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Part 14: O Aegyptus


In the wake of the Greek victory at Dervenakia, Sultan Mahmud II, despite his better judgement, called upon his strongest and most willful vassal Muhammad Ali of Egypt for aid.[1] Muhammad Ali had originally been sent to Egypt by Mahmud’s predecessor, Selim III, to restore the Sublime Porte’s authority in the region after Napoleon’s failed invasion in 1801. Instead, Muhammad Ali seized power for himself, establishing Egypt as his own private fiefdom, and over the years’ his influence and power had only grown further. By 1821, Muhammad Ali was the strongest magnate within the Ottoman Empire, and was independent from Constantinople in all but name. For Sultan Mahmud II, to call upon the self-proclaimed Khedive of Egypt went against everything he had done so far to restore the central authority of Empire. Yet the constant humiliations of his armies against the Greeks had ultimately forced his hand and by the Spring of 1824, the two had come to terms over the Egyptians intervention in the war.

Muhammad Ali’s obedience, however, came with a steep price, one Mahmud was forced to pay. In return for sovereignty over the islands of Crete and Cyprus, and the Pashalik of the Morea for his son Ibrahim, the Egyptian army and navy would be sent to assist the Ottomans in suppressing the Greek revolt. Egypt boasted one of the finest fleets in the Muslim world with expert sailors and hundreds of ships, yet it was the Egyptian army which was truly fearsome. Though small in stature compared to the vast hordes of the Ottoman armies, its strength lay in its superb quality. Armed with French rifles, assisted by French cannons, and trained by French officers, the army of Muhammad Ali was the spitting image of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Its leader Ibrahim Pasha, while by no means another Napoleon, still proved to be a very capable and adaptable commander. His bravery in the heat of battle was well recognized and he inspired great loyalty from his men. Ibrahim and his soldiers were also battled tested, having spent the past 10 years fighting a bitter guerrilla war against the Wahhabis deep in the deserts of Arabia. If any force was best fitted to combat the Greek partisans it would be the Egyptians.

Rather than immediately traveling to the Morea, Muhammad Ali set about securing his spoils first. Dispatching his fleet to take possession of Cyprus from the Ottoman forces there, Muhammad Ali installed his own men on the island before proceeding onto Crete in mid-June 1824. The Cretans had nearly driven the Turks from their island, forcing them into a few fortified cities on the coast before the Egyptians intervened. Within days of the Egyptians landing, hundreds of villages across Crete were burnt to the ground and their inhabitants were slain or enslaved. By the start of September all organized resistance on the island had been crushed and the remaining partisans were forced to flee to the mountains. The island of Kasos, 30 miles to the Northeast of Crete met a similar fate when the Egyptian Admiral Ismael Gibraltar and Muhammad Ali’s son in law, Hussein Bey conquered the island for the Khedive of Egypt.

With the islands conquered, the path to the Morea now lay open for Muhammad Ali. Dispatching his son Ibrahim at the head of an army 10,000 strong, the Egyptians initially attempted a landing at Methoni in the Fall of 1824, only to be repelled by the Greek navy whose watch remained vigilant after the fall of Psara. Despite their vigilance, the Greek’s watch was ended by the coming of winter. The winter months were a time when the terrible storms and severe winds made sailing treacherous for the light ships of the Greek and Ottoman navies which were easily thrown into the rocks by the great gusts on the open sea. The Egyptians, however, used heavier Ships of the Line in the vein of the British and the French, which were made nimbler by the frightening winds of Winter. Upon the counsel of his French advisor, Captain Dronault, Ibrahim left port in Alexandria for the Morea.

Though their voyage was fraught with perils, Ibrahim and his men managed to make landfall in the harbor of Methoni on the 24th of February 1825. Establishing his headquarters in Methoni’s castle, Ibrahim awaited the arrival of the remainder of his army before setting out across the Morea. The Castle of Methoni was the largest fortification in the Morea, and at nearly half a mile in length and a quarter mile in width it was by far the most impressive in terms of size. Situated along the craggy shoreline to the south of Methoni, the castle featured three massive stone walls standing nearly 36 feet high, with the fourth side protected by the sea. The castle had been under siege intermittently since the beginning of the war, but the Greeks had never put forth much of a committed effort to seize it from the Turks inside. The looming civil war between the Greeks made it harder to maintain even the semblance of a proper siege as the Roumeliotes were forced out by the Moreots and the Islander’s ships were recalled from the blockade.


