Battle of Dervenakia, 1822 (Greek War of Independence)

GREAT BATTLES series No 38: DERVENAKIA, 1822 - Kolokotronis Smashes Dramali's Army.

The Expedition of Dramali also known as Dramali's campaign, or Dramali's expedition, was an Ottoman military campaign led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha during the Greek War of Independence in the summer of 1822. The campaign was a large scale effort by the Ottomans to quell the ongoing Greek rebellion which had begun in 1821, the campaign ended in total failure, resulting in the disastrous defeat of the Ottoman army, which after the campaign ceased to exist as a fighting force.

With the destruction of the main Ottoman force present in Greece at the time, the revolution survived its first great test, and was firmly now established. In December 1822, Nafplion finally surrendered to the Greeks, who made it their provisional capital. The Greek cause would however quickly unravel, with factional conflict breaking out in 1823. Gordon wrote that the victory at Dervenakia made Kolokotronis's reputation as "his name became a sort of talisman, the people everywhere sung ballads in his honour, his political adversaries humbled themselves before him and for some months he was absolute in the Morea". Inevitably, Kolokotronis' popularity made him a target for his political enemies, who now united against the most popular man in Greece. Kolokotronis himself, arguably the Greeks' ablest military leader, was imprisoned by his enemies in Palamidi, at a time when the Sultan, acknowledging his inability to deal with the "Greek problem", turned to Muhammad Ali of Egypt and his Western-trained armies for help.

(From Wikipedia)

Author: Editing team

Colour Plates by: Yiannis Mylonas 

Publisher: Periscopio Publications

Description: 92 pages, Paperback, Format A4. numerous b/w & colour age artworks, numerous b/w & colour photos (including 11 photos of weaponry), 4 full-page colour plates of Greek and Ottoman warriors, maps. GREEK TEXT.

Shipping weight: 0.47 Kg.

Tags: GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1821-1830)