Greece

by Roderick Beaton

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

We think we know ancient Greece, the civilisation that shares the same name and gave us just about everything that defines 'western' culture today, in the arts, sciences, social sciences and politics. Yet, as Greece has been brought under repeated scrutiny during the financial crises that have convulsed the country since 2010, worldwide coverage has revealed just how poorly we grasp the modern nation. This book sets out to understand the modern Greeks on their own terms.

How did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place, and then define an identity for themselves that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last 300 years, of building a modern nation on, sometimes literally, the ruins of a vanished civilisation. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and perhaps more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics, it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people and of ideas.

Genres: History, Greece, Nonfiction, Politics, European History, Historical, Biography

462 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2019

About the author

Roderick Macleod Beaton, FBA, FKC (born 1951) is a retired academic. He was Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London from 1988 to 2018.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to Europe, Greece is like Schrödinger's country, both European and non-. On the one hand, Europe traces many of its values back to Ancient Greece, a civilisation that is at the heart of how Europe thinks about itself. But in geographical terms, it's on the outer limit. Its music, cuisine and traditions are strongly and obviously Middle Eastern. And it's always had one eye looking east – not least towards Constantinople, the ancient home of Orthodox Christianity. (Upon independence some nationalists even said that, until Constantinople could be taken back, ‘Greece’ should have no official capital at all.)

If Greece has chosen primarily to be part of Western Europe, it's been just that – a choice. Often a very narrow one. Beaton reminds us that in the Balkan Wars, to take one example, Greek public opinion was decidedly for the Serbs, as fellow Orthodox Christians. The many decisions that could have been otherwise allow for a lot of mind-expanding counterfactual speculations in the reader of this book (though not in the writer – he is much too meticulous a historian for that). Who knew, for instance, that the throne of Greece was originally offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg? He turned it down and went on to be King of the Belgians, which raises the possibility that we might have had a huge Greek-speaking slab of Central Africa today, in what would be the former Greek Congo.

Greek leaders were never interested in colonial possessions, though – only in expanding their little area of Greekness. In this, as in many other things, they were pioneers. Before Germany, Italy, Poland or any of the other nationalist states got going, Greece was there, pinning its plans on an imagined link to the Ancient World, in the interests of which all evidence of the long years as a Byzantine suburb, a Frankish state or (especially) a multicultural Ottoman possession were (and often continue to be) downplayed or forcibly erased. And the Great Powers, despite being very resistant to independence movements, bought it.

Those Greek leaders who had ridden the tiger of revolution and survived had pulled off an extraordinary coup: to persuade three of the most conservative regimes in modern times [i.e. Britain , France and Russia] that theirs was not a liberal, national revolution at all (which of course it was), but rather the restoration of an ancient status quo.

That link with the classical past – ‘the language of Europe's indebtedness to Greece’ – was played upon constantly. Old placenames were ditched in favour of ancient ones, thought roughly to be in the same general area, giving an illusion of continuity. People started calling their children ‘Socrates’ or ‘Penelope’, though these had not been current for tens of centuries. The currency was renamed the drachma, to match the name of a currency of the ancient city-states. And ‘the whole rationale’ behind the choice of Athens as capital was its historical monuments, with the rest of the modern city hastily built around them.

I hadn't realised how much smaller Greece was in 1820 than it is today; a lot of expansion was involved in the early years. ‘Expansion’ is a euphemism, of course. That's the thing with nationalist enthusiasm – pretty soon you start noticing that there are people speaking your language and worshipping your god just over the border, so maybe that area should belong to you, too. As the Ottomans withdrew, Greece found itself in competition with Serbia and Bulgaria to claim cultural authority over local communities throughout the southern Balkans. These campaigns involved a dispiriting kaleidoscope of guerrilla activity and competing nationalist movements, but the upshot was that through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Greece would expand to take in Thessaly, Thrace and most of Macedonia (as well as Crete and the Dodecanese).

