The Battle of Phaleron, or Battle of Analatos, took place on April 24 (6 May Gregorian ), 1827. The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

rebel forces were being besieged inside the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

by Ottoman forces under the command of Mehmed Reshid Pasha. Greek forces outside the city were desperately trying to break the siege.

Battle

In order to break the siege of Acropolis, the British officers Admiral Lord Cochrane and General

Richard Church Richard Church may refer to: *Richard Church (general) (1784–1873), Irish military officer in the British and Greek army *Richard William Church (1815–1890), nephew of the general, Dean of St Paul's *Richard Church (poet) (1893–1972), English ...

, who were nominally commanding the

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, decided to make an assault against the Turkish camp which was under the command of Mehmed Reshid Pasha. Two days before the battle, on 22 April 1827, Georgios Karaiskakis, the general of Central Greece was fatally wounded in a minor clash with the Ottomans. He perished one day later, his sudden death seriously damaged Greek morale and emboldened the Turks. The battle began on 24 April, 3,000 men were ordered to advance across the plain. Their plan was to send 7,000 more men who were at

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saro ...

to attack the Ottomans from the flanks. Karaiskakis had proposed the day before instead of a direct attack, to cut the supply lines of the Ottomans in eastern Greece, but his proposal was not accepted. As the Greeks advanced from Phaleron, Reshid sent some

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

to attack the Greeks. He expected the main assault to come from Piraeus. The troops from Piraeus did not arrive and the rest of the Greeks were attacked by the Ottoman cavalry. The Greek army was totally destroyed and its troops scattered. All Souliotes and Cretans fell, 22 Philhellenes, 270 regular soldiers, hundreds of irregulars and the Greek chieftains Ioannis Notaras, Lampros Veikos, Georgios Drakos, Georgios Tzavelas and Tousias Botsaris were killed by the cavalry attack.Paparigopoulos, K, History of the Greek Nation (Greek edition), vol. 6, p. 178. In total, the Greeks lost either 1,500 or 2,000 men, which was a devastating setback. The battle of Phaleron was seen as the greatest Greek defeat in the

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. The men in the Acropolis surrendered on 5 June and were escorted by the French army to the coast. This defeat destroyed Greek morale and the only places on mainland Greece that persevered after the battle were

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and

Nafplio Nafplio ( ell, Ναύπλιο) is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece and it is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important touristic destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in th ...

, seat of the government.

Aftermath

Later that year, the Great Powers,

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, and

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destroyed the

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ian and Ottoman fleets in the

Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O. S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–29), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied f ...

References

;Bibliography *Paroulakis, Peter Harold. ''The Greeks: Their Struggle for Independence''. Hellenic International Press, 1984. . {{Ottoman battles

Phaleron Phalerum or Phaleron ( ''()'', ; ''()'', ) was a port of Ancient Athens, 5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens, on a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The bay is also referred to as "Bay of Phalerum" ( el, Όρμος Φαλήρου '').'' The ...

1827 in Greece May 1827 events Central Greece in the Greek War of Independence