Known as both a visionary leader and a ruthless tyrant, Ali Pasha played European powers against each other like a Balkan Machiavelli.
Discover how he rose from a bandit to a powerful Ottoman governor, defied empires with his rebellious streak, and earned the nickname "Lion of Ioannina."
[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English, the show where you can listen to fascinating stories and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.
[00:00:21] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part two of our three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:00:29] In part one, we started at the end, with the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the creation of the modern Turkish state.
[00:00:37] In part three, our next episode, we are going to talk about the very specific case of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:00:44] And in today’s episode, part two, we are going to talk about a man called Ali Pasha.
[00:00:51] To some, he was a fearless and brave leader, to others, he was a cruel, sadistic despot.
[00:00:58] He was nothing if not fascinating, and outside a small corner of Europe, the story of his life is not particularly well-known.
[00:01:07] So, let’s not waste a minute and get right into it.
[00:01:13] One of the consequences of the mass adoption of social media and the consequent proliferation of “influencers” and “influencer culture” is that a “hidden gem” doesn’t stay hidden for long.
[00:01:27] Whether it’s a spot of beauty, a quaint cafe, or a new restaurant, no matter how hidden and unknown it is to the outside world, someone will inevitably come along and feel compelled to post about it on Instagram or TikTok.
[00:01:45] Flocks of people arrive, wanting to see what all the fuss is about.
[00:01:50] And before long, it isn’t so secret anymore.
[00:01:55] This might seem like a uniquely modern phenomenon, and of course, the technological element means that the speed at which information can spread is much faster.
[00:02:06] But, it is not completely new.
[00:02:09] And indeed, the protagonist of today’s episode, a man born in 1740, was the subject of perhaps the first modern influencer.
[00:02:21] For in 1809, Lord Byron, the famous English author and poet, arrived at the town of Ioannina in modern-day Greece.
[00:02:32] Until then, it was practically unknown to most Europeans and was far off the tourist trail, the route followed by young British aristocrats as part of their “Grand Tour”.
[00:02:45] By the way, as a quick aside, we have episodes about Lord Byron and The Grand Tour, those are episode number 244 and episode number 156, if you would like to learn more about either of those subjects.
[00:02:59] Anyway, back to our story.
[00:03:02] Byron was impressed with what he saw, and in particular with the man he met: the Ottoman governor of Ioannina, a powerful and semi-independent figure in the Balkans, Ali Pasha.
[00:03:17] He reported back that he found, and I’m quoting directly, "a man of first abilities who governs the whole of Albania".
[00:03:27] First, in this sense, means “very high quality”.
[00:03:31] When these words were published, in his work Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, it caused quite a stir and firmly put Ali Pasha and his court on the map and on the young English aristocrats’ “must visit” list.
[00:03:47] Indeed, according to the author of the definitive biography of Ali Pasha, you can divide visitors to his court into two categories: before Lord Byron and after Lord Byron.
[00:04:01] Perhaps like some unsuspecting coffee shop owner who has unexpectedly “gone viral” after decades just minding their own business, Ali Pasha found himself to be the centre of attention, visited by adoring young men, featuring in the seminal works of French authors, and to be given a new lease of life.
[00:04:24] That was, I should say, until he was betrayed, shot, and his head placed on a silver platter and presented to the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:04:34] Now, I wanted to share this story because it is full of twists and turns, and gives you some insight into the mechanisms of the late Ottoman Empire.
[00:04:46] First, let’s paint a picture of what was going on in the time of Ali Pasha.
[00:04:53] He was born in 1740 in what is today Albania.
[00:04:59] Albania, as a quick geographical reminder for those of you who might not be so familiar with the Balkans and that area of Europe, is a country on the Eastern Adriatic coast.
[00:05:11] You have Greece, then above that, on the west coast, there’s Albania, and if you keep going you get to Montenegro.
[00:05:18] But back then, and indeed for the duration of the life of Ali Pasha, there was no nation-state of Greece, no nation-state of Albania or any of the modern Balkan countries.
[00:05:32] These all formed part of the Ottoman Empire, the vast area of land that covered not just the Balkans but much of the Middle East and North Africa.
[00:05:44] Now, although the Ottoman Empire was vast, it was not a monolithic entity where power was neatly centralised.
[00:05:53] On paper, everything flowed from the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:05:58] Every governor, every military commander, every official was appointed in his name, and all authority ultimately belonged to him.
[00:06:08] But in reality, the empire functioned quite differently.
[00:06:13] In practice, local rulers, regional governors, and powerful families often operated with a significant degree of autonomy, especially in far-flung provinces like the Balkans.
[00:06:28] The further you got from Constantinople, the more power was decentralised.
[00:06:34] And nowhere was this more evident than in the case of Ali Pasha of Ioannina.
[00:06:41] He was born into a minor noble family at a time of instability and constant regional power struggles.
[00:06:49] His father was a local Ottoman landholder, but he was assassinated when Ali was still a child.
[00:06:56] His family lost its status, and the young Ali grew up in an environment of revenge, survival, and ambition.
[00:07:06] It is said that his mother swore vengeance for her husband’s murder and instilled in her son a deep sense of ruthlessness—the belief that power was something to be seized, not inherited.
[00:07:21] And seize it he did.
[00:07:24] Ali Pasha’s early years are somewhat murky, but by his twenties, he had become a feared and respected military leader. He built a reputation as a bandit chieftain, raiding rival clans and intimidating his way into regional power.
[00:07:43] He offered his services to the Ottomans, proving himself useful as a warrior and enforcer in the empire’s Balkan provinces. His ability to quash revolts and maintain order earned him the trust of the Sultan’s government, and in 1788, he was appointed Pasha of Ioannina, the capital of the Epirus region.
[00:08:06] Even this was something of an anomaly.
[00:08:10] Usually, these Pasha, the regional rulers, were appointed in Constantinople and sent out to rule in whatever far-flung province the Sultan had assigned to them.
[00:08:21] Not Ali Pasha.
[00:08:23] He was from there, he was home-grown, which meant that he already had a lot of power and influence, but it was only after he was officially appointed by the Sultan that this was cemented, and enshrined in law.
[00:08:39] And this is where Ali Pasha’s story really begins.
[00:08:44] Once he became Pasha of Ioannina, Ali wasted no time in consolidating his power. He was no ordinary Ottoman governor, content to simply administer a province on behalf of the Sultan.
[00:08:58] No, he ruled Ioannina as if it were his own kingdom.
[00:09:03] Through brutality, cunning diplomacy, and strategic alliances, he turned his province into one of the most powerful semi-independent states within the Ottoman Empire.
[00:09:15] He expanded his influence into western Macedonia and much of Albania, bringing more and more territory under his personal control.
[00:09:25] And this territory was not just vast—it was strategically vital.
[00:09:31] It sat at the crossroads between the Adriatic and the Aegean, so control over it meant controlling key trade routes between Western Europe and the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:09:44] This made him not just a local warlord but a player in international politics.
[00:09:51] This was the late 18th century, and key European powers, such as Britain, France and Russia, were all competing for influence in the weakening Ottoman Empire.
