'' by
Peter von Hess,
Benaki Museum,
Athens. Because information regarding the existence and the activities of the
Filiki Eteria had leaked to the Ottoman authorities, Ypsilantis hastened the outbreak of the revolt in Wallachia and participated personally in it. Beginning the revolution in the
Danubian Principalities had the added benefit that they, being autonomous under the joint suzerainty of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, did not have Ottoman garrisons and, similarly, the local leaders were entitled to maintain small armed retinues for their own protection. Legally, the Ottomans could not move their forces into
Wallachia or
Moldavia without Russia's permission, and if the Ottomans sent their forces in unilaterally, Russia might go to war. The
Prince of Moldavia,
Michael Soutsos was a Phanariot Greek who was secretly a member of the Philiki Eteria, but at the same time however, Soutsos was an opportunist who hedged his bets by secretly informing the Sublime Porte of the planned invasion. Therefore, on 22 February 1821 (O.S.), accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service, Ypsilantis crossed the
Prut river at
Sculeni into the Principalities. Two days later, at
Iaşi he issued a proclamation, announcing that he had "the support of a great power" (meaning Russia). Ypsilantis hoped that a revolt would ultimately lead to a Russian intervention: since the Ottomans would have to invade and quell the rebellion, the
Orthodox Russians would certainly intervene in favour of their fellow Orthodox. In this hope he was justified, since eventually, the Greek rebellion led to the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828 in which Russian troops marched to the outskirts of Constantinople and forced the Sultan to recognize the autonomy of the new Greek state. In 1821 however, Tsar Alexander was still a committed member of the
Holy Alliance, and acted swiftly to disassociate himself from Ypsilantis:
Count Capodistria denounced Ypsilantis for having misused the Tsar's trust, stripped him of his rank and commanded him to lay down arms. Soon after, Capodistria himself had to take an "indefinite leave of absence" from his post. These moves emboldened the Turks, who began assembling a large number of troops to quell the insurrection in Wallachia. Ypsilantis marched from Iaşi to
Bucharest, trying to enlist volunteers. Ypsilantis was constantly short of money and his men turned to plundering the region. At
Galați, one of Ypsilantis' officers, Vasilios Karavias murdered the local Turkish merchants to raise funds while in Iași the local Ottoman guard of 50 men were killed after surrendering and receiving promises that their lives would be spared. It was then that the
Sacred Band was formed, comprising young Greek volunteers from all over Europe. Ypsilantis advanced slowly, not entering Wallachia until early April, by which time
Tudor Vladimirescu had seized Bucharest. A further problem arose when the Patriarch Grigorios placed an anathema on Ypsilantis as an enemy of the Orthodox faith, called on true believers to remain loyal to the Sultan, and denounced Ypsilantis for "a foul, impious and foolish work". In Bucharest, where he had arrived after some weeks' delay, it became plain that he could not rely on the Wallachian
Pandurs to continue their
Oltenian-based revolt for assistance to the Greek cause; Ypsilantis was met with mistrust by the Pandur leader Tudor Vladimirescu, who, as a nominal ally to the Eteria, had started the rebellion as a move to prevent
Scarlat Callimachi from reaching the throne in Bucharest, while trying to maintain relations with both Russia and the Ottomans. More fundamentally, Ypsilantis and other Greek leaders relied on the support of the Romanians, on the base of their common Christian Orthodox faith, and underestimated the increasing resentment of Greek influence in the Principalities during the
Phanariote era and the first stirrings of what would become
Romanian nationalism. Further, Vladimirescu regarded the Russian renunciation of Ypsilantis as absolving him from any further commitment to the Filiki Eteria. As a result, a conflict erupted inside Vladimirescu's camp. In the end, Vladimirescu was summarily tried and put to death by the pro-Greek faction and by the Eteria. '' In the meantime, the Ottomans crossed the Danube river with 30,000 tactical troops and Ypsilantis, instead of advancing on
Brăila, where he arguably could have prevented the Ottoman armies from entering the Principalities and might have forced Russia to accept a
fait accompli, retreated and organized his defense at a semi-mountainous area close to Iaşi. There followed a series of major battles that led to the defeat of the Eteria's forces, culminating in the final defeat at
Drăgăşani on 7 June. After a long march in the rain, Ypsilantis's army was exhausted, but Karavias, who was drunk, led the Sacred Band into a charge against the Ottomans. As the inexperienced and ill-trained men of the Sacred Band did not form squares, which would have allowed them to pack enough firepower together, the Ottoman cavalry had no difficulty in cutting down the rebels. After the defeat, Ypsilantis fled north. In his final statement to his men, he refused responsibility for the defeat and blamed his men, writing: Soldiers! No! I will no longer pollute that sacred and honourable name by applying it to you. You are a cowardly rabble!...You have broken your oaths, you have betrayed God and your country, you have betrayed me too at the moment when I hoped either to conquer or to die with honor among you... Run off to the Turks, who alone are worthy of your support...run off to the Turks, and kiss their hands from which still drips the blood of those they have inhumanely slaughtered. Yes! Run off to them, buy slavery with your lives and with the honor of your wives and children! Ypsilantis's army booed him when he read out this declaration. ==Refuge==