1771: Daskalogiannis
June 17th, 2019 Headsman
The Crete patriot Ioannis Vlachos — better known as Daskalogiannis — lost his skin to the Turks on this date in 1771.
A wealthy shipping magnate, Daskalogiannis led the Cretan arm of the nationalist Orlov Revolt, which also featured on the Peloponnese. This affair is named not for any Greek but for the Russian admiral Alexei Orlov, who brought his fleet into the Mediterranean to engage the Turks during the 1768-1774 Russo-Turkish War, inspiring the Greek rising in the process.
Unfortunately for the rebels, some initial successes failed to catalyze a national revolution and Russian aid for the breakaway regions came up considerably short of what was pledged. While Orlov’s navy still harried Constantinople, Daskalogiannis for several months maintained a sort of autonomous redoubt from the mountain fastnesses around Sfakia with about 1,300 followers. By early 1771, he was forced to surrender himself at a gorgeous old Venetian fortress, then was taken to Heraklion and a horrific execution by flaying alive.
He’s commemorated in many street names in Crete, the name of the Chania International Airport, and a number of poems and folk ballads.
On this day..
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- 1581: Christman Genipperteinga - 2018
- 2008: Tsutomu Miyazaki, the Nerd Cult Killer - 2017
- 2015: Dok Macuei Marer, South Sudan assassin - 2016
- 1660: Jan Quisthout van der Linde condemned to drown in New Amsterdam - 2015
- 1800: Suleiman al-Halabi, assassin of General Kleber - 2014
- 1930: 13 Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang cadres, for the Yen Bai mutiny - 2013
- 1842: Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly, Great Game diplomats - 2012
- 1825: Isaac, Israel, and Nelson Thayer, in Buffalo's only public hanging - 2011
- 1939: Eugen Weidmann, the last public beheading in France - 2010
- 1795: The last Montagnards - 2009
- 1747: Mary Allen and Henry Simms, Gallows Lovers - 2008
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Arts and Literature,Businessmen,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Flayed,Greece,Gruesome Methods,History,Martyrs,Occupation and Colonialism,Power,Revolutionaries,Separatists,Torture,Treason,Turkey,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1770s, 1771, daskalogiannis, heraklion, june 17
