ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ - ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ | Page 211

211
Modern period:
Chaidari and the 1821 Struggle – The Palataki villa
T
here are special historical links between Chaidari
and the 1821 Revolution, since critical battles (6
and 8 August 1826) took place in Chaidari, while
a minor battle happened in Daphni (21 March 1827), a
few weeks before the sore Greek defeat at Analatos.
G. Karaiskakis and C. Faviere were the protagonists of
the Chaidari and Daphni battles, as leaders of the Greek
forces and a Philhellene battalion, which attempted to
relieve the Akropolis from the siege of general Kutahiye.
The Chaidari battles took place in Elaionas, in the area
of the Palataki tower, then an estate known as Acherdari
(hence Chaidari), after its owner Chaidar Pasha. The
Greeks fortified in the neighbouring hills, which were
suitable for their guerilla tactics. A commemorative stela
today reminds of the events. The early 19th century
Chaidari had very few pastoralist residents. It was
marked by G. Flaubert’s passage, the sacking of Homer
Vrioni in 1821 and the Greek guerilla camps during the
Revolution.
After the fall of Mesolongi:
Kutahiye in Athens
1821-1827 saw the establishment of the Revolution with
a series of fierce battles in the southern mainland.
Nonetheless, since 1824 revolutionary pouches lessened
and, finally, Mesolongi, the last stonghold of the area
fell to the forces of Ibrahim and Kutahiye (10 April 1826).
Ibrahim moved to Morias and Kutahiye to the rest of
Roumeli. Most guerilla captains gave in and Kutahiye
kept a flexible position in order to reach his ultimate
View of Athens from Elaionas. Engraving by Ferdinand Stademann (1835).
goal: Athens. In 28 June 1826 Kutahiye and Homer Pasha
moved into Attica. Many locals joined them in protest
to heavy Greek taxation, but the majority transferred to
Aigina. About 1130 fighters fortified in the town wall, which
had been carelessly built in 1778 around the Akropolis hill.
Kutahiye set camp on the 3 July and entered the Athens
wall a month later. Akropolis fell after ten more months
of siege.
Karaiskakis as commander-in-chief
of Roumeli
The fall of Mesolongi brought the Greeks into dismay. A
new government was elected in order to confront and
stop the Turks and the Egyptians with Kolokotronis as
the new commander-in-chief of Morias.
The atmosphere in Nauplio was tense. Karaiskakis was
granted the command and administration of Roumeli,
View of the Palataki tower from the west in a postal card of 1901 (detail). The estate wall and the rich vegeta-
tion around the tower in the early 20th century are distinguished.