Battle of Karpenisi

The Battle of Karpenisi took place near the town of Karpenisi (in Evrytania, central Greece) on the night of 21 August 1823, between units of the Greek revolutionary army and Ottoman troops.

Background

After the Ottoman failures of 1822, the Sultan Mahmud II devised a plan of invading Greece in 1823. An army was destined to invade Peloponnese not by the eastern side of Central Greece, but by its west side and Patras. The leadership of this expedition was taken over by the pasha of Shkodër, Mustafa Bushati. Mustafa assembled his army at Ohrid, and it consisted of 10,000 Albanian mercenaries (according to others there were 8,000 or 13,000). During July, the Ottoman forces headed south, but instead of following the direct road, from Ioannina to Missolonghi, they moved diagonally, arrived at Trikala, continued their march through Pindus, and encamped at Karpenisi. Woodhouse Montague, ''The War of Greek Independence'', pp. 130-131, 1952, Publications ''Papadopoulos'' (Greek edition)

The first resistance against the campaign of Mustafa Pasha was carried out by the Souliote captain Markos Botsaris. The latter moved from Missolonghi to Karpenisi with 350 men. On his way to Karpenisi he persuaded more Greek revolutionaries to follow him, and he eventually managed to muster 1,200 soldiers. His forces, however, were too small to meet Mustafa Pasha’s army in open battle, thus Botsaris convinced the other revolutionaries to assault their opponents’ camp during nighttime. Two days prior to the Greek assault, a unit of spies was sent by Botsaris, which infiltrated and scouted their enemies' positions without being noticed.

Battle

At midnight of 21 August 1823, Markos Botsaris assaulted the Ottoman camp, believing surprise would secure their victory over Mustafa's larger army. Botsaris' men, even though they were eventually not supported by the majority of the Greek revolutionaries, managed to cause panic in the Ottoman camp, and inflicted severe casualties. Botsaris himself was wounded in his abdomen, but he continued on guiding his forces. Later, Botsaris raised his head above a walled enclosure in which many of his enemies were fortified, but he was shot dead. His men hid his death and continued the battle until dawn. The revolutionaries eventually retreated without stopping Mustafa Pasha’s expedition, but they looted nearly 700 pistols, 1,000 muskets and a large amount of horses, mules, and sheep. The army of Mustafa had lost 1,000 men while the Greeks had minimal casualties.

Botsaris’s corpse was transferred to Missolonghi, where he was buried with great honors.Brewer David, ''The Flame of Freedom: The Greek War of Independence, 1821-1833'', 2001, pp. 261-262, Publications ''Patakis'' (Greek edition) After the battle of Karpenisi, the Ottoman Albanian forces moved against Missolonghi and besieged it. However, they were finally defeated, and Mustafa Pasha retreated to Albania during December of 1823.

See also

* Kostas Botsaris
* Markos Botsaris
* Second Siege of Missolonghi

References

Sources

*Paroulakis, Peter Harold. ''The Greeks: Their Struggle for Independence''. Hellenic International Press, 1984. .

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Karpenisi
Karpenizi 1823
Karpenizi 1823
Karpenisi
1823 in Greece
August 1823 events
Central Greece in the Greek War of Independence