The Revolution of 1821 Led by Tudor Vladimirescu

The beginning of the 19th century brought growing social and political tensions to the Romanian Principalities. The Phanariot princes and the Greek boyars oppressed the population, and the peasants were discontented with taxes. The ideas of the French Revolution and of the national movements of Europe had begun to spread. At the same time, a war of liberation was being prepared in Greece, organized by the secret society Filiki Eteria, led by Alexander Ypsilantis, who hoped to involve the Romanian Principalities as well. This created the context for the revolution of 1821.

Tudor Vladimirescu was born around 1780 at Vladimiri, in Gorj, into a family of free peasants. He became a minor boyar, a district overseer (vătaf de plai), and then a captain of the pandurs (a corps of soldiers) in the Russo-Turkish war of 1806–1812, in which he distinguished himself by his bravery and received the Order of “Vladimir” from the Russians. He came to know the Eteria society, but he had a purpose of his own: the fight against social injustice and, in the longer term, the liberation of the country from foreign rulers. He prepared the uprising carefully, writing appeals to the people and gathering support in Oltenia.

On 23 January 1821, at Padeș, Tudor issued a proclamation calling the people to fight for “justice” against abuses. The document demanded the abolition of excessive taxes, the removal of purchased offices and the appointment of native princes. The army of pandurs and common people set out southwards and entered Bucharest on 21 March 1821. Tudor avoided radical measures, trying to obtain the support of Russia. His contemporaries called him “Lord Tudor”, and he left a programme set out in the “Demands of the Romanian People”.

The situation became complicated when Russia, through Tsar Alexander I, disavowed the Eterist movement, and the Ottoman Empire sent armies into the Principalities. Tudor, caught between the Eteria and the Turks, was suspected of treason by Ypsilantis. In May 1821 he was captured by the Eterists in the camp at Golești, taken to Târgoviște and killed on the night of 27 May, after a mock trial. His death was a blow to the movement. Ypsilantis’s army was crushed by the Turks at Drăgășani on 7 June 1821, and his campaign came to an end. The revolution thus lost both its foreign support and its leader.

Although it failed militarily, the revolution of 1821 had important consequences. It put an end to the Phanariot regime: in 1822 the Porte appointed native princes, Grigore IV Ghica in Wallachia and Ioniță Sandu Sturdza in Moldavia. It revived the idea of national revolt, and Tudor Vladimirescu’s programme influenced the generation of 1848. The revolution showed that the people could become a political actor. Tudor’s place in Romanian history is that of a popular leader, who became a symbol of the struggle against injustice.