Btw, for those of you confused by the verbal description of the partition plan, it's just as ugly as it sounds.
Pride Goes Before a Fall: A Revolutionary Greece Timeline
- Thread starter Earl Marshal
- Start date
Thank you, several months of writing will certainly get you there in a hurry.
Otto's reign will certainly be interesting to say the least. Whether he does better this go around is up to you all to determine.
The next part will return us to the Balkans where I will hopefully wrap up one last loose end. After that I'll finally return to Greece and begin moving forward in time.
Yep I'll getting to the Americas in a few parts and Canning's prolonged lifespan ITTL will have some effect on it. Generally, though I'm not really sure what to do with the Americas so I'm open to suggestions or ideas.
Well, there was my one George Washington Adams request
But, other than that, I can't think of any huge butterflies right off the top of my head.
I would assume that the slavery controversies would occur pretty much like in OTL, probably with the same ultimate result (Civil War and Union victory). The only really important thing that might change could be relationships with foreign powers, particularly in regards to negotiations with Britain and French intervention in Mexico further down the road.
I mean, you could see the Mexican-American War go differently under alternate leadership. In general, though, unless a rabid Anglophobe wins the Presidency you’ll see a path similar to OTL for the next half century.
Well, if Canning is alive longer and is able to negotiate successfully with the United States off Oregon and Maine, you could effectively deny Polk one of his big campaign issues and throw the election to Clay - which would effectively short circuit the Mexican-American War as we know it.
But that's all many years in the future of the TL as well.
I suppose if you wanted to make a big change, you could find a way to off Andrew Jackson. That would certainly be a huge divergence - but I'm not sure how to do so in a way that would seem organic and not arbitrary.
If you really wanted to have some fun, you could have the Toledo War turn momentarily hot and develop into a national crisis (that would be fun in and of itself, and I've often toyed around with that for a future plot thread of a tl or two). And, with South Carolina being South Carolina you could work that in as well.
Hmmmmm
But that's all many years in the future of the TL as well.
I suppose if you wanted to make a big change, you could find a way to off Andrew Jackson. That would certainly be a huge divergence - but I'm not sure how to do so in a way that would seem organic and not arbitrary.
If you really wanted to have some fun, you could have the Toledo War turn momentarily hot and develop into a national crisis (that would be fun in and of itself, and I've often toyed around with that for a future plot thread of a tl or two). And, with South Carolina being South Carolina you could work that in as well.
Hmmmmm
Thank you all for the ideas and suggestions. Hopefully, I can write something that is unique and interesting to read based on this and a few ideas I have floating around. Mostly though, the United States and the Americas as a whole will probably remain on the back burner for much of the 19th century although I would expect them to show up more frequently as time progresses. That said, I will have an update covering them around part 50, which will hopefully reveal some interesting divergences from OTL.
Also I should have the next part ready by Friday for those who are interested.
Also I should have the next part ready by Friday for those who are interested.
Chapter 42: Ruination
Chapter 42: Ruination
The Ruin of Tirana
With the War against Egypt over, the full attention of the Ottoman Empire shifted from the Levant back to the Balkans and the fledgling states that had dared to assert their independence from the Empire. Thanks to Egyptian interference, the rebel Beys and Ayans of Albania and Bosnia, who had originally risen to protest the various reforms Sultan Mahmud had enacted, now stood poised to establish themselves as independent entities. During the lull in the fighting caused by the Syrian War, the rebels managed to establish their own provisional governments and their own institutions.
In Albania, Mustafa Bushatli Pasha of Shkoder became the de facto leader of the Albanian rebels in the North. His influence did not extend across all of Albania though, as the South remained loosely coalesced around the many Beys and chieftains of the region. In Bosnia, the Ayan Husein Gradascevic was proclaimed Vizier of Bosnia and entrusted with the complete military and civilian power of the self-declared Bosnian state. Gradascevic was not universally accepted though as many Southern Ayans in Herzegovina opposed him in remaining loyal to the Porte. However, without any substantial support from the Ottoman Government, many were killed and the rest were forced to flee over the past year solidifying Gradascevic’s hold on power. Thanks to the cooperation of the Albanians and the Bosnians, both groups had achieved impressive results as nearly all the territory comprising the Eyalets of Bosnia, Scutari, and Yanina had fallen to the rebels by the end of 1831.
With the signing of the Treaty of Kutahya in mid-1832, however, Egypt had ceased hostilities with the Porte allowing the Ottoman armies to turn West. Some of the older Albanian and Bosnian leaders were rightfully concerned at this development, but many were unconvinced. Had they not successfully driven the Ottomans from their villages, and their hills. Had they not successfully defeated them in battle despite numerical inferiority at Novi Pazar and Stimlje, Kastoria, Mestovo, and Kraste. The poor performance of the Ottomans during the war with the Greeks, the war with the Russians, and the war with Egypt had clearly left an impression of ineptitude and poor martial ability on the part of their Turkish adversaries. To say they had become over confident would be an understatement, however.