Eastern Thrace was taken back by Turkey in 1922; North Macedonia (as it's now called, as of 2019) went from being part of Yugoslavia to becoming an independent state, despite fury from the Greek establishment over its use of ‘their’ name. The southern part of Albania is ominously referred to as ‘Northern Epiros’ by some sections of Greek society. And of course Cyprus is also now independent, though with considerable complications.

Many of these shifts involved huge movements of populations, as Muslims and Greek-speakers alike left areas they'd been in for generations to trudge within the new ethnic boundaries, often at gunpoint. The violence that was involved in all these conflicts, from independence to expansion through to the world wars and the civil wars, does begin to blend together in an endless round of what Beaton calls ‘the norms of disproportionate and indiscriminate reprisal’, where all sides ‘resorted routinely to the most extreme violence imaginable’.

In the same way that Greece is both central and peripheral to Europe, there is a strange paradox in how often decisions about its future seem to take place far from Greece itself. Adamantios Korais, the spiritual ‘father of the Greek nation’, lived in Paris and ‘never at any time set foot in any part of today's Greece’. In the decisive battle of Navarino Bay, which settled the struggle for independence, ‘not a single Greek took part’. And time and again, decisions about its monarchs, its borders and its economic policies have been made in St Petersburg, Paris, London or Brussels.

No wonder, perhaps, that some disillusioned Greeks have seen the EU as just a new kind of colonial influence on domestic affairs. I expected to find the discussion on the recent bailouts and debt crisis to be a bit boring, but in fact I found it quietly riveting when presented as the latest chapter in Greece's turbulent modern history. Like many other places, Greece has recently experienced ‘the rise of parties that until now had been on the fringes, to both left and right’ and it's anyone's guess how things will develop from here. Though with this dense, fascinating book in your pocket, your guess might just be a bit better than the next guy's.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shortlisted 2020 Cundhill History Prize
Winner 2021 Runciman Award

Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is a must-read for anyone traveling to Greece or interested in modern Greek history. Roderick Beaton, Professor Emeritus, Kings College Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, provides a comprehensive yet highly accessible account of the emergence of modern Greece from the War of Independence (1821-1828) from the Ottoman Empire to the economic crisis of 2010 and the nation's subsequent recovery.

Throughout the "biography," Beaton examines the impact of Greek identity on historical choices. He sees it as a "tug of war between east and west." that stems from ancient Greece's influence on the west and the eastern orthodox traditions that come from Constantinople.

The book helped me fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I found the chapters on the War of Independence, the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey, the Civil War, and the struggles in Cyprus especially illuminating. I also learned things I hadn't known before, like the widespread famine suffered by the Greeks during the Nazi Occupation. In addition to political history, Beaton discusses trends in literature, music and art. Overall, Beaton's "Biography"
provides a sophisticated framework for better understanding Modern Greece. Highly recommend.



Highly recommend.

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greece is defined by its ancient history: From its gods to architecture and battles to philosophy and much more besides, Ancient Greece and Greeks are one of the world's most recognised, studied and referenced civilisations and peoples.

But what of modern Greece? What is modern Greece? How has Greece fared, developed and carried itself since its recent military junta in the late 20th Century?

For me, I knew something if its involvement in both world wars, the bloody and entrenched rivalries with Turkey over Cyprus, the military dictatorship, shipping tycoons, films (Zorba the Greek) and football teams and of course the Olympic Games of 2004, and latterly it's financial difficulties and bailouts by the EU/ECB and IMF. I've also holidayed there (on its islands) and so am a tourist and a grecophile having enjoyed Greece's sites, weather, countryside and hospitality.

This absorbing account by Roderick Beaton fills in many gaps and shines light on areas, people and events I was not aware of.

Charting the modern Greek state and Nation - there is a difference and one that comes up frequently as the nation refers to Greek (speaking) peoples - over the last 200 years, the reader is led through and bathed in a huge amount of detail and information. This ostensibly means political, military and to some extent religious history and events that lead to creation and development of the Greek state as we know it today.

What is surprising at first, and less once one considers and reads of the events and periods covered, is the sheer turmoil, upset, bloodshed and change that the Greek people have endured; much through their own leaders and politicians making, but also from outsiders: Germany, Britain Russia, France, Turkey, USA, Italy and the Balkans and Balkan states.

The periods and key events are well covered and described in detail that does not complicate or suppress the reader's learning and overall experience. I had wanted more on culture, social change and other aspects and whilst covered more would have been appreciated, but I recognise too the author's approach and his challenge on space and how to tell a complex and always developing story that covers some two hundred years.

As a single volume history/biography of modern Greece this is a fine read and one I heartily recommend.

[Georgina Koutrouditsou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Η επιστήμη του Χρόνου, η Ιστορία, θέλει μακροχρόνια μελέτη & αναζήτηση,επιμονή,κριτική και συγκριτική σκέψη,πλουραλισμό βιβλιογραφίας..με λίγα λόγια επαγγελματισμό και όχι προχειρότητα.
Δεν θέλει φιλοσοφικές ή ειρωνικές εξάρσεις, δεν θέλει ακραίους και άκυρους συναισθηματισμούς και συγκρίσεις.
Δεν θέλει εικασίες!

Λυπάμαι πολύ που ένας τέτοιος μελετητής, με μια ενδιαφέρουσα εργογραφία στο παρελθόν,παρέδωσε μια τέτοια "βιογραφία" της Ελλάδος...
Λυπάμαι που την πρότεινα σε πολλούς,χωρίς να την έχω διαβάσει πρώτα εγώ.

Α και μια υπενθύμιση: η Ελλάδα δεν υπήρξε ποτέ Βρετανική αποικία.

Η ελληνική μετάφραση είναι απαράδεχτη σε αρκετά σημεία.

Αντί γι'αυτό το έργο θα πρότεινα να διαβαστούν/αναζητηθούν τα παρακάτω (τα οποία έχω διαβάσει/μελετήσει):

1)Η ιστορία των νέων Ελλήνων. Από το 1400 έως το 1820-Πέτρος Πιζάνιας
2)Από το γένος στο έθνος. Η θεμελίωση του ελληνικού κράτους 1821-1862- Στέφανος Π.Παπαγεωργίου
3)Τα κακομαθημένα παιδιά της ιστορίας. Η διαμόρφωση του νεοελληνικού κράτους 18ος-21ος αιώνας- Κώστας Κωστής
4)Ο ελληνικός 20ός αιώνας–Αντώνης Λιάκος
5)Τα πολιτικά κόμματα στην Ελλάδα-Gunnar Hering
6)Πάνω-κάτω όλα τα βιβλία από εκδόσεις Αλεξάνδρεια, Εστία, Θεμέλιο, Πανεπιστημιακές εκδόσεις Κρήτης,ΜΙΕΤ (π.χ Ριζάς, Βόγλης, Χαραλαμπίδης)
7)Και φυσικά η Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους (Εκδοτική Αθηνών) από τον τόμο ΙΑ έως ΙΣΤ (τον τελευταίο δηλαδή).

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, by Roderick Beaton, is a concise account of Greece's history from the stirrings of Greek nationalism, to the modern financial crisis. Greece as a nation is a modern concept, as Beaton points out. Ancient Greece was a collection of states and polities (Athens, Sparta, Corinth etc.) that stretched from Greece's modern borders, throughout the Mediterranean. Greek speaking peoples colonized parts of Italy, Turkey, the Levant and so on. The only times the modern Greek boundaries were unified were under external rulers - Macedon, Rome, the Ottomans, with one exception. The one Greek speaking polity which ruled Greece (and many other places) was the continuation of the Roman Empire - sometimes called Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire. This gave Greek speaking peoples a new identity for hundreds of years - called themselves Romans, and their country Rome. This identity lasted well into the 18th century, and only began to change when Greek nationalism began to stir. At this time, Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire - a centuries old polity that had controlled the Balkans from Serbia down to Greece, as well as large portions of the modern Middle East. Greek's and the Greek language had been a major administrative boon to the Ottomans. Greek's were staffed as high level bureaucrats and administrators in Orthodox Christian areas of the Empire. This means much of Anatolia, the Balkans and Romania had Greek speaking rulers and clergy, and close connections with Greek, even if their ethnicity and culture were different. Greece itself was broken up into different provinces, with many different ethnic groups and large populations of Muslims. The Turcocretans, for example, were Greek speaking Muslims who had lived in Crete for many years. Similar populations existed throughout Greece's mountainous territories.

