Antonis Oikonomou (; 1785 – 16 December 1821) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

naval captain in the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Life

Antonis was born in Hydra and became a sailor in a young age. Just before the start of the

his ship sunk near

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. He then travelled to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

to commission a new ship and there he was recruited to the

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...

by Papaflessas. In the meantime, in Hydra, the leaders of the island did not want to lose their privileges given to them by the Ottomans, so initially they didn't join the revolution. Antonis, with the help of the members of Filiki Eteria from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

, landed on the island (30 March 1821) and expelled the governor, Nikolaos Kokovilas. He then declared a state of war on 16 April 1821. Soon after, Hydra and its leading families joined the revolution, but the leaders decided to devised a conspiracy and managed to arrest Oikonomou since most of his supporters, which were sailors, were away from the island. After he was read his charges, relatives of his intervened and managed to help him escape to Kranidi. There he was arrested again and put behind bars. Once more he managed to escape and traveled to Argos to meet with other revolutionary figures. Hearing this, the leaders of Hydra, worried that he will drum up help against them, sent a military contingent to kill him.

Theodoros Kolokotronis Theodoros Kolokotronis (; 3 April 1770 – ) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. The son of a klepht leader who fought the Ottomans during the Orlov revolt ...

discovered their plans and dispatched 200 men under Tsokris to protect Oikonomou. The men did not succeed to reach him on time and he was killed on 16 December 1821. In later years, however, Hydra did come to have a major role in the Greek Independence struggle, under Andreas Miaoulis.

References

Greek military leaders of the Greek War of Independence People murdered in Greece 1785 births 1821 deaths People from Hydra (island) {{Greece-bio-stub