A revolution broke out in Greece against "Mahmoud II", the Sultan of the Ottoman state.. this revolution was a clean revolution because it was "a revolution against a foreign occupier".. forget then the tales that "they opened these countries to spread Islam".. Greece did not become Muslim at the hands of the Ottomans.. nor did Ukraine, nor Bulgaria, nor anywhere their hands reached.. on the contrary, these countries were so repelled by the Ottomans' treatment and injustice that they turned away from Islam entirely.. and most of them hate it to this day.. the Ottomans' aim in their wars was the wealth of peoples.. and they were like locusts.. settling on the green field and leaving it as stubble scattered by the winds.

In the 300 years they sat in Egypt.. you will not find, for example, a single Ottoman trace in Alexandria.. there is no citadel in Cairo, for example, that they built.. no school.. no craftsmen's quarter.. nothing at all.. nothing.. only over the course of 300 years they built 3 small mosques.. such as "Sinan Pasha Mosque" in Bulaq and "Safia" Mosque on "Muhammad Ali Street".. at a rate of "one mosque per century".. because they had come to spread Islam, of course, certainly.

"Ibn Iyas al-Hanafi", the great historian, said of them: "I never thought my lifetime would extend ... until I saw the state of scoundrels and lowlifes"...!

Anyway, Greece was like us in that way.. occupied by the Ottomans, who stripped it of its artisans, its craftsmen and its minds.. and its people suffered a great deal from the Ottomans' "state of scoundrels and lowlifes".. so they began to make a revolution.

Sultan "Mahmoud" sent the Ottoman army to crush the Greek revolution.. and try to bring it under control, but the Greeks defeated him and besieged his fleet in the port of Coron. So he found no solution but to call on "Muhammad Ali".. and ask him to help him escape the Greek quagmire. If "Muhammad Ali" were defeated in Greece.. then his danger would be gone and "Mahmoud II's" anxiety would ease.. and if he were victorious.. then he would look for another solution, with which to bridle the unbridled Egyptian steed.

And the truth is that "Muhammad Ali" wanted the greatest possible friction.. for the Egyptian army and fleet.. so he sent his son "Ibrahim Pasha" at the head of the fleet, to clash with the Greek fleet in the year 1825.. and the Greek fleet was neither easy nor weak, and a tremendous battle raged amid the millstones of the waves, in which the Egyptian fleet was victorious, and it freed the besieged Ottoman fleet, and the hooves of "Ibrahim Pasha's" horse touched the shores of Greece for the first time, in the same year.

And before the blows of the Egyptian army the Greek cities fell one after another, until only the last strongholds of the rebels remained, in the cities of "Missolonghi" and "Nafplio" and "Hydra".. and "Ibrahim" Pasha was preparing to storm them indeed.. had it not been that during his war.. and with the army's defeat.. Greece possessed no weapon but the pen, so hundreds of its poets, writers and artists set out.. with rousing pamphlets, speeches and poems that captivated people's hearts, and stirred public opinion in Europe.. so the peoples pressured their leaders, and for the first time in that year, Britain and Russia met to consult on the Greek question.. and the meeting produced the "St Petersburg" agreement.. between Russia and England.. and later France as well.. under which they had to pressure the Ottomans to grant Greece a measure of self-rule and independence.

And the English frigate "Dartmouth" set off, tearing across the face of the Mediterranean, heading for "Ibrahim Pasha", and its commander "Admiral Codrington, Admiral Sir Edward Codrington", to whom Europe and the agreement and the proposals for evacuating the gulf had been conveyed, put them to him.. but "Ibrahim Pasha" rejected the European proposals entirely.. and asked them to refer back to his father "Muhammad Ali".

And indeed the consuls of the powers moved to meet "Muhammad Ali".. this move greatly enraged "Mahmoud II", and made him decide to get rid of "Muhammad Ali" whatever the cost.. Europe was paying no regard to the Sublime Porte.. and was negotiating with "Muhammad Ali" directly.

