Kitsos Tzavelas
General Kitsos Tzavelas Κίτσος Τζαβέλας | |
|---|---|
 A portrait Kitsos Tzavelas by Karl Krazeisen | |
.svg){kind=small} Prime Minister of Greece | |
| In office 5 September 1847 – 4 March 1848 | |
| Monarch | Otto I |
| Preceded by | Ioannis Kolettis |
| Succeeded by | Georgios Kountouriotis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kyriakos Tzavelas (Κυριάκος Τζαβέλας) 1800 or 1801 Souli, Pashalik of Yanina, Ottoman empire (now Greece) |
| Died | 21 March 1855 Athens, Kingdom of Greece |
| Resting place | First Cemetery of Athens (Section 2) |
| Political party | Russian Party |
| Spouse | Vasiliki Tzavela |
| Relations | Lambros Tzavelas (grandfather) Zigouris Tzavelas (brother) Georgios Tzavelas (brother) Nikolaos Tzavelas Kostas Tzavelas |
| Parent(s) | Fotos Tzavelas (father) Moscho Tzavela (mother) |
| Occupation | Revolutionary Soldier Politician |
| Nickname(s) | Kitsos (Κίτσος) Kiço |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg){kind=small} First Hellenic Republic Kingdom of Greece |
| Branch/service |  Greek Revolutionary Army
 Hellenic Army |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | Greek War of Independence |
Kyriakos “Kitsos” Tzavelas (Greek: Κυριάκος “Κίτσος” Τζαβέλας, 1800–1855) was a Souliot fighter in the Greek War of Independence and later a Hellenic Army General and Prime Minister of Greece.
Early years and Greek War of Independence
Tzavelas was born in Souli, Epirus in 1800, to the Souliote Tzavelas (Greek: Τζαβελαίοι Tzavelaioi,[1] Albanian: Xhavella) clan. He was the son of Fotos Tzavelas and grandson of Lambros Tzavelas, both of whom were famous for their roles in the Souliot struggles against Ali Pasha, the Pasha of Yanina. Tzavelas' mother tongue was the Souliotic dialect of Albanian.[2] He grew up in exile in Kerkyra. Due to the Albanian element being until then dominant amongst the Souliotes, the Souliote leaders - such as Kitsos and Markos Botsaris - were known by their Albanian names (Kiço Xhavella and Marko Boçari respectively), although they certainly also spoke Greek with Kitsos probably having learnt it during his exile in Kerkyra.[3][4]
Upon his return to mainland Greece in 1822, he became the head of his family and fara (minor Albanian clan). He settled his clan in Missolonghi. He was initially under the patronage of Georgios Karaiskakis at the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, but would switch to the faction of Alexandros Mavrokordatos when Karaiskakis was implicated in secret negotiations with the Ottomans. However, this did not aid them in their rivalry with the Botsaris clan - a fellow Souliot clan - as the Botsaris were favoured due to having prior membership in the faction.[5] After plundering Agrafa (which was held by Karaiskakis' revolutionary faction) on the orders of Mavrokordatos, the Tzavelas clan rejoined Karaiskakis and abandoned Mavrokordatos due to him designating Markos Botsaris "General of Western Greece". The two clans had a very deep hostility to each other that, throughout the war, they supported opposing factions and refused to fight under the same command.[6]
When Ibrahim Pasha invaded the Peloponnese in 1825, Tzavellas, together with Kitsos Botsaris and Georgios Karaiskakis were among the Greek leaders to advance in Messenia and succeeded to relieve the siege of Navarino.[7]
In his speech to the Third National Council of the provisional Greek government in 1826, Tzavelas stressed the sacrifice of the Souliotes for a common fatherland.[8] In 1827, Tzavelas had campaigned successfully in central Rumeli, and would eventually recapture Karpenisi on December 15.[9]
The fact that Tzavelas and the other Souliote leaders spearheaded the Greek War of Independence may have amused some of their contemporaries, such as the local Derven Aga, Ahmet Nepravishta. In a letter written to Tzavelas in September 1828, asking for his surrender, Nepravishta ironically pointed out that both he and Kitsos Tzavelas share the same Albanian origin, and that Tzavelas shouldn't pretend to be a Greek hero so pompously.[3][4]
