Vizier Ömer Pasha Vrioni (in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

spelling: Ομέρ Βρυώνης, ''Omer Vryonis'') was a leading Ottoman- Albanian figure in the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

Early life

Omer Vrioni was a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Tosk Albanian Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...

from the village of

Vrioni Vrioni ( sq-definite, Vrioni) is a surname. The Vrioni family is an Albanian family from Vrion, Berat, Vrioni of Berat which was one of the biggest landowners in Albania, most of their lands being in the area around Berat and in the Myzeqe region. T ...

near

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and east of Fier. Berat is located in th ...

(hence his surname), with a distinguished record in the battles in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. When Ali Pasha revolted against the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, Omer was his treasurer. He initially commanded the army tasked with defending the eastern approaches to

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

, but entered into an agreement with Ismail Pasha, the then commander-in-chief of the Sultan's forces, disbanding his army in exchange for the

pashalik Eyalets (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, , English: State), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were a primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government ...

of Berat.Finlay, pp. 95-96. After the death of Ali Pasha Omer was among the commanders who were sent by Hurşid Ahmed Pasha, the new commander-in-chief, to suppress the Greek Revolution which had broken out in March 1821. On 24 April 1821, he defeated the Greeks at the

Battle of Alamana The Battle of Alamana was fought between the Greeks and the Ottoman Empire during the Greek War of Independence on 22 April 1821. Battle After the fall of Livadeia on 1 April 1821 to a contingent of Greek fighters under the command of Athanasio ...

and had their commander,

Athanasios Diakos Athanasios Nikolaos Massavetas ( el, Αθανάσιος Νικόλαος Μασσαβέτας; 1788 – 24 April 1821) also known as Athanasios Diakos ( el, Αθανάσιος Διάκος) was a Greek military commander during the Greek War of ...

, impaled. Vrioni's advance was temporarily halted by

Odysseas Androutsos Odysseas Androutsos ( el, Οδυσσέας Ανδρούτσος; 1788 – 1825; born Odysseas Verousis el, Οδυσσέας Βερούσης) was a Greek military and political commander in eastern mainland Greece and a prominent figure of the ...

who, with a handful of men, inflicted heavy casualties upon him at the Battle of the inn of Gravia on 8 May 1821.

Siege of Missolonghi

In late 1822, he and Mehmed Reshid Pasha joined forces to besiege the town of

Missolonghi Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...

. The town was completely surrounded on 25 October, and might have fallen, had the locals left the city. However they resisted heroically and Vrioni resorted to negotiations in order to save his men, against the opinion of Mehmed Reshid and Yussuf Pasha. The besieged Greeks destroyed the morale of the Ottoman army and when they were reinforced by sea the novice Turkish captains and the two pashas scheduled their main assault for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

night, 24 December, calculating that the Greeks would be caught by surprise. However, the attack failed. Six days later, the siege was lifted.

Later career

As a result of this failure, the antagonism between Omer Vrioni and Mehmed Reshid escalated, resulting in his recall by the Porte in 1824, when he was assigned a command in Macedonia. During the later Russo-Turkish War of 1828, he led a 20,000 strong army in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the

siege of Varna The siege of Varna (July–September 29, 1828) was a battle during the Russo-Turkish War, 1828–1829. History Varna was held by the Ottoman army. An approach to Varna by Russian forces was first attempted on June 28, but the Russian ava ...

References

Sources

* * Brewer, David. ''The Greek War of Independence''. The Overlook Press, 2001. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrioni, Omer People from Berat Pashas Ottoman military personnel of the Greek War of Independence 19th-century Albanian people Albanians from the Ottoman Empire

Omer Omer may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem * The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar * Omer (Book of Mormon), a Jaredite ...

Ali Pasha of Ioannina