Greek War of Independence

From 1821 to 1832 Greek rebels fought the Ottoman Empire to establish an independent Greek state, launching the age of national liberation movements.

Overview

The Filiki Eteria, a secret society founded in 1814, planned coordinated risings in the Balkans. Alexandros Ypsilantis crossed the Danube while the Peloponnese and the islands rose in March 1821, and massacres on both sides hardened the struggle into religious-national war. Civil conflict among Greek factions nearly destroyed the cause until European philhellenes, moved by the siege of Missolonghi and the death of Byron, shifted public opinion. The Ottoman-Egyptian fleet was destroyed at Navarino in 1827 by British, French, and Russian squadrons, and Russian war forced further concessions. Independence was recognized in 1832. The war made nationalism a European force and opened the Eastern Question that lasted until 1922.