[00:10:03] In Ali Pasha, they saw someone who was more than a mere local administrator; they recognised a powerful local leader who controlled a key Balkan region and someone who could prove incredibly useful.
[00:10:18] The British saw him as a potential ally against the French, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.
[00:10:24] Napoleon himself tried to win Ali over, hoping to use him as a counterbalance against British influence in the eastern Mediterranean.
[00:10:34] And the Russians, who had long been eyeing the Balkans for their own expansion, saw Ali as someone who could stir unrest in the Ottoman-controlled regions.
[00:10:44] So, who did Ali Pasha choose to side with?
[00:10:48] Well, all of them and none of them.
[00:10:52] He played them off against each other, making secret deals with all of them, securing weapons and political backing.
[00:10:59] And he did all of this while maintaining his status within the Ottoman ruling hierarchy; he had pledged loyalty to the Sultan but at the same time he was secretly cutting deals with foreign leaders.
[00:11:13] He was, in many ways, a Balkan Machiavelli, a geopolitical strategist balancing alliances, manipulating rivals, and ensuring his survival through cunning diplomacy.
[00:11:27] He also had another technique up his sleeve: terror and fear.
[00:11:33] He executed enemies in gruesome ways, sometimes publicly, to send a message.
[00:11:39] Perhaps his most infamous act of cruelty came when he drowned 17 women in Lake Pamvotida, a story that has been romanticised and retold in Greek folklore.
[00:11:52] The women, who had been accused of plotting against him, were supposedly tied in sacks and thrown into the water, a warning to anyone who dared defy his rule.
[00:12:05] Now, if we can put aside for one minute this not-so-civilised aspect of his character, he was clearly a capable ruler.
[00:12:14] Ioannina flourished under his leadership. Trade expanded. The city became a hub for education and the arts.
[00:12:22] His encouragement of education and trade—paired with his brutal methods of maintaining order—created something of a paradox: a city that was both enlightened and oppressive.
[00:12:35] Now, by the early 1800s, Ali Pasha was more powerful than ever, but he was powerful on a regional level, and known within certain European diplomatic circles.
[00:12:49] And it might have remained that way had it not been for an unexpected visitor, a young English nobleman named Lord Byron.
[00:12:58] The year was 1809, and Byron was not yet the famous poet that he would become.
[00:13:05] He was just another wealthy young aristocrat travelling through Europe on the Grand Tour, but unlike his peers, he had little interest in following the well-trodden paths of Rome or Paris.
[00:13:18] Byron wanted to see the wild, the unknown, and the exotic, which was part of the reason that he was drawn to Ioannina.
[00:13:27] The other part was a more practical one.
[00:13:30] The Napoleonic Wars had made much of Western Europe inaccessible. Paris, Venice, Rome, Naples, all the conventional stops were not an option.
[00:13:41] Instead, Byron travelled through Portugal, Spain, and the Balkans.
[00:13:47] This brought him to Ottoman-controlled Greece, a land that still bore the ruins of its ancient past but was now under the rule of Ottoman pashas.
[00:13:58] For Byron, it was a place of contrasts—one foot in the glory of classical antiquity, the other in the world of the Sultan.
[00:14:08] And at the heart of it, in the city of Ioannina, he found a ruler who seemed to belong to both worlds at once.
[00:14:17] Byron was immediately struck by what he saw.
[00:14:20] Ioannina was unlike any other Ottoman town he had visited—flourishing, alive with trade and intellectual exchange, a place where Greek, Albanian, Turkish, and European influences mixed freely.
[00:14:36] But what fascinated him the most was Ali Pasha himself.
[00:14:41] Unlike the distant, bureaucratic Ottoman governors he had imagined, Ali Pasha ruled like a king.
[00:14:50] He was charming, intelligent, and eager to impress his English guest.
[00:14:57] Yet Byron was also unsettled by what he witnessed.
[00:15:01] Here was a man who lived in an opulent palace, spoke multiple languages, entertained European guests with refinement, yet ruled his lands with an iron fist, executing enemies without hesitation.
[00:15:17] Byron’s descriptions, which were published in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, sparked curiosity across Europe.
[00:15:24] The idea that such a figure could exist—a ruler who embodied both the exotic allure of the East and the ruthless efficiency of a European warlord—made Ioannina a must-visit destination for the adventurous elite.
[00:15:41] And following Byron’s writings, dozens of European diplomats, writers, and military officers made the journey to Ali Pasha’s court.
[00:15:51] The French novelist François Pouqueville, who spent years in the Ottoman Empire, wrote extensively about him.
[00:15:58] British envoy William Martin Leake detailed his experiences with Ali in his diplomatic missions.
[00:16:04] Even diplomats from Austria and Prussia sought audiences with the notorious ruler.
[00:16:11] And for a brief period, Ali Pasha’s court became something like an Ottoman Versailles—a place where politics, espionage, and literary fascination intertwined.
[00:16:24] European aristocrats came for the spectacle, diplomats came for the intrigue, and Ali Pasha ensured that all of them left with stories that would only add to his legend.
[00:16:38] But as his fame grew, so did the challenge he posed to the Ottoman Sultan.
[00:16:45] For decades, the Ottoman government had turned a blind eye to Ali Pasha’s semi-independent rule.
[00:16:53] Why? Well, because he was actually quite useful.
[00:16:57] He maintained order, suppressed local rebellions, and ensured that taxes were collected—at least most of the time.
[00:17:06] And as long as he kept the Balkans stable and maintained a veneer of loyalty, the Sultan had bigger problems to deal with elsewhere.
[00:17:16] After all, foreign commentators had been talking about the inevitable collapse of the Ottoman Empire for decades, and Ali Pasha seemed to be the glue that kept at least one small corner of it intact.
[00:17:31] But by 1820, Ali Pasha had gone too far.
[00:17:37] First, he had grown too ambitious, expanding his rule beyond what the Sultan could ignore.
[00:17:44] He had acted increasingly like an independent ruler rather than an Ottoman governor, negotiating with foreign powers without approval from Constantinople.
[00:17:55] His dealings with Britain, France, and Russia had raised suspicions that he was preparing to break away entirely.
[00:18:03] Secondly, he disobeyed direct imperial orders. In 1819, he had been ordered to hand over certain lands, but he ignored the decree.
[00:18:16] The Sultan could no longer pretend that Ali Pasha was just a loyal servant who happened to be a little ruthless.
[00:18:23] And the final straw came when he ordered the murder of an Ottoman official loyal to the Sultan.
[00:18:30] This was outright defiance, and the Sultan could not afford to let such an open challenge go unanswered.
[00:18:39] In 1820, he issued an imperial edict officially declaring Ali Pasha a rebel.
[00:18:46] The imperial army was sent in, and so began the long siege of Ioannina.
[00:18:53] For nearly two years, Ali Pasha resisted.
[00:18:57] Even as the Ottoman army surrounded his stronghold, Ali Pasha did what he had always done—he plotted and schemed.
