Nikolaos Zervas (1800 – 1869)

Nikolaos Zervas (1800 – 1869)

From Souli in Epirus, he was a fighter, a revolutionary during the Greek War of Independence and a Major-General of the Greek Army.

Nikolaos Zervas, was one of the leaders of the Souliotes, a people known for their strong dislike of the Ottoman occupiers and for their numerous uprisings through the centuries, against Ottoman Muslim rule over Epirus.

Zervas fought with distinction during the revolution, mainly active throughout Sterea Ellada and Attica.

Following the end of the Greek Revolution, Epirus, the home of Nikolaos Zervas and the Souliotes, fell outside of the first borders of modern Greece. Most Souliotes therefore settled in the towns throughout Sterea Ellada, such as Agrinio and Nafpaktos etc.

In 1854, Zervas was one of the main figures, along with other Epirotes and veterans from the Greek Revolution, Spyridon Karaiskakis, Kitsos Tzavellas, Theodoros Grivas, Ioannis Ragos, who resigned from their posts in the Greek Army, to participate in the Epirote Uprising of 1854, looking to liberate the region and unite it with Greece.

This revolt was ultimately put down by the Turks and Epirus would only be partly liberated following the Balkan Wars (1912-13).