Battle of Sculeni | |||||||
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Part of the Wallachian Uprising of the Greek War of Independence | |||||||
Athanasios Agrafiotis fights in Pruth by Peter von Hess | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Greek revolutionaries | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George Kantakouzenos Giorgakis Olympios Yiannis Pharmakis Athanasios Agrafiotis | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
400–500 | 5,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
375 | Unknown |
The Battle of Sculeni was fought on 29 June 1821 in Sculeni, Moldavia between Ottoman forces and the Greek revolutionary forces raised by the Filiki Eteria led by Prince George Katakouzenos. [1] The battle came about as the result of Ottoman reprisals for Alexander Ypsilantis' expedition in the two Danubian Principalities, and followed in the aftermath of the Battle of Dragashani. When the Ottomans crossed the Bahlui River in Iaşi on 25 June 1821, Lieutenant Catakouzenos and his forces, originally stationed on the Russian frontier, crossed the Prut River. [2]
The Ottomans possessed a military that outnumbered the Greeks at approximately ten to one. [3] Catacouzenos imitated the retreat of Ypsilantis to the Austrian Empire after Dragashani, by fleeing to Russia. However, his forces, made up of around 500 young Greek soldiers (Edwin Emerson places the number at 400 soldiers [3] ), wanted to stay and fight against the Ottoman Empire. During the battle, approximately one-fourth of the Greek army fled by swimming across the Prut. The remaining soldiers continued to fight until they were either killed by the Ottomans or drowned in the river. The Russians, positioned on the opposite bank of the river, applauded the bravery of the Greeks. Giorgakis Olympios, a military leader who commanded an army in Wallachia, was garrisoned in the Moldavian Secu Monastery; Giorgakis fought until the Ottomans stormed the monastery and forced him to light powder kegs from which he perished in the explosion. However, Giorgakis had a Macedonian comrade by the name of Yiannis Pharmakis, who continued the fight for a fortnight longer. In the end, on 4 October 1821, Pharmakis surrendered on the promise that his life would be spared. The promise was not kept by the Ottomans, and Pharmakis was ultimately decapitated in Constantinople. [1]
After the battle, all Greek uprisings in the Danubian Principalities and other northern areas subject to the Ottoman Empire ceased. [2] However, the primary task, which was to divert significant Ottoman military forces at all costs towards the Northern Balkans, that would otherwise be used to fight and crush the Greek War of Independence in the South, was accomplished.
The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont.
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted by the British Empire, Kingdom of France, and the Russian Empire, while the Ottomans were aided by their vassals, especially by the Eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece, which would be expanded to its modern size in later years. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March.
The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire was one of the Russo-Turkish Wars. Russia prevailed, but both sides wanted peace as they feared Napoleon's moves to the east.
Alexandros Ypsilantis(12 December 1792 – 31 January 1828) was a Greek nationalist politician who was member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, and a leader of the Filiki Etaireia, a secret organization that coordinated the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar, the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is located, who traditionally occupied four important positions in the Ottoman Empire: Voivode of Moldavia, Voivode of Wallachia, Grand Dragoman of the Porte and Grand Dragoman of the Fleet. Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariots were aware of their Greek ancestry and culture; according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos' Philotheou Parerga, "We are a race completely Hellenic".
Tudor Vladimirescu was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudor.
Yiannis Pharmakis or Ioannis Farmakis (1772–1821), born in Vlasti, Macedonia (Greece), was a Greek revolutionary leader of the Greek War of Independence, active in Wallachia and Moldavia.
The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative boyars, but mutated into an attempted removal of the boyar class. Though not directed against Ottoman rule, the revolt espoused an early version of Romanian nationalism, and is described by historians as the first major event of a national awakening. The revolutionary force was centered on a group of Pandur irregulars, whose leader was Tudor Vladimirescu. Its nucleus was the Wallachian subregion of Oltenia, where Vladimirescu established his "Assembly of the People" in February.
The House of Ypsilantis or Ypsilanti was a Greek Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in Constantinople during the last centuries of Ottoman Empire and gave several short-reign hospodars to the Danubian Principalities.
Giorgakis Olympios was an armatole and military commander during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Noted for his activities with the Filiki Eteria in the Danubian Principalities, he is considered to be a leading figure of the Greek Revolution.
The Battle of Petra was the final battle fought in the Greek War of Independence.
The Battle of Drăgășani was fought on 19 June 1821 in Drăgășani, Wallachia, between the Ottoman forces of Sultan Mahmud II and the Greek Filiki Etaireia insurgents as a part of the Greek War of Independence.
The Sacred Band was a military force founded by Alexander Ypsilantis at the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, in the middle of March 1821 in Wallachia, now part of Romania. It was formed by volunteers students of the Greek communities of Moldavia, Wallachia and Odessa. It was the first organized military unit of the Greek War of Independence (1821) and of the Greek army in general. Ypsilantis thought that these young people could become the soul of his army. That was the reason that he borrowed the name of the Sacred Band of Thebes.
Athanasios Pipis or Thanas Pipi was a Greek priest and the Greek Orthodox revolutionary commander in the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830).
The Prut is a river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube, and is 953 km (592 mi) long. Part of its course forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine.
Prodan Gligorijević, known simply as Hadži-Prodan was a Serbian voivode in the First Serbian Uprising of the Serbian Revolution, then the Greek War of Independence, against the Ottoman Empire. He led an unsuccessful rebellion in 1814, dubbed Hadži Prodan's Revolt.
Some Serbs joined the Greeks, their co-religionists, in the Greek War of Independence (1821–29). Volunteers arrived from Serbia, Montenegro, and territories still under Ottoman rule, to fight alongside the Greek rebels against the Ottoman Empire. Several of the volunteers were veterans of the Serbian Revolution, such as Hadži-Prodan.
Alexandru Cantacuzino-Deleanu or Alexandros Kantakouzinos was a Phanariote Romanian-Greek magnate and politician.
Anastasios Manakis or Michaloglou was a Greek revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence.