Nikolaos Kriezotis: Greek War of Independence Hero and politician

From Euboea, Nikolaos Kriezotis (1785 – 1853) was a Revolutionary and Fighter during the Greek Revolution of 1821 and later a politician.

Son of a shepherd, he became one himself, later finding work in Kotyaeion in Asia Minor.

While there, prior to the break out of the 1821 Revolution, he was in prison, after getting involved in a quarrel and killing a Turk.

At the outbreak of the Revolution, Nikolaos Kriezotis escaped prison and travelled back home to Euboea, where he formed his own force for the Revolution.

An ally of Georgios Karaiskakis, Kriezotis took part in the Siege of the Acropolis in 1821-22, one of the earliest battles of the Revolution. This was a decisive Greek victory and saw the Turks surrender the Acropolis.

Kriezotis participated in numerous battles throughout Attica and Sterea Ellada, all the way to the Battle of Petra in 1829, the final battle of the Greek War of Independence.

Nikolaos Kriezotis, together with other veterans of the Greek Revolution, led another Revolution in September of 1843, to oust the foreign and autocratic rule of Otto and the other Bavarian officials who were leading the Government.

They demanded a new constitution.

Following the Greek victory and the exile of Otto and the Bavarians, Kriezotis was elected as an MP for Euboea in the first elections.

After dying in Smyrni in 1853 and buried at the Church of Agia Fotini (later to be destroyed by the Turks in 1922), ten years later in 1863, his bones were recovered and brought to Euboea, where a bust now stands of him in the city of Chalkida.

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