While the Ottomans had certainly been beaten over the past few years, they were far from defeated. The reforms which had originally sparked the Albanians and Bosnians to revolt had also begun to take root in the Ottoman military, restoring discipline, order, and fighting spirit to the Sultan’s soldiers and sailors. Within weeks of the treaty’s signing, tens of thousands of battle hardened Ottoman troops flooded into the Balkans ready to quash the treacherous Albanians and Bosnians. First to arrive in the region was the army of Emin Pasha.
After a brief layover in Monastir, Emin Pasha’s army advanced on the Qafe Thane on the far side of lake Ohrid. As it was the most direct route into the Albanian interior, its capture by the Ottoman army was paramount to any future efforts to control the region, similarly, for the Albanians its protection was necessary to the defense of Albania. Following the old Roman road, the Via Egnatia, the Ottoman army quickly advanced westward into the highlands overlooking Ohrid. The craggy mountain road proved to be an ideal sight for an ambush as hundreds of Albanian men and boys, bandits and mercenaries, farmers and herders waited in the rocks above the pass. When the Ottomans finally arrived on the 10th of June, nearly 4,000 Albanians had assembled to oppose them under the tenuous command of the Tepelenian fighter Tafil Buzi. Despite being outnumbered 5 to 1, the Albanians, used the tight confines of the pass to their advantage. Seeking to entrap the Turkish force in the hills where it could be systematically destroyed, Tafil Buzi dispatched a second band of Albanians on an end around to the North, before coming down behind the Ottoman force.
Before they could close the vice, however, the over anxious Albanians revealed their positions prematurely alerting the Ottomans to their presence. With the element of surprise lost, Emin Pasha was able to successfully counter the approaching Albanians before managing to safely withdraw back the way he came to Ohrid. Though they had won the day and inflicted terrible losses on their adversary, the Albanians had failed to destroy the Ottoman force as planned costing them an opportunity they could ill afford to lose. The Albanians and Bosnians achieved better results to the North, where Gradascevic and his men successfully routed an Ottoman army under Ali Pasha of Stolac near the city of Pristina.
The Albanians at the Pass of Thana
The victories over the Ottomans at Thana and Pristina bought the rebels precious time to negotiate a ceasefire with the Sublime Porte and the Powers. While the Sultan and his emissaries made promises of compromises and diplomatic solutions, their actions betrayed their words, when another army of Ottoman soldiers under Grand Vizier Khosref Pasha began attacking the rebel’s positions near Pristina. It was clear that the Sultan had no interest in meeting any of their demands and that war was their only choice now. With peace no longer an option, the rebels turned to the Powers for assistance against the Porte. The Powers had other ideas, however.
While France was sympathetic to their plight and Russia was always interested in weakening the Turks provided it worked to their benefit, the Austrians, Prussians, and British were firmly against any initiative to aid the rebels. Metternich, true to form, continued to resist any efforts to aid rebels or respect the rights of nationalities, lest he provoke the many disparate peoples of his own country to rebellion. Prussia took a similar tact as Austria and remained thoroughly opposed to aiding the rebel Albanians and Bosnians but it would be Britain’s reaction which would prove to be the most surprising, given the Canningite ministry’s earlier support of the Greeks against the Ottomans. This change was the direct result of the poor showing by the Ottomans in the Syrian War with Egypt, which provoked fears of the Porte’s imminent collapse should any additional territory be carved off in such a manner. King William IV and many prominent Tories had also been displeased with the British actions in favor of the Greeks during their war for independence and pressed upon Canning and his ministry to conduct themselves accordingly, resulting in the more restrained approach to the Albanians and Bosnians.
While certainly not the deathblow some proclaimed it to be, the lack of support of any kind from the Powers crushed the morale of the Albanian and Bosnian rebels who had hoped for an intervention on their behalf. Their situation was made worse by the collapse of their defensive positions in Kosovo in late December. The region around Pristina had served as the link between the two groups, with Pristina serving as their primary redoubt in the region. While a secondary route through the hills still existed through the village of Pec, that too was cut off by early January effectively cutting the two off from one another by land. The Ottomans had also started to break through the Albanian’s defenses at Qafe Thane on the 15th of January and would begin attacking the Qafa e Valbones Northeast of Shkoder a few weeks later in February. The rebels still managed to resist the Ottomans with some success in the far South in the Mestovo pass and around Kastoria, thanks in part to Greek border which anchored the Albanian frontier, but it was clear that the rebellion was in dire straits.
Compelled to defeat the Ottomans on his doorstep or die trying, Husein Gradascevic and an army of 40,000 Bosnians march south from Sarajevo to combat the Turks near the town of Sjenica. Though they were relatively matched numerically, the Bosnians were comprised primarily of bandits, private bodyguards, and volunteers rather than actual soldiers with any extensive training or discipline. They also lacked in cavalry beyond those in Gradascevic’s and the Ayan’s personal guard. The Ottoman force, armed with the latest weaponry available, bloodied from many months battling the Egyptians, and trained along modern European lines was a decidedly more lethal instrument than their Bosnian counterpart, making the ensuing battle a complete catastrophe for the Bosnian Ayans. In the ensuing carnage, nearly a third of the Bosnian host would be lost with over 4,000 being slain and another 9,000 being captured.
