Kostas Botsaris

Kostas (Kitsos) Botsaris (Greek: Κώστας (Κίτσος) Μπότσαρης, Italian: Costa Bozzari, c. 1792–1853),[2] also known as Constantine Botzaris, was a Greek general and senator.[3] He was also a captain and a hero of the War of Greek Independence. He fought at the Battle of Karpenisi and completed the victory of his brother, the renowned Markos Botsaris.[3]

Kostas Botsaris
Κώστας Μπότσαρης
A portrait of Kostas Botsaris in uniform
Senator
In office
1844–1847
MonarchOtto
Prime MinisterIoannis Kolettis
Personal details
Born
Konstantinos Botsaris
Κωνσταντίνος Μπότσαρης
Kosta Boçari[1]

c. 1792
Souli, Pashalik of Yanina, Ottoman Empire (now Greece)
Died13 November 1853 (Aged 60–61)
Athens, Kingdom of Greece
SpouseEleni Iskou
RelationsKitsos Botsaris (father)
Notis Botsaris (uncle)
Markos Botsaris (brother)
Tousias Botsaris (cousin)
Dimitrios Botsaris (nephew)
Katerina Botsari (niece)
Awards Commander of the Order of the Redeemer
Nickname(s)Kitsos
Κίτσος
Military service
Allegiance First French Empire
First Hellenic Republic
Greece Kingdom of Greece
Branch/service Imperial French Army
 Hellenic Army
Years of service1814–1850
RankGeneral (Hellenic Army)
UnitAlbanian Regiment
Battles/wars

Early life

Kosta Botsaris was born in 1792 near Paramythia.

Greek War of Independence

In 1803 Kostas Botsaris and the remnants of the Souliotes crossed over to the Ionian Islands, where they ultimately took service in the French-raised Albanian Regiment. In 1814, he joined the Greek patriotic society known as the Filiki Eteria. In 1820, he fought to the end on Ali Pasha's side against the Ottoman army.[4]

On the night of 21 August 1823 Kostas, under the leadership of his brother Markos participated in the celebrated attack on Karpenisi by 350 Souliotes, against around 1000 Ottoman troops who formed the vanguard of the army with which Mustai Pasha was advancing to reinforce the besiegers. The Souliotes were victorious, however his brother was fatally wounded in the attack.[3]

Later life

After the death of his brother Markos Botsaris, Kostas lived on to become a respected Greek general and parliamentarian in the Greek Kingdom. Fifteen years after the death of his brother, the American traveller and author Mr. John Lloyd Stephens visited Kostas Botsaris, then a colonel in the service of King Otto of Greece in Missolonghi,[5] and described him as:

A man of about fifty years of age, of middle height and spare build, who, immediately after the formal introduction, expressed his gratitude as a Greek for the services rendered his country by America; and added, with sparkling eye and flushed cheek, that when the Greek revolutionary flag sailed into the port of Napoli di Romania, among hundreds of vessels of all nations, an American captain was the first to recognize and salute it.

— John Lloyd Stephens, 1838[5][6]

Botsaris continued to serve in the Greek kingdom until his death in Athens on 13 November 1853.[3]

See also

References
  1. Albanians at White House by the side of civilization, pg. 30
  2. Südost-Institut München; Deutsches Auslandswissenschaftliches Institut (Berlin, Germany) (1993). "Südost Forschungen, Volume 52". Südost-Forschungen: Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Kultur und Landeskunde Südosteuropas. S. Hirzel: 144. ISSN 0081-9077.
  3. "Botsaris, Kostas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1946. p. 957.
  4. Stathis 2007, p. 177.
  5. Willson, Marcius (2009). Mosaics of Grecian History. BiblioBazaar. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-559-12872-1.
  6. Stephens, John Lloyd (1838). Incidents of travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland, by the author of 'Incidents of travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy land'. New York: Harper & Bros. pp. 23–24. OCLC 178150.

Bibliography
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