1854 Macedonian rebellion

Did You Know?

• The monks of Mount Athos did not support the rebellion.
• The French naval ship SS Solon carried Karatasos and other rebels back to Athens.

Revolt

In the southern part of Macedonia, leaders from Mount Olympos, along with fighters from independent Greece, Thessaly, and Magnesia, took control of the Vale of Tempe and sections of Pieria. During May 1854, Theodoros Ziakas led Greek insurgents to a major victory over Ottoman forces at Karpero. Moving into western Macedonia, Ziakas joined rebel groups from Kozani, Siatista, and Samarina, seized the western Pindus region, and launched an assault on the area around Grevena.

When he could not link up with other rebel bands, he fortified his position in the mountain village of Spilaio. The Ottomans gathered roughly 12,000 troops under Abdi Pasha near Spilaio, with a separate force commanded by Mehmet Tagu at Parorio. They also carried out reprisals against Greek civilians and threatened Metropolite Agapios of Grevena. British and French officials tried to persuade Ziakas to stop fighting and negotiate, but he refused.

On 28 May, the Greeks turned back an initial Ottoman attack at Houn Havral, but they were eventually outnumbered and accepted foreign diplomatic mediation. The armistice signed on 31 May forced the rebel chieftains to depart for independent Greece in June 1854. The second part of the uprising unfolded in Chalkidiki, led by Tsamis Karatasos, a former aide to King Otto. He landed in Sithonia in April 1854 with 500 irregular fighters.

On 22 April, he struck an Ottoman camp at Ormylia but was driven back by 300 bashi-bazouks. The Ottomans then assembled 3,000 soldiers and advanced on the insurgents. Karatasos also mounted an attack on Thessaloniki, where a short-lived rebellion occurred.