2023 – Greece Silver Proof Coin €5 – 200 YEARS FROM THE BATTLE OF KARPENISI

After failing to quash the Greek uprising in 1822, Sultan Mahmud II launched a new campaign in 1823. It was led by the Pasha of Shkodër, Mustafa, who recruited Albanian mercenaries. Intent on recapturing Missolonghi, they set up camp at Kefalovryso, near the town of Karpenisi. A troop of Souliotes, under the command of Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavelas, set off from Missolonghi to stem their advance. Seeing his men seriously outnumbered, Botsaris decided on a surprise night attack against the enemy. In the battle that followed, the Souliotes inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, but Markos Botsaris was fatally wounded. He was buried with great honours in Missolonghi. In the Battle of Karpenisi, the Greeks managed to fend off another Ottoman attempt to crush the Revolution, but lost a great military leader.