The Siege of Sarajevo
This disaster nearly threatened to unravel the entire rebellion, with even Gradascevic himself considering fleeing while he had the chance. Spurred on by the continued resistance of his Albanian allies and the tepid promises of support from the Egyptians, Gradascevic gathered a second army to oppose the Ottomans outside Sarajevo.[1] The outcome of the battle was technically a Bosnian victory as the Turks were driven from the field of battle, but would later return nine days later with fresh reinforcements, forcing the depleted Bosnian army to retreat behind their walls. The situation now decidedly against him, Gradascevic attempted to escape, but was quickly forced back to Sarajevo when he was discovered by Turkish scouts. With no other option, Gradascevic dispatched his emissaries to negotiate a peaceful surrender to avoid any further bloodshed. In return for the safe passage of he and his family to Austria and permitting his followers to keep their arms and remaining properties, Gradascevic would surrender Sarajevo and all of Bosnia to the Sublime Porte. He would be sorely disappointed by the Turkish response.
Less than an hour later, the Ottoman envoy arrived bearing Grand Vizier Khosref Pasha’s terms which were short, terse, and to the point. The Porte would only accept the unconditional surrender of the rebel Ayans. All arms and munitions were to be handed over immediately, the city - and the rest of Bosnia - would be governed by officials appointed directly by the Sublime Porte, the rights of the Ayans were diminished to the point of irrelevance, and Gradascevic and his officers would be transported to Constantinople where they would be imprisoned, with Gradascevic likely facing death as a traitor. Any resistance to these terms would be met with a resumption of hostilities and any delay in accepting the terms would be met with cannon fire. The Ottoman’s hardline stance was driven in part to reaffirm the Sultan’s reform policies of centralizing the state at the expense of the provincial Ayans, Beys, and Pashas. Lest the Empire face upheaval again in another time of troubles or weakness, the Ayans and Beys of both Bosnia and Albania must be dealt with now and they must be dealt with overwhelmingly so that they never rise again against the Empire.
With it abundantly clear that no help was incoming and escape no longer an option, Gradascevic and the few remaining Bosnian Ayans trapped inside Sarajevo surrendered to the Grand Vizier’s army on the 9th of May 1833. Some Bosnian rebels would continue the fight against the Ottomans deep into the mountains and hills for months on end, but within days of Sarajevo’s fall, the majority of Bosnia would return to Ottoman rule either peacefully or through force. That was not the case to the South in Albania where the fighting continued with great intensity well into 1833 and 1834. The siege of Tirana would prove to be especially brutal, and have lasting effects on the region for decades to come.
Husein Gradascevic, Vizier of the Revolutionary State of Bosnia
Following the defeat of the Albanians at the Qafe Thane in early February, the Ottomans advanced methodically towards the city of Elbasan in the center of the rebel country. At roughly 10,000 people it was among the larger settlements in Albania and it provided the rebels with a strong defensive position against the East. The Albanians had also assembled most of their fighters in and around Elbasan in an effort to blunt the Ottoman offensive into their land, still at roughly 6,000 men and boys, they paled in comparison to the now 35,000 Ottoman soldiers marching against them. Their efforts to repel them at Hotolisht was thrown back with minor losses, and their attempt to ambush them at Librazhd almost ended in disaster. By the end of March, the Albanians had been pushed into Elbasan itself with the Ottomans swarming before its walls like moths to an open flame. Despite their gallantry and steadfastness to their cause, the Albanians were defeated and Elbasan was reconquered by the Ottomans after a six-week long siege.
The Albanians attempts to defeat the Ottomans in the Krraba Pass met with similar results and in early June the Ottomans had reached the makeshift Albanian capital of Tirana. Unaware of Gradascevic’s surrender and the fall of Bosnia, the Albanians would resist the Ottomans defiantly for many months, harrying their supply lines, making raids upon their camp, and sortieing with vigor and tenacity. Despite their valor, the Albanians were clearly outmatched and had little chance of actually achieving victory. Their only hope was to bloody the Ottomans to the point where they would offer more lenient terms to the rebels. It was a bold hope, but also a fool’s hope as the Ottomans became increasingly irate at the resistance of the Albanians, the rising casualties among their ranks did little to ease their anger towards the rebels either. Albanian prisoners were often treated poorly, with many being beaten, tortured, or even killed in some rare instances, the Albanian civilian populace fared little better as villages were burnt to the ground as reprisals for raids on the Ottoman camp, and those suspected of supporting partisans were hung.
By early September though, things began to turn against the Ottomans as the winter storms came early that year. Within days, the rains had made a mess of the Ottoman camp turning the already poor conditions into a squalid mess ripe for disease. Typhus would be the most destructive as men fell by the hundreds to the disease as it raced through the Ottoman ranks slowing their progress against Tirana to a halt.[2] Unfortunately, the illness soon spread to the Albanians as well when they captured several infected Turkish soldiers during a nighttime raid on the Ottoman camp. Before they knew what hit them, the disease had spread through their own ranks mitigating many of the gains they had achieved over their weakened foe. Sadly, for all, the disease would not stop with the Albanians of Tirana, and would manage to escape its wall to the people of the countryside as well. The illness would find good ground in the war-torn land with the impoverished and famished people ripe for reaping.
