[1] Named Midilli after its capital, Mytilene, the island remained continuously under Ottoman rule until 1912, disrupted only by brief Venetian occupations in the First and Second Ottoman–Venetian wars.

[2][3] The port of Mytilene was one of the busiest in the Aegean Sea, and the island was relatively wealthy from trade, exporting many agricultural goods of its own, as well as benefiting from its geographical location on the major shipping routes.

[7] The Ottoman garrison numbered 3,600 men, of whom 1,600 were professional soldiers, with the rest being irregulars and drafted Christians, commanded by Major Abdul Ghani Pasha whose headquarters were based in Molyvos.

[8][9] As a result, the Greeks delayed moving against Chios and Lesbos until operations were concluded on the main front in Macedonia and forces could be spared for a serious assault.

20 November] 1912, the landing force were joined on the way by a newly raised reservist infantry battalion (15 officers and 1,019 men) from Athens.

10 November] on board the auxiliary cruiser Makedonia, but rough seas prevented a landing, and it was instead re-routed to the ongoing operation to capture Chios further south.

1 December], Syrmakezis had some 3,175 men and eight field guns at his disposal (although some 300 naval infantry served in police duties in the rear).

[9] On the next morning, both columns were ordered to launch their attack on Filia, but almost as soon as the Greek advance began, an Ottoman envoy appeared requesting an armistice for negotiations.

[17] The fate of the Aegean islands captured by Greece during the First Balkan War was the subject of prolonged diplomatic negotiations, as the Ottomans initially refused to cede them.

Finally, in the Treaty of London, the fate of the islands was placed in the hands of the Great Powers, who in the event would cede them to Greece in February 1914, apart from the two closest to the Dardanelles, Imbros and Tenedos.