The Greek War of Independence breaks Ottoman rule in the Peloponnese
A secret nationalist society sparks an uprising that draws in Britain, France, and Russia and ends with an internationally recognized Greek kingdom.
Quick facts
- Ottoman sultan
- Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839)
- Started
- 1821, Peloponnese uprising
- Turning point
- Battle of Navarino, October 1827
- Result
- Greek independence recognized, 1830
What happened
The Filiki Eteria, a secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 to organize Greek independence, launched a revolt in the Danubian Principalities in early 1821, which Ottoman forces suppressed; the rebellion that mattered began weeks later in the Peloponnese. Sultan Mahmud II's forces, aided by the Egyptian governor Mehmed Ali Pasha's army and navy, gradually reasserted control through the mid-1820s, defeating Greek forces at Missolonghi and elsewhere and besieging the rebel-held city of Navarino by 1825. Britain, France, and Russia then intervened, and their combined fleet destroyed the Egyptian-Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Navarino in October 1827 without a formal declaration of war. Russia followed with its own war against the Ottomans in 1828, advancing into the Balkans and Caucasus.
Why it matters
Despite Mahmud II's success in militarily suppressing the revolt on land, the great powers' intervention at Navarino made continued Ottoman control impossible; the 1829 Treaty of Edirne began Greek autonomy and the 1830 Protocol of London recognized full Greek independence, later established as a kingdom under a Bavarian prince. It was the first successful secession of a Christian nation from Ottoman rule, and it set a precedent European powers repeated across the Balkans over the following century.
How we know
World History Encyclopedia's biography of Mahmud II, citing historian Stanford Shaw, describes the near-total suppression of the revolt by 1825 before the Navarino intervention reversed it, quoting Shaw directly on how close Mahmud had come to fully reestablishing control.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Mahmud II: Reformist Sultan of the Ottoman Empire · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- University of Michigan Library. That Greece Might Still Be Free: Commemorating the Bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence · Reputable sourceapps.lib.umich.edu · The domain "apps.lib.umich.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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