Demetrius Ypsilanti

Demetrius Ypsilanti and The Greek War of Independence

I am Demetrius Ypsilanti, and I was born in 1793. My family is from Greece, but when I was young, I traveled to different countries such as Turkey, Russia, and France. Learning about different cultures in important. On my travels, I learned about the American Revolution. The people in the United States fought to make their country independent from Great Britain.

In 1820 (the same time that settlers were coming to Michigan), my country of Greece was ruled by the country of Turkey. The rulers in Turkey did not treat Greek people as equals. We could not make our own rules, and we had to pay high taxes. The Greek people wanted independence. We wanted our own government.

I was a military leader, so I organized people to fight against Turkey. We had to work together because there were many more people in Turkey's army than in the Greek army. In the summer of 1825, there was a battle near the city of Argos in Greece. My army of 480 Greek solders fought against a Turkish force of 6,600 men. By working together we defeated the gigantic army.

I wrote to newspapers all over the world to tell about the Greek people trying to win their freedom. Our story even reached Detroit, Michigan. We won the war and were able to choose our own leaders, our own rules and even our own flag.