[00:19:06] He sent out secret messages to Britain and France, hoping to stir up European intervention on his behalf. He also tried to turn other Ottoman governors against the Sultan, hoping to spark a larger rebellion that might force the Sultan to negotiate.
[00:19:24] But this time, his network of spies and assassins failed him.
[00:19:29] The Sultan’s forces had infiltrated his inner circle, and his desperate attempts to rally support only exposed his vulnerability.
[00:19:39] His own allies abandoned him, seeing no chance of victory.
[00:19:44] And in the end, the man once called the Balkan Napoleon, a master strategist who had spent decades outmanoeuvring his enemies, escaping traps, and turning the tables on those who sought to bring him down, well, he was outmanoeuvred.
[00:20:02] In February 1822, he was lured into negotiations with Ottoman envoys who promised him a deal.
[00:20:10] The deal was this: Ali Pasha would hand over his immense treasures, and in exchange, his life would be spared.
[00:20:20] Sensing that he might be being deceived but having little choice, Ali Pasha left his fortified citadel with his wife, entourage, and personal guards, and retreated to a monastery on an island in Lake Pamvotida, the lake in which he had thrown those women to their deaths several decades beforehand.
[00:20:40] It was meant to be a temporary arrangement, a place where the details of the deal could be ironed out.
[00:20:48] But in reality, by holing himself up on an island, and a poorly fortified one at that, he had just sealed his fate.
[00:20:59] A few weeks later, a group of Ottoman officials arrived under the pretext of negotiations.
[00:21:06] Ali Pasha, suspicious as ever, kept his pistol close at hand but allowed the meeting to proceed.
[00:21:14] Nothing happened—no betrayal, no attack.
[00:21:18] Then, a few days later, the boats returned.
[00:21:23] This time, they carried Mehmed Pasha, a senior Ottoman official who claimed to bear a decree from the Sultan himself.
[00:21:32] Ali Pasha, ever cautious, refused to approach until he had read the document.
[00:21:38] But Mehmed Pasha ignored him and ordered him to step forward.
[00:21:44] In that instant, Ali Pasha knew something was wrong.
[00:21:48] He pulled out his pistol and fired the first shot.
[00:21:52] Mehmed Pasha returned fire.
[00:21:55] Chaos erupted.
[00:21:56] The Ottoman troops rushed forward, swords flashing, pistols firing. One of them struck Ali in the arm with his sword.
[00:22:06] Ali’s bodyguards dragged him inside the monastery, barricading the doors as gunfire echoed across the island.
[00:22:14] The fighting only ended when Ali Pasha was mortally wounded by a shot to the stomach.
[00:22:21] Some say he fell instantly, others claim he crawled back inside, still resisting, even as his enemies closed in. His last words were, so the legend goes, “kill my wife so she does not fall into the hands of the Turks”.
[00:22:39] And then, the silence came.
[00:22:42] The last of Ali Pasha’s men laid down their arms, and the Ottoman troops burst through the doors.
[00:22:49] They beheaded Ali Pasha on the spot, carrying out the Sultan’s orders.
[00:22:55] His head was placed on a silver platter and carried back to the troops still resisting in his name. They had refused to back down, but the sight of their leader’s severed head changed things.
[00:23:09] The gruesome display did not stop there, as the dead man’s head was transported all the way back to Constantinople.
[00:23:17] When it arrived, it was paraded through the streets of the city, a trophy for Sultan Mahmud II, proof that the so called Lion of Ioannina was dead.
[00:23:28] Some say it was placed on the gates of the Sultan’s palace, a warning to others who might think of defying him. Others claim it was taken to the grand vizier’s palace and displayed on a dinner table in front of Ottoman nobles.
[00:23:43] One account even says that bodyguards interrupted a local archbishop’s dinner, slammed Ali Pasha’s head onto the table, and demanded payment for their ‘gift’.
[00:23:54] Whatever the truth, this was the end of the road for one of the most powerful and enigmatic figures of the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:24:02] A warlord, a kingmaker, a tyrant, a statesman—his legend lives on, but his empire, like his body, was ultimately divided and buried.
[00:24:13] So, who was Ali Pasha?
[00:24:15] To some, he was a visionary leader who ruled efficiently, expanded trade, and brought prosperity to his lands.
[00:24:23] To others, he was a tyrant—a man who used terror and cruelty to keep his people in line.
[00:24:30] Either way, he remains one of the most fascinating and complex figures in Ottoman history, a man who almost created his own empire within an empire.
[00:24:40] But a man who ultimately flew too close to the sun got burned and found his head on a silver platter.
[00:24:49] OK then, that’s it for Ali Pasha.
[00:24:52] I hope it was an interesting one, and if you hadn’t heard anything about this man before this, well, that you’ve learned something new.
[00:24:59] As a reminder, this is part of a three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:25:06] Part one was on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey, and next up will be an episode exploring the curious history of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:25:16] You’ve been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.
[00:25:21] I’m Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English, the show where you can listen to fascinating stories and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.
[00:00:21] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part two of our three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:00:29] In part one, we started at the end, with the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the creation of the modern Turkish state.
[00:00:37] In part three, our next episode, we are going to talk about the very specific case of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:00:44] And in today’s episode, part two, we are going to talk about a man called Ali Pasha.
[00:00:51] To some, he was a fearless and brave leader, to others, he was a cruel, sadistic despot.
[00:00:58] He was nothing if not fascinating, and outside a small corner of Europe, the story of his life is not particularly well-known.
[00:01:07] So, let’s not waste a minute and get right into it.
[00:01:13] One of the consequences of the mass adoption of social media and the consequent proliferation of “influencers” and “influencer culture” is that a “hidden gem” doesn’t stay hidden for long.
[00:01:27] Whether it’s a spot of beauty, a quaint cafe, or a new restaurant, no matter how hidden and unknown it is to the outside world, someone will inevitably come along and feel compelled to post about it on Instagram or TikTok.
[00:01:45] Flocks of people arrive, wanting to see what all the fuss is about.
[00:01:50] And before long, it isn’t so secret anymore.
[00:01:55] This might seem like a uniquely modern phenomenon, and of course, the technological element means that the speed at which information can spread is much faster.
[00:02:06] But, it is not completely new.
[00:02:09] And indeed, the protagonist of today’s episode, a man born in 1740, was the subject of perhaps the first modern influencer.
[00:02:21] For in 1809, Lord Byron, the famous English author and poet, arrived at the town of Ioannina in modern-day Greece.
[00:02:32] Until then, it was practically unknown to most Europeans and was far off the tourist trail, the route followed by young British aristocrats as part of their “Grand Tour”.
[00:02:45] By the way, as a quick aside, we have episodes about Lord Byron and The Grand Tour, those are episode number 244 and episode number 156, if you would like to learn more about either of those subjects.
[00:02:59] Anyway, back to our story.
[00:03:02] Byron was impressed with what he saw, and in particular with the man he met: the Ottoman governor of Ioannina, a powerful and semi-independent figure in the Balkans, Ali Pasha.
[00:03:17] He reported back that he found, and I’m quoting directly, "a man of first abilities who governs the whole of Albania".
