In 1825 the Greek revolution was going through its most critical phase. After the triumphs of the previous years, the Greeks, thanks to their discord, managed to tear down what they had built with labor and blood. The enemies took full advantage of the Greek gluttony.
In February 1825 a new formidable opponent set foot on Moria. It was Ibrahim, the stepson of the Egyptian dynast Mehmet Ali, who arrived at the head of regular troops, commanded by French and Italian officers. The Greeks had nothing to oppose him. Nothing, except the Old Man of Moria.
Crash
Ibrahim was allowed to land undisturbed in the Peloponnese in the first days of February 1825. The government of "politicians" under Georgios Kountouriotis was not aware of the situation. After all, it was still celebrating the victories of its "triumph" in the bloody second civil war, even having Theodoros Kolokotronis imprisoned in Hydra.
The destitute Kountouriotis tried to intercept Ibrahim himself, in order to gain military glory, but the Egyptian marshal easily crushed him in the battle at Kremmidi in Messinia. The result of the defeat was the capture of Pylos and the securing of a stable base for Ibrahim. The Egyptians after their victory began to spread like the plague in the Greek lands, slaughtering and plundering.
A new campaign against them was undertaken by Papaflessas, but he was defeated and heroically killed at Maniaki on May 20, 1825. Nothing seemed capable of stopping Ibrahim's regular troops. Everyone's last hope was the imprisoned Kolokotronis. Under popular pressure, Kountouriotis was forced to release Kolokotronis. The Old Man arrived in Nafplio on May 30. As soon as he disembarked from the ship, the glorious captain immediately went to Platanos Square.
Kolokotronis takes over
There he climbed a stone for all to see and began to speak to the desperate Greeks who gathered around him by the hundreds. "Greeks", his heavy voice was heard, "Before I set foot on land I threw the past into the sea. You should do the same. One must now be the purpose of all of us. How are we going to chase away the rascals who flooded the place and are looking to enslave us again."
Kolokotronis attempted to intercept Ibrahim in the straits of Trambala, but he did not succeed in the face of the enemy superiority. Immediately after extorting the straits of Trambala, Ibrahim hastened to Tripolitsa. The Egyptians showed great cruelty against civilians. A large number – about 1,000 – of civilians fell into the hands of the Egyptians as they marched towards Tripolitsa. The women were dishonored and the rest were sold into slavery.
Finally Ibrahim entered the desert of Tripolitsa and made it, as Kolokotronis feared, a base of operations, from where he could attack the Greeks in the Morea at will. Leaving a garrison in Tripolitsa and reinforced with 6,000 more regulars, Ibrahim moved directly to Nafplion with the aim of ending the campaign in Moria.
Nafplio was the seat of the Greek administration and its fall would have fatal consequences for the revolution. The administration ordered Kolokotronis to move towards Nafplio. He, though utterly destitute of food and ammunition, obeyed. Ibrahim, however, was defeated in the battle of Mylon and returned to Tripolitsa.
Kolokotronis tried to implement the old plan with which he had conquered Tripolitsa at the beginning of the match. He would besiege it by building a series of fortified camps in the mountains around it. If the Egyptians attempted to attack one camp the forces of others would flank them and annihilate them. The Old Man's plan was good and tried. But it required the perfect cooperation of the others. Unfortunately, things did not develop positively for the Greeks due to the eternal discord .
The Stavraitos of Moria
Kolokotronis had been a thief since his genocide. He had seen his entire family fall from the Turk's knife. He himself had been hunted down and escaped from grace countless times. So he was not the man to bow his head, not to Ibrahim, but to any man. Only before God did the Old Man reverently bow his venerable head.
So if the other Greeks had become cowards he remained steadfast and would do everything to make them warriors again. With great bitterness, but also determination he did not hesitate to execute on the spot those who refused to take up arms . In this way he managed to gather forces.
In Alonistena, an Egyptian battalion, reinforced with a cavalry ulama, was surprised by the Greeks and crushed. Ibrahim, however, responded with a wide encircling maneuver with 9,000 men, attempting to encircle and disperse the men of Kolokotronis in Alonisthena.
But the Old Man understood him and managed to retreat. He even answered Ibrahim with successful attacks on Piana and especially on Davia, where an Egyptian regiment was disbanded, leaving 500 dead, 200 muskets and his flags on the field. Ibrahim understood that the facts had changed.
Not a day went by that Kolokotronis did not receive a "gift" of at least 50 Egyptian heads . The bearers of the heads were paid one coin for each. Times were tough and required tough solutions. Warriors and shepherds, farmers, women and children beat the Egyptians wherever they found them. Ibrahim's supply became problematic. The mills where the Egyptians used to get flour were leveled.
Ibrahim found himself in a difficult situation for the first time. Trying to provoke Kolokotronis he sent him a letter in which he called him a coward. The Old Man replied haughtily:"You can't do the lad by dragging the staffs and science of Europe with you so much. If you are really a lad, as you write to me, take as many men as you want, let me take as many others, and come let us make a just war. Or if you love again, come, your monk, you and my monk, let's be measured!
