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CHAPTER III. BATTLE OF NAVARINO—1827. 1815 to 1830 all the wars of Europe were with the Mohammedans, except a few revolutionary and other affairs of no great consequence. The English made an attack on Algiers in 1816 to punish the Algerines for their piracies and for their cruelties to British subjects, and fourteen years later the same place was captured by the French and has since been held with a firm grasp. The Greek revolution, which broke out in 1821, was the revolt of Christians held in subjection by the Turks, the Moslem conquerors of Southeastern Europe, who had ruled the Hellenes with great oppression, and the struggle was continued until the independence of Greece was acknowledged. The war of Russia against the Persians, in 1826, was also a fight between Christianity and Islam, and so was the war between Russia and Turkey in 1828. Even the English in India were contending against the Moslems more than against warriors of other religions of the great peninsula, especially in their campaign to the north, when they penetrated the stronghold of Islam in Central Asia. The exhaustion which followed the Napoleonic campaigns left Europe at peace with itself, but did not restrain it from hostile encounters with the followers of the Prophet of Mecca. The Spanish revolution of 1820, which was speedily followed by the revolutions of Naples, Sicily, and Piedmont, caused a great excitement throughout Europe, and 29