And during the ongoing negotiations and talks, "Ibrahim" Pasha stormed "Missolonghi".. and it fell into the grip of the Egyptian forces.. giving "Muhammad Ali".. a new point of superiority at the negotiating table.

And while the Egyptian, Ottoman and Algerian fleets were anchored, facing the European fleets on the coast of Greece.. and without any justification or purpose.. the commander of the Ottoman fleet suddenly opened fire without warning on the frigate "Dartmouth".. killing "Lieutenant Fitzroy", the first casualty of the battle, along with a number of his soldiers.. so "Admiral Codrington" ordered fire to be opened in turn.. and the English and Russian ships opened their artillery fire on the Egyptian, Algerian and Ottoman fleets.. and the "Battle of Navarino" naval engagement broke out.. on 20 October, of the year 1827.

This stupid Ottoman move sank the Algerian fleet completely, root and branch, even though it was one of the strongest naval fleets of the time.. but the English surprise gave the sailors no chance to defend themselves.

This act of destroying the Algerian fleet would later be the reason Algeria could not defend itself against the French occupation, with no fleet.. and most of its soldiers and trained sons perished in the battle. And the people of Algeria would pay a harsh price.. for having summoned the Ottomans in the year 1516.

Yes.. it was Algeria that summoned them! Algeria had a story with the Ottomans.. the truth is that Algeria is the only country.. that the Ottomans did not enter by war.. what happened was that the Muslims fleeing the brutality of the Spaniards in Andalusia fled to the Ottoman state, which expelled them.. so they fled with a pilgrims' caravan to the Hejaz.. and there, as soon as they arrived, they met Algerian pilgrims.. and were dazzled by their generosity and their liberality.. and they accepted the invitation of these pilgrims to host them in their country, Algeria.. and when they arrived there.. the people of Algeria received them kindly and gave them houses and shared their bread and clothing with them and granted them refuge.. then Spain began threatening Algeria and demanding that it return these fugitive heretics.. so the ruler of Algeria at the time, "Sheikh Salim al-Toumi", sent to the Ottoman state requesting support.

The Ottoman state sent him the two butcher brothers "Barbarossa".. and when they arrived in Algeria, its gates were opened to them.. and Sheikh "Salim al-Toumi" and the city's inhabitants received them as conquerors.. and at once.. the Ottomans set up their cannons.. facing a small island controlled by the Spaniards, and sent to the commander of the Spanish garrison ordering him to surrender, but the Spanish commander refused, so they opened their artillery fire on the Spanish forces, except that the range of the artillery did not reach the island in the first place.. so no battle took place and no victory over the Spaniards as they nauseate us with, nor any nonsense.. the Spaniards at that time even avoided clashing with the Ottomans or responding to them.. because "Selim" at the time was an ally of Russia and Hungary.. and Spain withdrew on its own after a while.

With the failure of the Ottoman artillery to frighten the Spaniards.. the Turks' prestige collapsed in the eyes of the people of Algeria.. and they began to grow weary of their presence in the following days.. especially — and this is according to the Algerian historian Dr. Muhammad al-Mili — since they were a coarse, harsh people.. they treated the people who had hosted them with rudeness and stupidity.. so the people of Algeria began to grow weary of their presence and reject it.. so "Sheikh Salim" sent to them informing them that the Algerians were fed up with their plundering, their rudeness and their misconduct.. and asking them to leave.. but "Khair al-Din Barbarossa" headed for "Sheikh Salim's" palace.. and stormed it.. and killed him in the bathhouse where he found him.. and then he came out to the people, and declared himself Sultan over Algeria!

The Algerian researcher "Muhammad bin Maddour", a specialist in Ottoman history, says plainly: "It is true that the Algerians were the ones who asked them for help at the beginning against the Spaniards, but the strange thing is that shortly after their arrival.. they killed the Sultan of Algeria! So what does this mean? They humiliated the inhabitants and wronged them.. then ruled them by force and plundered them.. all the evidence confirms that the Ottoman presence in Algeria was an occupation."