Ibrahim did not answer. After all, winter was coming. So he took advantage of the time and decided to reinforce Kiutahis Pasha who was besieging Messolonghi. Unfortunately Ibrahim was left to head unmolested towards Messolonghi. The Old Man knew, from captivity, Ibrahim's intentions and itinerary. So he asked the government to provide him with food and munitions to try to intercept him. Again he was not listened to. So Ibrahim passed, a little later, "unscathed" and reached Messolonghi, sealing the fate of the glorious city.
Kolokotronis then at least tried to take advantage of Ibrahim's absence to recapture Tripolitsa. this time his plan was accepted and the government even made sure to announce it through the press! "They put it in the newspapers," says Geros bitterly in his memoirs, "they said that the general leader agreed with the government to give him zaire (food) and munitions to resalt Tripolitsa. and the papers came out before I was ready. Such secrecy they had. They were giving news to the enemy!"
So, naturally, when the attack was made by Niketar's lads, all the Turks and Egyptians were ready. "Until the women knew it and squealed before the resalto," writes the Old Man. Nikitaras did not insist on the raid. And Kolokotronis almost went down to Nafplio to "say it with the administration". But having in mind the bloody civil war, which had cost the life of his son Panos, he gave way to anger and returned to stealth warfare.
1826 was the most critical year for the revolution and the bloodiest. In April 1826 it was decided to hold a new national assembly in Argos. But the work of the assembly was overtaken by a terrifying news. Mesolongi had fallen. The besieged, deprived of everything they needed had attempted the heroic exit that led them to immortality.
"There was silence for half an hour and no one judged, but everyone measured our annihilation", Kolokotronis states figuratively. He again stood upright even in deep calamity. "Mesolongi was gloriously lost. His example will live on forever. But we, if we paint them black and hesitate, we will take on our shoulders the curse and the pity for the loss of the people", he said in his thunderous voice.
"So what should we do," came numb voices. "What to do; Let us quickly decide that a committee should govern us temporarily, and the rest of us should return to our places and seize the chariots as at the beginning. And if we escape, we gather again and finish the assembly", was the Old Man's answer.
And so it happened, but now, with the forces of Ibrahim and Kiutachi released, the revolution seemed to be winding down. Kioutachis marched towards Athens and besieged the Acropolis, while Ibrahim returned to the Peloponnese.
Pilgrimage, fire and axe
Ibrahim, from the moment he set foot again in the Peloponnese, seemed determined to crush the revolution in every way. After failing with weapons he began to change his tactics in an attempt to win over the debilitated Greeks. His army curtailed his destructive work and depredations. In return, he asked the Greeks to "prostrate" i.e. submit again.
Many begin to "prostrate themselves" i.e. submit to the Turks and their allies. The evil of the pilgrimage took on great proportions. And the pilgrims reached the point of forming a body of 2,000 men which fought against the rebellious Greeks. At that critical moment, Greece was lucky to have a Kolokotronis.
The Old Man immediately took measures against the pilgrimage and the pilgrims. "Fire and ax to the pilgrims" was his motto. He toured the villages, spoke to the Greeks, encouraged them and if necessary threatened them. "Give me the pilgrimage papers of Braimi and I will give you the nation," he said. Woe to the villages that worshipped. "From one place the rascals will come out, from the other I will come in and rampage", he threatened.
Ibrahim when he saw that Kolokotronis with his fortitude and determination limited the evil with the pilgrimage, first tried to assassinate him. He paid a "Greek" who agreed to kill the Old Man. But Kolokotronis found out, caught him and hung him on a tree, forbidding them to take him down.
Around his neck, he hung a sign that read:"This is what whoever becomes a traitor to his country wins". Ibrahim was not disappointed. He attempted to capture the Great Cave, which he did not worship, but Kolokotronis had taken care to reinforce the monastery and the attack was repulsed. In the meantime Ibrahim thought of subduing Mani. If the most hardened warriors in Moria would submit, he thought, surely the others would too.
However, in both campaigns he attempted, he was defeated state by state. Then he set out to worship Messinia for good. But Kolokotronis found out about his plans and got ahead of it. Then Ibrahim, when he finally saw that his plans were collapsing, was so enraged that he launched his most destructive raids throughout Moria. In Messinia the Egyptians burned the houses, cut down or uprooted the trees, killed the animals, left nothing standing. They did the same in Kynouria and Corinth.
Kolokotronis then sent a letter to Ibrahim. "The law of war is to fight people, not trees. Because inanimate trees do not object. Not the houses you burned for us, but nothing left, we do not worship. Only one Greek left alive will fight you and do not hope that you will make the land that our parents left us your own", he wrote to him.
However, Ibrahim continued his destructive work and Kolokotronis his stealth war. Ibrahim gradually started facing big problems. The Old Man would not leave him "in the lurch". It kept moving, knocking and leaving. The pilgrims – with the infamous Dimitris Nenekos as the main representative – they broke first. The Egyptians followed.
Without risking open battles, Kolokotronis managed to limit Ibrahim. Besides, the London Protocol had already been signed between Britain, France and Russia, which laid the foundations for Greek independence.
The Great Powers sent squadrons of their fleet to Greece and the naval battle of Navarino followed which established Greek independence. However, in the difficult years, from 1825 to 1827, only one man stood against the great Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, the great Greek Thodoris Kolokotronis.