The Econmist - USA (2021-11-06)

The Economist November 6th 2021 75

Books & arts

Nationalismandrevolution

The day after the dream

W

hen a coalitionof  footloose  mer­
chants,  sea  captains,  hard­pressed
peasants,  landlords,  bandits,  clerics  and
intellectuals  raised  the  flag  against  the
Ottomans  in  the  spring  of  1821,  the  great
powers  of  Europe  knew  exactly  what  they
thought.  This  impertinent  move  to  estab­
lish  a  state  called  Greece  spelled  trouble
and should be discouraged.
After six years of grinding warfare, eco­
nomic  ruin  and  atrocities,  the  calculus
shifted.  Europe’s  masters  felt  they  had
more to fear from an Ottoman victory, with
all  the  punitive  killings  and  deportations
that would follow. In October 1827 the Brit­
ish, French and Russian navies—notional­
ly bent on enforcing a truce—sank the Ot­
toman and Egyptian fleet in Navarino Bay.
That did not instantly create a functioning
Greek state, but it was a matter of time.
In  turn  that  set  a  precedent  for  the

emergenceofothersmall,proudEuropean

states,  wrested  from  the  grip  of  the  Rus­

sian,  Austro­Hungarian  and  Ottoman

empires—a  process  lasting  until  the  final

collapse  of  those  empires  during  or  soon

after the first world war. As the subtitle of

Mark  Mazower’s  new  book  maintains,

events  in  Greece  200  years  ago  helped

shape modern Europe. His elegant and rig­

orous account also holds lessons for mod­

ern  geopolitics:  about  the  galvanising  ef­

fects of violence, the role of foreign inter­

vention and the design flaws in dreams.

What changed the international view of

the  Greek  struggle?  To  some  extent,  the

emergence  of  a  new  phenomenon  called

public opinion. As Mr Mazower recalls, the

Ottoman  response  to  the  uprising  fanned

philhellenic sentiment across Europe and

America. Russia was appalled by the hang­

ing of the Orthodox Patriarch in Constanti­

nople;  liberal  Europeans  and  Americans

were  shocked  by  the  slaughter  of  tens  of

thousands of Greeks on the island of Chios.

Western  idealists  (including  Lord  Byron)

flocked to fight for Hellenic freedom.

A  powerful  view  of  the  drive  for  Greek

independence is cynical about all this. And

some  Western  philhellenes  were  indeed

horrified  when,  after  arriving  in  this  sup­

posedly enchanted land, they found that in

appearance  and  manners  the  insurgent

Hellenes  were  not  so  dissimilar  from  the

Ottomans.  One  volunteer,  Thomas  Gor­

don, was dismayed by seeing a massacre of

Muslims  and  Jews  in  the  Peloponnesian

stronghold of Tripolitsa.

Mr  Mazower  acknowledges  the  sins  of

some Greek warlords, but his emphasis is

different. Somewhere amid the bloodlust,

flight  and  ethnic  cleansing,  he  says,  a

change  in  consciousness  came  about.  “A

new collective understanding of the Greek

nation emerged out of the wartime refugee

experience,”  not  least  as  those  involved

“came from all over the Greek world”.

The Greek struggle for independence helped inspire a wave of nationalism—
and holds lessons for foreign intervention today

→Alsointhissection

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The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the

Making of Modern Europe.By Mark

Mazower. Penguin Press; 608 pages; $35.

Allen Lane; £30