Epirus Revolt of 1854 The 1854 revolt in Epirus was one of the most important of a series of Greek uprisings that occurred in the Ottoman - occupied Greek world during that period . When the Crimean War ( 1854 – 1856 ) broke out , many Epirote Greeks , with tacit support from the Greek state , revolted against the Ottoman rule . Although this movement was supported by distinguished military personalities , the correlation of forces doomed it from the start , leading to its suppression after a few months . Background . When the Crimean War broke out between the Ottoman Empire and Russia , many Greeks felt that it was an opportunity to gain lands inhabited by Greeks but not included in the independent Kingdom of Greece . The Greek War of Independence ( 1821 – 1829 ) was still fresh in their minds , as well as the Russian intervention that had helped secure Greek independence . Furthermore , Greeks had traditionally looked to help from fellow - Orthodox Russia . Although the official Greek state , under severe diplomatic and military pressure from the British and French ( allies of the Ottomans ) , refrained from actively entering the conflict , a number of uprisings were organized in Epirus , Thessaly , Crete , with support from individuals and groups within independent Greece . Uprising . On 30 January 1854 , Spyridon Karaiskakis ( a Lieutenant in the Greek Army and son of the hero of War of Independence , Georgios Karaiskakis ) , gave a number of inspiring speeches in villages east of Arta ( Peta region ) , seeking to inspire the Epirotes to revolt against Ottoman rule and join their province to Greece . The initial objective was the provincial capital , Arta , which was captured by Karaiskakis with a force of 2 , 500 irregulars . In the meantime , the Greek General Theodoros Grivas took a band of 300 volunteers to the villages of Peta and Pente Pigadia . Apart from the region of Arta , in Tzoumerka , the revolt also spread to most of the mountainous regions of Epirus and a number of towns soon came under the full control of the revolutionaries : Paramythia , Souli , Tsamantas , Himara and some villages around Ioannina . The revolt was also in full swing in parts of the nearby region of Thessaly . Meanwhile a number of Greek officers , most of them of Souliote descent ( Nikolaos Zervas , Notis Botsaris , Athanasios Koutsonikas , Kitsos Tzavelas , Lambros Zikos ) , resigned from their posts in the Greek Army and joined the rebellion . However , a unit of 1 , 600 Ottoman troops , reinforced by an additional 3 , 000 , managed to recapture Arta with the help of heavy artillery . In early March , Grivas managed to advance further north capturing Metsovo which was afterwards looted by the Greek troops . At March 27 , after repeated Ottoman attacks , supported by Albanian irregulars , Grivas had to retreat . As a consequence the town of Metsovo was looted by these bands and a large part of it was burned down . Suppression . On April 13 , a 6 , 000 - strong Ottoman force , with the support of British and French artillery , attacked the rebels ’ headquarters east of Arta , in the town of Peta . After fierce battles and suffering heavy losses , Kitsos Tzavelas with his men retreated behind the Greek border . Meanwhile the Ottomans moved north to eliminate every movement in the region around Ioannina . In Plaka , a force of 14 , 000 Ottomans with an addition of 1 , 500 Albanians fought against the armed groups of S . Karaiskakis and N . Zervas . The Ottoman force was forced to retreat , with the Albanians in particular suffering heavy losses . The situation started to worsen for the Greeks when additional Ottoman reinforcements arrived in the region . On the other hand the British and the French forces blockaded the port of Piraeus and a number of other Greek ports , making reinforcement and ammunition for the revolutionaries hard to obtain and applying further pressure on the Greek government to force the return of its officers . After a number of vicious battles in Voulgareli , Skoulikaria and in Kleidi on 12 May , the revolt was doomed and the Epirotes retreated behind the Greek border . When the revolt in Epirus was finally suppressed , reprisals started , with Ottoman and Albanian bands looting and burning a number of towns and villages . These activities ended with the end of the Crimean War in 1856 .