The Third Siege of Missolonghi
The cruelty of the Ottoman Turks so shocked Europe that the tide of opinion turned against them.
1825
King George IV 1820-1830
The cruelty of the Ottoman Turks so shocked Europe that the tide of opinion turned against them.
1825
King George IV 1820-1830
In 1823, early in the Greeks’ desperate fight for independence from the Ottoman Empire, English poet Lord Byron brought welcome public attention to the town of Missolonghi near Corinth just after it had endured two draining sieges. Two years later, however, the Turks came a third time.
FROM 15th April, 1825, to 10th April the following year, the city of Missolonghi near Corinth in Greece was subjected to a pitiless siege by the ruling Ottoman Empire. It was the third siege suffered by the town, and the most devastating.*
Sir Frederick Adam, the British governor of the nearby Ionian islands following the fall of Napoleon,* tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal, and the Turks gradually starved the Greeks trapped inside the town.
An attempted sortie was betrayed. The seven thousand who attempted it were mostly slaughtered, or taken into slavery; three thousand heads were displayed on the city walls as trophies.
The disaster was of such heart-rending scale, that it turned international opinion in favour of Greek independence, agreed by the London Protocol of 1830, and finally declared in 1832.* Italian composer Gioachino Rossini dedicated himself to raising awareness of the Greeks’ plight, staging his opera ‘The Siege of Corinth’ in Paris the following autumn.
See Byron and Hercules for the story of how the Second Siege of Missolonghi had helped raise international awareness of the Greek War of Independence, with the help of English poet Lord Byron.
See The United States of the Ionian Islands.
The London Protocol was signed on February 3, 1830. Frenzied negotiations followed, and Greek independence was sealed on May 7, 1832, with the Treaty of Constantinople.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
How did Sir Frederick Adam try to help?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Sir Frederick Adam tried to negotiate a peace. He failed.