Battle of Nicopolis (1798)
The Battle of Nicopolis was fought on 23 October [O.S. 12 October] 1798 between the armed forces of Revolutionary France and the autonomous Ottoman-Albanian ruler, Ali Pasha of Janina. The French had seized the Venetian Ionian Islands off the western coast of Greece the previous year, after the Fall of the Republic of Venice. The islands also included a few mainland exclaves like Butrint and Preveza, which were coveted by Ali. French efforts to draw Ali into their camp against the Ottoman sultan failed, and when the Ottoman Empire turned against France, Ali attacked the French positions. The battle, which took place amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Nicopolis, resulted in a French defeat, and was followed by a devastating sack of Preveza.
French troops fighting amidst the ruins of the ancient theatre of Nicopolis, painting by Felician Myrbach
French guns at the right redoubt, painting by Felician Myrbach
French infantry fighting off Albanian cavalry attacks, painting by Felician Myrbach
Ottoman Albanian horsemen display to French Lieutenant Richemont, a cut-off head of a French soldier, by Felicien Myrbach
Ali Pasha, or Ali Pasha of Tepelena, commonly known as Ali Pasha of Ioannina, was an Albanian ruler who served as Ottoman pasha of the Pashalik of Yanina, a large part of western Rumelia. Under his rule, it acquired a high degree of autonomy and even managed to stay de facto independent. The capital of the Pashalik was Ioannina, which, along with Tepelena, was Ali's headquarters. Conceiving his territory in increasingly independent terms, Ali Pasha's correspondence and foreign Western correspondence frequently refer to the territories under Ali's control as "Albania." This, by Ali's definition, included central and southern Albania, and parts of mainland Greece; in particular, most of the district of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Macedonia. He managed to stretch his control over the sanjaks of Yanina, Delvina, Vlora and Berat, Elbasan, Ohrid and Monastir, Görice, and Tirhala. Ali was granted the Sanjak of Tirhala in 1787, and he delegated its government in 1788 to his second-born Veli Pasha, who also became Pasha of the Morea Eyalet in 1807. Ali's eldest son, Muhtar Pasha, was granted the Sanjak of Karli-Eli and the Sanjak of Eğriboz in 1792, stretching for the first time Ali's control down to Livadia and the Gulf of Corinth, except Attica. Muhtar Pasha also became governor of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1796–7 and of the Sanjak of Vlora and Berat in 1810.
Ali Pasha at the Lake of Butrint, by Louis Dupré
The statue of Ali Pasha in Tepelenë
Portrait of Ali Pasha, drawn by Charles Robert Cockerell (published in 1820), based on Thomas Smart Hughes' travels in Albania in 1813.
"Ali Pasha of Janina hunting in the lake of Butrint in March 1819" by Louis Dupré (1825)