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michael_k's review against another edition
Δεν νομίζω πως ο συγγραφεάς χρειάζεται ιδιαίτερες συστάσεις και είναι γνωστό ότι εκτιμώ πολύ τα βιβλία του.
Έτσι και σε αυτό το βιβλίο, δεν απογοητεύτηκα καθώς ο συγγραφέας προσφέρει μια διεισδυτική ματιά στην ελληνική επανάσταση, όχι με εξαντλητική παρουσίαση λεπτιομερειών και γεγονότων αλλά επιλέγοντας την πιο δύσκολη οδό της προσέγγισης των κινήτρων, των σκέψεων πίσω από τις πράξεις και τις συνέπειές τους. Επιχειρεί να εμβαθύνει στο πλέγμα κα τη δυναμική των σχέσεων των κύριων πρωταγωνιστών, είτε προσώπων, είτε ομάδων και στέκεται με κριτική ματιά απέναντι σε όλους εξίσου.
Σίγουρα ένα βιβλίο που δεν έχει σκοπό την εξύμνηση των εθνικών μύθων αλλά τη ρεαλιστική και κριτική προσέγγιση που είναι πλέον απαραίτητη προκειμένου να προχωρήσουμε μπροστά ως κοινωνία.
Δείτε λίγα παραπάνω στο Ex Libris.
Έτσι και σε αυτό το βιβλίο, δεν απογοητεύτηκα καθώς ο συγγραφέας προσφέρει μια διεισδυτική ματιά στην ελληνική επανάσταση, όχι με εξαντλητική παρουσίαση λεπτιομερειών και γεγονότων αλλά επιλέγοντας την πιο δύσκολη οδό της προσέγγισης των κινήτρων, των σκέψεων πίσω από τις πράξεις και τις συνέπειές τους. Επιχειρεί να εμβαθύνει στο πλέγμα κα τη δυναμική των σχέσεων των κύριων πρωταγωνιστών, είτε προσώπων, είτε ομάδων και στέκεται με κριτική ματιά απέναντι σε όλους εξίσου.
Σίγουρα ένα βιβλίο που δεν έχει σκοπό την εξύμνηση των εθνικών μύθων αλλά τη ρεαλιστική και κριτική προσέγγιση που είναι πλέον απαραίτητη προκειμένου να προχωρήσουμε μπροστά ως κοινωνία.
Δείτε λίγα παραπάνω στο Ex Libris.
markk's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
At 1:30 in the afternoon on 20 October 1827, a squadron of 27 British, French, and Russian warships sailed into Navarino Bay, located on the southwestern corner of the Peloponnese peninsula. There they confronted a much larger force of Ottoman and Egyptian vessels arrayed in a horseshoe formation, which the squadron matched by lining up their ships inside it. When confronted with a message ordering his withdrawal, the commander of the allied forces, the British admiral Sir Edward Codrington, replied that he had arrived to give orders rather than receive them. Though Codrington communicated peaceful intentions, Ottoman sailors prepared a fireship to launch at his squadron and fired at efforts to tow it aside once it was lit. Covering fire from a passing French warship soon spread along the line, turning into a general engagement between the two sides.
By dusk the battle was over. For the loss of 181 sailors killed and another 480 wounded, the allied force had virtually annihilated the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet. Thousands of Ottoman sailors died in the battle, and of the 78 ships that the allied squadron engaged, only six remained seaworthy. It was an impressive and lopsided victory, yet the greatest victor of the battle was not the British, nor the French, nor the Russians, but the Greeks. News of the allied victory was greeted in dozens of Greek villages with church bells and bonfires, for while the Ottomans still possessed tens of thousands of soldiers in Greece, the defeat of the Ottoman naval forces meant that the Greek revolution they had been sent to destroy was saved.
That the Greeks’ war for independence was decided by a naval battle in which not a single Greek ship participated illustrates the important role European politics played in shaping it. As Mark Mazower demonstrates in his history of the Greek Revolution, there were few aspects of the conflict that were not influenced by external forces, not all of which favored the Greeks’ effort to win their independence from the Ottoman empire. Waged as it was in the shadow of the Napoleonic wars, it posed a threat to the efforts by the European powers to establish a stable, conservative postwar order based on the concept of legitimacy. In the end, however, the intervention by European naval forces reflected the inexorable changes that were taking place in the West, which made the events in Greece a harbinger for the century that followed.