Fifteen miles to the East, however, the Greeks had been putting up a more determined effort to take the city of Koroni. Reports concerning its fall became more pressing in the days after Ibrahim’s arrival and despite missing over half his army, Ibrahim, 4,000 infantrymen, and 400 cavalrymen moved to relieve the siege of Koroni on the 2nd of March. The sudden emergence of a fresh fighting force to their rear compelled the Greeks outside Koroni to flee before the Egyptians without so much as a shot fired in opposition. By the end of March, another 7,000 Egyptians landed, bringing Ibrahim’s total above 11,000 men. With the rest of Ibrahim’s soldiers landed, the Egyptian army immediately began to move North towards the bay of Navarino.

Shaped like an elongated horseshoe, the bay of Navarino formed the best natural harbor in all the Morea with a narrow entrance and a wide inner expanse. It was also one of the most heavily fortified regions in the Morea, protected on all sides by strong defensive works and fortifications. In the North was the castle of Old Navarino, or Palaiokastro. Wedged between the bay in the south and a series of lagoons in the North, Old Navarino sat atop the peak of a steep cliff overlooking Navarino providing the structure with an impressive set of natural defenses. It was an old Frankish castle built in the aftermath of the 4th Crusade, and while it may have been impressive in its day by the Spring of 1825, it was little more than a ruin with gaping holes in its proud walls and a collapsing keep in its courtyard.

Along the Southern bank of the bay’s mouth, near the town of Pylos, was New Navarino, a castle of Ottoman origin. Dating from the late 16th century, New Navarino was in scantly better condition than Old Navarino, having been abandoned by the Turks in the decades preceding the war. While its location along the lower southern shore paled in comparison to the heights its counterpart sat upon in the north, New Navarino’s walls were designed stout and thick to withstand cannons and artillery giving it a substantial advantage over Old Navarino should it come to a siege. The Greeks had done their best to improve it in the days leading up to Ibrahim’s attack, patching holes and storing up supplies, but they were rushed for time and short on men. The last defense of the bay was the fortress island Sphaktiria which sat directly in the mouth of the Bay. More akin to a mountain jutting out of the sea than an island, Sphaktiria provided Navarino with its greatest defense.


Before Ibrahim could begin reducing the Greek defenses around Navarino, a new adversary had arrived from the North. An army of Greek klephts and militiamen led by the former Executive member Sotiris Charalamvis had marched South from Elis to join with his allies the Kolokotroneoi in Messenia.[2] Charalamvis’ force while certainly large for the Greeks at 5,000 strong, it proved to be a disorganized and undisciplined mess. Still, he posed a significant threat to Ibrahim Pasha, one which he would rather defeat in quick succession before it joined with the men already stationed at Navarino. Leaving much of his army behind to screen Pylos, Ibrahim marched East against Charalamvis with only 2,000 infantrymen and 400 cavalrymen.

Charalamvis had positioned himself admirably atop the hills above Kremmidhia. With only a single impassable ravine leading to his rear, the Moreots were free to direct their full attention to the threat before and below them. Despite lacking the discipline of the Egyptian adversaries, the Greeks managed to easily repel their foes on two separate attacks. Following the second failed assault on Krimmidhia, Ibrahim’s cavalry retreated down the hill for all to see. While it looked to the Greeks as if the Egyptians were on the verge of collapse, the truth was quite the opposite.

