KARL NORMANN

Karl Friedrich Lebrecht von Normann-Ehrenfels was born into a noble family of Stuttgart, Württemberg in 1784. He pursued a military career and fought on Bonaparte’s side in the Napoleonic Wars, as Württemberg was allied to France, and took part in the Russian campaign. He retired after the Battle of Leipzig (1813). Deeply moved by the Greeks’ struggle for freedom, he decided to fight for the Greek cause. In February 1822, accompanied by 50 other philhellenes, Normann arrived at Navarino, which he defended successfully. He then joined Alexandros Mavrokordatos’s campaign in Epirus, commanding a battalion composed of French, Italian, German and Polish philhellenes. After an initial victory at Kompoti, near Arta, the revolutionaries suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Peta on 16 July 1822, with heavy casualties among the philhellenes. Gravely wounded, Normann died in Missolonghi on 15 November 1822.