Epirus Revolt of 1854

The 1854 revolt in Epirus was one of the most important of a series of Greek uprisings that occurred in the Ottoman-occupied Greek world during that period. When the Crimean War (1854–1856) broke out, many Epirote Greeks, with tacit support from the Greek state, revolted against the Ottoman rule. Although this movement was supported by distinguished military personalities, the correlation of forces doomed it from the start, leading to its suppression after a few months.

When the Crimean War broke out between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, many Greeks felt that it was an opportunity to gain lands inhabited by Greeks but not included in the independent Kingdom of Greece. The Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) was still fresh in their minds, as well as the Russian intervention that had helped secure Greek independence. Furthermore, Greeks had traditionally looked to help from fellow-Orthodox Russia.

Although the official Greek state, under severe diplomatic and military pressure from the British and French (allies of the Ottomans), refrained from actively entering the conflict, a number of uprisings were organized in Epirus, Thessaly, Crete, with support from individuals and groups within independent Greece.

On 30 January 1854, Spyridon Karaiskakis (a Lieutenant in the Greek Army and son of the hero of War of Independence, Georgios Karaiskakis), gave a number of inspiring speeches in villages east of Arta (Peta region), seeking to inspire the Epirotes to revolt against Ottoman rule and join their province to Greece. The initial objective was the provincial capital, Arta, which was captured by Karaiskakis with a force of 2,500 irregulars. In the meantime, the Greek General Theodoros Grivas took a band of 300 volunteers to the villages of Peta and Pente Pigadia. Apart from the region of Arta, in Tzoumerka, the revolt also spread to most of the mountainous regions of Epirus and a number of towns soon came under the full control of the revolutionaries: Paramythia, Souli, Tsamantas, Himara and some villages around Ioannina. The revolt was also in full swing in parts of the nearby region of Thessaly.

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