“United we stand, divided we fall”: Sovereignty and Government during the Greek Revolution, 1821–1828


Published: Jan 7, 2022
Keywords:
Greek Revolution Age of Revolutions Intellectual History Ottoman Empire Mediterranean Modern History
Michalis Sotiropoulos
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3913-1142
Abstract

This article explores the political languages which Greek revolutionaries employed between roughly 1821 and 1828, and the multiple ways in which these languages found their way into the political projects they put into force (or sought to do so). It does so by considering the revolution as an open-ended political crisis during which revolutionaries were forced to address – theoretically and practically – the fundamental issues of political power: its source, its location and its organisation. As it shows, the frameworks for political action (or “scripts”) the revolutionaries drew on varied and fed into alternative visions of statehood (national, federal, local). By uncovering and understanding these alternatives, as well as why some predominated over others, the article aims to: propose an alternative genealogy of “the political” in the Greek revolution; shed new light on the liberalism(s) of the Revolution; and bring the perspective of the Greek world into the discussion about the importance of the revolutionary wave of the 1820s.

Article Details
  • Section
  • I. THE CONSOLIDATION OF REVOLUTIONARY GREECE
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Michalis Sotiropoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science

Post-doctoral Researcher, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science.

References
Alivizatos, Nikos. “Τα συντάγματα του Αγώνα” [The constitutions of the Greek Revolution]. In Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού [History of modern Hellenism]. vol. 10/1, edited by Vassilis Panagiotopoulos, 171-82. Athens: Ellinika Grammata, 2003.
Anagnostopoulou, Sia. “Η διπλή ανάγνωση της επανάστασης στο πλαίσιο της αυτοκρατορικής λογικής περί εξουσίας του Πατριαρχείου Κωνσταντινούπολης: Από τον οθωμανορθόδοξο πατριωτισμό στον ελληνικό αλυτρωτισμό” [The double reading of the revolution in the context of the imperial logic of the power of the patriarchate of Constantinople: from Ottoman-Orthodox patriotism to Greek irredentism]. In Η Ελληνική Επανάσταση του 1821: Ενα ευρωπαϊκό γεγονός [The Greek Revolution of 1821: A European event], edited by Petros Pizanias, 289–306. Athens: Alexandreia, 2009.
Andriakaina, Eleni. “The Promise of the 1821 Revolution and the Suffering Body: Some Thoughts on Modernisation and Anti-intellectualism.” Synthesis 5 (2013): 49-70.
Anscombe, Frederick F. “The Balkan Revolutionary Age.” Journal of Modern History 84, no. 3 (2012): 572-606.
Anscombe, Frederick F. State, Faith and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Antoniou, David, ed. Η εκπαίδευση κατά την Ελληνικήν Επανάσταση, 1821-1827: Τεκμηριωτικά κείμενα [Education during the Greek Revolution, 1821-1827: Documents]. Athens: Hellenic Parliament, 2002.
Armitage, David, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, eds. The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c.1760-1840. London: Palgrave, 2010.
Armitage, David. Foundations of Modern International Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Armitage, David. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007
Arsh, Grigori L. Ο Ιωάννης Καποδίστριας στην Ρωσία [Ioannis Kapodistrias in Russia]. Translated by Anastasia Belozerova. Athens: Asini, 2015.
Baker, Keith Michael, and Dan Edelstein. Scripting Revolutions: A Historical Approach to the Comparative Study of Revolutions. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015.
Baker, Keith Michael. Inventing the French Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Bell, David. “Words from David Bell,” replies to Richard Drayton and David Motadel, “Discussion: The Futures of Global History.” Journal of Global History, 13, no. 1 (2018): 1-21.
Benton, Lauren, and Richard J. Ross, eds. Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500-1850. New York: New York University Press, 2013.
Benton, Lauren. Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Blaquière, Edward. Report on the Present State of the Greek Confederation and on its Claims to the Support of the Christian World. London: Whittaker, 1823.
