Οι οχυρώσεις ενός στρατηγικού Περάσματος / The fortifications of a strategic Passage [in Greek, with English abstract] By Nikos D. Karabelas

https://www.academia.edu/39697317/%CE%9F%CE%B9_%CE%BF%CF%87%CF%85%CF%81%CF%8E%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82_%CE%B5%CE%BD%CF%8C%CF%82_%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%8D_%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82_The_fortifications_of_a_strategic_Passage_in_Greek_with_English_abstract_?sm=b&rhid=37229243351 The narrowest point of the straits leading into the Amvrakikos Gulf has been used by man for ages as a passage from the one shore to the other, thus taking the name of its use, passage, which in old Albanian is Preveza. This strategic passage has been in the frontiers from 1463, when it was conquered by the Ottomans, until 1913, when it was included in the Greek Kingdom. It was, thus, necessary to be well fortified and its fortifications had to be updated to reflect the evolving defensive techniques. Immediately after the Ottomans captured the southwestern part of Epirus, they constructed two castellos in c. 1465 in the small bay of Vathy. They, also, erected the castle of Bouka, at the mouth (bocca in Venetian) of the Gulf, in 1478. The existence of this castle caused an urban development near it, which soon afterwards was named Preveza. The Ottoman castle of Bouka was the scene of offensive attacks by Christian forces for at least four times, in the years 1481, 1501, 1538, and 1605. The defensive capacity of the castle was improved at least as many times, in the years 1486/87, 1495, 1538, and 1552. The Venetians seized the castle in 1684, but were obliged to blow it up in 1701 before they handed Preveza over to the Ottomans, in accordance with the Treaty of Karlowitz. Before August 1702, the Ottomans built a large, square, earthen castle (260 m by 260 m), about a mile north of the destroyed castle of Bouka, at a location named sto Cyparissi (at the Cypress tree). The castle was shortened in breadth and improved by the Venetians, after they recaptured Preveza in 1717. In 1807-8, Ali Pasha of Ioannina gave the castle the form that it has up to now. He also built St. George’s castle in 1807, dug a defensive moat around Preveza in the same year, and constructed the Outer castle (Uts kale) or castle of Pantokrator in c. 1815. On the peninsula of Aktion Ali Pasha built a triangular castle, whose first phase was constructed in c. 1794 and its final phase was completed in September 1812. Additionally, he built a rectangular fortress (kulia), in order to protect the inhabitants of a new settlement that he created on the peninsula, and secured it by creating an earthen castle around it in 1807. After 1832, when the frontier line between Greece and the Ottoman Empire was south of Aktion, the Ottomans built a border army station (kulia) on Aktion, as well as a small fort at the top of Lascara’s hill, most probably in 1860. After 1881, when Aktion peninsula was ceded to Greece and the Preveza straits became the border, the Ottomans constructed further supplementary defensive works in Preveza. ...