The Greek Struggle for Independence in Macedonia

On the 25th of March 1821, the day of the Anunciation, Greeks declared independence from Ottoman rule. The declaration was proclaimed throughout Greece from Crete to Macedonia. After the Greek revolution in 1769-1771, Turkish reprisals had caused a wave of refugees arriving in Europe. These refugees had heightened European awareness and the awareness of the Greek intellectuals and established diaspora in Russia, Italy and elsewhere to the plight of the Greeks under the Ottoman yoke. In 1814 three Greek merchants in Odessa set up the Philike Etairia (Company of Friends) and began to plan Greek Independence. The Ypsilantis brothers, many Greek intellectuals in Constantinople and the West as well as Greek army officers in foreign armies and prominent Greeks in Greece itself were initiated in the years that followed and a plan was drawn for a simultaneous uprising of the Greeks from Constantinople to Cyprus, Crete and the Peloponnese. At the same time, Alexandros Ypsilantis would lead an army of expatriates and philhellenes down through Romania towards Constantinople.

In Macedonia, the leadership was entrusted to four key men: Gregorios Salas, the commander in chief, Emmanuel Pappas, a wealthy banker, became de facto leader in Eastern and Central Macedonia, Diamantis Gregoriou appointed "chiliarch" (colonel) in command of the rebels in the area of Mt Olympus, and Zafeirakis Georgiou as the overall commander of the armatoloi of Western Macedonia. The armatoloi were Greek armed militia in principle serving in the Ottoman security forces, meant to fight insurgents and "brigands" (klephts) but whose captains had now generally become members of the Philike Etairia.

Emmanuel Pappas, a native of Serres, sailed in a ship loaded with arms, war supplies and money from Constantinople to Mt Athos. Upon arrival on the day of the Anunciation of the Virgin he proclaimed the independence of Greece and distributed his war supplies among Greek volunteers. He gradually raised a rebel force of some 4000 men, including nearly a thousand monks from Mt Athos. The next two months were spent training this force and making preparations for the capture of Thessaloniki.

In the first year of the revolution the overall command of the Greeks was under Demetrios Ypsilantis, the brother of Alexander, stationed in the island of Hydra. His plan was for Pappas and the captains of Olympus and Western Macedonia to engage the Turks at once. He especially hoped that their coordination would isolate the Turkish garrisons in Thessaly from those in Macedonia. However, the preparations in Mt Olympus were greatly delayed, especially by the delayed arrival of the appointed commander in chief for Macedonia, Gregorios Salas. Indeed, the captains of Western Macedonia, waiting for orders from Ypsilantis or Salas did not rise in time with the Greeks in Chalkidiki. Elsewhere, the strong Turkish garrisons in Thessaloniki, Veria, Serres and Kastoria also kept the population quiet. Indeed, alarmed by the passage of Ypsilantis into Romania, Yusuf Pasha, the Turkish commander of Thessaloniki imprisoned several Greek notables and priests as hostages to forestall a Greek uprising in the area. Possibly worried by signs of Armed Greeks bands in Chalkidike, he gave orders to Tsirimpashi, commander of the Turkish police in Thessaloniki, and Hasan Aga to reinforce the town of Polygyros. The citizens of Polygyros pre-empted the Turkish move by capturing and executing the Turkish garrison of the town. That essentially started the armed uprising in Macedonia. Yusuf Pasha responded by beheading or impaling to death the imprisoned prominent Thessalonicians he held as hostages.

The Greeks had spent the first few weeks in training, while waiting for the arrival of an experienced military commander. The flat and open land of central and eastern Macedonia offered no opportunities for bands of Klephts and consequently there were also few companies of armatoloi. Though the proclamations of Emmanuel Pappas were received enthusiastically, in practice half of the force Pappas armed were monks from Mt Athos who months earlier had nothing furthest in their minds than fighting a war. When, however, the news of the murder of the notables of Thessaloniki reached Mt Athos, the Greeks responded with a ceremony in the church of Karyes where Constantinos, the metropolitan (bishop) of Makryneia, proclaimed Emmanuel Pappas commander and protector of Macedonia. The monasteries of Mt Athos and wealthy notables helped raise funds to better equip the revolutionary forces.

Of the gathered force of about 4,000 men, the larger part made of Mademochorites and two thousand monks stayed in Chalkidiki to clear it of the Turkish garrisons, The Turkish ciradel at the neck of the Cassandra penisnsula was captured and the Turkish garrisons were cleared up elsewhere. The rest of the army consisting of men from Cassandra and the Chasian mountains, moved in June towards Thessaloniki, at the heels of the retreating Turkish garrisons.

