Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828)

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Alexander Ypsilantis, Ypsilanti, or Alexandros Ypsilantis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης; Romanian: Alexandru Ipsilanti; Russian: Александр Ипсиланти; 1792—1828) was a member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the course of the Napoleonic Wars, and a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that coordinated the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. He should not be confused with his grandfather a Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia at the end of the 18th century, with whom he bears the same name.

Early life

Ypsilantis' family originated from the Pontian populations of Trebizond. He was born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, as the eldest of three brothers (the other being Nicholas and Demetrius Ypsilanti). His father Constantine Ypsilantis and grandfather Alexander, were politically active and highly educated, each with their own share of service as a dragoman in the Sultan's high court.

At the age of 13 (1805), Alexander accompanied his father to Saint Petersburg in Imperial Russia, and in 1809 received a commission in the cavalry of the Imperial Guard. During the wars against Napoleon's France, he fought in several battles with distinction in 1812 and 1813, losing an arm at the battle of Dresden, and in 1814 was promoted to colonel and appointed one of the emperor's adjutants.

In this capacity he attended Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, at the Congress of Vienna where he was a popular figure in society (see Auguste Louis Charles La Garde-Chambonas, Souvenirs). In 1817, at the age of 25 he became major-general and commander of the brigade of hussars.

Preparations for the greek insurrection

In 1820, on the refusal of Ioannis Kapodistrias to accept the post of president of the Filiki Eteria, the post was offered to Ypsilantis and he was elected as the leader of the society. Following that, he processed and approved the general execution plan of the greek war of independence, which was edited during May of 1820 at Bucharest Romania, with the participation of rebel captains from mainland Greece. The main points of the plan were:

to aid towards the simultaneous revolt of Serbs and Montenegrins.
to provoke a revolt in Wallachia, by also enlisting rebels from the serbian lands, battle hardened from the first and second Serbian uprisings.
to provoke a civil unrest in Instanbul through the use of agents, and burn the ottoman fleet at the city's port.
to start the revolution in Greece, from Peloponnese, after Ypsilantis descended there.

Campaign in Moldavia and Wallachia

Due to information that the existence of the Filike Eteria had leaked to the Ottoman authorities, Ypsilantis hastened the start of the revolt at Wallachia and participated personally in it. Starting the revolution in Wallachia had an extra benefit, since Wallachia and neighbouring Vlachia were autonomous hegemonies with Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire being the intermediate powers. In this context, the local leaders of these areas were entitled to maintain small garrisons of troops for guarding for their own personal security and property, and there wasn't any tactical Ottoman armies stationed there.

Ypsilantis hope was that a revolt in the area, would lead to a clash between the two directly concerned powers, as the Ottomans would have to invade and quell the rebellion, something that would lead the Christian Orthodox Russians to interfere in favour of populations with whom they shared the same religion. This wouldn't occur until 1828 when the Russians threatened Istanbul itself (Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)), something that led the Sultan to recognize the autonomy of the new greek state. In 1821 though, the Ottomans being fearful of a Russian attack and having a long history of conflict with the Russians, decided to allocate a large number of troops in the Wallachia area, something that made it easier for the greek revolt in the Peloponnese to begin and gain momentum.

At the same time, Ypsilantis placed himself at the head of the insurrection against the Ottoman Empire in the whole of the Danubian Principalities, leading the Sacred Band, a military unit he assembled for that purpose. Accompanied by several other Greek officers in the Russian military service, he crossed the Pruth river on March 6, announcing that he had "the support of a great power" (meaning Russia). Following that, came a letter from Kapodistrias, Russia's secretary of foreign affairs at the time, upbraiding Ypsilantis for misusing the mandate received from the Russian emperor, announcing that his name had been struck off the army list, and commanding him to lay down his arms. Ypsilanti's decision to explain away the emperor's letter could only have been justified by the success of a cause which was rendered hopeless.

Ypsilantis advanced from Iaşi to Bucharest, for enlisting volunteers. In Bucharest, where he had arrived after some weeks delay according to his original schedule, it became plain that he could not rely on the Wallachian Pandurs to continue their Oltenian-based revolt as assistance to the Greek cause; Ypsilantis was met with mistrust by the Pandur leader Tudor Vladimirescu, who, as a nominal ally to the Eteria, had started the rebellion as a move to prevent Scarlat Callimachi from reaching the throne in Bucharest, while trying to maintain relations with both Russia and the Ottomans. He further took the Russian nuisance towards Ypsilantis to mean that his commitment to the Filiki Eteria was over, and as result a conflict erupted inside his camp, and he was tried and killed by the pro-Greeks and the Eteria.

In the meanwhile, the Ottomans crossed the Danube river with a strength of 30.000 tactical army troops, and Ypsilantis instead of advancing on Brăila, where he arguably could have prevented Ottoman armies entering the Principalities and might have forced Russia to accept a fait accompli, retreated and organized his defense at a semi mountainous area close to Iaşi, where he ordered the executions of several pro-Ottoman authorities. There followed a series of major battles that lead to Eteria's and Sacred Band's defeats, culminating in that of Drăgăşani on June 19.

Refuge

Ypsilantis, accompanied by his brother Demetrius and a remnant of his followers, retreated to Râmnic, where he spent some days in negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier. Fearing that his defeated followers might surrender him to the Turks, he gave out that Austria had declared war on Turkey, caused a Te Deum to be sung in the church of Cozia, and, on pretext of arranging measures with the Austrian commander-in-chief, crossed the frontier. But the reactionary policies of the Holy Alliance were enforced by Francis I and Klemens Metternich, and the country refused to give asylum for leaders of revolts in neighboring countries. Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years (1823 to 1827 in Terezín), until he was released at the insistence of the emperor Nicholas I of Russia.

Death

After his release, he got retired to Vienna where he died in extreme poverty and misery on January 31, 1828.His last wish that his heart be removed from his body and sent to Greece was fulfilled by Georgios Lassanis, and it is now located the Amalieion in Athens.

His body was originally buried on St. Marx cemetery, and later on his remains were transferred in Ypsilanti-Sina estate in Rappoltenkirchen-Austria by members of his family on February 18, 1903. His last transfer occurred on August 1964, when he was finally relocated to the Taxiarhes Church in Pedion tou Areos Athens, Greece, 136 years after his death.

References

The Unification of Greece 1770–1923 - Dakin D. (1984), 2nd edition

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Sunday January 20, 2008 at 12:26:19 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation