The Exodus of Messolonghi

After a year of siege and six particularly harsh months for the besieged, Messolonghi could no longer hold. Vasiladi, Aitoliko, and Dolmas had fallen, and the situation inside the city worsens. The Messolonghites refuse to surrender and wait until the last minute for the Greek fleet. But spiritual and physical exhaustion, lack of food, indescribable hunger, and the fleet delay bring the inhabitants to their limits. On April 10, they decided to attempt an exodus. The Messolonghites organize into three groups led by Makris, Notis Botsaris, Rajikotsikas, and Mitros Deligiorgis, while they have arranged with the camp of Dervekista to create a diversion to the Turks. But their plan was revealed, and the Turks were not taken by surprise. The exit was crushed, and few survived, while most women and children were arrested and sold as slaves. The exodus of Messolonghi is a vital moment in the history of the Revolution, not only because of the defeat of the Greeks and the losses they suffered. Above all, because it initiated the resurrection of Philhellenism and gave the Greeks a sense of moral justification.