Soon, however, it became apparent that the force gathered was not sufficient for the task of taking Thessaloniki and that they needed supplies and an experienced leader. Of the local captains, Stavros Hapsas was probably the favourite for this position but he was not accepted by everyone. Emmanuel Pappas, sent messages to the captains of Olympus for assistance in the capture of Thessaloniki. The captains of Olympus were still however, waiting for the arrival of Salas. They where not eager to venture away from the mountains and the few regular troops that were available were deemed insufficient for a march to Thessaloniki over open ground. There were also probably insufficient means for transporting the cannons of Maxime Rembaugh. Diamantis Nikolaou nevertheless sent Pappas two of his captains, Liakos and Mpinos with 400 men. Letters requesting money and supplies were sent by Pappas and the abbots of Mt Athos to Demetrios Ypsilantis and to the Commons of Hydra and in other directions. These pleas came to naught for many reasons, not least because it was thought that the monasteries of Mt Athos should be capable of financing the revolution in Macedonia. Unfortunately, whether the Monasteries understood the dire need, the military preparations remained rudimentary.

In June 1821, Beyran Pasha, arrived with a large army that he had raised to put down the revolution in Greece. Emmanuel Pappas retreated from the outskirts of Thessaloniki and took positions around the monastery of St Anastasia by the bay of Strymon. There Beyran Pasha engaged the incomparably smaller and inexperienced force of Emmanuel Pappas and forced the Greeks to retreat towards the hills. Stavros Hapsas had chosen to stay behind not far from Thessaloniki, near the town of Vasilika and was attacked by the Thessaloniki garrison. He put up a desperate resistance with 200 of his comrades, fighting to death to help the rest of the Greeks reach more favourable positions. While the Turks set Vasilika and nearby villages to fire, the scattered Greek rebels retreated in small groups to the hills and fought in piecemeal fashion individual battles against a vastly superior enemy. Pappas with the remnants of his army, some 3000 men, retreated towards the Cassandra peninsula. The two captains Liakos and Mpinos had arrived from Olympus and were strengthening its defenses by digging a canal across the narrow neck that joined it to the mainland. The defenses were strengthened with guns from a few ships that arrived from Psara on the directions of Demetrios Ypsilantis. Another small fleet sailed the waters of Chalkidiki to discourage a landing of Turkish troops at the rear of the Greek defense in Cassandra and Mt Athos. Beyran Pasha attacked the defenses of the Cassandra with a large force of perhaps 8000 men under the command of Mehmet Emin Pasha, Vali of Thessaloniki. The defenders fought a four-month-long battle against a superior enemy. The ships would sometimes land their men at the rear of the Turks when they were occupied with attacks on the Cassandra defenses as a diversion. Some began to believe that this was a golden opportunity to take Thessaloniki with a naval attack. But neither the available resources nor the ships at hand seemed enough. Pappas indeed was at strains to find the money to pay the ships. In the meantime, the Turks were engaging in a campaign of looting the towns of central Macedonia, taking women and children as slaves, sent in caravans to Istanbul and elsewhere. Many were sent with ships to Smyrna and to Bengazi in Libya, where they were sold off. The pillaging of the countryside also brought famine. The dire position of the Greeks was temporarily alleviated by the arrival of another 11 ships from Psara. These bombarded the Turkish camp and opened up the coast. Pappas sent calls to the captains of Olympus Kottas and Kasomoulis for help. After further letters to Demetrios Ypsilantis, the Commons of Hydra and Spetses gathered what could be spared from the war effort in the south and sent it to Pappas: 200 kilograms of gunpowder and 100 kilograms of lead with a few other supplies. But they asked for the immediate payment of 2000 silver coins, that Pappas could hardly spare. As for the captains of Olympus, they were still waiting for the arrival of Salas and would undertake no action. Kasomoulis, at the time in Hydra, wrote urging Pappas not to desist from fighting for as soon as Tripolis fell in the Peloponnese, reinforcements might become available from the south. Then he left for the Peloponnese to bring reinforcements to Macedonia as soon as the siege of Tripolis was over.

However, the situation of Pappas was now becoming desperate. The ships from Psara abandoned him, as Pappas had no longer funds for their payment. The Sultan, afraid that should the rebels maintain their resistance in Macedonia, the fortunes of war would turn quickly against him, appointed Abdul Ambud, a man with considerable battle experience, pasha of Thessaloniki. Abdul Ambud added his force to that outside Cassandra, to a total of 14000 men. Only some 600 men had been left now to Pappas. Abdul Ambud offered the Greeks his terms of surrender that were denied. He began his attack in the night of the 29th October 1821.By the end of the next day the battle was over. A part of the defenders died to the last man after retreating to a forested area. A few escaped on boats to the islands of Skiathos and Skopelos. Pappas with a few of his men escaped to Mt Athos. Spyridon Trikoupis in his History estimates that some 10,000 Greek civilians were slaughtered in Cassandra and the rest of the Chalkidiki after the battle.