[00:03:27] First, in this sense, means “very high quality”.
[00:03:31] When these words were published, in his work Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, it caused quite a stir and firmly put Ali Pasha and his court on the map and on the young English aristocrats’ “must visit” list.
[00:03:47] Indeed, according to the author of the definitive biography of Ali Pasha, you can divide visitors to his court into two categories: before Lord Byron and after Lord Byron.
[00:04:01] Perhaps like some unsuspecting coffee shop owner who has unexpectedly “gone viral” after decades just minding their own business, Ali Pasha found himself to be the centre of attention, visited by adoring young men, featuring in the seminal works of French authors, and to be given a new lease of life.
[00:04:24] That was, I should say, until he was betrayed, shot, and his head placed on a silver platter and presented to the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:04:34] Now, I wanted to share this story because it is full of twists and turns, and gives you some insight into the mechanisms of the late Ottoman Empire.
[00:04:46] First, let’s paint a picture of what was going on in the time of Ali Pasha.
[00:04:53] He was born in 1740 in what is today Albania.
[00:04:59] Albania, as a quick geographical reminder for those of you who might not be so familiar with the Balkans and that area of Europe, is a country on the Eastern Adriatic coast.
[00:05:11] You have Greece, then above that, on the west coast, there’s Albania, and if you keep going you get to Montenegro.
[00:05:18] But back then, and indeed for the duration of the life of Ali Pasha, there was no nation-state of Greece, no nation-state of Albania or any of the modern Balkan countries.
[00:05:32] These all formed part of the Ottoman Empire, the vast area of land that covered not just the Balkans but much of the Middle East and North Africa.
[00:05:44] Now, although the Ottoman Empire was vast, it was not a monolithic entity where power was neatly centralised.
[00:05:53] On paper, everything flowed from the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:05:58] Every governor, every military commander, every official was appointed in his name, and all authority ultimately belonged to him.
[00:06:08] But in reality, the empire functioned quite differently.
[00:06:13] In practice, local rulers, regional governors, and powerful families often operated with a significant degree of autonomy, especially in far-flung provinces like the Balkans.
[00:06:28] The further you got from Constantinople, the more power was decentralised.
[00:06:34] And nowhere was this more evident than in the case of Ali Pasha of Ioannina.
[00:06:41] He was born into a minor noble family at a time of instability and constant regional power struggles.
[00:06:49] His father was a local Ottoman landholder, but he was assassinated when Ali was still a child.
[00:06:56] His family lost its status, and the young Ali grew up in an environment of revenge, survival, and ambition.
[00:07:06] It is said that his mother swore vengeance for her husband’s murder and instilled in her son a deep sense of ruthlessness—the belief that power was something to be seized, not inherited.
[00:07:21] And seize it he did.
[00:07:24] Ali Pasha’s early years are somewhat murky, but by his twenties, he had become a feared and respected military leader. He built a reputation as a bandit chieftain, raiding rival clans and intimidating his way into regional power.
[00:07:43] He offered his services to the Ottomans, proving himself useful as a warrior and enforcer in the empire’s Balkan provinces. His ability to quash revolts and maintain order earned him the trust of the Sultan’s government, and in 1788, he was appointed Pasha of Ioannina, the capital of the Epirus region.
[00:08:06] Even this was something of an anomaly.
[00:08:10] Usually, these Pasha, the regional rulers, were appointed in Constantinople and sent out to rule in whatever far-flung province the Sultan had assigned to them.
[00:08:21] Not Ali Pasha.
[00:08:23] He was from there, he was home-grown, which meant that he already had a lot of power and influence, but it was only after he was officially appointed by the Sultan that this was cemented, and enshrined in law.
[00:08:39] And this is where Ali Pasha’s story really begins.
[00:08:44] Once he became Pasha of Ioannina, Ali wasted no time in consolidating his power. He was no ordinary Ottoman governor, content to simply administer a province on behalf of the Sultan.
[00:08:58] No, he ruled Ioannina as if it were his own kingdom.
[00:09:03] Through brutality, cunning diplomacy, and strategic alliances, he turned his province into one of the most powerful semi-independent states within the Ottoman Empire.
[00:09:15] He expanded his influence into western Macedonia and much of Albania, bringing more and more territory under his personal control.
[00:09:25] And this territory was not just vast—it was strategically vital.
[00:09:31] It sat at the crossroads between the Adriatic and the Aegean, so control over it meant controlling key trade routes between Western Europe and the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:09:44] This made him not just a local warlord but a player in international politics.
[00:09:51] This was the late 18th century, and key European powers, such as Britain, France and Russia, were all competing for influence in the weakening Ottoman Empire.
[00:10:03] In Ali Pasha, they saw someone who was more than a mere local administrator; they recognised a powerful local leader who controlled a key Balkan region and someone who could prove incredibly useful.
[00:10:18] The British saw him as a potential ally against the French, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.
[00:10:24] Napoleon himself tried to win Ali over, hoping to use him as a counterbalance against British influence in the eastern Mediterranean.
[00:10:34] And the Russians, who had long been eyeing the Balkans for their own expansion, saw Ali as someone who could stir unrest in the Ottoman-controlled regions.
[00:10:44] So, who did Ali Pasha choose to side with?
[00:10:48] Well, all of them and none of them.
[00:10:52] He played them off against each other, making secret deals with all of them, securing weapons and political backing.
[00:10:59] And he did all of this while maintaining his status within the Ottoman ruling hierarchy; he had pledged loyalty to the Sultan but at the same time he was secretly cutting deals with foreign leaders.
[00:11:13] He was, in many ways, a Balkan Machiavelli, a geopolitical strategist balancing alliances, manipulating rivals, and ensuring his survival through cunning diplomacy.
[00:11:27] He also had another technique up his sleeve: terror and fear.
[00:11:33] He executed enemies in gruesome ways, sometimes publicly, to send a message.
[00:11:39] Perhaps his most infamous act of cruelty came when he drowned 17 women in Lake Pamvotida, a story that has been romanticised and retold in Greek folklore.
[00:11:52] The women, who had been accused of plotting against him, were supposedly tied in sacks and thrown into the water, a warning to anyone who dared defy his rule.
[00:12:05] Now, if we can put aside for one minute this not-so-civilised aspect of his character, he was clearly a capable ruler.
[00:12:14] Ioannina flourished under his leadership. Trade expanded. The city became a hub for education and the arts.
[00:12:22] His encouragement of education and trade—paired with his brutal methods of maintaining order—created something of a paradox: a city that was both enlightened and oppressive.
[00:12:35] Now, by the early 1800s, Ali Pasha was more powerful than ever, but he was powerful on a regional level, and known within certain European diplomatic circles.
[00:12:49] And it might have remained that way had it not been for an unexpected visitor, a young English nobleman named Lord Byron.
[00:12:58] The year was 1809, and Byron was not yet the famous poet that he would become.
[00:13:05] He was just another wealthy young aristocrat travelling through Europe on the Grand Tour, but unlike his peers, he had little interest in following the well-trodden paths of Rome or Paris.