Greek nationalism was one of the earliest forms of nationalism to arise in Europe. Greece as a geopolitical region began to take shape after the reintroduction of Hellenistic classics to Europe. In the 18/19th centuries, Greece became a centre for tourism, especially from the United Kingdom and Germany. Philhellenism became a popular concept throughout European centers of learning, as nations like Bavaria and Britain began to covet ancient Greek philosophers in their development of enlightenment principles. These centers of learning soon began to accept Greek's into their midst, where Greek nationalism began to take shape. Even so, Greek nationalism has had a troubled history. The idea of Greece, as Beaton notes, exists in a bit of a duality. The hearkening back to both Hellenistic/Paganism times while also coveting the power of the Orthodox world, represented by the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, is telling. Greece has often been a nation that has both been the birthplace of Western thought, and a centre of Eastern Empire. This duality spread Greeks and their ideas far beyond the modern borders of Greece as a state. It would also be the cause of much conflict.

In the 19th century, Greek's began to rise up against what they deemed as oppression by the Ottoman Empire. This was not unusual - similar movements began to take shape with Vlach/Romanian speakers, Bulgarians, Serbians and Albanians, to name a few. AS the Ottoman Empire began to be challenged by Western powers like Russia and France, many of these peoples began to see opportunities to split away from the Ottoman's and form their own states. A Greek rebellion in 1821 began this process in earnest, although Greece had for many years before become home to mercenaries, bandits and rebels who had controlled their mountainous territories with impunity. Greece was able to achieve its independence not through force of arms, but through international diplomacy. Greece was granted independence by agreement with the Great Powers at the time, without consulting the Greek's themselves. Even so, the conflict had been deadly. Tit for tat reprisals had seen both pogroms and ethnic cleansing against Muslims and Bulgarians in Greece, and Greeks in the Ottoman world. These ethnic cleansings would take the lives of thousands of innocent peoples, and leave a tainted legacy of ethnic tensions that would define Greece for a century and more afterwards.

Greece became independent as a rump state, with many millions of Greeks and Greek speaking people living outside its borders. The state of Greece controlled the hinterlands of the modern state - Athens, Attica, the Peloponnese (Morea) and Thessaly area. However, Macedonia, Crete, much of the Mediterranean islands, the Ionian Islands, as well as Greek populated areas like Epirus, Thrace, Smyrna, and Cyprus remained apart from the new nations, still part of the Ottoman Empire or Britain (Cyprus, Corfu) or Italy (Dodecanese Islands). This would obviously not sit well with a nation born of nationalist fury and ethnic tension. Independent Greece was forced to become a monarchy - with King Otto (a Bavarian prince) put on the throne. This would usher in a brief period of stability, but ultimately prove controversial. A few ideas were born of this time - Greek nationalism, statist Monarchy, a greater Orthodox idealism, and so on. These ideas would form a turbulent base throughout Greece's history. This, coupled with Greece's birth as a compromise between Great Powers - with Russia coveting more geopolitical influence in the Black Sea/Mediterranean, and Britain looking to counter Russian influence. These competing forces would be present throughout Greece's history, and would exploit and encourage divisions within Greek society.

