Alexander Ypsilantis was born in Constantinos Ypsilantis‘ first-born son in Constantinos Ypsilantis‘ homeland. He was brought up in an environment of strong patriotism and received a fine education. At an early age he joined the Tsarist army. He took part in the Napoleonic Wars and in the Battle of Dresden in 1813 he lost his right arm, while he also served as an aide-de-camp to Tsar Alexander I.
An ardent patriot, he became a member of the Society of Friends in 1820, initiated by Emmanuel Xanthos, who offered him the leadership of the Society, i.e. the office of “General Governor of the Authority“. He accepted it on April 12, after the conditions he had set were accepted, and immediately began to organize the plan for the start of the Revolution from the Peloponnese. He was given the pseudonym “Kalos” and the letters of the Greek alphabet “A.R.
In February 1821 he invaded Moldavia with the “Holy Company” and shortly afterwards, he finally raised the flag of the Revolution in the Danubian principalities and in particular in Iasi, Moldavia, where the Turkish army was forbidden to stay. Thus, on 26 February, Alexander Ypsilantis declared the beginning of the Greek Revolution from Iasius. On February 24, he issued the famous proclamation entitled “Battle for Faith and Country“, a fiery manifesto for the revolutionary struggle.
On 7 June 1821 Ypsilantis’ army was destroyed in the battle of Dragatsani and retreated towards the Austrian border. Ypsilantis and his entourage, two of his brothers and close associates, were trapped by the Austrians and imprisoned in the dungeons of Mugach, in what is now Mugachevo in western Ukraine. The most prominent revolutionaries in Europe were imprisoned there, but the Greeks were only allowed to be held there at night to avoid contact with the others. When, in November 1827, he was released from prison his health was very poor. Alexander Ypsilantis died two months later, on 19 January 1828, in Vienna, at the age of 36.
As his last wish, he asked for his heart to be embalmed and transported to his beloved homeland, which unfortunately he never got to see for himself.