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1821 : the “general” revolution

• Μηνάογλου, Χαράλαμπος Α.

The Greek insurrection of 1821 was an extremely complex phenomenon; it cannot be read as a social upheaval, as it was the case with the French Revolution of 1789, nor can it be considered as a stricto sensu national uprising, since various ethnicities of the Ottoman Empire, and not only Greeks, were involved in it. It could be better described as a “general” revolution, in the sense that it concerned mainly the “genos” of the “Romioi”, viz. the Greek Orthodox inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire, regardless of social status or ethnic identity. Nevertheless, toward the end of the revolutionary process, it was the European concept of “nation” and “nationality” that prevailed; thus, after the creation of the modern Greek State, Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians were divided in two categories: 1) the national “Hellenes”, citizens of the new State and influenced by Western European ideology, and 2) the Orthodox “Romioi”, subjects of the Ottoman Empire and opposed to the modernizing currents. This division has been a factor of paramount importance for the formation of the reality that we commonly call “New Hellenism”.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία
• Revolutions