Battle of Drăgăşani

Balkan history

Also known as: Battle of Dragatsani

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Date:: June 19, 1821

Location:: Bucharest; Romania

Participants:: Greece; Ottoman Empire; Philikí Etaireía

Context:: War of Greek Independence

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Battle of Drăgăşani, (June 19, 1821), military engagement in which the Ottoman Turks defeated the forces of the Greek revolutionary society Philikí Etaireía and ended the first insurrection of the Greek War of Independence. Intending to overthrow Ottoman rule in the Balkans and to establish an independent Greek state, Philikí Etaireía sent the Sacred Battalion, under Alexander Ypsilantis, into the Danubian principalities to lead an uprising there. The Turkish Army, however, destroyed the Greek force at Drăgăşani, 90 miles (145 kilometres) west of Bucharest, and Ypsilantis fled. The battle marked the end of his leadership but otherwise had little effect on the Greek independence movement, which had launched another rebellion in the Morea.