Georgios Stephanou

Georgios Stephanou (Greek: Γεώργιος Στεφάνου, 1824–1901) was a Greek gendarmerie officer and revolutionary. He was one of the leaders of the Greek revolt in Epirus in 1878.

Biography

Stephanou was born in 1824 in Qeparo,^[1] Himara, Ottoman Empire, in modern southern Albania.^[2] He joined the Greek gendarmerie in 1849. In 1877, in an effort to take advantage of the ongoing Russo-Turkish War, he received orders from Greek government to discuss with the Albanian beys of the regions of Kurvelesh and Himara, a combined armed uprising in Epirus and Albania, both regions being under Ottoman rule that time.^[3] However the new cabinet of Alexandros Koumoundouros rejected the possibility of an alliance with Albanians and preferred the idea of a Greek revolution in Ottoman Epirus.^[4]

In 1878, as a gendarmerie major he was appointed as one of the leaders of an anti-Ottoman revolt in Epirus, leading a group of 700 Greek Epirotes. His troops landed in the coastal region of Sarandë on February 11, 1878.^[5] They took control of the coastal strip opposite Corfu and the surrounding in the region of Delvinë, as well as the coastal settlement of Saranda. The revolt initially spread to the adjacent regions. However, a numerically superior Ottoman force of 6,000 arrived, supported by Ottoman-Albanian irregulars, and suppressed the uprising.^[6][5] Stephanou escaped to Souli and from there returned to Greece.^[7]

He reached the rank of colonel. He died at 1901.^[5]

References

1. Κωνσταντίνου Σ. Αντωνίου, Ιστορία Ελληνικής Βασιλικής Χωροφυλακής 1833 - 1967, Εκδοτικός Οίκος Χρηματιστήριον του Βιβλίου, Athens 1965, vol. 2, p. 679.
2. Skoulidas, p. 104
3. Skoulidas, p. 108
4. Skoulidas, p. 111
5. Kaphetzopoulos, Flokas, Dima-Dimitriou, 2000, p. 15: "... a corps of almost 700 volunteers, under the leadership of a northern Epirot captain of the Gendarmerie, G. Stephanou landed on the shores of Agioi Saranta on 11 February 1878 and advanced towards the interior... In the meantime, the Treaty of San Stefano ... was signed on 3 March 1878 (NS)... In Epirus, the volunteer corps of G. Stephanou encountered not only powerful Turkish forces, but also Turk -Albanian irregulars, and was forced to retreat with considerable losses... The Turk-Albanian troops turned against the region's Christian population and thousands of northern Epirots were forces to flee from their native land."
6. Skoulidas, p. 124-125
7. Skoulidas, p. 125

Sources

• Kaphetzopoulos Ioannis; Flokas Charalambos; Dima-Dimitriou Angelliki (2000). The Struggle for Northern Epirus (1.udg. ed.). Athens: Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate. ISBN 9789607897404.
• Skoulidas, Ilias. "Οι Σχέσεις Ελλήνων και Αλβανών κατά το 19ο Αιώνα: Πολιτικές Επιδιώξεις και Θεωρήσεις (1875 - 1897) [The Relations between the Greeks and the Albanians during the 19th Century: Political Aspirations and Visions (1875 - 1897)]". www.didaktorika.gr (in Greek). University of Ioannina. Retrieved 27 May 2015.