From 1822 onwards it was clear that the Greek Revolution had taken root in the Peloponnese, west and east-central Greece as well as in the Aegean Islands. These are the regions that would roughly constitute the territory of the independent Greek state about ten years later. The Peloponnese was undoubtedly the centre of the uprising. Most of it was very soon under the control of the revolutionaries, especially after the successful operations against Dramali in the summer of 1822. This control was preserved until 1825, when the landing Ibrahim's army shed new light on the war in the Morea. The Peloponnesians managed to maintain certain resistance centres until the summer of 1827 while the intervention of the Great Powers (naval Battle of Navarino) ratified the fact that the Peloponnese would constitute the territorial base of the future Greek state. The Aegean Islands and especially Hydra, Spetses, Psara and Samos were important revolutionary centres providing ships, money and experienced sailors. Despite the fact that Ottoman strategy was to repress the uprising in the Peloponnese and Rumeli, the islands were also often a target of the Ottoman navy, sometimes with destructive consequences for the islands (Chios 1822, Kasos and Psara 1824).

Finally, Rumeli witnessed violent conflict. In the early years (1821-1824) the regions of east and west Rumeli were controlled successively by the Ottomans and the revolutionaries. However, gradually, the uprising was restricted to the fortified town of Missolonghi in the west, and to the Athenian Acropolis in the east. The fall of Missolonghi (1826) and of the Acropolis (1827) after many months of siege resulted in Ottoman domination of the entire region of Rumeli. However, after the Battle of Navarino operations were carried out to reoccupy the areas of west and east-central Greece (1828-1829). These operations ended successfully, thus reinforcing the negotiating ability of the Greeks over the question of the boundaries of the new state.