Rather than calling a retreat, Ibrahim had directed his cavalry to circumvent the Greek defenses and move up the narrow ravine that emptied out behind Charalamvis’ position. Despite its difficulty, the Egyptian horses made their way through the gully into the undefended rear of the Greeks, killing Sotiris Charalamvis while he attempted to rally his men against the charging horsemen. When Ibrahim sent in a third infantry wave against the Greek lines, the Moreots finally broke and fled the field in a rout. In total over 600 Greeks were killed in the engagement including Charalamvis, 2,000 were wounded, and another 2,000 were captured by Ibrahim against 1000 Egyptians killed or wounded. Some of the surviving Greeks escaped to the relative safety of New Navarino providing the garrison with additional manpower and munitions, but at the cost of stretching their already thin rations even further.

With this threat dealt with Ibrahim finally made his move against Navarino’s defenders, his first target was the mighty island of Sphaktiria at the bay’s mouth. Around 800 Greeks defended the island and an additional 8 ships regularly patrolled the waters surrounding it. To take the island, Ibrahim needed the Egyptian fleet and by morning of the 20th of April, 34 Egyptian naval vessels arrived escorting 40 transports. Within moments the Greek ships were scattered and the Egyptians made their way onto Sphaktiria. Despite their best efforts the island’s garrison was defeated and surrendered to Ibrahim’s men. Their commander did not.

The Phanariot Alexandros Mavrokordatos had been in Messenia negotiating a reconciliation with Sotiris Charalamvis and the Panos Kolokotronis when Ibrahim Pasha arrived in the region. With the Charalamvis’ death at Kremmidhia only three days prior, Mavrokordatos was forced to assumed leadership of the defenses of the bay in his stead. His best efforts were no match for the Egyptians who quickly brushed aside his meager defenses causing the quick surrender of the Sphaktiria’s garrison and the flight of 7 of the 8 Greek ships in the bay. The last ship, the brig Ares, made a daring landfall on the eastern shore of the island, rescuing Mavrokordatos and several others at the cost of the ship’s captain Anastasios Tsamados and five members of the crew. A cloud of smoke filled the bay as the 34 ships of the Egyptian fleet futilely fired upon the nimble Greek vessel to no avail. Finally, after 6 hours, Mavrokordatos and the Ares slipped away from the Egyptians under the cover of night.[3]


With the mouth of the bay now open to his fleet, Ibrahim was free to assail the inner defenses. Bypassing the stronger castle of New Navarino, the Egyptians began reducing the walls of Old Navarino first. Unleashing a withering barrage of shot against the old Frankish walls, the Egyptian artillery managed to reduce the old castle to rubble within a single day, forcing its defenders to surrender on the 22nd.

On the 23rd Ibrahim moved south and began the siege of New Navarino. Unlike Old Navarino, this castle managed to withstand the blistering artillery barrage from the Egyptian guns, albeit just barely, forcing Ibrahim to put it to a siege. The defenders realized to their dismay that they could not win this fight on their own. If they were to successfully holdout they would need help. On the night of the 26th of April, a dispatch rider snuck through the Egyptian lines carrying a desperate plea for aid from the government in Nafplion. The fate of Greece relied on the response to this message.


Next Time: Papaflessas


[1] As the POD was during the battle of Dervenakia, the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II would still be forced to call upon the Egyptians to assist him in the war. Muhammed Ali’s decision-making process of seizing the islands first is also unchanged because his primary motivation for joining the war was to secure personal gains for his family, while aiding the Sultan was purely a side effect for these actions.

[2] In OTL Charalamvis was imprisoned by the Greek government for his role in the civil wars in the Spring of 1825 during Ibrahim’s invasion of Messenia. Without the civil wars, he would likely be free to operate against Ibrahim during his invasion of the Morea due to his military background and strong base in the region. Even still, he is no match for Ibrahim. Ibrahim’s tactics are better, his soldiers are better, and his weapons are better.

[3] This is an actual event from the war in OTL. Mavrokordatos had been assisting in the defense of Sphaktiria when it fell and only managed to escape thanks to the sacrifice of Captain Tsamados and several members of his crew. It such an extraordinary event that I had to include it.

[4] Just a note, this is my first attempt at making a map for this timeline, so I apologize if it looks awful. I will continue experimenting with programs and different templates so if the image changes at a later date don’t be alarmed. Eventually my hope is to retroactively edit in maps for the previous updates where they are most relevant.