Siege of Tripolitsa

Siege of Tripolitsa
Part of the Greek War of Independence
"Commander Panagiotis Kephalas plants the flag of liberty upon the walls of Tripolizza" by Peter von Hess.
Date April – 23 September 1821 Location Tripoli, Peloponnese, Greece Result Decisive Greek victory
Belligerents
Greek revolutionaries	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Theodoros Kolokotronis Dimitris Plapoutas Anagnostaras Panagiotis Kefalas	Kâhya Mustafa Bey
Strength
About 10,000–15,000 troops	8,000 Turkish and 3,000 Albanian troops
Casualties and losses
1001	8,000
6,000–15,000 Muslims, Greek and Jewish civilians2
1According to Theodoros Kolokotronis 2According to J. M. Wagstaff the civilian victims were "between 10,000 and 15,000", "upwards of 10.000" according to St. Clair, historian of the Greek Revolt 8,000 according to Encyclopedia Americana, 6,000 according to The London Encyclopaedia

The Siege of Tripolitsa or the Fall of Tripolitsa (Greek: Άλωση της Τριπολιτσάς Turkish: Tripoliçe Katliamı) to revolutionary Greek forces in the summer of 1821 marked an early victory in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, which had begun earlier in that year.

It is further notorious for the massacre of its Muslim Greek, and Jewish population — the Massacre of Tripolitsa, which occurred after the city's fall to the Greek forces. As historian of the war W. Alison Phillips noted, "the other atrocities of Greeks paled before the awful scenes which followed the storming of Tripolitza".

Situated in the middle of Peloponnese, Tripolitsa was the pre-eminent town in southern Greece, as well as the administrative centre for Ottoman rule in the Peloponnese, thus making it an important target for the Greek revolutionaries. Many rich Turks and Jews lived there, together with Ottoman refugees, such as Turks and Albanians from Vardounia (Βαρδούνια) driven there by the outbreak of the revolt, escaping massacres in the country's southern districts.

It was also a potent symbol for revenge, its Greek population having been massacred by the Ottoman forces in the past: the latest of such events, a few months earlier, following the failed rebellion at Moldavia in early 1821; previous massacres of the town's Greeks occurred in 1715 (during the Ottoman reconquest of the Morea) and on Holy Monday, 29 March 1770, after the failed Orlov Revolt.

The de facto commander in chief of the Greek forces, Theodoros Kolokotronis, now focused on the capital of the province. He set up fortified camps in the surrounding places, establishing several headquarters under the command of his captain Anagnostaras in the nearby villages, notably Zarachova, Piana, Dimitsana and Stemnitsa, where local peasants provided his men with food and supplies.

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Wikipedia