Andreas Londos

Who was Andreas Londos?

Andreas Londos was a Greek military leader and politician. Born in Vostitsa in 1786, he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria in 1818 and was one of the first military leaders to raise the banner of revolt in the Peloponnese during the Greek War of Independence.

On 26 January 1821, under the ruse of a land dispute between landowners, Londos and other leading landowners, primates and bishops of the Filiki Eteria, including Andreas Zaimis and Germanos of Patras, met Papaflessas at the Monastery of Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Vostitsa to discuss plans for an uprising against the Turks. At first skeptical of Papaflessas's rhetoric for general uprising, Londos and the other leaders eventually raised the banner of independence on 10 March 1821 at the monastery of Agia Lavra after the Bey of Tripoli imprisoned and threatened to execute several leading Greek Bishops.

On 23 March 1821, he and 400 Greek fighters marched on Vostitsa. Hearing rumours of a general insurrection, the Turks fled across the Gulf of Corinth and took refuge at Amfissa. The Greeks captured the town without a fight. Leaving 200 men as a garrison, Londos then marched on Patras to join the siege of the city's fortress.