Kitsos Tzavelas | |
|---|---|
| Κίτσος Τζαβέλας Kiço Xhavella | |
 Portrait of Kitsos Tzavelas | |
| Prime Minister of Greece | |
| In office 5 September 1847 – 12 October 1848 | |
| Monarch | Otto |
| Preceded by | Ioannis Kolettis |
| Succeeded by | Georgios Kountouriotis |
| Minister of Military Affairs | |
| In office 1844, 1849 | |
| Monarch | Otto |
| Prime Minister | Ioannis Kolettis Konstantinos Kanaris |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1800 or 1801 |
| Died | 21 March 1855 |
| Resting place | First Cemetery of Athens (Section 2) |
| Political party | Russian Party |
| Spouse | Vasiliki Tzavela |
| Relations | Lambros Tzavelas (grandfather) Moscho Tzavela (grandmother) Zigouris Tzavelas (brother) Georgios Tzavelas (brother) Photini Tzavela (sister) Nikolaos Tzavelas Kostas Tzavelas Ioannis Kolokotronis (brother-in-law) |
| Parent(s) | Fotos Tzavelas (father) Despo Tzavela (mother) |
| Occupation | Revolutionary Soldier Politician |
| Nickname(s) | Kitsos Κίτσος Kiço |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg) First Hellenic Republic Kingdom of Greece |
| Branch/service |  Hellenic Army |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | |
Kitsos Tzavelas (Greek:Κίτσος Τζαβέλας; 1800–1855) was aSouliot fighter and general of the Greek rebels in theGreek War of Independence. After the establishment of theKingdom of Greece he entered Greek politics and served asMinister of Military Affairs (1847-1848) and asPrime Minister (1847).
Tzavelas was born inSouli,Epirus,Ottoman Empire in 1800, to theSouliotTzavelas clan (Greek:Τζαβελαίοι Tzavelaioi,[1]Albanian:Xhavella). He was the son ofFotos Tzavelas and grandson ofLambros Tzavelas, both famous for their roles in the Souliot struggles againstAli Pasha, thePasha of Yanina. Tzavelas grew up in exile inCorfu, the likely location of where he learnedGreek, his mother tongue being the Souliotic dialect ofAlbanian. As such, he was known by his Albanian name, Kiço Xhavella (IPA:[ˈkitʃodʒaˈveɫa]).[2][3][4]
Upon his return to mainland Greece in 1822, he became the head of his family andfara (minorAlbanian clan). He settled his clan inMissolonghi. He was initially under the patronage ofGeorgios Karaiskakis at the beginning of theGreek War of Independence, but would switch to the faction ofAlexandros Mavrokordatos when Karaiskakis was implicated in secret negotiations with theOttomans. However, this did not aid them in their rivalry with the fellow Souliot Botsaris clan, as the latter were favoured due to having prior membership in the faction.[5] After plunderingAgrafa (which was held by Karaiskakis' revolutionary faction) on the orders of Mavrokordatos, the Tzavelas clan rejoined Karaiskakis and abandoned Mavrokordatos due to him designatingMarkos 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]
WhenIbrahim 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 ofNavarino.[7]
In his speech to theThird 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 centralRumeli, and would eventually recaptureKarpenisi on December 15.[9]
The fact that Tzavelas and the other Souliot leaders gradually integrated in the Greek national cause was noticed by, and perhaps amused, their contemporaries such as the embittered Ahmet Nepravistha, the dervenaga of Kravara, who in aletter of September 1828 replying to Tzavellas's request to surrender, took note of their mutation, and pointing out their sharedAlbanian origin sarcastically called into question Tzavellas' Greekness.[4][3][10] After defeating him next month, in October 1828, Tzavellas had Ahmet's and his men's foreheads stigmatized with thePhoenix;[11] the emblem of theFirst Hellenic Republic.
At theFifth 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 inNafpaktos andAgrinio.[12]
After Independence, Tzavelas became a supporter of Kapodistrias and eventually a leader in theRussian Party which was the conservative and arch-Orthodox political faction in the period of KingOtto. Accused of planning a revolt against the king in 1834, Tzavelas was imprisoned by theRegency 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 nearMissolonghi to Tzavelas.[13]
He was subsequently appointed Minister of Military Affairs in 1844 and, in 1847-1848, Prime Minister. In 1854, during theCrimean War, a number of Greek military officers of Souliote descent, under Kitsos Tzavelas, participated in a failedrevolt in Epirus, demanding union withGreece.[14]
Kitsos Tzavelas died inAthens on 21 March 1855, leaving behind his wife Vasiliki Tzavela.[13]
He is buried in theFirst Cemetery of Athens, next to the plot ofIoannis Kolettis.
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.
Doch bis dahin dominierte das albanische Element, und ihre Führer horchten eher auf die Namen Marko Boçari und Kiço Xhavella als auf Markos Botsaris und Kitsos Tzavelas, obwohl sie durchaus Griechisch sprachen.
The village of Skala ... Karaiskakis
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Greece 5 September 1847 – 12 October 1848 (o.s.) | Succeeded by |
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