Alexander Ypsilantis Alexander Ypsilantis , Ypsilanti , or Alexandros Ypsilantis ( ; ; ; 12 December 1792 – 31 January 1828 ) was a member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family , a prince of the Danubian Principalities , a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars , and a leader of the Filiki Eteria , a secret organization that coordinated the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire . He should not be confused with his namesake grandfather , a Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia at the end of the 18th century . Early life . The Ypsilantis family hailed from the Pontian population of Trabzon . He was born on 12 December 1792 in Constantinople , the capital of the Ottoman Empire , as the eldest of three brothers ( the other being Nicholas and Demetrios ) . His father Constantine Ypsilantis and grandfather Alexander were active in the Ottoman administration and highly educated , each with their own share of service as a dragoman in the Sultan ' s court and as hospodar s of the Danubian Principalities . Russian military service . With the outbreak of the Russo - Turkish War in 1805 , his father fled with family to Imperial Russia . The young Alexander had received a thorough education , becoming fluent in Russian , French , German and Romanian . At the age of 15 , he was presented to the Russian Court , where he came under the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna . On 12 April 1808 , he entered a commission in the prestigious Chevalier Guard Regiment with the rank of cornet . Moving rapidly up the ranks , he was promoted to lieutenant on 27 September 1810 and to Stabs - Rittmeister on 18 October of the same year . During the French invasion of Russia , he fought in the battles of Klyastitsy and Polotsk . Promoted to full Rittmeister ( Captain ) on 20 February 1813 , he went on to participate in the Battle of Bautzen . On 6 July , he was transferred to the 6th Klyastitsy Hussar Regiment as Lieutenant Colonel , and participated with his new unit in the Battle of Dresden , where his right arm was torn off by a shell . Although he was immediately promoted to full Colonel , it meant that Ypsilantis would not be able to see action again . However , he attended the Congress of Vienna where he was a popular figure in society ( see Auguste Louis Charles La Garde de Chambonas , " Souvenirs " ) , and earned the sympathy of Tsar Alexander I , who appointed him his aide - de - camp on 1 January 1816 . In late 1817 , at the age of 25 he became a Major General and commander of the 1st Brigade of Hussars of the 1st Hussar Division . Preparations for the Greek insurrection . In 1820 , on the refusal of Count John Capodistria , the then Russian foreign minister , to accept the post of leader of the Filiki Eteria , the post was offered to Ypsilantis , who was then elected as the leader of the secret society . Following that , he processed and approved the general plan of the Greek war of independence , which was revised during May 1820 at Bucharest , with the participation of rebel captains from mainland Greece . The main points of the plan were : Campaign in Moldavia and Wallachia . 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 , while in turn the local leaders were entitled to maintain small armed retinues for their own protection . Therefore , on 22 February 1821 ( O . S . ) , accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service , he 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 . It was then that the Sacred Band was formed , composed of young Greek volunteers from all over Europe . 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 . He further took the Russian renunciation of Ypsilantis to mean that his commitment to the Filiki Eteria was over , and as result , a conflict erupted inside his camp . In the end , Vladimirescu was tried and executed by the pro - Greek faction and the Eteria . In the meanwhile , 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 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 lead to the defeat of the Eteria ' s forces , culminating in the final defeat at Drăgăşani on 19 June . Refuge . Ypsilantis , accompanied by what remained of his followers , retreated to Râmnic , where he spent some days in negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier . Fearing that his defeated followers might surrender him to the Turks , he gave out that Austria had declared war on Turkey , caused a " Te Deum " to be sung in the church of Cozia , and , on pretext of arranging measures with the Austrian commander - in - chief , crossed the frontier . But the reactionary policies of the Holy Alliance were enforced by Francis I and Klemens Metternich , and the country refused to give asylum for leaders of revolts in neighboring countries . Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years ( 1823 to 1827 in Terezín ) , until he was released at the insistence of the emperor Nicholas I of Russia . Death . After his release , he got retired to Vienna where he died in extreme poverty and misery on 29 January 1828 . His last wish that his heart be removed from his body and sent to Greece was fulfilled by Georgios Lassanis , and it is now located at the " Amalieion " in Athens . His appearance in likenesses and the accounts of his life suggest he had Dystrophia myotonica , a congenital multi - system disorder . ( see Caughey JE . Dystrophia Myotonica and Related Disorders . 1991 ) His body was originally buried on St . Marx cemetery , and later on his remains were transferred in Ypsilanti - Sina estate in Rappoltenkirchen - Austria by members of his family on 18 February 1903 . His last transfer occurred on August 1964 , when he was finally relocated to the Taxiarches Church in " Pedion tou Areos " Athens , Greece , 136 years after his death . Ypsilanti Township , Michigan in the United States of America is named in honor of him . Later the city of Ypsilanti , located within the township , was named after his brother Demetrius . Literature . Alexander Ypsilantis is mentioned in Russian literature by Alexander Pushkin in his short story The Shot . The hero of Pushkin ' s story , Silivio dies in a campaign under command of Ypsilantis . See also . Alexander Ypsilantis ( 1725 – 1805 ) - grandfather < br > Constantine Ypsilantis - father < br > Demetrios Ypsilantis - brother