On October 20, 1827, the Battle of Navarino took place, in which the allied squadron of Russia, England and France defeated the Turkish-Egyptian fleet involved in the suppression of the Greek national liberation revolution.
According to historians, this event became one of the key events in the process of liberation of Greece from Ottoman rule.
Anti-Turkish uprising
Most of Greece was captured by the Turks in the 15th century.
The local Orthodox population was subjected to severe harassment.
The Turks seized vast land holdings and forced the local population to pay heavy taxes.
In addition, children were often taken away from the Greeks, who were then converted to Islam and turned into Janissaries.
The Greeks repeatedly raised uprisings against the Ottoman domination, but until the 19th century, all of them were brutally suppressed.
In 1814, Greek patriots living in Russia created the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends), a secret revolutionary organization to liberate their homeland from the Turks, whose activities were transferred to the territory of the Ottoman Empire a few years later.
In 1821, in the Wallachian lands under Turkish rule (modern Romanian territory), an uprising of the Christian population began, in which members of the Filiki Eteria society also took part.
The performances in the Wallachian lands were suppressed by the Turks, but they gave impetus to the start of a large-scale uprising in Greece.
In 1822, the participants in the national liberation struggle proclaimed the independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish Sultan Mahmud II sent significant forces to suppress the uprising and attracted his vassal, the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali, to this process.
According to historians, the Turks carried out brutal punitive operations against the Greek population, as a result of which a significant part of the territories covered by the uprising came back under the control of the Ottoman Empire in 1827.
This caused strong discontent on the part of the leading Christian powers.
Initially, the Greek uprising was supported by the Russian Empire.
Soon Great Britain joined it, which wanted to increase its influence in the Balkans.
In 1826, Russia and Britain signed a protocol under which they assumed the role of mediators in the conflict between the Greeks and the Turks and advocated for greater independence for Greece.
A year later, according to the London Convention, France joined them.
Representatives of the three states demanded that Turkey grant autonomy to Greece and start negotiations on the future of its statehood.
In August 1827, the ambassadors of Russia, Great Britain and France sent a note to the Ottoman Empire, demanding that the Sultan stop hostilities, but he did not even want to discuss the Greek question.
Naval squadrons of Russia, England and France were sent to the coast of Greece.
Metropolitan Herman of Staropatra blesses the banner of the rebels in the monastery of St. Lavra, painting by Theodoros Vryzakis, 1865
© Wikimedia Commons
“In order to make the Ottoman Empire more negotiable, it was decided to hold a show of force,” said Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society.
"Miracles of courage and self-sacrifice"
In the autumn of 1827, the Turkish-Egyptian fleet, which supported the punitive units of the Ottoman army, was in the Navarino bay of the Peloponnese peninsula under the protection of artillery from coastal batteries and the Navarin fortress.
His forces consisted of 57 ships, 11 firewalls and more than 2.1 thousand guns.
The squadrons of Russia, England and France united in mid-October.
The overall command of the combined forces, as senior in rank, was taken by the British Vice Admiral Edward Codrington.
The Russian ships were led by Rear Admiral Loggin Heiden.
The total strength of the combined Allied squadron consisted of ten ships of the line, nine frigates and seven small ships.
The squadron's artillery consisted of about 1,300 guns.
“After Turkey finally refused to comply with the requirements put forward by Russia, England and France, the combined squadron approached the Navarino Bay.
The Turkish-Egyptian fleet was locked in it, ”said Vitaly Zakharov, a professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in a conversation with RT.
On October 20, 1827, the ships of the squadron entered the Navarino Bay.
Allied representatives were supposed to go to negotiate with the Ottomans, but the Turks opened gunfire, killing a British parliamentary officer.
In addition, an Egyptian ship fired on a Turkish one, and an Ottoman coastal battery opened fire on the Russian flagship Azov.
The Battle of Navarino began.
The battle took place at a short distance and lasted about four hours.
Russian ships played a decisive role in it.
Particularly distinguished "Azov", commanded by one of the discoverers of Antarctica Mikhail Lazarev.
"Azov" fought simultaneously with five Turkish ships: he sank three frigates and a corvette, and forced the ship of the line to run aground and burned it.
In addition, the Azov team helped the British allies deal with another battleship.
During the battle, the Russian ship received 153 holes, including seven underwater ones.
Battle of Navarino, painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, 1846
© Wikimedia Commons
“In the Battle of Navarino, while on board the Azov, future admirals and heroes of the defense of Sevastopol distinguished themselves: Pavel Nakhimov, Vladimir Kornilov and Vladimir Istomin,” emphasized Vitaly Zakharov.
According to historians, by the evening of October 20, the Turkish-Egyptian fleet was completely defeated.
He lost about 60 ships and fireships, over 6 thousand sailors were killed.
The loss of the allied squadron killed and wounded amounted to about 800 people.
Plan of the Battle of Navarino
© Wikimedia Commons
“Fighting for freedom from the Turkish domination of the Greek brothers in faith, Russian sailors showed miracles of courage and self-sacrifice in the Battle of Navarino,” Konstantin Strelbitsky, chairman of the Moscow Fleet History Club, emphasized in a conversation with RT.
In particular, the future hero of the defense of Sevastopol, Pavel Nakhimov, twice supervised the extinguishing of fires in the Azov powder magazines during the battle.
In response to the participation of the Russian squadron in the Battle of Navarino, the Ottoman authorities expelled Russian subjects from the territory of their empire and closed the Black Sea straits for Russian ships.
On April 26, 1828, a full-scale war broke out between Russia and Turkey.
In 1829, the Ottoman troops were defeated, and the Russian army created a threat to Istanbul.
Turkey was forced to ask for peace.
Naval Battle of Navarino, painting by Ambroise-Louis Garnret, 19th century
© Wikimedia Commons
The Treaty of Adrianople was signed between the Russian and Ottoman empires.
Turkey handed over to Russia the mouth of the Danube and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, and also recognized the transfer under the rule of St. Petersburg of a number of state entities in the territory of Transcaucasia.
In addition, the Ottoman Empire agreed to accept the conditions put forward to it under the London Convention.
Greece officially gained autonomy from Turkey, subject to the payment of tribute to the Sultan.
And a year later it was finally recognized as an independent state.
“The Battle of Navarino is a turning point in the national liberation struggle of Greece.
The Turks lost their fleet and were forced to enter into an unsuccessful war with Russia on land.
The success of the Greek uprising was predetermined.
Greece gained independence from the hands of the allies who participated in the naval battle in the Bay of Navarino, ”summed up Vitaly Zakharov.