November, Ottoman food supplies were seized by 250 Souliotes under command of Kitsos Tzavelas.[4]

As a result of food shortages and disease, on 20 November Mustai Pasha lifted the siege and withdrew.[5][6][7]

Aftermath

Missolonghi remained under Greek control. Its resistance achieved wider fame when Lord Byron arrived there, dying in the town of fever in April 1824. The city was besieged for a third and final time, resisting both Ottoman and Egyptian armies for almost a year, until its final fall on April 10, 1826.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tony Jaques, Dictionary of Battles and Sieges, (Greenwood Press, 2007), 668-669.
  2. ↑ Μεταξά Κώστα,Ιστορικά Απομνημονέυματα εκ τής Ελληνικής Επανασταστάσεως ,Αθήνα 1878 (εκδ.Β, Τσουκαλά 1956),σελ.96,97
  3. ↑ Δημήτρη Φωτιάδη,Ιστορία του 21,ΜΕΛΙΣΣΑ,1971,τομ.Β,σελ.352
  4. ↑ Μεταξά Κώστα,Ιστορικά Απομνημονέυματα εκ τής Ελληνικής Επανασταστάσεως ,Αθήνα 1878 (εκδ.Β, Τσουκαλά 1956),σελ.107
  5. ↑ Δημήτρη Φωτιάδη,Ιστορία του 21,ΜΕΛΙΣΣΑ,1971,τομ.Β,σελ.353
  6. ↑ Κουτσονίκα Λ.,Γενική Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως ,Αθήνα 1863-1864 (εκδ.Β, Τσουκαλά 1956) σελ.186
  7. ↑ Douglas Dakin,The Unification of Greece 1770-1923,p.83, ISBN 960-250-150-2

Sources

Coordinates: 38°26′50″N 21°22′09″E / 38.4472°N 21.3692°E / 38.4472; 21.3692

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