page_title: Morea expedition
section_title: Koroni
hierarchical_section_title: Morea expedition / Military expedition / Operations in the Peloponnese / Strongholds taken / Koroni
caption_attribution_description: Episode de l'expédition de Morée en 1828, Prise de Coron par le général de brigade Sébastiani en présence du général grec Nikitaras, 9 octobre 1828 (detail)
context_page_description: The Morea expedition is the name given to the land intervention of the French Army in the Peloponnese between 1828 and 1833, at the time of the Greek War of Independence, with the aim of expelling from the region the Ottoman-Egyptian occupation forces. It was also accompanied by a scientific expedition mandated by the French Academy.
  After the fall of Messolonghi in 1826, the Western European powers decided to intervene in favour of revolutionary Greece. Their primary objective was to force Ibrahim Pasha, the Ottoman Empire's Egyptian ally, to evacuate the occupied regions and the Peloponnese. The intervention began when a Franco-Russo-British fleet was sent to the region and won the Battle of Navarino in October 1827, destroying the entire Turkish-Egyptian fleet. In August 1828, a French expeditionary corps of 15,000 men led by General Nicolas-Joseph Maison landed in the southwestern Peloponnese. During October, soldiers took control of the principal strongholds still held by the Turkish troops. Although the bulk of the troops returned to France in early 1829 after an 8 month-deployment, the French kept a military presence in the area until 1833.
context_section_description: It was more difficult to take Koroni. General Tiburce Sébastiani showed up there on 7 October with a part of his 1st brigade and announced the taking of the fortresses of Navarino and Methoni. The fort commander's response was similar to those given at Navarino and Methoni. Sébastiani sent his sappers, who were pushed back by rocks thrown from atop the walls. A dozen men were wounded, among them Cavaignac and, more seriously, a captain (Boutauld), a sergeant and three sappers. The other French soldiers felt insulted and their general had great difficulty in preventing them from opening fire and taking the stronghold by force. The Amphitrite, the Breslaw and the Wellesley came to assist the ground troops. The threat they posed led the Ottoman commander to surrender. On October 9, the French entered Koroni and seized 80 cannon and guns, along with a store of victuals and munitions. The fortress was then given to the Greek troops of General Nikitaras who settled there.
caption: Take of Koroni by Generals Sébastiani and Nikitaras (Hippolyte Lecomte)
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "920", "Image ImageLength": "741", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:20 13:03:07", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6116", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "917", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "734"}