Greece's development was slow - Greek's were of peasant stock and largely reliant on subsistence agriculture to survive. Athens, Greece's capital city at independence, had about 12 thousand people, and was a very small, run down city. Greece's tumultuous political history - a bit too rapid and complex to note here - kept this poverty institutionalized, as money and financing often went to armed forces used to control internal dissent and protect Greece's disputed borders. Greek's fought numerous civil wars among themselves, and numerous wars externally. Territory began to change early on. Britain granted Corfu and the Ionian Islands to Greece in the late 19th century. The First Balkans War, where the Balkan league - a fractious alliance between Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro - carved up the remainder of the Ottoman's European possessions in 1913. Greece was greatly enlarged at this time, gaining possession of Macedonia, Southern Epirus, Crete, and many Mediterranean Islands, barring the Italian Dodecanese Islands, and the British in Cyprus. This only inflamed Greek nationalists to secure more territory, and would lead to numerous civil wars in the coming decades.

Quickly after the end of the Balkan Wars, WWI began. Greece, with a German monarch on the throne, but with close cultural connections to Russia and Britain, was torn and would try and remain neutral throughout the war. However, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire's claims in Greece and there entry to the Central Powers, as well as the Entente's occupation of neutral Greece's strategic islands, forced Greece to side with the Entente - almost against its will. Tellingly, many Greek's were furious with this, and this would cause the beginnings of a civil war in Greece. Greece gained almost no territory after WWI - although it was at times offered Cyprus, Smyrna, Thrace, Northern Epirus (part of modern Albania) and coastal Anatolia. Greece tried to press its claims into Anatolia to much fanfare, even after WWI ended and the Turkish state was created. However, a major reversal on the battlefield in favour of the Turks saw Greece's forces shattered. Ethnic cleansing began in earnest in Anatolia, with many Greeks and Orthodox Christians forced from their homes. Reprisals took place in Greek controlled lands as well. This was a continuation of the ethnic cleansing that had been so common in Greece during its own independence. The victorious powers stepped in to calm tensions, and proposed and enacted an exchange of persons to try and calm the situation. This created an underclass in Greece that would participate closely in the decades of political turbulence to follow.

Greece after WWI went through the political turmoil of a defeated nation, culminating in a brutal civil war. A communist party had emerged in Greece supporting Stalinist communism in Greece, called the KKE. This party formed an armed wing, the ELAS, which took to the mountains in traditional Greek partisan fashion. On the other side, royalists and those supporting authoritarianism fought back. This civil conflict would lead to thousands of murdered peoples either through battle or reprisals and massacres. It would also lead to the promotion of a dictator - Ioannis Metaxas, who would rule Greece with the trappings of Fascism until his overthrow by German forces in 1941. Once again, the lead up to world war exposed a divided Greece - the communists and leftists supported the Entente, as well as the more practical members of government. Metaxas privately identified with Mussolini and Hitler as dictators and fascists, but the geopolitical realities in Greece told a different story. Greece's experience in WWI, where Britain would occupy strategic points in the country without consent, as well as the territorial ambitions of Mussolini's Italy, and fascist Bulgaria, ensured Greece would align - albeit from neutrality, with Britain. Mussolini, however, would force Greece's hand, invading the country in 1940. Greece's military not only held the line, but reversed course and advanced into Italian Albania. However, the entry of Bulgaria, and Germany's rapid advance through Yugoslavia to shore up its weaker Italian ally, ensured the occupation of Greece. This would again open up rifts in Greece that led to more ethnic conflict. Communists, leftists, Jews and Romanians were rounded up and murdered or sent to German death camps. Greece's vibrant, Spanish speaking Jewish community in Salonica was decimated. This ethnic conflict would continue until 1949, setting communist rebels against monarchist and fascists. The monarchists would win out, with American backing, in 1949, cementing Greece's place as a US ally in the cold war.

Greece began to develop rapidly after this, with assistance from the US Marshall Plan, with billions in aid money sent to rebuild occupied Greece. Greece found rapprochement briefly with its mortal foe in Turkey. Greece began to develop its film industry and culture along Western lines, with strong support from the US - looking to curb Greece's communist and leftist elements. This period would culminate in a junta in 1967-1974, which cracked down heavily on socialism and political freedom in Greece, and would repress the Greek state for some time. Much like other right wing dictatorships globally, Greece's Junta focused on political alignment with the West, to support its control at home. Political opposition and press freedom were banned, and life in Greece was often very dangerous. This dictatorship faced war scares with Turkey over the Cypriot issue, resulting in its downfall after a Greek backed coup in Cyprus. Parliamentary elections were held in Greece after this point, culminating in its growth as a democracy.

