| abstract | - Following the Venetian defeat to the Ottoman Empire in the Turkish-Venetian War (1714-1718), the Peloponnese once again returned to Ottoman hands. However, the autonomous Mani, who had refused to accept Ottoman sovereignty in the first Ottoman occupation of the Peloponnese once again refused to accept Ottoman rule. The Maniots through an agent they had in Russia began conspiring with Catherine the Great and Count Aleksey Grigoryevich Orlov. In 1770, terms were agreed and a Russian fleet sailed into the Aegean Sea and landing in Mani en rout destroying an Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Chesma. After initial success, the Orlov Revolt ended in failure. Arguments between Aleksey Grigoryevich Orlov, the Russian leader and John the Canine, the Maniot leader led to the separation of the armies. John's army suffered a devastating defeat at Rizomilo in Messenia against the Ottoman army with only John surviving. Meanwhile, the Russian army having made no long term gains retreated. The Ottomans had, meanwhile, unleashed a horde of Turko-Albanians, on Greece. They pillaged their way through Attica before attacking the Peloponnese where they massacred Greek civilians. They launched several incursions into Mani but they were all beaten back with heavy casualties. This string of defeat aggravated the Ottoman Pasha in the Peloponnese, Hatzi Osman and he mustered an army of 16,000 men and invaded Mani. He was held back for twelve days at Kastania but after capturing the towers he advanced down the coast to Skoutari, where he was once again delayed by a tower. This tower was garrisoned by fifteen men who held back the Ottoman army for three days until the tower as undermined and blown up.
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