Anastasios Manakis was born in Metsovo, in the Epirus region of Greece in the late 18th Century. He lived in Konstantinople as a merchant just before the Greek revolution of 1821 and he became a leading figure of the “Philiki Etaireia” a secret revolutionary organization that organized the revolution.

Manakis was part of a group of Greeks that started the revolution in February 1821 in modern day Romania, where a large Greek community resided. Afterwards he ventured to Peloponissos in Southern Greece where he served as an emissary between the different Captains. It is there where he envisaged the idea of joining forces with the Serbs and he was sent by the Greek revolutionary goverment in 1825 to Belgrde.

He met the Serbian ruler, Milos Obrenovic but the negotiations were not concluded due to the deteriorating status of the revolution that faced a double front against the Ottoman Turks and the Egyptians.

Manakis during his 1 year stay in Serbia became a member of the “Serbian Literature Society” and was awarded a metal by the Prince Nikolaos of Montenegro, when he also met him for political reasons.

On his return to Greece he joined the so-called “French Party” a Greek political formation heavily influenced by the French diplomacy. In 1843 he was assigned as a Consular in Kostantinople and in 1844 in Belgrade where he served until 1849 and managed to create further political and social bonds between Greeks and Serbs.

He died in 1864, just three years before the Voslau agreement that binded Athens and Belgrade officialy into a common front against the Ottoman Empire for the first time.

As in other cases in this blog where Greek historical figures are mentioned; Anastasios Manakis is not a famous personality, nevertheless he played his role in changing the route of history in the Balkans with his own unique manner.