Greece's history from 1974 onward is one of weak coalitions, and growing multilateralism. Greece would develop slowly over these years culminating in its joining of the European Union in 1981. Greece would remain a relatively poor nation in Europe. Its rapid development up to the 2009 Greek crisis, which has lasted in some form for a decade, brought greater affluence to many Greeks. Its internal politics have continued to show the rift that Greece has experienced since its birth. Nationalism and radical leftists still represent the polar opposites in Greece, with the centrists holding ground but often failing to succeed due to economic issues, international disputes (ie. Cyprus, bailout politics with the EU, rapprochement with Russia, etc.) or incompetence or corruption. Greece is a relatively stable nation within the EU, aligned to the West, but has been squeezed by years of multilateral failure, and is often in dispute between international partners, whether it is Britain and Russia in the 19th century, or France and Germany in the EU, or America and Russia during the Cold War. Greece's strategic location makes it a favoured spot to meddle, and its internal division due to historic animosity, ethnic tensions, religion and territorial disputes make it prime to take advantage of divisions, both from external and internal forces. Even so, the future for Greece remains bright. Its membership in the EU and NATO secures it from most external threats. Its solid relations with most of its neighbours is slowly changing years of conflict and tension. Its debt crisis and financial situation, while not solid, is on the mend. Hope remains, but so do tensions.

Beaton has written a solid and concise history of modern Greece as a nation state, focusing on the subject of Greek nationalism over any overt references to Greece's ancient past. Beaton's analysis is solid; Greece is a modern nation state that really only formed as it currently exists in the 1820's. It's history has been marred by identity crisis'; nationalism, expansionism, defeat in war, polarized politics, and great power diplomacy. This book chronicles these all briefly. A downside to this book would be the way it glosses over certain topics; genocide of Armenians and Greeks in Turkey is well documented and studied, but Greeks were also part of this cycle of violence, killing many thousands of Turks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Romanians and so on in their own quest to conquer territory. Other than that, a solid history of Greece, and perfect for those looking for an update on modern Greek history.

[Klara Sjo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some issues with this book, but I'm uncertain whether it is because it is not the book I want to read, or if it is the book.

First of all, I'm not sure what a "biography of a nation" means, but this is a political history of Modern Greece.

Almost the whole book is a story about politicians, their politics and the results thereof. So there is a lot of names, some known, and some not so known. My problem with this is that things are only seen top-down - and often just on the top and no down. We rarely get glimpses of the Greek people, and how policies influence the, occasionally they get to vote, but we never get an insight into *why* they vote as they do. On some occasion, Beaton talks about the clash and breaches between the people, but again, we're never shown the people, we just hear about the politicians and the things they do, not how it influences people and how people are influenced by it.

There are a couple of short asides from this. One a portrait of Athens in the twenties, then a bit about Greek film in the sixties, both very enjoyable, but still and very top down-view. Also in the film-but we get the only woman in the book, besides some short comments on queens and mistresses, namely Melina Mercouri. Should be believe this book, there is only old male politicians and Melina Mercouri in Greece.

Furthermore I was wondering about his choice to only shortly, and again, a view from the politics, write about the people-exchange in 1921, both the disaster and the impact of the Greek society to suddenly get a million new inhabitants. Also I miss actually seeing the impact on the people, on the society of the civil war, as well as the Junta. All these had an impact on society and culture, and are - in my view - important for the understanding of Greek and the Greek people.

As a survey of Greek politics though, the books is fairly easily read, and gives some interesting insights into earlier politics, which I was not aware of. The latter couple of chapters, on contemporary politics were also enjoyable, suddenly it seems like it is more room for people to appear.