Days later Abdul Ambud arrived outside Mt Athos. He offered to respect the Monasteries if they surrendered and paid reparations. Pappas had no option but to leave with his son Ioannis and his few companions. While sailing off the coast of Mt Athos his heart stopped. His body was buried in Hydra with military honours. Emmanuel Pappas became one of the symbols and one of the most noble embodiments of the Greek struggle.

Despite collecting two and a half million silver coins from Mt Athos, Abdul Ambud taxed the Greek banks and the wealthy Greeks in Macedonia, conscripted as many men as he could and strengthened the garrisons of many Macedonian towns.

The revolution in Western Macedonia.

The general headquarters for the revolution in Macedonia were on Mt Olympus. Some of the old captains of the armatoloi of Olympus had been initiated to the Philike Etairia and Georgakis Olympios had indeed travelled to Russia and had held meetings with the Philikoi there. He later was engaged with another Macedonian, Ioannis Farmakis, in discussions with Romanian notables for an uprising in Romania against the Turks to coincide with the campaign of Alexandros Ypsilantis. This, however, never materialized, indeed the Romanians on the whole sided with the Turks and the army of Alexandros Ypsilantis, isolated and vastly outnumbered, was completely destroyed.

Diamantis Nikolaou and Nikolaos Kasomoulis were among the leaders of the armatoloi of Mt Olympus. Kasomoulis was born in Kozani in 1795. His father was a merchant from Serres. When the Greek uprising began he went to Western Macedonia and hence with a band of armed men to Mt Olympus. Leaving Diamantis Nikolaou in command of Mt Olympus, Kasomoulis went to ask for help from the central organization of the Greek revolt in the Peloponnese. He returned to Olympus after the fall of Tripolis with a small reinforcement.

Unfortunately by then the revolution in central Macedonia had collapsed. Part of the plan of Demetrios Ypsilantis had been for the captains of Olympus to capture the bridge of Axios leading to Thessaloniki, the valley of Tempe and Kastoria. Gregorios Salas, however, despite news of the fall of Cassandra, sailed off only on the 25th of November. He did not even sail to Macedonia, rather he spent another two months touring the islands, wasting valuable time and money, while also getting married. Along with Salas sailed a few pilhellenes with a few cannons with Maxime Rembaugh at their head. Some of the men accompanying Salas were scattered here and there on various missions and only a part of this force arrived with considerable delay in the area of Mt Olympus in early 1822. In the meantime Abdul Ambud was strengthening the fortifications of Thessaloniki. He placed a strong garrison in Kastoria and fortified Litochoro to forestall a Greek campaign from the south against Thessaloniki.

Having strengthened Thessaloniki´s defenses, Abdul Ambud began to suppress the rest of Macedonia, while gathering provisions from the rural areas and strengthening his army. In this context, the Turkish Pasha requested hostages from the cities of Veria, Naousa, Edessa, Kozani, Siatista and the other towns of Western Macedonia. Several members of the Philike Etairia were in the area, among them a notable of Naousa Zafeirakis Theodosiou and the captains of the armatoloi Karatasos from Veria and Angelis Gatsos from Edessa (Vodena). Because of miscommunication, the two captains had failed to start the revolution in Western Macedonia at the same time with Pappas in Eastern and Central Macedonia. They had waited for a signal from Demetrios Ypsilantis or Salas to engage the Turks, which never arrived. As the demands of Abdul Ambud began to press the Greeks hard, the leaders gathered in the monastery of Dobra and planned their first actions, still expecting assistance and guidance from Ypsilantis. Events however overtook them: Zafeirakis, Karatasos and Gatsos received a letter from Abdul Ambud calling them to Thessaloniki. Expecting the worst, the three men met in Naousa and decided to come immediately in contact with the captains of Olympus and to start the uprising without delay. At the dawn of the 22nd of February 1822, Karatasos and Gatsos entered Naousa with their troops, arrested overcame the Turkish garrison and proclaimed independence.

Next day they marched to Veria at the head of a 1800 strong force but learnt from the captains of Olympus that assistance would be delayed. After raiding Turkish encampments outside the fortified and heavily guarded town they left and prepared for a battle outside Naousa. Karatasos with 240 armed men barricaded himself in the monastery of Dobra while the rest under Gatsos lay hidden in the forests near Arkoudochori. On the 12th of March the kechayabey of the Pasha arrived outside the monastery and attacked it. The battle lasted for hours before Gatsos and Zafeirakis emerged from the forests and attacked the battle-tired Turks. Caught in a crossfire the Turks retreated in panic, leaving behind some 1500 dead.

