Image:Christian_Tell.jpg '''Christian Tell''' (1808—24_February 1884) was a Transylvanian-born Wallachian and Romanian politician. ==Life== ===Early life=== Born in Braşov, Tell studied at Gheorghe_Lazăr's school, and then at the Saint_Sava_Academy in Bucharest, and became close to Ion_Heliade_Rădulescu's version of Radicalism. He entered the Military forces of the Ottoman_Empire and fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, earning the rank of Captain; in 1830, he entered service in the newly-founded Wallachian_Army, and, as a nationalist and Freemason, began his participation in the subsersive secret society ''Frăţia'' ("Brotherhood"). ===In the revolution=== Alongside Gheorghe_Magheru, Tell was leader of the military component of the 1848_Wallachian_revolution. Present at the reading of the ''Islaz_Proclamation'' on June_9, he became a member of the Revolutionary Committee (alongside his fellow conspirators, including Nicolae_Bălcescu and Ion_Ghica), and, after the June_11 revolt in Bucharest, a member of the Provisional Government of Wallachia. After the brief Reactionary coup attempt of June_19, he helped organize the defense of the revolutionary power. He was charged with the creation of national guards - although his attitudes of the time indicate that he was moving towards Conservatism, an attribute which was used by the Wallachian revolutionaries in August, when the threat of an Ottoman intervention made the Provisional Government nominate a body of three moderate Regents (alongside Tell, it included Heliade Rădulescu and Nicolae_Golescu). ===Later life=== When the Ottomans ultimately interevened against the revolution (September 1848) in order to satisfy the Russian request for order, Tell and most other revolutionaries fled the country; the former regents remained leaders of the moderate faction. He returned in 1857, when the decrease in Russian influence after the Crimean_War made possible a call for a union of the Danubian_Principalities, and was consequently an activist in the unionist camp prior to the election of Alexander_John_Cuza as ruler of both Wallachia and Moldavia (Tell was a deputy to the Ad_hoc_Divan of Wallachia and a member of the Common Commission in Focşani). He served as minister in several cabinets under Cuza and Prince Carol, and was Mayor_of_Bucharest between November 1870 and January 1871. Tell, Christian Tell, Christian Tell, Christian Tell, Christian Tell, Christian Tell, Christian Tell, Christian