[00:13:18] Byron wanted to see the wild, the unknown, and the exotic, which was part of the reason that he was drawn to Ioannina.
[00:13:27] The other part was a more practical one.
[00:13:30] The Napoleonic Wars had made much of Western Europe inaccessible. Paris, Venice, Rome, Naples, all the conventional stops were not an option.
[00:13:41] Instead, Byron travelled through Portugal, Spain, and the Balkans.
[00:13:47] This brought him to Ottoman-controlled Greece, a land that still bore the ruins of its ancient past but was now under the rule of Ottoman pashas.
[00:13:58] For Byron, it was a place of contrasts—one foot in the glory of classical antiquity, the other in the world of the Sultan.
[00:14:08] And at the heart of it, in the city of Ioannina, he found a ruler who seemed to belong to both worlds at once.
[00:14:17] Byron was immediately struck by what he saw.
[00:14:20] Ioannina was unlike any other Ottoman town he had visited—flourishing, alive with trade and intellectual exchange, a place where Greek, Albanian, Turkish, and European influences mixed freely.
[00:14:36] But what fascinated him the most was Ali Pasha himself.
[00:14:41] Unlike the distant, bureaucratic Ottoman governors he had imagined, Ali Pasha ruled like a king.
[00:14:50] He was charming, intelligent, and eager to impress his English guest.
[00:14:57] Yet Byron was also unsettled by what he witnessed.
[00:15:01] Here was a man who lived in an opulent palace, spoke multiple languages, entertained European guests with refinement, yet ruled his lands with an iron fist, executing enemies without hesitation.
[00:15:17] Byron’s descriptions, which were published in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, sparked curiosity across Europe.
[00:15:24] The idea that such a figure could exist—a ruler who embodied both the exotic allure of the East and the ruthless efficiency of a European warlord—made Ioannina a must-visit destination for the adventurous elite.
[00:15:41] And following Byron’s writings, dozens of European diplomats, writers, and military officers made the journey to Ali Pasha’s court.
[00:15:51] The French novelist François Pouqueville, who spent years in the Ottoman Empire, wrote extensively about him.
[00:15:58] British envoy William Martin Leake detailed his experiences with Ali in his diplomatic missions.
[00:16:04] Even diplomats from Austria and Prussia sought audiences with the notorious ruler.
[00:16:11] And for a brief period, Ali Pasha’s court became something like an Ottoman Versailles—a place where politics, espionage, and literary fascination intertwined.
[00:16:24] European aristocrats came for the spectacle, diplomats came for the intrigue, and Ali Pasha ensured that all of them left with stories that would only add to his legend.
[00:16:38] But as his fame grew, so did the challenge he posed to the Ottoman Sultan.
[00:16:45] For decades, the Ottoman government had turned a blind eye to Ali Pasha’s semi-independent rule.
[00:16:53] Why? Well, because he was actually quite useful.
[00:16:57] He maintained order, suppressed local rebellions, and ensured that taxes were collected—at least most of the time.
[00:17:06] And as long as he kept the Balkans stable and maintained a veneer of loyalty, the Sultan had bigger problems to deal with elsewhere.
[00:17:16] After all, foreign commentators had been talking about the inevitable collapse of the Ottoman Empire for decades, and Ali Pasha seemed to be the glue that kept at least one small corner of it intact.
[00:17:31] But by 1820, Ali Pasha had gone too far.
[00:17:37] First, he had grown too ambitious, expanding his rule beyond what the Sultan could ignore.
[00:17:44] He had acted increasingly like an independent ruler rather than an Ottoman governor, negotiating with foreign powers without approval from Constantinople.
[00:17:55] His dealings with Britain, France, and Russia had raised suspicions that he was preparing to break away entirely.
[00:18:03] Secondly, he disobeyed direct imperial orders. In 1819, he had been ordered to hand over certain lands, but he ignored the decree.
[00:18:16] The Sultan could no longer pretend that Ali Pasha was just a loyal servant who happened to be a little ruthless.
[00:18:23] And the final straw came when he ordered the murder of an Ottoman official loyal to the Sultan.
[00:18:30] This was outright defiance, and the Sultan could not afford to let such an open challenge go unanswered.
[00:18:39] In 1820, he issued an imperial edict officially declaring Ali Pasha a rebel.
[00:18:46] The imperial army was sent in, and so began the long siege of Ioannina.
[00:18:53] For nearly two years, Ali Pasha resisted.
[00:18:57] Even as the Ottoman army surrounded his stronghold, Ali Pasha did what he had always done—he plotted and schemed.
[00:19:06] He sent out secret messages to Britain and France, hoping to stir up European intervention on his behalf. He also tried to turn other Ottoman governors against the Sultan, hoping to spark a larger rebellion that might force the Sultan to negotiate.
[00:19:24] But this time, his network of spies and assassins failed him.
[00:19:29] The Sultan’s forces had infiltrated his inner circle, and his desperate attempts to rally support only exposed his vulnerability.
[00:19:39] His own allies abandoned him, seeing no chance of victory.
[00:19:44] And in the end, the man once called the Balkan Napoleon, a master strategist who had spent decades outmanoeuvring his enemies, escaping traps, and turning the tables on those who sought to bring him down, well, he was outmanoeuvred.
[00:20:02] In February 1822, he was lured into negotiations with Ottoman envoys who promised him a deal.
[00:20:10] The deal was this: Ali Pasha would hand over his immense treasures, and in exchange, his life would be spared.
[00:20:20] Sensing that he might be being deceived but having little choice, Ali Pasha left his fortified citadel with his wife, entourage, and personal guards, and retreated to a monastery on an island in Lake Pamvotida, the lake in which he had thrown those women to their deaths several decades beforehand.
[00:20:40] It was meant to be a temporary arrangement, a place where the details of the deal could be ironed out.
[00:20:48] But in reality, by holing himself up on an island, and a poorly fortified one at that, he had just sealed his fate.
[00:20:59] A few weeks later, a group of Ottoman officials arrived under the pretext of negotiations.
[00:21:06] Ali Pasha, suspicious as ever, kept his pistol close at hand but allowed the meeting to proceed.
[00:21:14] Nothing happened—no betrayal, no attack.
[00:21:18] Then, a few days later, the boats returned.
[00:21:23] This time, they carried Mehmed Pasha, a senior Ottoman official who claimed to bear a decree from the Sultan himself.
[00:21:32] Ali Pasha, ever cautious, refused to approach until he had read the document.
[00:21:38] But Mehmed Pasha ignored him and ordered him to step forward.
[00:21:44] In that instant, Ali Pasha knew something was wrong.
[00:21:48] He pulled out his pistol and fired the first shot.
[00:21:52] Mehmed Pasha returned fire.
[00:21:55] Chaos erupted.
[00:21:56] The Ottoman troops rushed forward, swords flashing, pistols firing. One of them struck Ali in the arm with his sword.
[00:22:06] Ali’s bodyguards dragged him inside the monastery, barricading the doors as gunfire echoed across the island.
[00:22:14] The fighting only ended when Ali Pasha was mortally wounded by a shot to the stomach.