The full weight of an attack by Abdul Ambud´s could now be expected with certainty. The three leaders sent once again for help from the Armatoloi of Olympus. They also sent one of the captains, Karamitsos, to raise new conscripts from the countryside. Abdul Ambud arrived on the 14th of March at the head of a 16,000 strong force and 12 cannons and encamped an hour from Naousa. The Greeks having gathered a force of 4,000 placed one part outside the town in key locations under Anastasios Karatasos, Gatsos, Tsamis Karatasos, Karamitsos and Philippos, the son of Zafeirakis Theodosiou. The rest, mainly citizens of Naousa, took positions on the walls of Naousa and in key points of the town. Zafeirakis Theodosiou and Anastasios Karatasos had the overall command. They had their headquarters in an old tower by the river Arapitsa at the northwestern end of the town. A small band of the armatoloi of Olympus under Salas and Diamantis Nikolaou, with supplies and a few foreign philhellenes reached the village of Eleftherochori on the 13th of March. There were some skirmishes with the Turkish forces but the force was small and made no further progress.

The Turks attempted twice to take the town of Naousa on the 16th of March 1822, via the moat gate, but were repulsed. New attacks ensued wave after wave on the 18th and 19th March in the direction of St George´s gate but these were also turned back with many casualties. At this point Abdul Ambud decided to attack the town simultaneously from several points using his entire army. On the 23rd of March several units engaged Karatasos, Karamitsos, Gatsos and the others, while he led his main force against the position of Plakenia Dragatsa, held by Tsamis Karatasos. Here the Turks made some progress, overcoming the resistance in many places. Tsamis Karatasos and his men became isolated. They were forced to abandon their positions at night and to take refuge into the town.

Abdul Ambud exploited the gap left from the retreat of Tsamis Karatasos and on the 24th of March appeared before the gate of St George. A cannon bombardment of the gate and the walls began that lasted for days. After requests for the town´s surrender were dismissed by the Greeks, the Turks charged the gate on Big Friday, the 31st of March. The Turkish attack failed but the Pasha persisted with daily attacks to wear out the defenders who were not many. No help could arrive from the outside as a great part of his force had pinned down the other Greek captains and he held the advantage of numbers against the Greeks. On the 6th of April, after receiving fresh reinforcements of some 3000 men, the Turkish army finally overcame the Greek resistance and entered the city, looting and killing.

Andul Ambud then turned his army against the tower where Zafeirakis Theodosiou and Anastasios Karatasos were putting up a last stand. Ambud asked for their surrender but they responded with musket shots. Repeated Turkish attacks against the tower were turned back but once the bombardment from the Turkish cannon began, Zafeirakis and Karatasos saw the futility of their resistance and knowing that the town had fallen, escaped at night with a few of their men and as many non-combatants (old men, women and children) they could take with them. Some of the women left behind committed suicide by falling down a cliff over the stream called Mavroneri or some say over the small river Arapitsa. The Turks captured the tower the following day and murdered all the survivors. Zafeirakis Theodosiou, while hiding in the mountains with many non-combatants and a few armed men, was ambushed by a Turkish unit and was killed. Ambud laid the town and surrounding area waste.

The fall of Naousa marked the end of the Greek revolution in Macedonia. Anastasios and Tsamis Karatasos, Diamantis Nikolaou and Salas with a few men managed to reach safety. Salas with his men, after leaving the wounded in monasteries along the way arrived with the remnant of his force in Kastri, near Delphi. On the 10th of May they sailed to Corinth. Diamantis Nikolaou reached the coast of Macedonia and sailed from there to Skiathos and Skopelos, where his troop was joined with other armed bands that had come from the area of Olympus to continue the fight elsewhere. Kasomoulis´ father (also a member of the Philike Etairia) was killed and his mother and two sisters were taken captives by the Turks. After the fall of Naousa, Kasomoulis left for the south of Greece where he continued to fight with different bands in the Peloponnese or in Roumelie throughout the revolution. After independence Nikolaos Kasomoulis served in the Greek army, as a Chief of garrison for Athens and later Lamia. He retired in 1861. His memoirs "Military Rememberances of the Revolution of the Hellenes", are an invaluable source about the Greek War of Independence.

During the period of Otto, Tsamis Karatasos, like Nikolaos Kasomoulis, served as an officer in the army. In 1841 he participated as a volunteer in the revolution in Crete and in 1854 he led a revolt in Macedonia. Called back to Athens he went on a diplomatic mission to Europe and the Balkans (1859-1861) aiming to raise a coalition of Balkan nations and the support of others for the ousting of the Turks from Europe. He died during his stay in Belgrade and was buried in the city. A great monument was placed on his grave. A bust was also put up in Thessaloniki.