History Lessons To AB Elpidoktonos, #1: Ioannis Kapodistrias

Ioannis Kapodistras: Foreign Minister of Russia, First Governor of Greece, founder of the modern Swiss constitution on direct democracy and neutrality.  Given the originality of Kapodistrias’ “Swiss neutrality idea”, if he was alive today Ukraine would be a neutral country a long time ago…

FAVORITE MOTTO: “Those who befriend foreign (subjects/interests) are traitors”.

EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis).  After the embarrassing display of either attempted distortion or complete ignorance of Greek History by AB Elpidoktonos this week on the occasion of Greek Independence Day, Hellenicope has decided to proceed on a series of lessons on Greek History. We begin with Ioannis Kapodistrias (Please link here for his biography).  Here are the highlights:

• Born in Corfu in an aristocratic family that turned from Catholic to Orthodox.
• Studied medicine, philosophy, and law in Padua, Italy.
• Served as a Minister of the Republic of the Ionian Islands 1799-1807, where he took his first chance in writing a democratic constitution…
• In 1809 he entered the Russian diplomatic service under Czar Alexander I.
• His first important mission, in November 1813, was as unofficial Russian ambassador to Switzerland, with the task of helping disentangle the country from the French dominance imposed by Napoleon. He secured Swiss unity, independence, and neutrality, which were formally guaranteed by the Great Powers, and actively facilitated the initiation of a new federal constitution for the 19 cantons that were the component states of Switzerland, with personal drafts. The latest Swiss Constitution of 1999 still contains parts personally drafted by Kapodistrias (For a complete analysis link here).
• In the famous Congress of Vienna of 1815, he fought head-to-head with Austrian Empire’s foreign minister, Metternich, and managed to overcome the tremendous influence the latter had developed in Europe. He was honored by the Czar and as you will see below his statue decorates a central square in St. Petersburg…
• The significance of the fight between Metternich and Kapoditrias was such that over 140 years later, Henry Kissinger wrote his doctoral thesis at Harvard on the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars (the first large-scale fight between Russia and a Western power) and the huge struggle between the two men!!
• He was the secret leader of the Filiki Etairia (Society of Friends) who organized the Greek Revolution… He sacrificed everything for the success of the Greek Revolution, he gave all his money and other property… He even sacrificed a truly serious love affair…
• He became the first Governor of Greece, 1829-1831 – refusing to take even one penny as salary – and in these two years he managed to establish the foundations of modern Greek State starting from the ruins of the Revolution… 
• He was assassinated by the Mavromihalis brothers from Mani, who, many suspected, acted as agents of the British…

In Russia and in Switzerland he is honored, remembered, and celebrated more than in Greece.  In Greece, the Athens University bears his name: “National and Kapodistrian University of Athens”. Just recently, Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov referred several times to Kapodistrias – not only as he was talking to Greek officials but because he is dealing with similar East-West issues as Kapodistrias dealt two centuries earlier… 

KAPODISTRIAS AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF SWITZERLAND

MONUMENT OF KAPODISTRIAS IN ST. PETERSBURG