Battle of Dragatsani

On 19 June 1821, Ottoman forces defeated the army of Alexandros Ypsilantis at Drăgășani, in Wallachia, modern Romania, ending the Greek revolt in the Danubian principalities. At the heart of Ypsilantis's force was the Sacred Band, a unit of around 500 young volunteers, many of them Greek students from across Europe, who had joined to fight for Greek freedom. They wore black uniforms marked with a skull and crossbones and swore to win freedom or die. Before the main army had arrived, the Sacred Band, under the command of Nikolaos Ypsilantis and Vasileios Karavias, rashly attacked the Ottoman forces. Karavias reportedly acted without orders. The Ottoman cavalry counterattacked, and many of the volunteers were killed as they refused to retreat, while other troops fled. Around 200 members of the Sacred Band died. Ypsilantis fled across the border into Austria, where he was imprisoned for several years and later died in Vienna. The sacrifice of the Sacred Band made its members heroes, and their story inspired the revolutionary struggle already underway in southern Greece.