After seven months of starvation, disease, and attacks, the city’s garrison had dwindled to barely a third its original size, the city’s civilian population didn’t fare much better, suffering close to 4,000 dead. Exhausted, starving, and overwhelmed, the last few Albanians surrendered the ruined city of Tirana on the 29th of January 1834. This scene would repeat itself at Berat and Durres although by this time, the fire had clearly gone out in the Albanian cause. Mustafa Bushatli Pasha would himself surrender in April after a brief month-long siege upon receiving lenient terms while Ioannina, Korce, Vlora, and many of the remaining cities in the South would similarly surrender to the Ottomans, handing over their treacherous lords and their followers to face the Sultan’s wrath in return for mercy and an end to the fighting.
Some were indeed put to death for their actions, although not by the Sultan or his men, but by the Albanian people themselves for leading them into the current disaster which plagued their lands. Only Gradascevic would meet with death, and even then some assume it was by disease rather than the agents of the Porte. Most captive Albanians and Bosnians would live out their days imprisoned in Constantinople, or they were uplifted and moved to Anatolia where they would be of little consequence far from their base of power. Some, however, managed to flee across the borders to Greece, Serbia, or Austria.
The Refugees from Albania
In total, some twenty-two Albanian beys, their remaining followers, and their families amounting to just below 2,800 people fled across the border into Greece seeking refuge from the Ottoman retribution against them. Some were Greeks, some were Souliotes, but most were Muslim Albanians, still King Leopold, Ioannis Kapodistrias and the Greek Government offered them sanctuary in their country provided they behaved themselves and handed over their weapons. Their hospitality nearly sparked an armed confrontation between the Greeks and the Ottomans as one of the Albanians who had fled was Arslan Bey of Ioannina, the man who originally sparked the uprising in 1830. What followed were several months of negotiation, diplomacy, and heated debate regarding what to do with the Albanian refugees with many wishing to repatriate them to the Ottoman Empire lest they incur its wrath, while many more wished to encourage them to rise in revolt once more if only to spite the Ottomans.
Ultimately, through the use of diplomacy, King Leopold and Prime Minister Kapodistrias managed to secure an amicable solution to the predicament with the Ottoman Porte. The Albanian Beys, their families, and their followers would be allowed to remain in Greece under the condition that they be housed on Crete far from the border to prevent their continued agitation and rebellion. Some would eventually return to the Ottoman Empire once tensions had cooled and the Typhus endemic had died down, but generally most chose to stay in Greece. While tensions were initially high between the Greeks and Albanians, owing to the latter’s role in the Greek War of Independence, relations quickly improved between the two communities with the Greeks proving to be very hospitable and courteous to their new neighbors.
In later years, the Albanian and Bosnian War of 1830-1834 would be viewed as a catastrophe for nationalists and patriots of these peoples. Over 50,000 Albanians would succumb to wounds suffered in battle or fall to the pandemic which ravaged the land and another 20,000 Bosnians, 6,000 Serbians, and 3,000 Greeks would also perish in the conflict compared to some 36,000 Ottomans. Additionally, another 12,000 Albanians and Bosnians would be forced to leave their homelands either by force or by necessity with some settling in Greece and others being relocated in Anatolia. The depopulation of the Albanian heartland would have lasting effects on the region for generations to come, with many villages and towns remaining vacant for years on end, Tirana in particular was almost completely destroyed between the siege and the ensuing Typhus endemic. The Albanians and Bosnians had also suffered irreparable harm to their autonomy and leadership which would inhibit their later attempts at revolt. The only positive effects to come from the Albanian and Bosnian Rebellions of 1830-1834 would be in the improved relations between the Albanians and the Greeks who would continue to receive a trickle of refugees for months after the final shot was fired.
The influx of refugees provided the Kingdom of Greece with a means of filling their own depopulated regions following the Greek War for Independence. Though they would attempt to maintain their identities and distinctions from their Greek neighbors, as the years past, the younger generations began to adopt more Hellenic names and characteristics and by the 20th Century they were all but assimilated. Despite this, the Albanian refugees provided an "Illyrian" accent to Greek communities that can still be seen as late as the modern day in some regions of the country, particularly on Crete. They also provided Greece with the first stirrings of the Pan Hellenic and wider Balkans ambitions that could come to rule Greek policy many years in the future.
Next Time: Hellas Rising
[1] After a similar defeat in OTL, Gradascevic fled from Sarajevo to his home of Gradacac, but eventually fled from there to Austria where he would remain in exile for several months with his family, followers, and servants. Here, with the Albanians still in revolt, Gradascevic opts to continue fighting and stays in Sarajevo.
[2] In Napoleon’s famous retreat from Russia in 1813, more French soldiers died from Typhus than died from Russian bullets. It was a truly devastating disease during the time which ravaged armies, especially those camping in poor conditions.