[00:22:21] Some say he fell instantly, others claim he crawled back inside, still resisting, even as his enemies closed in. His last words were, so the legend goes, “kill my wife so she does not fall into the hands of the Turks”.
[00:22:39] And then, the silence came.
[00:22:42] The last of Ali Pasha’s men laid down their arms, and the Ottoman troops burst through the doors.
[00:22:49] They beheaded Ali Pasha on the spot, carrying out the Sultan’s orders.
[00:22:55] His head was placed on a silver platter and carried back to the troops still resisting in his name. They had refused to back down, but the sight of their leader’s severed head changed things.
[00:23:09] The gruesome display did not stop there, as the dead man’s head was transported all the way back to Constantinople.
[00:23:17] When it arrived, it was paraded through the streets of the city, a trophy for Sultan Mahmud II, proof that the so called Lion of Ioannina was dead.
[00:23:28] Some say it was placed on the gates of the Sultan’s palace, a warning to others who might think of defying him. Others claim it was taken to the grand vizier’s palace and displayed on a dinner table in front of Ottoman nobles.
[00:23:43] One account even says that bodyguards interrupted a local archbishop’s dinner, slammed Ali Pasha’s head onto the table, and demanded payment for their ‘gift’.
[00:23:54] Whatever the truth, this was the end of the road for one of the most powerful and enigmatic figures of the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:24:02] A warlord, a kingmaker, a tyrant, a statesman—his legend lives on, but his empire, like his body, was ultimately divided and buried.
[00:24:13] So, who was Ali Pasha?
[00:24:15] To some, he was a visionary leader who ruled efficiently, expanded trade, and brought prosperity to his lands.
[00:24:23] To others, he was a tyrant—a man who used terror and cruelty to keep his people in line.
[00:24:30] Either way, he remains one of the most fascinating and complex figures in Ottoman history, a man who almost created his own empire within an empire.
[00:24:40] But a man who ultimately flew too close to the sun got burned and found his head on a silver platter.
[00:24:49] OK then, that’s it for Ali Pasha.
[00:24:52] I hope it was an interesting one, and if you hadn’t heard anything about this man before this, well, that you’ve learned something new.
[00:24:59] As a reminder, this is part of a three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:25:06] Part one was on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey, and next up will be an episode exploring the curious history of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:25:16] You’ve been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.
[00:25:21] I’m Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English, the show where you can listen to fascinating stories and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.
[00:00:21] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part two of our three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:00:29] In part one, we started at the end, with the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the creation of the modern Turkish state.
[00:00:37] In part three, our next episode, we are going to talk about the very specific case of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:00:44] And in today’s episode, part two, we are going to talk about a man called Ali Pasha.
[00:00:51] To some, he was a fearless and brave leader, to others, he was a cruel, sadistic despot.
[00:00:58] He was nothing if not fascinating, and outside a small corner of Europe, the story of his life is not particularly well-known.
[00:01:07] So, let’s not waste a minute and get right into it.
[00:01:13] One of the consequences of the mass adoption of social media and the consequent proliferation of “influencers” and “influencer culture” is that a “hidden gem” doesn’t stay hidden for long.
[00:01:27] Whether it’s a spot of beauty, a quaint cafe, or a new restaurant, no matter how hidden and unknown it is to the outside world, someone will inevitably come along and feel compelled to post about it on Instagram or TikTok.
[00:01:45] Flocks of people arrive, wanting to see what all the fuss is about.
[00:01:50] And before long, it isn’t so secret anymore.
[00:01:55] This might seem like a uniquely modern phenomenon, and of course, the technological element means that the speed at which information can spread is much faster.
[00:02:06] But, it is not completely new.
[00:02:09] And indeed, the protagonist of today’s episode, a man born in 1740, was the subject of perhaps the first modern influencer.
[00:02:21] For in 1809, Lord Byron, the famous English author and poet, arrived at the town of Ioannina in modern-day Greece.
[00:02:32] Until then, it was practically unknown to most Europeans and was far off the tourist trail, the route followed by young British aristocrats as part of their “Grand Tour”.
[00:02:45] By the way, as a quick aside, we have episodes about Lord Byron and The Grand Tour, those are episode number 244 and episode number 156, if you would like to learn more about either of those subjects.
[00:02:59] Anyway, back to our story.
[00:03:02] Byron was impressed with what he saw, and in particular with the man he met: the Ottoman governor of Ioannina, a powerful and semi-independent figure in the Balkans, Ali Pasha.
[00:03:17] He reported back that he found, and I’m quoting directly, "a man of first abilities who governs the whole of Albania".
[00:03:27] First, in this sense, means “very high quality”.
[00:03:31] When these words were published, in his work Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, it caused quite a stir and firmly put Ali Pasha and his court on the map and on the young English aristocrats’ “must visit” list.
[00:03:47] Indeed, according to the author of the definitive biography of Ali Pasha, you can divide visitors to his court into two categories: before Lord Byron and after Lord Byron.
[00:04:01] Perhaps like some unsuspecting coffee shop owner who has unexpectedly “gone viral” after decades just minding their own business, Ali Pasha found himself to be the centre of attention, visited by adoring young men, featuring in the seminal works of French authors, and to be given a new lease of life.
[00:04:24] That was, I should say, until he was betrayed, shot, and his head placed on a silver platter and presented to the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:04:34] Now, I wanted to share this story because it is full of twists and turns, and gives you some insight into the mechanisms of the late Ottoman Empire.
[00:04:46] First, let’s paint a picture of what was going on in the time of Ali Pasha.
[00:04:53] He was born in 1740 in what is today Albania.
[00:04:59] Albania, as a quick geographical reminder for those of you who might not be so familiar with the Balkans and that area of Europe, is a country on the Eastern Adriatic coast.
[00:05:11] You have Greece, then above that, on the west coast, there’s Albania, and if you keep going you get to Montenegro.
[00:05:18] But back then, and indeed for the duration of the life of Ali Pasha, there was no nation-state of Greece, no nation-state of Albania or any of the modern Balkan countries.
[00:05:32] These all formed part of the Ottoman Empire, the vast area of land that covered not just the Balkans but much of the Middle East and North Africa.
[00:05:44] Now, although the Ottoman Empire was vast, it was not a monolithic entity where power was neatly centralised.
[00:05:53] On paper, everything flowed from the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople.
[00:05:58] Every governor, every military commander, every official was appointed in his name, and all authority ultimately belonged to him.
[00:06:08] But in reality, the empire functioned quite differently.
[00:06:13] In practice, local rulers, regional governors, and powerful families often operated with a significant degree of autonomy, especially in far-flung provinces like the Balkans.
[00:06:28] The further you got from Constantinople, the more power was decentralised.
[00:06:34] And nowhere was this more evident than in the case of Ali Pasha of Ioannina.
[00:06:41] He was born into a minor noble family at a time of instability and constant regional power struggles.
[00:06:49] His father was a local Ottoman landholder, but he was assassinated when Ali was still a child.
[00:06:56] His family lost its status, and the young Ali grew up in an environment of revenge, survival, and ambition.
