Navarino, battle of

Navarino, battle of (nävärē`nō), 1827, naval battle resulting from the intervention of the European powers in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). England, France, and Russia had demanded an armistice in the Greek-Turkish warfare. The Turks refused to bring the fighting to a halt, and the three European powers sent their fleets to stop Egyptian reinforcements for the Turks from landing in Greece. In Sept., 1827, a large Egyptian fleet, with troop transports, commanded by Ibrahim Pasha, landed at Navarino (now Pylos). The allied fleet commander, Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, persuaded Ibrahim to await further instructions from his father, Muhammad Ali of Egypt. When the Greeks continued operations, Ibrahim disregarded his agreement; thereupon the allied ships entered (Oct.) the harbor and destroyed the bottled-up Egyptian fleet. The destruction of the fleet helped bring about the withdrawal (1828) of Muhammad Ali from the war in Greece.

Bibliography

See study by C. M. Woodhouse (1965).