The Ruin of Tirana
With the War against Egypt over, the full attention of the Ottoman Empire shifted from the Levant back to the Balkans and the fledgling states that had dared to assert their independence from the Empire. Thanks to Egyptian interference, the rebel Beys and Ayans of Albania and Bosnia, who had originally risen to protest the various reforms Sultan Mahmud had enacted, now stood poised to establish themselves as independent entities. During the lull in the fighting caused by the Syrian War, the rebels managed to establish their own provisional governments and their own institutions.
In Albania, Mustafa Bushatli Pasha of Shkoder became the de facto leader of the Albanian rebels in the North. His influence did not extend across all of Albania though, as the South remained loosely coalesced around the many Beys and chieftains of the region. In Bosnia, the Ayan Husein Gradascevic was proclaimed Vizier of Bosnia and entrusted with the complete military and civilian power of the self-declared Bosnian state. Gradascevic was not universally accepted though as many Southern Ayans in Herzegovina opposed him in remaining loyal to the Porte. However, without any substantial support from the Ottoman Government, many were killed and the rest were forced to flee over the past year solidifying Gradascevic’s hold on power. Thanks to the cooperation of the Albanians and the Bosnians, both groups had achieved impressive results as nearly all the territory comprising the Eyalets of Bosnia, Scutari, and Yanina had fallen to the rebels by the end of 1831.
With the signing of the Treaty of Kutahya in mid-1832, however, Egypt had ceased hostilities with the Porte allowing the Ottoman armies to turn West. Some of the older Albanian and Bosnian leaders were rightfully concerned at this development, but many were unconvinced. Had they not successfully driven the Ottomans from their villages, and their hills. Had they not successfully defeated them in battle despite numerical inferiority at Novi Pazar and Stimlje, Kastoria, Mestovo, and Kraste. The poor performance of the Ottomans during the war with the Greeks, the war with the Russians, and the war with Egypt had clearly left an impression of ineptitude and poor martial ability on the part of their Turkish adversaries. To say they had become over confident would be an understatement, however.
While the Ottomans had certainly been beaten over the past few years, they were far from defeated. The reforms which had originally sparked the Albanians and Bosnians to revolt had also begun to take root in the Ottoman military, restoring discipline, order, and fighting spirit to the Sultan’s soldiers and sailors. Within weeks of the treaty’s signing, tens of thousands of battle hardened Ottoman troops flooded into the Balkans ready to quash the treacherous Albanians and Bosnians. First to arrive in the region was the army of Emin Pasha.
After a brief layover in Monastir, Emin Pasha’s army advanced on the Qafe Thane on the far side of lake Ohrid. As it was the most direct route into the Albanian interior, its capture by the Ottoman army was paramount to any future efforts to control the region, similarly, for the Albanians its protection was necessary to the defense of Albania. Following the old Roman road, the Via Egnatia, the Ottoman army quickly advanced westward into the highlands overlooking Ohrid. The craggy mountain road proved to be an ideal sight for an ambush as hundreds of Albanian men and boys, bandits and mercenaries, farmers and herders waited in the rocks above the pass. When the Ottomans finally arrived on the 10th of June, nearly 4,000 Albanians had assembled to oppose them under the tenuous command of the Tepelenian fighter Tafil Buzi. Despite being outnumbered 5 to 1, the Albanians, used the tight confines of the pass to their advantage. Seeking to entrap the Turkish force in the hills where it could be systematically destroyed, Tafil Buzi dispatched a second band of Albanians on an end around to the North, before coming down behind the Ottoman force.
Before they could close the vice, however, the over anxious Albanians revealed their positions prematurely alerting the Ottomans to their presence. With the element of surprise lost, Emin Pasha was able to successfully counter the approaching Albanians before managing to safely withdraw back the way he came to Ohrid. Though they had won the day and inflicted terrible losses on their adversary, the Albanians had failed to destroy the Ottoman force as planned costing them an opportunity they could ill afford to lose. The Albanians and Bosnians achieved better results to the North, where Gradascevic and his men successfully routed an Ottoman army under Ali Pasha of Stolac near the city of Pristina.
The Albanians at the Pass of Thana
The victories over the Ottomans at Thana and Pristina bought the rebels precious time to negotiate a ceasefire with the Sublime Porte and the Powers. While the Sultan and his emissaries made promises of compromises and diplomatic solutions, their actions betrayed their words, when another army of Ottoman soldiers under Grand Vizier Khosref Pasha began attacking the rebel’s positions near Pristina. It was clear that the Sultan had no interest in meeting any of their demands and that war was their only choice now. With peace no longer an option, the rebels turned to the Powers for assistance against the Porte. The Powers had other ideas, however.
