204 years ago today, on July 28, 1822, Greek forces under Theodoros Kolokotronis delivered one of the most decisive blow...

204 years ago today, on July 28, 1822, Greek forces under Theodoros Kolokotronis delivered one of the most decisive blows of the entire War of Independence at the pass of Dervenakia, near Nemea in the Peloponnese. Ottoman commander Mahmut Pasha, known as Dramalis, had swept into the Peloponnese weeks earlier with 25,000 men and almost no resistance. The Greek government fled in panic. Dramalis reached Argos by July 12, lifted the siege of Nafplio, and seemed on the verge of crushing the revolution entirely. Kolokotronis refused to collapse with everyone else. He declared a general mobilization, seized strategic positions around the Argolid, and applied a scorched-earth policy that cut off Dramalis from food and supplies. Trapped and starving, the Ottoman army had no choice but to try retreating north to Corinth. That retreat became a slaughter. On July 26, Greek fighters ambushed the Ottoman column in the narrow pass of Dervenakia, killing more than 3,000 men. Nikitas Stamatelopoulos, who earned the nickname "Nikitaras the Turk-Eater" for his ferocity in the fighting, along with Dimitrios Ypsilantis and Papaflessas, was there again two days later at the pass of Agionori to cut down those who escaped. Dramalis made it back to Corinth with the remnants of his army. He died there in late October, broken by the disaster. The Greek government named Kolokotronis Commander-in-Chief of the Peloponnese. With just 2,500 men, he had turned the tide of the revolution at its most desperate moment. #GreekHistory #GreekRevolution #Kolokotronis