BBC History - UK (2022-01)

B

O

O

K

S

R

E

V

IE

W

S

The Greek

Revolution

by Mark Mazower

Allen Lane, 6 08 pages, £30

In March 1821,

Antonios Oikonomou

• a sea captain from
  the Aegean island of
  Hydra and a member
  of the revolutionary
  Filiki Eteria, or Friendly Society – was drink-
  ing in a tavern in the port of the island when
  he heard that an uprising to free Greece from
  the control of the Ottoman empire had been
  launched. Springing into action he gathered a
  band of sailors and deposed the representative
  of the Porte, the Ottoman central govern-
  ment. Oikonomou was made sole governor
  but soon lost the upper hand. Forced to flee
  Hydra by rich shipowners, in December 1821
  he was gunned down by hired men.
  Mark Mazower’s book is full of such
  episodes – stories that humanise the long and
  bloody history of the Greek Revolution. It
  reads like a long series of adventure tales, rich
  in heroes, villains, triumphs and betrayals.
  The revolution (1821–29), also known as
  the War of Greek Independence, started as a
  series of local insurgencies. It brought togeth-
  er brigands, sea captains and young men who
  had studied Enlightenment ideas abroad and
  imported them to Greece. But local and class
  rifts soon came to the surface, and the conflict
  became as much a war among Greeks as an
  uprising against the Ottomans.
  Its meaning is still contested among histo-
  rians. Was it an attempt to liberate the ancient
  Hellenes, or a social revolution that brought
  Greece to modernity? For many fighters the
  war was religious – part of the Romeiko, the
  prophesied triumphal return of Orthodox
  Christianity. The main motive of the many
  Philhellenes (predominantly European
  volunteers inspired by their admiration of
  ancient Greece), on the other hand, was to
  fight against the post-Napoleonic reactionary
  restoration. They expected to meet ancient
  heroes but were disappointed. An English
  volunteer reciting Homer to the insurgents
  was met with total incomprehension.
  These tensions, and the huge power

Fight for a nation

COSTAS DOUZINAS on a study of the revolution by which Greece freed itself from the

Ottoman empire and was transformed into a self-ruling nation state

New dawn An allegory of the reawakening of Greek nationalism under Ottoman rule. This was one of a

number of factors that sparked the Greek Revolution of 1821–29, the subject of a new study by Mark Mazower

GREECE

while presenting the heroics and defeats in a

wider context that avoids monocausal expla-

nations. He shows how the revolution swept

away existing institutions, ideologies and

customs and created a new way of thinking

based on nation, faith, capitalism and consti-

tutional representation. And he argues,

compellingly, that the revolution helped

construct a nation rather than regenerate a

pre-existing ancient one, undermining an

article of faith of Greek nationalism.

The stress on the political and cultural

factors perhaps neglects economic pressures

and the preceding implosion of the Ottoman

empire. However, Mazower’s storytelling with

ideas makes this a book that will be enjoyed

equally by lay reader and historian.

He concludes that, though Greek freedom

was achieved, independence took much

longer, and the struggle for national sover-

eignty perhaps “continues to this day” – as the

recent travails of Greece over the national

debt and the refugee crises bear out.

Costas Douzinas is professor of law at

Birkbeck, London BR

ID

GE

M

AN

imbalance, pushed the revolution to the brink

of defeat. Only the victory of the united

British, French and Russian fleets in the battle

of Navarino in 1827 saved it – an episode that

signalled the birth of a new geopolitical order

and what became known as the “international

community”. After this success, and the

formation of Greece, the idea of a nation state

of self-ruling people spread across Europe.

Mazower reviews the conflicting political,

ideological and academic interpretations with

the aloofness that befits an intimate outsider.

He stresses the agency of the people involved

(QTGKIPIJVGTUYCPVKPI

VQOGGVCPEKGPVJGTQGUYGTG

FKUCRRQKPVGF#P'PINKUJ

XQNWPVGGTTGEKVKPI*QOGTVQ

VJGKPUWTIGPVUYCUOGVYKVJ

VQVCNKPEQORTGJGPUKQP