While France was sympathetic to their plight and Russia was always interested in weakening the Turks provided it worked to their benefit, the Austrians, Prussians, and British were firmly against any initiative to aid the rebels. Metternich, true to form, continued to resist any efforts to aid rebels or respect the rights of nationalities, lest he provoke the many disparate peoples of his own country to rebellion. Prussia took a similar tact as Austria and remained thoroughly opposed to aiding the rebel Albanians and Bosnians but it would be Britain’s reaction which would prove to be the most surprising, given the Canningite ministry’s earlier support of the Greeks against the Ottomans. This change was the direct result of the poor showing by the Ottomans in the Syrian War with Egypt, which provoked fears of the Porte’s imminent collapse should any additional territory be carved off in such a manner. King William IV and many prominent Tories had also been displeased with the British actions in favor of the Greeks during their war for independence and pressed upon Canning and his ministry to conduct themselves accordingly, resulting in the more restrained approach to the Albanians and Bosnians.
While certainly not the deathblow some proclaimed it to be, the lack of support of any kind from the Powers crushed the morale of the Albanian and Bosnian rebels who had hoped for an intervention on their behalf. Their situation was made worse by the collapse of their defensive positions in Kosovo in late December. The region around Pristina had served as the link between the two groups, with Pristina serving as their primary redoubt in the region. While a secondary route through the hills still existed through the village of Pec, that too was cut off by early January effectively cutting the two off from one another by land. The Ottomans had also started to break through the Albanian’s defenses at Qafe Thane on the 15th of January and would begin attacking the Qafa e Valbones Northeast of Shkoder a few weeks later in February. The rebels still managed to resist the Ottomans with some success in the far South in the Mestovo pass and around Kastoria, thanks in part to Greek border which anchored the Albanian frontier, but it was clear that the rebellion was in dire straits.
Compelled to defeat the Ottomans on his doorstep or die trying, Husein Gradascevic and an army of 40,000 Bosnians march south from Sarajevo to combat the Turks near the town of Sjenica. Though they were relatively matched numerically, the Bosnians were comprised primarily of bandits, private bodyguards, and volunteers rather than actual soldiers with any extensive training or discipline. They also lacked in cavalry beyond those in Gradascevic’s and the Ayan’s personal guard. The Ottoman force, armed with the latest weaponry available, bloodied from many months battling the Egyptians, and trained along modern European lines was a decidedly more lethal instrument than their Bosnian counterpart, making the ensuing battle a complete catastrophe for the Bosnian Ayans. In the ensuing carnage, nearly a third of the Bosnian host would be lost with over 4,000 being slain and another 9,000 being captured.
The Siege of Sarajevo
This disaster nearly threatened to unravel the entire rebellion, with even Gradascevic himself considering fleeing while he had the chance. Spurred on by the continued resistance of his Albanian allies and the tepid promises of support from the Egyptians, Gradascevic gathered a second army to oppose the Ottomans outside Sarajevo.[1] The outcome of the battle was technically a Bosnian victory as the Turks were driven from the field of battle, but would later return nine days later with fresh reinforcements, forcing the depleted Bosnian army to retreat behind their walls. The situation now decidedly against him, Gradascevic attempted to escape, but was quickly forced back to Sarajevo when he was discovered by Turkish scouts. With no other option, Gradascevic dispatched his emissaries to negotiate a peaceful surrender to avoid any further bloodshed. In return for the safe passage of he and his family to Austria and permitting his followers to keep their arms and remaining properties, Gradascevic would surrender Sarajevo and all of Bosnia to the Sublime Porte. He would be sorely disappointed by the Turkish response.
Less than an hour later, the Ottoman envoy arrived bearing Grand Vizier Khosref Pasha’s terms which were short, terse, and to the point. The Porte would only accept the unconditional surrender of the rebel Ayans. All arms and munitions were to be handed over immediately, the city - and the rest of Bosnia - would be governed by officials appointed directly by the Sublime Porte, the rights of the Ayans were diminished to the point of irrelevance, and Gradascevic and his officers would be transported to Constantinople where they would be imprisoned, with Gradascevic likely facing death as a traitor. Any resistance to these terms would be met with a resumption of hostilities and any delay in accepting the terms would be met with cannon fire. The Ottoman’s hardline stance was driven in part to reaffirm the Sultan’s reform policies of centralizing the state at the expense of the provincial Ayans, Beys, and Pashas. Lest the Empire face upheaval again in another time of troubles or weakness, the Ayans and Beys of both Bosnia and Albania must be dealt with now and they must be dealt with overwhelmingly so that they never rise again against the Empire.
With it abundantly clear that no help was incoming and escape no longer an option, Gradascevic and the few remaining Bosnian Ayans trapped inside Sarajevo surrendered to the Grand Vizier’s army on the 9th of May 1833. Some Bosnian rebels would continue the fight against the Ottomans deep into the mountains and hills for months on end, but within days of Sarajevo’s fall, the majority of Bosnia would return to Ottoman rule either peacefully or through force. That was not the case to the South in Albania where the fighting continued with great intensity well into 1833 and 1834. The siege of Tirana would prove to be especially brutal, and have lasting effects on the region for decades to come.
