Theodoros Kolokotronis
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His Excellency Theodoros Kolokotronis Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης |
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|---|---|
Theodoros Kolokotronis.
Portrait by Dionysios Tsokos |
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| Native name | Theodoros Kolokotronis Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης |
| Nickname(s) |
O Geros tou Moria (The Old Man of the Morea) Ο Γέρος του Μοριά |
| Born |
3 April 1770 Ramοvouni, Messenia, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 4 February 1843 (aged 72) Athens, Attica, Greece |
| Buried at | First Cemetery of Athens (37°57′47.38″N 23°44′16.35″E / 37.9631611°N 23.7378750°E) |
| Allegiance |
 British Army Greek Army
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| Rank | Major (British Army) General-in-Chief (irregular forces during the War of Independence) Lieutenant General (Hellenic Army) |
| Wars | Russo-Turkish War, Greek War of Independence |
| Spouse(s) | Aikaterini Karousou |
| Relations | Panos Kolokotronis, Ioannis (Gennaios) Kolokotronis, Konstantinos (Kolinos) Kolokotronis, Panos Kolokotronis, Eleni Kolokotroni |
Theodoros Kolokotronis (Greek: Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης; 3 April 1770 – 4 February 1843) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotronis's greatest success was the defeat of the Ottoman army under Mahmud Dramali Pasha at the Battle of Dervenakia in 1822. In 1825, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in the Peloponnese. Today, Kolokotronis ranks among the most revered of the protagonists of Greece's War of Independence.
Theodoros Kolokotronis was born at Ramavouni (Ραμαβούνι) in Messenia, and was baptised in Piana, from a family of klefts, and grew up in Arcadia in the central Peloponnese where his family originated. The Kolokotroneoi were a powerful and respected clan in Arcadia in the 18th century. Their legendary pride and insubordination is commemorated in a well-known folk song of that time:
"On a horse they go to church,
On a horse they kiss the icons,
On a horse they receive communion
From the priest's hand."
His father, Konstantinos Kolokotronis, took part in an armed rebellion, the Orlov Revolt, instigated by the administration of Catherine the Great of Russia. He was killed in 1780 in an engagement with Turkish troops, along with two of his brothers, George and Apostolis.
Prior to the Greek Revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis operated as a kleft (a warrior-bandit), an armatolos (a Christian irregular of the Ottoman military), and as a kapos (a militiaman employed by Greek notables of the Peloponnese). As a kapos, Kolokotronis worked for the Deliyannis family. He acquired wealth by stealing sheep and marrying the daughter of a wealthy Peloponnesian notable.
In 1805–1806, Ottoman attacks against the klefts forced Kolokotronis to flee to the island of Zakynthos (or Zante). When Zakynthos was occupied by the British, he obtained useful military experience while serving under the command of Richard Church, a philhellene, in the 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry; in 1810, Kolokotronis was promoted to the rank of major. From his service in the British Army, he adopted his characteristic red helmet. While in the Heptanese (a French protectorate from 1807 to 1815, known as the Septinsular Republic), he came in contact with the revolutionary ideas of the era and was influenced by them:
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