Battle of Dervenakia

Date	26–28 July 1822 (O.S.)
Location	Dervenakia, Peloponnese, Greece
Result	Decisive Greek victory

Belligerents

Greek revolutionaries

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Theodoros Kolokotronis
Demetrios Ypsilantis
Papaflessas
Nikitas Stamatelopoulos

Mahmud Dramali Pasha

Strength

8,000-10,000

20,000 including 8,000 cavalry

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Around 20,000 dead

The Battle of Dervenakia (Greek: Μάχη των Δερβενακίων) was the Greek victory over the Ottoman forces on 26–28 July 1822, an important event in the Greek War of Independence. The destruction of Dramali Pasha's forces saved the heartland of the rebellion, the Morea, and secured it for the Greeks until the arrival of Ibrahim Pasha in 1825.

After the final defeat and death of Ali Pasha, the Ottoman forces in northern Greece were reoriented to the south, where the Greeks had rebelled in early 1821. A force of some 20,000 men, including 8,000 cavalry, was entrusted to Mahmud Dramali Pasha (pasha of Larissa), who had replaced the veteran Hursid Pasha. This force was the largest seen in Greece in more than a century, since the last Venetian-Ottoman War in 1715, composed of experienced warriors with ample supplies. To support this army, Dramali had 30,000 mules, horses and camels carrying his supplies together with six six-pound cannons he brought alone. Dramali was expected to crush the Greek rebellion by advancing to Corinth, relieve the besieged garrison of Nafplion and recapture the capital of the Morea, Tripoli. Setting out from Zitouni (Lamia) early in July, he proceeded southwards through Boeotia, where he took and burned Thebes to the ground. The local guerrilla leader Odysseas Androutsos made no effort to stop the Ottomans, later saying: “I had not 4,000 men under my command, not 400 good soldiers and not 40 whose courage I would trust my life”. Dramali Pasha made no attempt to retake the Acropolis of Athens which, although well supplied with provisions and ammunition, had capitulated to the Greeks on 21 June owing to lack of water. The Greeks had sent a force to block the passes at Geraneia, but the size of the Ottoman army discouraged them, and Dramali passed through unmolested. The same was repeated at the fort of Acrocorinth, which was abandoned by its commander, Iakovos Theodoridis, after he murdered the imprisoned Kiamil Bey. After arriving at Corinth in mid-July, Dramali wedded Kiamil's widow, and called a council to determine his future actions. There, many of his officers, headed by Yussuf Pasha of Patras, urged him to follow a military plan of using Corinth as a base, building up strong naval forces in the gulf and isolate the Morea, before advancing on Tripoli in three columns, which would force the Greeks to split up their far smaller forces. Dramali ignored this sound advice, and, full of confidence, decided to proceed from Corinth to the south, towards the Argolis. Dramali wanted the glory of taking Tripoli all for himself. In the meantime, the Greeks all over the Morea started to burn their crops to deprive Dramali Pasha and his army of food. Prince Demetrios Ypsilantis brought 700 men to hold the citadel of Argos while Theodoros Kolokotronis was appointed commander of the Greek forces in the Morea. Kokokotronis had to first concentrate his scattered forces and in his memoirs related: “I went to the Senate and said, ‘As many among you have any acquaintance with letters, let them come hither’. Then we sat down and wrote all through the night and sent to every district to gather men together as quickly as possible”. Within a fortnight, Kokokotronis’s army had swelled from 2,000-3,000 to 7,000-8,000 as men came from all over the Morea. Kokokotronis devised a plan to block the Ottoman advance on Tripoli, block their retreat by placing men on the three narrow passes from Argos to the isthmus of Corinth and thereby trap the Ottomans on the plains of Argos.

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