In order to break the siege of Acropolis, the British officers Admiral
Lord Cochrane and General
Richard Church, who were nominally commanding the
Greeks, decided to make an assault against the Turkish camp under the command of Mehmed Reshid Pasha. Two days before the battle, on 22 April 1827, Georgios Karaiskakis, the general of Central Greece, was fatally wounded in a minor clash with the Ottomans. He perished one day later, and his sudden death seriously damaged Greek morale and emboldened the Turks. In total, the Greeks lost either 1,500 or 2,000 men, which was a devastating setback. The Battle of Phaleron was seen as the greatest Greek defeat in the
Greek War of Independence. The men in the Acropolis surrendered on 5 June and were escorted by the French army to the coast. This defeat destroyed Greek morale and the only places on mainland Greece that persevered after the battle were
Mani and
Nafplio, seat of the government. ==Aftermath==