Bouboulidis, Phaedon. “Ειδήσεις και κρίσεις περί του αγώνος 1821-1824 εκ του αρχείου Ποστόλακα” [News and judgments on the Greek Revolution, 1821-1824, from the Postolakas papers]. Deltion Istorikis kai Ethnologikis Etaireias 12 (1957-1958): 24-32.
Comstock, John Lee. History of the Greek Revolution. New York: John Clark, 1829.
Daskalakis, Giorgos. Οι τοπικοί οργανισμοί της επανάστασεως του 1821 και το πολίτευμα της Επιδαύρου [The local organisations in the 1821 Revolution and the constitution of Epidavros]. Athens: Vagionakis, 1966.
Diamandouros, Nikiforos. Οι απαρχές συγκρότησης σύγχρονου κράτους στην Ελλάδα, 1821-1828 [The beginnings of the formation of a modern state in Greece, 1821-1828]. Athens: National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, 2006.
Dimakopoulos, Georgios. “Η διοικητική οργάνωσις κατά την Ελληνική Επανάστασιν, 1821-1827” [The administrative organisation during the Greek Revolution, 1821-1827]. PhD diss, Panteion School of Political Science, 1966.
Frantzis, Amvrosios. Επιτομή της ιστορίας της αναγεννηθείσης Ελλάδος αρχόμενη από του έτους 1715, και λήγουσα το 1837 [History of regenerated Greece starting in 1715 and ending in 1837]. Athens: Kastorchis, 1839.
Gallant, Thomas. The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1768 to 1918: The Long Nineteenth Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
Gordon, Thomas. History of the Greek Revolution. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1832.
Hill, Peter. “How Global was the Age of Revolutions? The Case of Mount Lebanon, 1821.” Journal of Global History 16, no. 1 (2020): 65–84.
Hunt, Lynn. Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Ilicak, Sukru. “A Radical Rethinking of Empire: Ottoman State and Society during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1826).” PhD diss., Harvard University, 2011.
Innes, Joanna. “Popular Consent and the European Order.” In Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1780-1860, edited by Joanna Innes and Mark Philp, 271-99. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Karabıçak, Yusuf Ziya. “Ottoman Attempts to Define the Rebels During the Greek War of Independence.” Studia Islamica 114, no. 3 (2020): 316–54.
Kasomoulis, Nikolaos. Ενθυμήματα στρατιωτικά της επαναστάσεως των Ελλήνων, 1821–1833 [Military memoirs of the revolution of the Greeks, 1821-1833]. Athens: Vartsos, 1941.
Kostantaras, Dean J. “Christian Elites of the Peloponnese and the Ottoman State, 1715-1821.” European History Quarterly 43, no. 4 (2013): 628-56.
Koumarianou, Aikaterini, ed. Ο τύπος στον Αγώνα, 1821-1827 [The press during the Greek Revolution, 1821-1827]. Athens: Estia, 1971.
Kremmydas, Vassilis. “Μηχανισμοί παραγωγής ιστορικών μύθων: Σχετικά με μια ομιλία του Παλαιών Πατρών Γερμανού” [Producing historical myths: on a talk of Paleon Patron Germanos]. Mnimon 18 (1996): 9-21.
Laiou, Sophia N. “Η προφορική παράδοση ως όπλο διαπραγμάτευσης: Το ζήτημα των προνομίων της Σάμου, 1830-1834.” In Συνταγματικά κείμενα της Ηγεμονίας Σάμου [Constitutional texts of the Hegemonia of Samos], edited by Sophia N. Laiou, 19–45. Athens: Hellenic Parliament, 2013.
Lignos, Antonios, ed. Αρχείον Κοινότητος Ύδρας 1778–1832 [Archives of the municipality of Hydra, 1778–1832]. Vol. 8. Piraeus: Sfaira, 1927.
Lignos, Antonios, ed. Αρχείον Κοινότητος Ύδρας 1778–1832 [Archives of the municipality of Hydra, 1778–1832]. Vol. 9. Piraeus: Sfaira, 1927.
Mamoukas, Andreas, ed. Τα κατά την αναγέννησιν της Ελλάδος ήτοι συλλογή των περί την αναγεννωμένην Ελλάδα συνταχθέντων πολιτευμάτων, νόμων και άλλων επισήμων πράξεων από του 1821 μέχρι τέλους του 1832 [On the regeneration of Greece, that is, a collection of the constitutions, laws and other formal acts from 1821 until the end of 1832]. Athens: Royal Printing House, 1839.
Matalas, Paraskevas. Εθνος και ορθοδοξία: οι περιπέτειες μιας σχέσης [Nation and Orthodoxy: the adventures of their relationship]. Irakleio: Crete University Press, 2003.
Mazower, Mark. “Villagers, Notables and Imperial Collapse: The Virgin Mary on Tinos in the 1820s.” In Networks of Power in Modern Greece: Essays in Honor of John Campbell, edited by Mark Mazower, 69-88. London: Hurst, 2008.