Husein Gradascevic, Vizier of the Revolutionary State of Bosnia
Following the defeat of the Albanians at the Qafe Thane in early February, the Ottomans advanced methodically towards the city of Elbasan in the center of the rebel country. At roughly 10,000 people it was among the larger settlements in Albania and it provided the rebels with a strong defensive position against the East. The Albanians had also assembled most of their fighters in and around Elbasan in an effort to blunt the Ottoman offensive into their land, still at roughly 6,000 men and boys, they paled in comparison to the now 35,000 Ottoman soldiers marching against them. Their efforts to repel them at Hotolisht was thrown back with minor losses, and their attempt to ambush them at Librazhd almost ended in disaster. By the end of March, the Albanians had been pushed into Elbasan itself with the Ottomans swarming before its walls like moths to an open flame. Despite their gallantry and steadfastness to their cause, the Albanians were defeated and Elbasan was reconquered by the Ottomans after a six-week long siege.
The Albanians attempts to defeat the Ottomans in the Krraba Pass met with similar results and in early June the Ottomans had reached the makeshift Albanian capital of Tirana. Unaware of Gradascevic’s surrender and the fall of Bosnia, the Albanians would resist the Ottomans defiantly for many months, harrying their supply lines, making raids upon their camp, and sortieing with vigor and tenacity. Despite their valor, the Albanians were clearly outmatched and had little chance of actually achieving victory. Their only hope was to bloody the Ottomans to the point where they would offer more lenient terms to the rebels. It was a bold hope, but also a fool’s hope as the Ottomans became increasingly irate at the resistance of the Albanians, the rising casualties among their ranks did little to ease their anger towards the rebels either. Albanian prisoners were often treated poorly, with many being beaten, tortured, or even killed in some rare instances, the Albanian civilian populace fared little better as villages were burnt to the ground as reprisals for raids on the Ottoman camp, and those suspected of supporting partisans were hung.
By early September though, things began to turn against the Ottomans as the winter storms came early that year. Within days, the rains had made a mess of the Ottoman camp turning the already poor conditions into a squalid mess ripe for disease. Typhus would be the most destructive as men fell by the hundreds to the disease as it raced through the Ottoman ranks slowing their progress against Tirana to a halt.[2] Unfortunately, the illness soon spread to the Albanians as well when they captured several infected Turkish soldiers during a nighttime raid on the Ottoman camp. Before they knew what hit them, the disease had spread through their own ranks mitigating many of the gains they had achieved over their weakened foe. Sadly, for all, the disease would not stop with the Albanians of Tirana, and would manage to escape its wall to the people of the countryside as well. The illness would find good ground in the war-torn land with the impoverished and famished people ripe for reaping.
After seven months of starvation, disease, and attacks, the city’s garrison had dwindled to barely a third its original size, the city’s civilian population didn’t fare much better, suffering close to 4,000 dead. Exhausted, starving, and overwhelmed, the last few Albanians surrendered the ruined city of Tirana on the 29th of January 1834. This scene would repeat itself at Berat and Durres although by this time, the fire had clearly gone out in the Albanian cause. Mustafa Bushatli Pasha would himself surrender in April after a brief month-long siege upon receiving lenient terms while Ioannina, Korce, Vlora, and many of the remaining cities in the South would similarly surrender to the Ottomans, handing over their treacherous lords and their followers to face the Sultan’s wrath in return for mercy and an end to the fighting.
Some were indeed put to death for their actions, although not by the Sultan or his men, but by the Albanian people themselves for leading them into the current disaster which plagued their lands. Only Gradascevic would meet with death, and even then some assume it was by disease rather than the agents of the Porte. Most captive Albanians and Bosnians would live out their days imprisoned in Constantinople, or they were uplifted and moved to Anatolia where they would be of little consequence far from their base of power. Some, however, managed to flee across the borders to Greece, Serbia, or Austria.
The Refugees from Albania
In total, some twenty-two Albanian beys, their remaining followers, and their families amounting to just below 2,800 people fled across the border into Greece seeking refuge from the Ottoman retribution against them. Some were Greeks, some were Souliotes, but most were Muslim Albanians, still King Leopold, Ioannis Kapodistrias and the Greek Government offered them sanctuary in their country provided they behaved themselves and handed over their weapons. Their hospitality nearly sparked an armed confrontation between the Greeks and the Ottomans as one of the Albanians who had fled was Arslan Bey of Ioannina, the man who originally sparked the uprising in 1830. What followed were several months of negotiation, diplomacy, and heated debate regarding what to do with the Albanian refugees with many wishing to repatriate them to the Ottoman Empire lest they incur its wrath, while many more wished to encourage them to rise in revolt once more if only to spite the Ottomans.
Ultimately, through the use of diplomacy, King Leopold and Prime Minister Kapodistrias managed to secure an amicable solution to the predicament with the Ottoman Porte. The Albanian Beys, their families, and their followers would be allowed to remain in Greece under the condition that they be housed on Crete far from the border to prevent their continued agitation and rebellion. Some would eventually return to the Ottoman Empire once tensions had cooled and the Typhus endemic had died down, but generally most chose to stay in Greece. While tensions were initially high between the Greeks and Albanians, owing to the latter’s role in the Greek War of Independence, relations quickly improved between the two communities with the Greeks proving to be very hospitable and courteous to their new neighbors.
