That Greece Might Still Be Free Resources

Review in The Anglo Hellenic Review, Spring 2010
 
Eight months after Ali Pasha of loannina’s act of mutiny, rebellion broke out almost simultaneously at two new centres. One was at the northern extreme of Ottoman territory in Europe, in Moldavia; the other in its southernmost reaches, in the Morea — this time it was the Romioi laying claim to independence. Yet when compared to the staunch resistance put up by the pasha, the latter uprisings seemed feeble — a few harsh measures against the Romioi in Istanbul and Smyrna might suffice to strike terror into the hearts of the unseasoned revolutionaries.

Yet it soon emerged that events were taking a very different turn. The moment the sultan realized that Russia would allow him to act unchecked, the rebellion in Moldavia was easily quashed. But in the Peloponnese the revolutionaries put the few Turks to the sword, and forced the remainder to take refuge in a handful of strongholds, while the rebellion spread to south Roumeli and the islands. And the strangest thing of all was that almost overnight, a powerful sympathy movement made its appearance in Europe: money was raised; poems were printed; societies and committees sprang up; vessels were chartered; and shiploads of volunteers began to sail for the lands in revolt. In what was for many an unanticipated paradox, philhellenism burgeoned overnight.

Wishing to comprehend that paradox and explain it to us, William St Clair wrote a captivating book that is a veritable fount of information. Never before had so many names of volunteers been recorded, never before had numbers been made available. This was a systematic attempt to classify and thus gain a deeper understanding of the various tendencies that led philhellenism to flourish; ever since it appeared progress has only been made in subordinate issues. So it was not without reason that when first published in 1972, the book was hailed as a classic. It has now been reissued with an updated bibliography and a new Introduction by Roderick Beaton. Demanding readers might have wished for a full chronology, which would aid a fuller and more analytic approach to the phenomenon.

Though it was never the author’s aim to write a strictly academic textbook, it has all the features that make for scholarship — systematic use of primary sources, exhaustive knowledge of the wider political context, erudition and an insistence on illuminating details.Yet the final target, the reader whom the author had in mind, was the educated European. And that is where the book’s chief virtue lies: though the author has a sound, often impressive grasp of all aspects of his topic, he leaves details aside so as to focus on the overall outline. This leads his readers to comprehend how and why certain cultured Europeans so doggedly sought to become involved in a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims at the western extreme of the Ottoman empire, at what was often great loss of life.

Without any doubt there were those wandering mercenaries who were keen to offer their services once left high and dry by the peace of 1814. Some were motivated by ambition, others fired by the democratic aspirations born of the French revolution and kindled by Napoleon’s victories, which had ultimately been defeated on the battlefield. Others were simply out to make a living. There was also the movement of educated professors and students raised on a love of classical Greece. Naïve and inexperienced, buried in lifeless books and lofty ideals, they believed that in Greece they would meet the descendants of Pericles, Sophocles and Philopoemen. Lastly, there were those romantic oppositionists scattered across Europe who, disappointed by Waterloo and the Holy Alliance, were stubbornly dedicated to any action directed against the restoration of kings, and who supported uprisings of all kinds: the Carbonari in Italy, the constitutionalists in Spain, the Christians in the South Balkans and, later on, the Polish nationalists.

Such is the general framework William St Clair proposes. He sets it out well and, as we said, backs it up with plenty of evidence and a captivating narrative. As Roderick Beaton rightly points out in his introduction, stressing the author’s sense of foresight, a whole series of events have altered our perspective since 1972: ethnic cleansing in the Balkans of the 1990s, holy wars and so on. Yet I would add that the perspective of many historians has also changed over exactly the same period: doubt has been cast on the feasibility of any grand-scale narrative, while a post-colonial view has sought to undermine the right of ‘westerners’ to cast negative judgement on the cultural conduct of ‘others’. Personally, I am glad that William St Clair gave himself and his narrative the right to express his opinions — for in doing so he forces his readers to think for themselves, search and judge.

At several points I believe the narrative really does go beyond mere information, takes on a life of its own and wins one over, leaving the careful reader with a number of questions unanswered. It is true that large numbers of philhellene volunteers were so sorely disappointed that they returned home, and their memoirs obviously describe actual conditions most accurately. Yet the stream of volunteers did not dry up. Here we have a fact that lends us a more comprehensive understanding of things — a fact which, while contained in the book, is not in thread in the narrative. Though it is true that in all conflicts the barbaric, boorish forces led by the kapetanoi came out on top of the European-educated politicians, ultimately it was the latter who won the war. It was they who began the struggle for independence, and they who imposed their opinions at the end of the day. True enough, the central government was weak and never managed to control the fighters’ dispositions, yet for all the internal strife and conflict it never ceased to exist. Likewise, somewhere along the line the narrative forgets that via some incredibly fast process — in a flash, one might say — the uncivilized, illiterate Romioi became Hellenes. How and why this happened has not yet been analysed to a sufficient degree, but happen it did. That, after all, is why philhellenism did not evaporate. And why, despite the military failure of the revolution, it succeeded in forcing European governments to intervene and impose Greek freedom on the sultan — whereas Ali Pasha’s mutiny was quelled without anyone taking the slightest interest in the matter.

We may still be due one final chapter, offering a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon. Yet we can be sure that it will rest firmly on the foundations laid by St Clair’s book, which is why this reissue is to be warmly welcomed.

Alexis Politis University of Crete
(Reproduced with permission)
 
 
William St Clair reviews La Cause des Grecs. Une Histoire du Mouvement Philhellène (1821-1829) by Denys Barau, in The Anglo-Hellenic Review, Spring 2010.


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