TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Revolt · 1821
The secret Filiki Eteria, founded in the Russian port of Odessa, worked for Greek independence. In 1821 revolt broke out first in Wallachia and Moldavia, ruled by Phanariot princes, and then in the Morea; the insurgents who took Tripolitsa killed more than half of the Muslims of the Morea, about 25,000 people. The Ottoman government had Patriarch Gregory V executed for alleged links with the revolt. When the Ottoman forces could not put it down, help was sought from Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt; Egyptian troops took Missolonghi (1826). But after the British, French and Russian fleets destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet at Navarino in 1827, and after the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828–29, Greece was established as an independent state in 1830.
| Date | 1821 – 1830 |
|---|---|
| Location | Wallachia and Moldavia, the Morea, the Aegean islands |
| Result | After the burning of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet at Navarino (1827) and the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828–29, Greece became an independent state in 1830 |
| Territorial changes | The Cyclades (1821), the Morea (1828) and Athens with central Greece (1829) were lost |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire (Mahmud II) Egyptian forces (İbrahim Pasha) | Greek insurgents Britain, France, Russia (from 1827) |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | İbrahim Pasha of Egypt Reşid Mehmed Pasha | Alexandros Ypsilantis Theodoros Kolokotronis |
Took place during the reign of Mahmud II (1808–1839). Mahmud II
The atlas records this territorial change for the year:
By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 4,549,000 km² in 1821; at the start of Mahmud II's reign they measured 4,551,000 km², at its end 3,803,000 km².
During Mahmud II (1808–1839) the atlas records 0 regions gained and 6 regions lost.
Regions lost: Cyclades (Naxos) (1821), Morea (Peloponnese) (1828), Akhaltsikhe (Childir) (1828), Athens–Central Greece (1829), Algiers (1830), Euboea (Negroponte) (1833).
He recentralised the state: he abolished the Janissaries and founded modern ministries, schools and the census. The territorial losses were heavy (Greece, Algiers, Bessarabia), but the administrative structure he built made the Tanzimat possible.
Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “Yunanistan” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.