204 Years Ago Today: 700 Greeks Held Off 10,000 Ottomans at Missolonghi
On this day, October 25, 1822, the first Ottoman siege of Missolonghi began, and the odds could not have been more brutal. Around 10,000 Ottoman troops, backed by three warships under Yusuf Pasha, surrounded the town by land and sea. The force bearing down on Missolonghi was led by two of the empire's most capable commanders, Omer Vrioni and Kioutachis, also known as Reşid Mehmed Pasha.
Inside the walls, the defenders numbered no more than 700 men. They were led by Alexandros Mavrokordatos, Markos Botsaris, Georgios Kitsos, and Theodoros Grivas, and every one of them resolved to fight to the end rather than surrender.
Ottoman forces, despite their overwhelming numerical advantage, could not break the defenders.
Missolonghi had risen in revolt the year before, in 1821, and quickly established itself as one of the most important strongholds of the Greek War of Independence. The town hosted the Assembly of Western Greece and held enormous strategic value for the revolutionary cause.
The 1822 siege would ultimately fail. Ottoman forces, despite their overwhelming numerical advantage, could not break the defenders. The town held, and the siege was lifted with heavy Ottoman losses. That outcome turned Missolonghi into a symbol that resonated far beyond its walls, a signal to the rest of Greece and to European philhellenes that the revolution could survive against impossible odds.
The name Markos Botsaris became legendary in large part because of what he demonstrated in these circumstances. His willingness to stand alongside a handful of fighters against an army ten times their size helped define the spirit of the broader struggle.
Missolonghi would face siege again in 1823, and then the catastrophic final siege of 1825 to 1826, which ended in the famous Exodus. But it all began here, on October 25, 1822, when 700 Greeks looked at 10,000 Ottoman soldiers and decided to fight anyway.
