Page 123 - Beholding Liberty!

after his victory at Dervenakia. As the most powerful “military man”, based on the power that the Greeks had given to him for this victory, Kolokotronis decided to control political issues during the second National Assembly that was approaching, and to set aside the power of the “politicians” who believed that, up to that time, they controlled the political developments of the Struggle. In order to achieve his goal, Kolokotronis reconciled with his previous adversary in the Peloponnesian Senate, creating a fellowship with the notable Arcadian family of Delygiannis and his allies and, with hundreds of armed men, attended the Second National Assembly that was held at Astros in Kynourgia in March of 1823, in order to impose his views.
The entire confrontation culminated in the creation of two opposing governments, one led by Kolokotronis with its headquarters in Tripoli, and the other regarded as the official government, which had selected Kranidi in Ermionis for its seat. In the first round of the civil war that followed, the Peloponnese found itself divided, with the result that Kolokotronis was defeated at his head- quarters in Tripoli by the armies of the powerful elders of the northwestern Peloponnese, Andreas Lontos and Andreas Zaimis, who besieged it. In the second round of the civil war, the entire Pelopon- nese fought against the central government, so that the latter paid Roumeliot armies to subjugate its enemies, which succeeded, with the result that Kolokotronis and other strong Peloponnesian men were imprisoned in the Monastery of the Prophet Elias on the island of Hydra, early in 1825.
The prisoners were released shortly after and given amnesty, but the damage brought about by this harsh civil war could not easily be healed. This was because the long civil war, and the devas- tation it had caused in the Peloponnese, had prepared the ground for the sweeping successes of the Egyptian army of Ibrahim who had arrived in Messinia on behalf of the sultan, in February of
Map of Greece in 1824
Illustration in the edition of William Martin Leake, An Historical Outline of the Greek Revolution, London 1826 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
1821-1830: the arduous course of a Revolution 123