120 ISLAM AT WAR
pendence, smashed Ali’s fleet at the Battle of Navarino in 1827. It is
interesting that Turkey, heir of the landlocked Asiatic steppe peoples,
participated in this last great battle of the sailing ship era.
With the Greeks in revolt and the Turkish armies distracted, Russia
thought the time propitious to renew its attacks into the Ottoman-held
Balkans. On April 28, 1828, Russia formally declared war on the Ottoman
Empire yet again. After a seesaw campaign, the Russian infantry again
prevailed, and in 1829 Moldavia and Wallachia were finally and irretriev-
ably lost to the Ottomans. As the distant provinces fell, the way to the
Turkish homelands began to open. The next blow was to be a major re-
bellion. Not for the first time the Turks would receive substantial European
assistance. This time, however, the western powers were more concerned
with maintaining a weak Turkey and containing a strong Russia. The
balance of power would never again pivot on the sultan’s throne.
With the end of the most recent war with Russia and the settlement of
the Greek question in 1830, the Ottomans looked forward to a period of
peace, but such was not to be the case. Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt,
had come out of the Greek Revolution with tremendous prestige, but few
rewards. Greek independence had deprived him of the territories he had
expected to rule as a reward for his efforts, so he asked for compensation
in Syria, but Mahmut, the Ottoman sultan, refused and quietly ordered
Syria to prepare for an attack. Muhammad Ali intercepted this message
and realized that his request had been rejected, so he sought an excuse for
war. Claiming that the Ottomans had failed to return some 6,000fellahin
who had fled to Syria during the war and that the governor of Acre had
neglected to pay funds due him, he launched a successful invasion of Syria
under the command of Ibrahim Pasha. By June 18, 1832, all of Syria was
under his control.
The Ottomans reacted slowly. In March 1832 Mahmut officially de-
clared Muhammad Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha as rebels, dismissed
them from their posts, and designated a replacement. Ibrahim, however,
had taken advantage of the slow Ottoman reaction and established himself
defensively and built local support by promising Arab self-rule. When the
Ottoman troops finally entered Syria, they were met by a greatly enlarged
and modern Egyptian army. Two battles fought at Homs and Belen went
against the Turks.
Mahmut was unable to obtain any support from the European powers
and found himself obliged to organize a new army under the command
of Grand Vizier Resit Mehmet Pasha. Ibrahim Pasha, however, had not
remained idle and had pushed his army through Cilicia onto the Anatolian
plateau where he gained support from the many groups in Anatolia that