Heraklis Kalogerakis

https://cairnsnews.org/2026/03/12/new-iranian-leader-wounded-in-hiding-from-us-missiles/

https://halva.proboards.com/post/3231

The history of nations is often recorded through wars, campaigns, conflicts. In the case of the Greek Revolution, our historical memory is filled with such images: the fire ships of Kanaris, the battles of Kolokotronis, the resistance of Karaiskakis.

But states are not created only on the battlefield. They are born also in the sessions of diplomacy. They are brought into existence by people who understand that the force of arms is not enough in itself. Political discernment is equally necessary, as is international strategy and – above all – the ability to avert war when this is possible.

Such a person was Ioannis Capodistrias. In an age of revolutions and confrontations Capodistrias was the embodiment of a different approach to power. He did not believe that nations are saved by means of war alone. He believed that they are saved when politics and diplomacy create the conditions that render warfare either superfluous or impossible.

In other words he believed in what today is called strategic deterrence. Perhaps this is what is most up-to-date about Capodistrias. Because his thinking was not applicable only for 1821. It applies for every age. In every historical period states are faced with the same dilemma: to resort to war or try to avert it.

Capodistrias opted for the latter. And his choice was not the product of weakness. It was the result of profound knowledge of international politics.

As Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire he had found himself at the epicenter of European diplomacy. He understood his age’s mechanisms of power better than any other Greek. He also understood something else: that revolutions can win battles but only diplomacy can create states,

This conviction underlay his entire stance on the Greek Revolution. And it is this stance that we examine today. Not Capodistrias as governor. Not Capodistrias as politician. But Capodistrias as strategic mind of diplomacy, a person very much aware that the greatest victory of a state is not always to win a war but rather to deter a war.