Battle of Petra

Battle of Petra

Part of: Greek Revolution

date	September 12, 1829
place	Petra, Boiotia , Greece
output	Decisive victory for the Greeks

Parties to the conflict
Greece	Ottoman Empire
Commander
Dimitrios Ypsilantis	Aslan Bey
Troop strength
3,000 infantrymen (divided into 4 battalions)	7,000 men (infantry, cavalry, artillery)
losses
3 dead, 12 injured	about 100 dead

The Battle of Petra was the final battle between Greek revolutionaries and the Ottoman Empire during the Greek Revolution.

background

By the summer of 1829, the Peloponnese , parts of central Greece and some islands were liberated by Greek revolutionaries. A peace treaty was imminent between the conflicting parties, but it became apparent that the future Greek state, with the territories it had conquered so far, would have relatively limited territory at its disposal.

In August, the Ottoman commanders Aslan Bey and Osman Aga set out from Athens to fight the Russians in Thrace , with whom the Ottomans had been at war since 1828 as part of the Russo-Turkish War .

Course of the battle

The Greek armed forces under Dimitrios Ypsilantis, now an organized army, awaited the Turks at Petra , a small town near a narrow point in Boeotia between Thebes and Livadia . On September 12, 1829 there was a fight there. The Greeks managed to defeat the Ottomans by sword fighting and to persuade them to withdraw in disorder. The remaining parts of the Ottoman army were then in danger of being surrounded. So they also withdrew.

consequences

So that the Ottoman forces could move on to Thrace, Osman Aga signed a treaty with the Greeks the following day. In this the Ottoman Empire ceded all areas between Livadia and the river Sperchios to the Greeks. In return, the Ottoman troops were allowed to withdraw safely from central Greece. This battle was significant for the Greeks as they had fought victoriously as a regular army for the first time. With this victory, Dimitrios Ypsilantis ended the revolution that had started eight and a half years earlier under his brother Alexander .

literature

• George Finlay : History of the Greek Revolution , Blackwood & Sons, 1861.

Remarks

1. ↑ Note: In Greece, the Gregorian calendar was introduced on February 16, 1923 (which became March 1). All earlier dates follow the Julian calendar (unless otherwise indicated) .