[00:07:06] It is said that his mother swore vengeance for her husband’s murder and instilled in her son a deep sense of ruthlessness—the belief that power was something to be seized, not inherited.
[00:07:21] And seize it he did.
[00:07:24] Ali Pasha’s early years are somewhat murky, but by his twenties, he had become a feared and respected military leader. He built a reputation as a bandit chieftain, raiding rival clans and intimidating his way into regional power.
[00:07:43] He offered his services to the Ottomans, proving himself useful as a warrior and enforcer in the empire’s Balkan provinces. His ability to quash revolts and maintain order earned him the trust of the Sultan’s government, and in 1788, he was appointed Pasha of Ioannina, the capital of the Epirus region.
[00:08:06] Even this was something of an anomaly.
[00:08:10] Usually, these Pasha, the regional rulers, were appointed in Constantinople and sent out to rule in whatever far-flung province the Sultan had assigned to them.
[00:08:21] Not Ali Pasha.
[00:08:23] He was from there, he was home-grown, which meant that he already had a lot of power and influence, but it was only after he was officially appointed by the Sultan that this was cemented, and enshrined in law.
[00:08:39] And this is where Ali Pasha’s story really begins.
[00:08:44] Once he became Pasha of Ioannina, Ali wasted no time in consolidating his power. He was no ordinary Ottoman governor, content to simply administer a province on behalf of the Sultan.
[00:08:58] No, he ruled Ioannina as if it were his own kingdom.
[00:09:03] Through brutality, cunning diplomacy, and strategic alliances, he turned his province into one of the most powerful semi-independent states within the Ottoman Empire.
[00:09:15] He expanded his influence into western Macedonia and much of Albania, bringing more and more territory under his personal control.
[00:09:25] And this territory was not just vast—it was strategically vital.
[00:09:31] It sat at the crossroads between the Adriatic and the Aegean, so control over it meant controlling key trade routes between Western Europe and the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:09:44] This made him not just a local warlord but a player in international politics.
[00:09:51] This was the late 18th century, and key European powers, such as Britain, France and Russia, were all competing for influence in the weakening Ottoman Empire.
[00:10:03] In Ali Pasha, they saw someone who was more than a mere local administrator; they recognised a powerful local leader who controlled a key Balkan region and someone who could prove incredibly useful.
[00:10:18] The British saw him as a potential ally against the French, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.
[00:10:24] Napoleon himself tried to win Ali over, hoping to use him as a counterbalance against British influence in the eastern Mediterranean.
[00:10:34] And the Russians, who had long been eyeing the Balkans for their own expansion, saw Ali as someone who could stir unrest in the Ottoman-controlled regions.
[00:10:44] So, who did Ali Pasha choose to side with?
[00:10:48] Well, all of them and none of them.
[00:10:52] He played them off against each other, making secret deals with all of them, securing weapons and political backing.
[00:10:59] And he did all of this while maintaining his status within the Ottoman ruling hierarchy; he had pledged loyalty to the Sultan but at the same time he was secretly cutting deals with foreign leaders.
[00:11:13] He was, in many ways, a Balkan Machiavelli, a geopolitical strategist balancing alliances, manipulating rivals, and ensuring his survival through cunning diplomacy.
[00:11:27] He also had another technique up his sleeve: terror and fear.
[00:11:33] He executed enemies in gruesome ways, sometimes publicly, to send a message.
[00:11:39] Perhaps his most infamous act of cruelty came when he drowned 17 women in Lake Pamvotida, a story that has been romanticised and retold in Greek folklore.
[00:11:52] The women, who had been accused of plotting against him, were supposedly tied in sacks and thrown into the water, a warning to anyone who dared defy his rule.
[00:12:05] Now, if we can put aside for one minute this not-so-civilised aspect of his character, he was clearly a capable ruler.
[00:12:14] Ioannina flourished under his leadership. Trade expanded. The city became a hub for education and the arts.
[00:12:22] His encouragement of education and trade—paired with his brutal methods of maintaining order—created something of a paradox: a city that was both enlightened and oppressive.
[00:12:35] Now, by the early 1800s, Ali Pasha was more powerful than ever, but he was powerful on a regional level, and known within certain European diplomatic circles.
[00:12:49] And it might have remained that way had it not been for an unexpected visitor, a young English nobleman named Lord Byron.
[00:12:58] The year was 1809, and Byron was not yet the famous poet that he would become.
[00:13:05] He was just another wealthy young aristocrat travelling through Europe on the Grand Tour, but unlike his peers, he had little interest in following the well-trodden paths of Rome or Paris.
[00:13:18] Byron wanted to see the wild, the unknown, and the exotic, which was part of the reason that he was drawn to Ioannina.
[00:13:27] The other part was a more practical one.
[00:13:30] The Napoleonic Wars had made much of Western Europe inaccessible. Paris, Venice, Rome, Naples, all the conventional stops were not an option.
[00:13:41] Instead, Byron travelled through Portugal, Spain, and the Balkans.
[00:13:47] This brought him to Ottoman-controlled Greece, a land that still bore the ruins of its ancient past but was now under the rule of Ottoman pashas.
[00:13:58] For Byron, it was a place of contrasts—one foot in the glory of classical antiquity, the other in the world of the Sultan.
[00:14:08] And at the heart of it, in the city of Ioannina, he found a ruler who seemed to belong to both worlds at once.
[00:14:17] Byron was immediately struck by what he saw.
[00:14:20] Ioannina was unlike any other Ottoman town he had visited—flourishing, alive with trade and intellectual exchange, a place where Greek, Albanian, Turkish, and European influences mixed freely.
[00:14:36] But what fascinated him the most was Ali Pasha himself.
[00:14:41] Unlike the distant, bureaucratic Ottoman governors he had imagined, Ali Pasha ruled like a king.
[00:14:50] He was charming, intelligent, and eager to impress his English guest.
[00:14:57] Yet Byron was also unsettled by what he witnessed.
[00:15:01] Here was a man who lived in an opulent palace, spoke multiple languages, entertained European guests with refinement, yet ruled his lands with an iron fist, executing enemies without hesitation.
[00:15:17] Byron’s descriptions, which were published in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, sparked curiosity across Europe.
[00:15:24] The idea that such a figure could exist—a ruler who embodied both the exotic allure of the East and the ruthless efficiency of a European warlord—made Ioannina a must-visit destination for the adventurous elite.
[00:15:41] And following Byron’s writings, dozens of European diplomats, writers, and military officers made the journey to Ali Pasha’s court.
[00:15:51] The French novelist François Pouqueville, who spent years in the Ottoman Empire, wrote extensively about him.
[00:15:58] British envoy William Martin Leake detailed his experiences with Ali in his diplomatic missions.
[00:16:04] Even diplomats from Austria and Prussia sought audiences with the notorious ruler.
[00:16:11] And for a brief period, Ali Pasha’s court became something like an Ottoman Versailles—a place where politics, espionage, and literary fascination intertwined.
