Petropoulakis, Leonidas

Leonidas Petropoulakis was born in the village of Rahi of the Laconian Mani at the end of the Liberation War of Greece (1821 - 1829) ^[3] . The son of a participant in the Liberation War, Dimitrios Petropoulakis (1800 - 1870), the military commander, Maniat, later an officer, senator and member of parliament. Followed by a military career. During the Crimean War (1854), as a junior lieutenant of the Greek army, together with his father and other members of the Petropulakis clan, he took part in secret military operations against the Turks on the territory of the Ottoman (then) Thessaly ^[4] . In 1858 he was elected to parliament. In 1860, commanding the royal military unit, he suppressed the anti-monarchist speech of the youth of the city of Nafplion . After the anti-monarchist revolution of 1862 and the deposition of King Otto , L. Petropoulakis refused to recognize the Provisional Government. Together with a thousand armed relatives and countrymen, he held the defense in his native village, declaring his allegiance to the deposed monarch. However, despite his act of disobedience and rebellion, he was soon amnestied by the new monarch, King George . In 1865 he was again elected to parliament. Together with his father and son George , a volunteer, he took part in the Cretan rebellion of 1866 - 1869, leading a detachment of volunteers from Laconia. He distinguished himself in the battles of Halepa and Pigadakia ^[5] . After returning from Crete, he returned to the army and a few years later was appointed commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which at that time and the small size of the army of the Greek kingdom was a notable appointment. After the Berlin Congress (1878) and despite three years of delay, the Ottoman Empire in 1881 was forced to cede Thessaly (with the exception of the Diocese of Elasona) to the Greek Kingdom ^[6] . The 3rd regiment of L. Petropoulakis was transferred to the new northern border of the kingdom, located on Mount Meluna, which covered the valley of the (still) Ottoman Elassona. It was here, near the abandoned village of Gridzovali, after 5 years of routine border service, Colonel L. Petropoulakis distinguished himself in a military incident in May 1886. Although armed clashes were not large-scale, the (Greek) Military Encyclopedia of the 30s considered it necessary to devote several lines to them and L. Petropoulakis. The encyclopedia emphasizes the decisive offensive actions of the 3rd regiment of Colonel L. Petropoulakis, as a result of which the Turkish offensive was stopped and the threat to the left flank of the Greek border units was neutralized ^[7] . Colonel L. Petropoulakis died in Athens a year after this incident, on February 14, 1887 . The funeral was attended by the Prime Minister, ministers, members of parliament and thousands of Athenians.