Nothing better demonstrated the importance of the international dimension of the Greek Revolution than its origin, which can be traced to three members of the Greek diaspora living in the Russian town of Odessa. It was there that they founded the Filiki Etairea, or “Friendly Society,” one of the first of the many nationalist movements that were taking root in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Supported by wealthy members of the diaspora community, in 1821 they sought to take advantage of the distraction created by European interventions in revolts elsewhere to stage an uprising against Ottoman power in Greece. Under the leadership of Alexandros Ypsilantis, a Pharonite Greek and Danubian prince serving in the Russian army, the Eteria staged an uprising in the Danubian Principalities intended to trigger a general Christian rebellion against Ottoman rule. Though Ypsilantis intimated he had the backing of Tsar Alexander I, the Russian ruler quickly disowned Ypsilantis’s actions, giving the Ottomans tacit permission to crush Ypsilantis’s uprising and forcing the would-be revolutionary to seek exile in Austria.
Nevertheless, Ypsilantis’s actions succeeded in sparking revolts throughout much of Greece. One of the great strengths of Mazower’s book is his dissection of the complex and often contradictory motivations of the rebels, which illustrate the clash of perspectives and goals between the participants. For any rebellion to succeed the participation of the armatoles, or the Greek chieftains who maintained order for the Ottomans and whose armed bands were a major source of military power in the region. While eager to participate, their goal was not a Greek nation but freedom to run their areas as they saw fit – in essence, to become the biggest fish in their small ponds. It was a goal alluring enough for them to rise up against the Ottomans, yet it was one doomed to failure against the superior forces the Ottomans would be able to mobilize against them over time.
This lack of unity hampered the Greeks’ effort to overthrow the Ottoman yoke. Though a republic was created under the leadership of the politically savvy Alexandros Mavrokordatos, he struggled to establish any authority over the fractured Greeks. This aided Ottoman efforts to reestablish their dominance in the region, which they did in a bloody fashion. Mazower is unsparing is his descriptions of the massacres committed by both sides in the conflict. For the Ottomans, revenge-driven killings of Muslims in Kalavryta, Navarino, Tripolitsa, and elsewhere early in the conflict underscored the need for a brutal response. In turn, the slaughter at places like Chios and Missolonghi galvanized sympathy for the Greeks throughout the west. Combined with the philhellenism felt by many throughout the West, this generated both volunteers and funds that sustained the Greek cause over the next three years.
Yet this outflow of support was not enough for the armatoles’ irregular bands and naval forces from the shipowning islands to compensate for the arrival of a massive Egyptian force in early 1825. Over the next two years, the thousands of European-trained troops gradually ground down the Greek resistance, with their successes only adding to a refugee crisis throughout the region. Increasingly exhausted communities preferred submission to the Ottomans rather than continuing a struggle that looked likely to tend in defeat. With growing confidence in their successful suppression of the rebellion, in 1827 the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, rejected a joint offer by Britain, France, and Russia of mediation with the goal of establishing autonomous rule for the Greeks within the empire.
It was the effort to force Ottoman compliance that led to the battle of Navarino. The allied victory did not mean that the Greeks could count on their support for independence, yet in the wake of the outbreak of war between Russia and the Ottoman empire in 1828 the Ottomans caved to Russian pressure to end their campaigns in Greece. Independence was made palatable to the West with the installation of a foreign king, with the 17-year-old son of the philhellenic king of Bavaria chosen for the role. Thus was won independence: a messy victory that Mazower rises successfully to the challenge of describing it in all of its chaotic detail. It’s an excellent work that does a good job of recounting the nuances of the independence movement and the tragedy of the bloodshed in the quest for it. While his examination of the Ottoman side of the conflict pales by comparison to the level of detail he provides for the Greek cause, it is nonetheless a splendid study, one that is likely to remain the standard English-language work on the subject for decades to come.
coffeedog14's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
A wonderful summary of an important revolution that I knew basically nothing about beforehand. There are so many figures that I'd now like to read more about, and events I'd like to get more details on. It seemed very even-handed, not pulling punches against any of the primary players and the various terrible and amazing things they did. I wish there had been a section about the mid-war civil war, as that seemed like a really fascinating period, but otherwise I thought it was a well structured narrative. I leave it with a sense of sadness from all that was lost, and the pain suffered, for something so simple as freedom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Hate crime, Genocide, Death, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Classism, War, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Sexual violence, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Deportation, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Suicide, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Racial slurs
The above list of content warnings should not be taken to mean that the book is lurid or edgy. It treats the topics with a respect suitable for a history book, and goes into detail only when further explanation is required.pearseanderson's review
slow-paced
3.0
Sooo slow, and despite the horror of war, the machinations and politics of it all, I was lost in the swirl of revolutionary combat a lot. I loved what the author was trying to do here, and I did specifically request a historical war read, but at a certain point I put this book down and didn't feel bad about not wanting to pick it back up. Overall, it inspired at least one tabletop game.
outdoorsmanjph's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
It’s chock full of historical information, but the length and ensemble of players with difficult to remember names takes a lot of effort to get through
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