Moyn, Samuel. “Imaginary Intellectual History.” In Rethinking Modern European Intellectual History, edited by Samuel Moyn and Darrin M. McMahon, 112-27. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Palaion Patron Germanos. Απομνημονεύματα [Memoirs]. Athens: Tsangaris, 1900.
Pantelis, Antonis Μ., Stefanos I. Koutsoumpinas and Triantafyllos A. Gerozisis, eds. Κείμενα συνταγματικής ιστορίας, 1821-1923 [Texts of constitutional history, 1821-1923]. Athens: Sakkoulas, 1993.
Philimon, Ioannis. Δοκίμιον Ιστορικόν περί της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως [Historical essay on the Greek Revolution]. Athens: Soutsas kai Ktenas, 1860.
Polyzoides, Anastasios. Προσωρινό πολίτευμα της Ελλάδος. Και σχέδιον οργανισμού των επαρχιών αυτής αμφότερα επιδιορθωμένα και επικυρωμένα υπό της δευτέρας Εθνικής Συνελεύσεως εν Άστρει οις έπονται το Πολιτικόν Σύνταγμα της Βρετανίας και το των Ηνωμένων Επικρατειών της Αμερικής [Provisional constitution of Greece. And a draft bill for the administration of its eparchies, both revised and ratified by the second national assembly in Astros, accompanied by the political constitution of Britain and that of the USA] (Messolongi: D. Mesthenis, 1824).
Sfoini, Alexandra. “Επανάσταση: Χρήσεις και σημασίες της λέξης σε κείμενα του ’21” [“Revolution”: Uses and meaning of the word in documents of the Greek Revolution of 1821]. In Όψεις της Επανάστασης του 1821: Πρακτικά συνεδρίου [Aspects of the 1821 Revolution: Conference proceedings], edited by Dimitris Dimitropoulos, Christos Loukos and Panagiotis D. Michailaris, 307–40. Athens: Society for the Study of Modern Hellenism–Mnimon, 2018.
Sotiropoulos, Michalis, and Antonis Hadjikyriacou. “Patris, Ethnos and Demos: Representation and Political Participation in the Greek World.” In Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1780-1860, edited by Joanna Innes and Mark Philp, 99-124. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Sotiropoulos, Michalis. “Η Ελληνική Επανάσταση και η Εποχή των Επαναστάσεων: Ιστοριογραφικά προβλήματα και προοπτικές” [The Greek Revolution and the age of revolutions: historiographical issues and prospects]. In Ιστορία, μια καλή τέχνη: κείμενα αφιερωμένα στο Γιώργο Β. Δερτιλή [History, a fine art: Studies dedicated to George B. Dertilis], edited by Panagiotis Kimourtzis, Anna Mandilara and Nikoloas Boubaris, 147-64. Athens: Asini, 2021.
Sotiropoulos, Michalis. After the Revolution: Greek Liberalism and the Intellectual Foundations of the Greek State, ca. 1830-1880. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, forthcoming.
The Provisional Constitution of Greece, Preceded by a Letter to the Senate of the Grecian Confederation. London: John Murray, 1822.
Tzakis, Dionysis. “Πόλεμος και σχέσεις εξουσίας στην Επανάσταση του 1821” [War and power relations during the 1821 Revolution]. In Όψεις της Επανάστασης του 1821: Πρακτικά συνεδρίου [Aspects of the 1821 Revolution: conference proceedings], edited by Dimitris Dimitropoulos, Christos Loukos and Panagiotis D. Michailaris, 153-74. Athens: Society for the Study of Modern Hellenism–Mnimon, 2018.
Veremis, Thanos, and John S. Koliopoulos. 1821, Η γέννηση ενός έθνους-κράτους: Η συγκρότηση εξουσίας στην επαναστατημένη Ελλάδα [1821, the birth of a nation-state: the formation of power in revolutionary Greece]. Athens: Skai, 2010.
Yaycioglu, Ali. Partners of the Empire: The Crisis of the Ottoman Order in the Age of Revolutions. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016.
Yıldız, Aysel. Crisis and Rebellion in the Ottoman Empire: The Downfall of a Sultan in the Age of Revolution. London: I.B. Tauris, 2017.
Zanou, Konstantina. Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean: Stammering the Nation, 1800-1850. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Zei, Eleftheria. Κανάρης, Κουντουριώτης, Τομπάζης: ο αγώνας στη θάλασσα [Kanaris, Kountouriotis, Tombazis: the revolution at sea]. Athens: Alter Ego, 2010.
Αρχείο Ιώαννη Κωλέττη [Archive of Ioannis Kolletis]. Athens: Academy of Athens, 2002), vol. 2:
“Συνελεύσεις Καλτεζών.” In Αρχεία της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας [Archives of the Greek Regeneration]. Vol. 1, 441–42. Athens: Library of the Greek Parliament, 1971. First published 1857. Available online at https://paligenesia.parliament.gr/.
Most read articles by the same author(s)