Battle of Petra
Part of theGreek War of Independence
Date 12 September 1829 Location Petra,Sanjak of Eğriboz,Ottoman Empire (nowBoeotia,Greece) 38°22.267′N23°3.45′E / 38.371117°N 23.05750°E /38.371117; 23.05750 Result Greek victory End of theGreek War of Independence[1]
Belligerents
First Hellenic Republic	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Demetrios Ypsilantis Georgios Dyovouniotis [el] Nikolaos Kriezotis	Aslan Bey  Osman Aga
Strength
3,000 (divided into 4 battalions)	7,000 infantry, cavalry, artillery
Casualties and losses
3 dead 12 wounded	~100 dead
class=notpageimage| Location of Petra

TheBattle of Petra was the final battle fought in theGreek War of Independence.

By the summer of 1829, thePeloponnese, parts ofCentral Greece and several islands had been liberated by Greek revolutionary forces. A peace treaty between theSublime Porte and the revolutionaries was imminent but it became apparent that the soon to be created Greek state would be limited to whatever lands had been liberated during the war. In August, Aslan Bey and Osman Aga set off fromAthens after leaving behind a small garrison with a force of 7,000 Ottoman Albanians tofight the Russians inThrace.

The Greek Army underDemetrios Ypsilantis, which for the first time trained to fight as a regular European army rather than as guerilla bands, awaited Aslan Bey's forces atPetra, a town at a narrow passage inBoeotia betweenLivadeia andThebes in order to dispute their passage. On September 12 1829, the two armies engaged in battle. The Greeks, after a hail of gunfire, charged with swords and drove theOttoman army into a disorderly retreat. The rest of the Ottoman army, now in danger of being surrounded, also retreated. The Ottoman army was unable to advance and, as a result, concluded a capitulation on 25 September 1829.^[2] For both sides the casualties were relatively light. The Greeks suffered three dead and twelve wounded, while the Ottomans lost about one hundred dead.^[3]

In order to follow his orders to march intoThrace, Osman Aga signed a truce the following day with the Greeks. According to the truce, the Ottomans would surrender all lands from Livadeia to theSpercheios River in exchange for safe passage out ofCentral Greece. This battle was significant as it was the first time the Greeks had fought victoriously as a regular army. It also marked the first time thatOttoman Empire and the Greeks had negotiated on the field of battle. The battle of Petra was the last battle of theGreek War of Independence. Demetrios Ypsilantis ended the war started by his brother,Alexandros Ypsilantis, when the latter had crossed thePruth River eight and a half years earlier. AsGeorge Finlay stresses:^[4]

Thus PrinceDemetrios Ypsilantis had the honour of terminating the war which his brother had commenced on the banks of the Pruth.

• Finlay,History of the Greek Revolution, II, p. 208.
• Douglas Dakin,The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821-1833, (University of California Press, 1973), p. 268.

• Conflicts in 1829
• Military history of Central Greece
• Battles involving the Ottoman Empire
• Battles of the Greek War of Independence
• History of Boeotia
• 1829 in Greece
• September 1829
• Central Greece in the Greek War of Independence

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