Another country that saw no light from the moment the Ottomans set foot in it.. its antiquities were destroyed, its artisans, workers and craftsmen were snatched away and it was stripped of its minds and its pens.. all of it shipped off to Istanbul.. and the story ended with the complete destruction of its fleet.. and the road was left open for France to invade it with ease.

Anyway, let us return to our story.. the English and Russian fleets opened their cannons on the Egyptian, Ottoman and Algerian fleets.. and fortunately the Egyptian fleet was not there in full.. there were six ships and five light attack boats.. a heavy loss nonetheless.. but not like the Algerian or the Ottoman loss.. which lost their naval power entirely.

And here the Ottoman Sultan "Mahmoud II" asked "Muhammad Ali".. to send in the rest of the Egyptian fleet's ships, and continue the war against Russia, England and France.. but "Muhammad Ali" refused outright.. and told him that this was called "gambling".. and that he would not gamble with the rest of the fleet and the army.. in reckless adventures.. especially with the stupidity of the Ottoman commanders.. who had caused a battle for no justification whatsoever.. and he issued orders to his son "Ibrahim Pasha" to withdraw from Greece.

"Muhammad Ali Pasha" was a giant too.. after he refused the Ottoman Sultan's order.. he sent to him demanding compensation for the ships he had lost by granting him rule over a piece of Greek territory.. and "Muhammad Ali" aspired to establish a military base there.. that would give him freedom of movement in Europe.. to counter any European threat with a comparable Egyptian threat... so the Sultan granted him "the island of Crete", while he was nearly exploding with rage. The matter of "Crete" was neither nice nor comfortable for "Muhammad Ali".. because the people of "Crete" are like the Sa'idis among us.. hard-headed and submitting to no one, and difficult to control.. so it would not work for him to set up a base there as he had hoped...

"Muhammad Ali Pasha" pulled himself together.. and rearranged his ranks.. and the army commander "Ibrahim Pasha" decided, for the first time, on the system of "compulsory conscription".. and he began conscripting civilians from the sons of workers, fishermen and peasants, at a certain age.. to join the army.. while his father decided to rebuild the fleet ships that had been lost.. and increase its strength and capability.. and consequently, he asked the governor of Damascus to supply him with the wood needed to build the ships.

But when the governor of Damascus sought the permission of the Ottoman Sultan "Mahmoud II".. he refused outright.. and ordered him to inform "Muhammad Ali" that he had refused. "Mahmoud" had begun to fear "Muhammad Ali" and his power.. and decided to weaken him and get rid of him, as we said.

And this governor of Damascus had once had a violent crisis with the Ottoman Sultan.. and was almost accused of treason, dismissed and executed.. had "Muhammad Ali" not intervened and reconciled the two of them.. so when he refused to send the wood.. "Muhammad Ali" was angered.. and sent to him reminding him of what had passed.. and there was an exchange of insults between them, which reached the knowledge of ordinary people, in both Egypt and Syria.. and "Muhammad Ali" began to think of marching on Syria.

The truth is the story was not a story about wood.. history has preserved for us "Muhammad Ali's" desire.. to liberate the Arab lands, and save them from any oppressive, tyrannical, terrorist rule.. in written letters, between him and "Ibrahim Pasha", when the latter was on the battlefield.

"Muhammad Ali" was searching for a stronger pretext.. to take as a justification for marching on Syria.. other than this wood story.. and "Muhammad Ali" did not think for long because his son "Ibrahim Pasha" walked in on him in his palace one day.. and presented him with the justification, on a golden platter.

But the justification that "Muhammad Ali" used to liberate the land from the Ottoman state and become fully independent of it, is a long one to discuss.. so we will postpone this story to a later time, God willing.

And there remains more to be said.

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- Previous posts are in the first comment

- The image is an oil painting of the Battle of Navarino.

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