Plapoutas was born on in Paloumba in the Arcadia region of the Peloponnese, Ottoman Empire, the son of Kollias Plapoutas, who came from a strong line of Arvanites of Greek Orthodox religion from Epirus at the time, in northwestern Greece. This is of course the reason why Theodoros Kolokotronis referred to him simply as "Koliopoulos" (Greek: Ό Κολιόπουλος).^[1]

In 1811, he left Paloumba for the Ionian Islands where he became an officer in the 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry. In 1818, he joined the Filiki Eteria, which was planning to liberate Greece from Ottoman control.

During the revolution, Dimitris Plapoutas took part in the Siege of Tripolitsa, the capture of the Acrocorinth, the Battle of Valtetsi, the Battle of Maniaki and other battles.

After independence, along with General Theodoros Kolokotronis and General Kitsos Tzavelas, Plapoutas supported Prince Otto of Bavaria as the King of Greece. However, later he opposed the Bavarian-dominated regency during his rule. He was charged with high treason and on 7 June 1834 he was imprisoned at the Palamidi along with Kolokotronis and both sentenced to death and both later pardoned in 1835.^[1] Plapoutas then became involved in Greek politics and served in Parliament (1844–1847) and in the Senate (1847–1862). He was made an honorary bodyguard of King Otto and was entrusted with escorting him to his new kingdom.

Plapoutas also had a brother, Georgios, who fought alongside him in many battles and died in the Battle of Lalas.

When he was around seventy years old, Plapoutas married a woman in her thirties and had one child, a girl named Athanasia. Plapoutas died shortly afterwards.

His house still stands (albeit heavily damaged from an earthquake during the 1960s) in his home town of Paloumpa, Arcadia.

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  A photograph of Plapoutas in the Royal Phalanx uniform.
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  House of Plapoutas
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  Plapoutas bust in Ottobrunn, Germany