3,500 13,000 troops Result Greek victory | Dates 20 Sep 1823 – 30 Nov 1823 Location Missolonghi, Greece | |
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Similar Third Siege of Missolonghi, First Siege of Missolonghi, Greek War of Independence, Battle of Sphacteria, Battle of Samos | ||
The Second Siege of Missolonghi was a second attempt by Ottoman forces to capture the strategically located port town of Missolonghi during the third year of the Greek War of Independence (1823). The second siege is usually ignored however, and the name is often applied to the greater siege of 1825–1826.
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Background
After the first unsuccessful attempt to take the town in 1822, another expedition to western Central Greece was undertaken by Mustai Pasha of Shkoder. Mustai proceeded through the city of Trikala to Karpenisi, where a first Greek attempt to stop his advance resulted in the Battle of Karpenisi. During this battle, the Ottoman casualties were 1,200 troops, but the Greeks lost their commander, Markos Botsaris. The second unsuccessful Greek attempt to stop Mustai at Mount Kaliakouda, on 29 August 1823, resulted in 200 Greek casualties.
Siege
The Ottoman army arrived before Missolonghi and began the siege on 20 September with a bombardment of Aitoliko, an island which controlled the seaways of the Missolonghi lagoon. The subsequent attack on Aitoliko failed however. On 17 November, Ottoman food supplies were seized by 250 Souliotes under command of Kitsos Tzavelas.
As a result of food shortages and disease, on 20 November Mustai Pasha lifted the siege and withdrew.
Aftermath
Missolonghi remained under Greek control. Its resistance achieved wider fame when Lord Byron arrived there, dying in the town of fever in April 1824. The city was besieged for a third and final time, resisting both Ottoman and Egyptian armies for almost a year, until its final fall on April 10, 1826.