The Congress of Vienna, the Russian Empire, and the Greek Revolution: Rethinking Legitimacy

The conventional Greek narrative about the Greek Revolution connects and draws a straight line from the French Revolution to the Greek one. This linear connection is presumably interrupted by the Congress of Vienna and the Holy Alliance during the so-called Restoration Era. This article seeks to include the Congress of Vienna and the Congress System that followed it in the study of the Revolution of 1821 less as an interruption of revolutionary ferment and more as a moment accommodating new challenges. Its focus is on the key concept of legitimacy based on monarchy and it traces the ways the Greek revolutionaries delegitimized the Ottoman rule in order to legitimize their cause in the eyes of Europeans. Special emphasis is placed on the role of Russia and its transnational politicians in the elaboration of the idea of the illegitimacy of Ottoman rule over Christians.