In later years, the Albanian and Bosnian War of 1830-1834 would be viewed as a catastrophe for nationalists and patriots of these peoples. Over 50,000 Albanians would succumb to wounds suffered in battle or fall to the pandemic which ravaged the land and another 20,000 Bosnians, 6,000 Serbians, and 3,000 Greeks would also perish in the conflict compared to some 36,000 Ottomans. Additionally, another 12,000 Albanians and Bosnians would be forced to leave their homelands either by force or by necessity with some settling in Greece and others being relocated in Anatolia. The depopulation of the Albanian heartland would have lasting effects on the region for generations to come, with many villages and towns remaining vacant for years on end, Tirana in particular was almost completely destroyed between the siege and the ensuing Typhus endemic. The Albanians and Bosnians had also suffered irreparable harm to their autonomy and leadership which would inhibit their later attempts at revolt. The only positive effects to come from the Albanian and Bosnian Rebellions of 1830-1834 would be in the improved relations between the Albanians and the Greeks who would continue to receive a trickle of refugees for months after the final shot was fired.
The influx of refugees provided the Kingdom of Greece with a means of filling their own depopulated regions following the Greek War for Independence. Though they would attempt to maintain their identities and distinctions from their Greek neighbors, as the years past, the younger generations began to adopt more Hellenic names and characteristics and by the 20th Century they were all but assimilated. Despite this, the Albanian refugees provided an "Illyrian" accent to Greek communities that can still be seen as late as the modern day in some regions of the country, particularly on Crete. They also provided Greece with the first stirrings of the Pan Hellenic and wider Balkans ambitions that could come to rule Greek policy many years in the future.
Next Time: Hellas Rising
[1] After a similar defeat in OTL, Gradascevic fled from Sarajevo to his home of Gradacac, but eventually fled from there to Austria where he would remain in exile for several months with his family, followers, and servants. Here, with the Albanians still in revolt, Gradascevic opts to continue fighting and stays in Sarajevo.
[2] In Napoleon’s famous retreat from Russia in 1813, more French soldiers died from Typhus than died from Russian bullets. It was a truly devastating disease during the time which ravaged armies, especially those camping in poor conditions.
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Good update; nice to see the Ottomans still winning, even if they are in a slump...
BTW, if you want ideas on what to do with North and South America, as a suggestion, PM @Utgard96, @Kaiser Chris, @Red_Galiray, and @Rdffigueira for ideas, as well as @Jonathan Edelstein...
Waiting to see how Greece does going ahead, and waiting for more, of course...
BTW, if you want ideas on what to do with North and South America, as a suggestion, PM @Utgard96, @Kaiser Chris, @Red_Galiray, and @Rdffigueira for ideas, as well as @Jonathan Edelstein...
Waiting to see how Greece does going ahead, and waiting for more, of course...
The cynic in me would say that the real winner here is... the Greeks. The Ottomans were weakened at least somewhat, the potentially rival Albanian nationalism in Epirus got a pretty serious blow and for good measure it has gotten a tie to the Greek state that might prove useful in the future, there were after all some proposals even for a Greek-Albanian dual monarchy in OTL and here the chief Albanian rebe is residing in Greece...
The paper here is for 1876-78 covering.... the breakdown of the plans for a common Greek-Albanian state or at least close alliance as viewed from the Greek side. But its I think quite interesting in how both sides took these pretty seriously even if they ended up effectively in conflicting positions by the end
https://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&rct=...load/409/416&usg=AOvVaw1aXLBlb5gM2DRQ58UxQvZa
https://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&rct=...load/409/416&usg=AOvVaw1aXLBlb5gM2DRQ58UxQvZa
It sounds like Albania and Bosnia ended up in a worse position than IOTL. Glad to see the Ottomans assert their power where they can; it’ll be interesting to see how long that power can hold.
The concept of a dual Albanian-Greek state is very interesting but runs into a number of obstacles, chiefly religious ones. Since Greek identity at this point is still largely based on Orthodox affiliation, would they want to incorporate a large Muslim region, especially one with extensive Turkish ties and influence?
The concept of a dual Albanian-Greek state is very interesting but runs into a number of obstacles, chiefly religious ones. Since Greek identity at this point is still largely based on Orthodox affiliation, would they want to incorporate a large Muslim region, especially one with extensive Turkish ties and influence?
Thank you both. Despite their many problems ITTL, the Ottomans are still more than strong enough to handle two rebel states especially after having undergone several military reforms since the end of the Greek War of Independence.
Thanks, I'll definitely be in contact with them when i get closer to an Americas themed update.
But for now, I'll be returning the narrative to Greece, Leopold, and Kapodistrias for the next few parts.
What would ever give you that idea.
Jokes aside, it certainly helps that their most hated enemy suffered a bloody nose, while Greece came out looking extremely compassionate and humanistic for aiding the poor Albanian refugees, nevermind that many of the "refugees" are actually grizzled soldiers and rebels avoiding imprisonment. That's a really great source, thank you. That is something that could have had some very interesting effects had it happened in OTL. I'm not entirely sure if what I've done thus far ITTL will help or hinder an attempted Albanian-Greek Union/Dual Monarchy/Confederation, but Greece will factor into Albania's fate one way or another.