Post-Independence
At the Fifth National Assembly at Nafplion (late 1831- early 1832) the Souliotes were represented by Kitsos Tzavelas and Ioannis Bairaktaris. After many debates and requests by Souliotes to be given land, the delegates of the assembly agreed to give land only to Souliotes who fought in the war and to allow them to build their settlements in limited properties in Nafpaktos and Agrinio.[10]
After Independence, Tzavelas became a supporter of Kapodistrias and eventually a leader in the Russian Party which was the conservative and arch-Orthodox political faction in the period of King Otto. Accused of planning a revolt against the king in 1834, Tzavelas was imprisoned by the Regency Council along with other politicians of the Russian Party. When King Otto came of age and took over the reins of government, Tzavelas was released and later was named aide-de-camp to the king. Otto gave a large area of forest near Missolonghi to Tzavelas.[11]
He was subsequently appointed Minister of War in 1844 and, in 1847-1848, Prime Minister. In 1854, during the Crimean War, a number of Greek military officers of Souliote descent, under Kitsos Tzavelas, participated in a failed revolt in Epirus, demanding union with Greece.[12]
Kitsos Tzavelas died in Athens on 21 March 1855, leaving behind his wife Vasiliki Tzavela.[13]
He is buried in the First Cemetery of Athens.
See also
References
- ^ Ψημούλη, 2005, p. 167
- ^ Katsikas, S. (2021). Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821-1940. Religion and global politics. Oxford University Press. p. 40.
major figures in the 1821 Greek uprising, for example Captain Markos Botsaris, Captain Kitsos Tzavelas, and female naval commander Laskarina Bouboulina, were Arvanites whose mother tongues were dialects of Albanian, not Greek.
- ^ a b Schuberth, Richard (2021). Lord Byrons letzte Fahrt Eine Geschichte des Griechischen Unabhängigkeitskrieges. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. p. 94. ISBN 9783835345959.
- ^ a b Schmitt, Oliver Jens (2012). Die Albaner : Eine Geschichte zwischen Orient und Okzident. München: C.H. Beck. p. 106. ISBN 9783406630323.
- ^ Petropoulos, John Anthony (1968). Politics and statecraft in the kingdom of Greece 1833-1843. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9781400876020.
- ^ Tsiamalos 2007, pp. 256.
- ^ Mazower, Mark (16 November 2021). The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe. Penguin. p. 289. ISBN 978-1-59184-733-5.
The village of Skala ... Karaiskakis
- ^ Nikolopoulou, 2013, p. 301
- ^ The Greek Revolution : a critical dictionary. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2021. p. 312. ISBN 9780674987432.
- ^ Kostavasilis 2002, p. 146.
- ^ MAZOWER, MARK (2021). GREEK REVOLUTION : 1821 and the making of modern europe. [S.l.]: ALLEN LANE. ISBN 9780141978758.
- ^ Baumgart Winfried. Englische Akten zur Geschichte des Krimkriegs. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2006. ISBN 978-3-486-57597-2, p. 262
- ^ MAZOWER, MARK (2021). GREEK REVOLUTION : 1821 and the making of modern europe. [S.l.]: ALLEN LANE. ISBN 9780141978758.
Sources
- John A. Petropulos; Politics and Statecraft in the Kingdom of Greece; Princeton University Press, 1968
- Tsiamalos, Demetrios (2007). Social and revolutionary awareness of the armed cohorts of Roumeli during the 1821 revolution (Thesis). University of Panteion. doi:10.12681/eadd/16242.
- Kostavasilis, Konstantinos (2002). Installations of refuges from Epirus and Thessaly in independent Greece 1832-1862 [Εγκαταστάσεις Ηπειρωτών και Θεσσαλών προσφύγων στο ελεύθερο κράτος 1832-1862] (PDF) (Thesis). University of Ioannina. doi:10.12681/eadd/23070.
- Articles with short description
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- 1800 births
- 1855 deaths
- 19th-century prime ministers of Greece
- Prime Ministers of Greece
- Souliotes
- Greek military leaders of the Greek War of Independence
- Greek revolutionaries
- Russian Party politicians