The Battle of Dragashani (or Battle of Drăgășani) was fought on 19 June 1821 in
Drăgășani
Drăgășani () is a city in Vâlcea County, Romania, near the right bank of the Olt river, and on the railway between Caracal and Râmnicu Vâlcea. The city is well known for the vineyards on the neighboring hills that produce some of the best ...
,
Wallachia, between the
Ottoman forces of
Sultan Mahmud II and the
Greek Filiki Etaireia insurgents as a part of the
Greek War of Independence.
Context
Alexander Ypsilantis
Alexandros Ypsilantis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης, Aléxandros Ypsilántis, ; ro, Alexandru Ipsilanti; russian: Александр Константинович Ипсиланти, Aleksandr Konstantinovich Ipsilanti; 12 Dece ...
and the Etaireia had carried out an invasion of the Ottoman-dominated
Danubian Principalities which coincided with an
uprising in Wallachia. Ypsilantis, a general in the
Russian Army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...
and
aide-de-camp to
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of A ...
, had hoped that his actions would cause the
Russian Empire to intervene on behalf of the Greek insurgents, but the Emperor, a leading proponent of the
Concert of Europe, disavowed any relation with him and effectively gave the Ottomans the "green light" to march into the Principalities to deal with the insurrection. At the same time, Ypsilantis clashed with the Wallachian
Pandur
The Pandurs were any of several light infantry military units beginning with Trenck's Pandurs, used by the Kingdom of Hungary from 1741, fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Silesian Wars. Others to follow included Vladimiresc ...
leader
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu (; c. 1780 – ) 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 (''Tudor from Vladimiri'') or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudor ...
, who was ultimately tortured and killed by the Etaireia, causing the Wallachian rebel troops to withdraw from the conflict.
Battle
An army of two thousand Ottoman cavalry camped, under the leadership of Kara Ahmed, at Dragashani, in order to repulse the forces of Ypsilantis. The latter, after a council with his co-leaders (
Giorgakis Olympios
Giorgakis Olympios ( el, Γιωργάκης Ολύμπιος; ro, Iordache Olimpiotul; sr, Капетан Јоргаћ; 1772–1821) was a Greek '' armatolos'' and military commander during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empir ...
, Nikolaos Ypsilantis, Vasileios Karavias), decided to attack Dragashani with his full army, which was consisted to be 7,500 troops and four cannons.
At 19 June 1821, Vasileios Karavias noticed the Ottomans retreating from Dragashani and commanded his men to attack. The rest of the army, however, was not ready and Karavias acted alone with only 500 horsemen and the "
Sacred Band" (a volunteer unit mostly made up of 500 young Greek students from both upper and middle classes led by Nikolaos Ypsilantis and
Athanasios Tsakalov
Athanasios Tsakalov ( el, Αθανάσιος Τσακάλωφ) was a member of the Filiki Eteria ("Society of Friends"), a Greek patriotic organization against Ottoman rule. (''retrieved from University of California Library'')
Biography
Tsakalo ...
).
The Ottomans, noticing that the size of the attacking force was less than a half of theirs, returned to their positions and conflicted with the Greeks. Soon the Ottoman greater numbers outweighed the surprising attack of Karavias. The latter retreated, but the Sacred Band did not. The Sacred Band stood and fought the four times larger Ottoman cavalry, even though every hope of victory was lost. Giorgakis Olympios with some men attacked and distracted the Ottomans for a while, saving about a hundred men with their leaders. After this conflict the Wallachian uprising started slowly fall apart.
Aftermath
Despite its failure, the revolution in the
Danubian Principalities helped inspire the uprisings in the
Peloponnese. Another aspect of the battle's aftermath entailed Alexander Ypsilantis' retreat to the
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
-ruled area of
Transylvania, after having written a forged letter to his troops stating that he was summoned by
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
, the
Emperor of Austria, to discuss military operations against the Ottomans on the Austrian frontier.
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Dragashani
Dragashani
Dragashani
Dragashani
Dragashani
History of Wallachia (1821–1859)
19th century in Romania
1821 in Romania
1821 in the Ottoman Empire
June 1821 events
Drăgășani