Armed bands have been formed in Crete…

The revolt causes immediate sympathy in Greece, but also elsewhere in Europe.

The rebels initially manage to gain control of most of the hinterland although, as always, the four fortified towns of the north coast (Chania, Rethymno, Irakleio and Agios Nikolaos) and the southern town of Ierapetra remain in Ottoman hands.

The Christian Cretans had risen up together with the rest of Greece in the Greek Revolution of 1821, but despite successes in the countryside, the Ottomans had held out in the four fortified towns of the northern coast and the island had been eventually reconquered by 1828, becoming an Egyptian province (Muhammad Ali's Egypt had been a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, but a powerful and semi-independent one with its own military).

In 1840, Crete had been returned to direct Ottoman rule, followed by an unsuccessful 1841 uprising in support of Union with independent Greece.

Another uprising in 1858 had secured some privileges, such as the right to bear arms, equality of Christian and Muslim worship, and the establishment of Christian councils of elders with jurisdiction over education and customary and family law.

These concessions are resented by the Muslim community, while the Christians press for more, while maintaining their ultimate aim of Union with Greece.