On this day in 1776 Ioannis Kapodistrias was born – Practising doctor, founder of the modern Greek state and architect of its independence, Foreign Minister of Russia, facilitator of the federal Swiss system and political opponent of Klemens von Metternich

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  1. [Ioannis Kapodistrias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Kapodistrias) was born in the Venetian controlled island of Corfu in 1776. His family name traces its roots to the now Slovenian city of Koper, then known as Capodistria. Hence the name Kapodistrias – Conte Capo d’Istria.

    He studied law, philosophy and medicine and began his career as a doctor. His cunning diplomacy skills and intellect managed to get him to become one of the most impactful European politicians of his age.

    He became Foreign Minister of Russia, serving under Tsar Alexander I, helped develop the federal system of Switzerland and most importantly he secured the existance of an independent Greek state. His approach deeply infuriated Klemens von Metternich who wished for a reactionary order in Europe. Metternich commented on Kapodistrias: *”He lives in a world to which our minds are often transported by a bad nightmare”*

    Kapodistrias became the Governor of the newly independent Greek state. His tenure was marked by extreme austerity for his cabinet. He famously said *”as long as my private earning are enough for me to get by, I refuse to touch even a single penny from the state’s budget, especially when this land is among ruins and the people are in deep poverty”*. He enforced this austerity policy to all members of his cabinet, a policy that made him popular among the people but also made him many enemies among the cabinet members that fought during the Greek Revolution and who were waiting for rewards. His centralizing policies that seeked to modernize the Greek state as fast as possible ressembled policies unheard of at the time, especially in the destroyed and underdeveloped post-Ottoman landscape. This led to some more liberal minded Greek to assassinate him. His friends, German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Swiss banker Jean-Gabriel Eynard, the second being a major benefactor of the Greek cause, mourned his loss deeply.

    His death led to Greece becoming a monarchy and having a Bavarian king installed. King Otto.

  2. Medicine, law, philosophy, diplomat, statesman, posing nicely for a portrait. The guy is every parent’s wet dream.

  3. This man was the reembodiment of Hellenism that survived the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire. One of the great European politicians. He stood for a Greece that stood against everything the Ottoman occupation years stood for. He was after all one of those Greeks whose roots go back to that wave of Europeans that escaped the Ottoman invasion by fleeing to Western Europe. His mother’s family was originally Greek from Cyprus and his father’s family was of Byzantine origin from Constantinople.

    His political journey from Corfu all the way to Russia, Switzerland and elsewhere is a must-know. Definitely a story worth reading.

  5. Fun fact:

    When he founded the Greek state he adopted the Byzantine civil code named Hexabiblos, he founded a military academy to train the Greek army, gave legal equally to the Jews and crushed local revolts using the full extent of the power of the state.

    He was basically a small neo-Byzantine Emperor. Navigating his ship between Russia and England. Playing both sides and advancing his agenda. Can’t help but think of what achievements would have been possible had he, a man of such brilliance, been in charge of a bigger European state. The Greeks were blessed to have such a man in charge. His death was sad.

  8. Such a chad. He achieved to consolidate a Greek state in a land ravaged by the Ottomans and the greek chieftains themselves.

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