Battle of Drăgășani
The Battle of Drăgășani (or Dragashani) 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.
Context[edit]
Alexander Ypsilantis 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 and aide-de-camp to Tsar Alexander I, 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 leader Tudor Vladimirescu, who was ultimately tortured and killed by the Etaireia, causing the Wallachian rebel troops to withdraw from the conflict.
Aftermath[edit]
Despite its failure, the revolution in the Danubian Principalities helped inspire the uprisings in the Peloponnese.[4] Another aspect of the battle's aftermath entailed Alexander Ypsilantis' retreat to the Austrian-ruled area of Transylvania, after having written a forged letter to his troops stating that he was summoned by Francis I, the Emperor of Austria, to discuss military operations against the Ottomans on the Austrian frontier.[3]