Ali Pasha first conquered Preveza in 1798 and the local Christian population paid a terrible price in blood and destruction. The turn of international events meant that Ali had to relinquish the town to the Russians. In 1806 he had another opportunity to establish his rule here. The Ottoman Empire was at war with Russia and Ali’s army served the sultan well by invading Preveza once more. But his motives were far from innocent. He had grand designs of his own to establish an independent kingdom carved out of the empire’s lands, and Preveza was a far safer base than Arta. After all, it was a coastal town and gave him easy access to neutral Western Europe whence help was always possible.