The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1768 to 1913: The Long Nineteenth Century by Thomas W. Gallant (review)

The book under review here is part of a ten-volume series, of which Thomas Gallant is the editor, that aims to trace the history “of the Greek people from antiquity to the present” by “focusing on the history of a people, the Greeks, and not a place, Greece” (xi). As far as the modern period is concerned, this is a sound principle, for it offers a useful corrective against the idea, still prevalent in many accounts, that Modern Greek history is little more than the history of the places that eventually came to be included in the Greek state. Gallant’s volume covers the period from the late eighteenth century to the end of the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, “the long nineteenth century.”

The author makes good on his promise to cover a people and not just a land from the outset of the book, as the first chapter offers an examination of the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768–1792 and the thriving Greek presence in Russia (and in Russian service), detailing the manifold ways in which these developments affected the Greek world, not least by strengthening the belief that Russia would eventually free the Greeks from Ottoman rule. The second chapter covers the social, economic, political, and ideological developments that led to the Greek Revolution, including useful overviews of the dominant position of the Greeks in both maritime and overland trade, the structure of the Ottoman governance, the role of the Peloponnesian primates, the impact of the Napoleonic Wars, and the ideas of the Modern Greek Enlightenment. In discussing the latter, Gallant is careful to remind the reader that the movement had a Balkan dimension, as well, and consequently it was not a preserve of ethnic Greeks. The third chapter deals with the Greek Revolution. It presents both military and political developments, as well as the decisive role of the Great Powers and the difficulties that the Greeks faced when they attempted to create centralized political institutions and a unified command. Interestingly, the author rightly stresses the significant impact of the Greek revolt on the structure of the Ottoman Empire, noting that it forced Sultan Mahmud II to embark on reforms, such as the abolition of the Janissaries. In a very real sense, then, the revolution marked the beginning of the Ottoman modernization program. The next two chapters analyze the course of the Greek Kingdom under Otto (1832–1862) and George I until the bankruptcy of 1893. In both chapters, internal developments are firmly placed within their Ottoman and European contexts, while many salient issues—such as the gradual enlargement of the country, the structure of the political system, and the struggle between the modernizer Harilaos Trikoupis and the populist Theodoros Deliyiannis—receive adequate treatment. Chapters 6 and 7 are thematic and interrupt the chronological sequence of the book. The former is a rich and multilayered account of everyday life in Greece and the social world of men and women. It offers an examination of urban and rural lifestyles, an analysis of demographic patterns, and a nuanced approach to the role of violence in connection with the paramount importance of the concept of honor. These are very interesting subjects that do not normally feature in general histories of Modern Greece. The latter chapter is a densely written, systematic, and highly informative overview of the development of the Greek economy, supported by a wealth of data. The scope here is equally wide-ranging and includes agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, and shipping. A consideration of the Greek fin-de-siècle (1893–1913) rounds out the volume, covering the disastrous 1897 war with the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Venizelos, and the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913.

At the end of this final chapter, Gallant offers a paragraph by way of conclusion, enumerating the main themes of the period: “internal state-formation, transnational...