[00:16:24] European aristocrats came for the spectacle, diplomats came for the intrigue, and Ali Pasha ensured that all of them left with stories that would only add to his legend.
[00:16:38] But as his fame grew, so did the challenge he posed to the Ottoman Sultan.
[00:16:45] For decades, the Ottoman government had turned a blind eye to Ali Pasha’s semi-independent rule.
[00:16:53] Why? Well, because he was actually quite useful.
[00:16:57] He maintained order, suppressed local rebellions, and ensured that taxes were collected—at least most of the time.
[00:17:06] And as long as he kept the Balkans stable and maintained a veneer of loyalty, the Sultan had bigger problems to deal with elsewhere.
[00:17:16] After all, foreign commentators had been talking about the inevitable collapse of the Ottoman Empire for decades, and Ali Pasha seemed to be the glue that kept at least one small corner of it intact.
[00:17:31] But by 1820, Ali Pasha had gone too far.
[00:17:37] First, he had grown too ambitious, expanding his rule beyond what the Sultan could ignore.
[00:17:44] He had acted increasingly like an independent ruler rather than an Ottoman governor, negotiating with foreign powers without approval from Constantinople.
[00:17:55] His dealings with Britain, France, and Russia had raised suspicions that he was preparing to break away entirely.
[00:18:03] Secondly, he disobeyed direct imperial orders. In 1819, he had been ordered to hand over certain lands, but he ignored the decree.
[00:18:16] The Sultan could no longer pretend that Ali Pasha was just a loyal servant who happened to be a little ruthless.
[00:18:23] And the final straw came when he ordered the murder of an Ottoman official loyal to the Sultan.
[00:18:30] This was outright defiance, and the Sultan could not afford to let such an open challenge go unanswered.
[00:18:39] In 1820, he issued an imperial edict officially declaring Ali Pasha a rebel.
[00:18:46] The imperial army was sent in, and so began the long siege of Ioannina.
[00:18:53] For nearly two years, Ali Pasha resisted.
[00:18:57] Even as the Ottoman army surrounded his stronghold, Ali Pasha did what he had always done—he plotted and schemed.
[00:19:06] He sent out secret messages to Britain and France, hoping to stir up European intervention on his behalf. He also tried to turn other Ottoman governors against the Sultan, hoping to spark a larger rebellion that might force the Sultan to negotiate.
[00:19:24] But this time, his network of spies and assassins failed him.
[00:19:29] The Sultan’s forces had infiltrated his inner circle, and his desperate attempts to rally support only exposed his vulnerability.
[00:19:39] His own allies abandoned him, seeing no chance of victory.
[00:19:44] And in the end, the man once called the Balkan Napoleon, a master strategist who had spent decades outmanoeuvring his enemies, escaping traps, and turning the tables on those who sought to bring him down, well, he was outmanoeuvred.
[00:20:02] In February 1822, he was lured into negotiations with Ottoman envoys who promised him a deal.
[00:20:10] The deal was this: Ali Pasha would hand over his immense treasures, and in exchange, his life would be spared.
[00:20:20] Sensing that he might be being deceived but having little choice, Ali Pasha left his fortified citadel with his wife, entourage, and personal guards, and retreated to a monastery on an island in Lake Pamvotida, the lake in which he had thrown those women to their deaths several decades beforehand.
[00:20:40] It was meant to be a temporary arrangement, a place where the details of the deal could be ironed out.
[00:20:48] But in reality, by holing himself up on an island, and a poorly fortified one at that, he had just sealed his fate.
[00:20:59] A few weeks later, a group of Ottoman officials arrived under the pretext of negotiations.
[00:21:06] Ali Pasha, suspicious as ever, kept his pistol close at hand but allowed the meeting to proceed.
[00:21:14] Nothing happened—no betrayal, no attack.
[00:21:18] Then, a few days later, the boats returned.
[00:21:23] This time, they carried Mehmed Pasha, a senior Ottoman official who claimed to bear a decree from the Sultan himself.
[00:21:32] Ali Pasha, ever cautious, refused to approach until he had read the document.
[00:21:38] But Mehmed Pasha ignored him and ordered him to step forward.
[00:21:44] In that instant, Ali Pasha knew something was wrong.
[00:21:48] He pulled out his pistol and fired the first shot.
[00:21:52] Mehmed Pasha returned fire.
[00:21:55] Chaos erupted.
[00:21:56] The Ottoman troops rushed forward, swords flashing, pistols firing. One of them struck Ali in the arm with his sword.
[00:22:06] Ali’s bodyguards dragged him inside the monastery, barricading the doors as gunfire echoed across the island.
[00:22:14] The fighting only ended when Ali Pasha was mortally wounded by a shot to the stomach.
[00:22:21] Some say he fell instantly, others claim he crawled back inside, still resisting, even as his enemies closed in. His last words were, so the legend goes, “kill my wife so she does not fall into the hands of the Turks”.
[00:22:39] And then, the silence came.
[00:22:42] The last of Ali Pasha’s men laid down their arms, and the Ottoman troops burst through the doors.
[00:22:49] They beheaded Ali Pasha on the spot, carrying out the Sultan’s orders.
[00:22:55] His head was placed on a silver platter and carried back to the troops still resisting in his name. They had refused to back down, but the sight of their leader’s severed head changed things.
[00:23:09] The gruesome display did not stop there, as the dead man’s head was transported all the way back to Constantinople.
[00:23:17] When it arrived, it was paraded through the streets of the city, a trophy for Sultan Mahmud II, proof that the so called Lion of Ioannina was dead.
[00:23:28] Some say it was placed on the gates of the Sultan’s palace, a warning to others who might think of defying him. Others claim it was taken to the grand vizier’s palace and displayed on a dinner table in front of Ottoman nobles.
[00:23:43] One account even says that bodyguards interrupted a local archbishop’s dinner, slammed Ali Pasha’s head onto the table, and demanded payment for their ‘gift’.
[00:23:54] Whatever the truth, this was the end of the road for one of the most powerful and enigmatic figures of the Ottoman Balkans.
[00:24:02] A warlord, a kingmaker, a tyrant, a statesman—his legend lives on, but his empire, like his body, was ultimately divided and buried.
[00:24:13] So, who was Ali Pasha?
[00:24:15] To some, he was a visionary leader who ruled efficiently, expanded trade, and brought prosperity to his lands.
[00:24:23] To others, he was a tyrant—a man who used terror and cruelty to keep his people in line.
[00:24:30] Either way, he remains one of the most fascinating and complex figures in Ottoman history, a man who almost created his own empire within an empire.
[00:24:40] But a man who ultimately flew too close to the sun got burned and found his head on a silver platter.
[00:24:49] OK then, that’s it for Ali Pasha.
[00:24:52] I hope it was an interesting one, and if you hadn’t heard anything about this man before this, well, that you’ve learned something new.
[00:24:59] As a reminder, this is part of a three-part mini-series on the loose theme of the Ottoman Empire.
[00:25:06] Part one was on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey, and next up will be an episode exploring the curious history of the divided island of Cyprus.
[00:25:16] You’ve been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.
[00:25:21] I’m Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
