1. Alexandros Ypsilantis was a Greek nationalist politician who was 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 Etaireia, a secret organization that coordinated the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.
The Alexander Ypsilantis family hailed from the Pontic Greek population of Trabzon.
The young Alexander Ypsilantis had received a thorough education, becoming fluent in Russian, French, German and Romanian.
In 1820, on the refusal of Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, the Russian foreign minister, to accept the post of leader of the Filiki Eteria, the post was offered to Alexander Ypsilantis, who was then elected as the leader of the secret society.
Alexander Ypsilantis issued a declaration on 8 October 1820, announcing that he would soon be starting a revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
Alexander Ypsilantis went on to say that the Greeks did not need foreign help as they could defeat the Turks on their own before going on to say that Russian support was assured.
Alexander 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 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.
Alexander Ypsilantis was constantly short of money and his men turned to plundering the region.
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; Alexander 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.
Further, Vladimirescu regarded the Russian renunciation of Alexander Ypsilantis as absolving him from any further commitment to the Filiki Eteria.
Alexander Ypsilantis's army booed him when he read out this declaration.
Alexander Ypsilantis, accompanied by what remained of his followers, retreated to Ramnic, where he spent some days in negotiating with the Austrian authorities for permission to cross the frontier.
Alexander Ypsilantis was kept in close confinement for seven years, until he was released at the insistence of the emperor Nicholas I of Russia.
Alexander Ypsilantis's body was originally buried on St Marx cemetery.
Alexander Ypsilantis is mentioned in Russian literature by Alexander Pushkin in his short story "The Shot".