All in all, I'm a bit on the negative side. Good as political survey of the nation, not so good when talking about the people of the nation.

[Max Berendsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My eyes have seen no land more glorious than this small threshing-floor." - Dionysios Solomos.

Whenever we think of Greece, we tend to romanticize and caricaturize the country. Oftentimes we automatically associate the country with the beautiful scenery of Santorini and the acropolis, olives, feta cheese, the mass tourist debauchery of Mykonos and of course the rich Greek mythology. Sadly this stereotyping can also take on very ugly, racist forms in which the Greek people are often portrayed as lazy or scheming.

Roderick Beaton's rich and eye-opening historical biography of Greece's modern history obliterates these stereotypes one by one. Beaton introduces the reader to a nation which throughout history (as well as today) struggles to find its own identity which is made up of many conflicting worlds.

This book is a fascinating story about the how the Greek nation came to terms with on the one hand its pagan civilizational past and its Byzantine Christian heritage on the other, how it is a part of the Western European world as well belonging to the Balkan, Post-Ottoman world. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this question of identity, is how the Greeks have been able to reinvent it with every new generation and assert their place in the world.

A wonderful book about a people and country we think we know all about, but which we still have a lot to learn from. Your view of the Greek nation will never be the same after reading it!

[dantelk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa, took longer than I assumed, but definitely worth reading, especially if you are from Turkey like me! The book is flowing smoothly, diving into right amounts of depth. Not many redundant names are listed page by page, so it's easier to read than other similar works. There is a handy and long reference section which helped me add https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... to my reading list.

Turkey's daily politics has been interwoven with Greece, and I was mostly aware of the contemporary affairs'. However, this book helped me understand the previous chapters of our common history, the conflicts and agreements, so it could be more engaging for me, comparing with someone from some unrelated country.

Greece's philosophy of its foundations are somehow different from Turkish Republic's, but all in all, many fault lines in the respective countries societies are practically very similar. Some highlights that I've taken are as follows (for myself):

-> It's great to be able to read a country's modern history almost literally from scratch!
-> Greece will be the first but not the last country to develop as a nation state. When other nation states are born just like Greece, the number of enemies will duplicate and the chess will be a three-board game.
-> Old mosques can be identified by their orientation towards Mecca
-> Anything that resembled a revolution was totally unexpectable at the GB.
-> Greek independence movement was a proxy war of Europeans. Greece offered to be a leverage when Ottomans were to be dissolved.
-> The Istanbul Patriarchate is essentially against the new western state, and is not cared by the rebels in Greece.
-> Munich has still a lot of Greek style architecture!
-> To be a nation = army + national administration + judicial system + education + national bank nationalization of the lands which belonged to Muslims / Ottoman state + currency ...
-> Wide, straight boulevards look like the symbol of nation states
-> It's so funny that the written language is such important, just like here in Turkey, it's a significant symbol of different parties.
-> Borders of the state is not where state ends; it continues where nation lives.
-> Historicism (writing of new history) also started, (I think just like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Lan... )
-> Unlike other European countries, Greece is not separatist but unionist.
-> I found it incredible that the kings were all from abroad.
-> There was and there is still a east/west dualism in Greece too.
-> There were prosperous Ottoman Greeks of course, whom didn't want change in the status-quo.
-> After 1880's Athens became a heaven for outcasts, with terrible murder/robbery rates. Male heroism and code of honor still very important.
-> Bulgarians were more hated than Ottomans.
-> Nationalism is a summersault; the more it increases, the more it reflects in other communities.
-> Since Spain, Ottomans, Italy and France had land N. Africa, Egypt was vital for the UK.
-> It is so interesting that kings in Europe took their responsibilities seriously.
------> When Greece didn't want to take part in WW1, finally, she was forced into it by UK and France by occupation.
------> Greece and Turkey, as modern nation states, have each fought a war of independence against each other.
------> The intervention of army is just like it is in Turkey. A power vacuum can be very dangerous for a country, that's my taking from this text.
-> Bozouki can be easily hidden in garments. Rebetika was forbidden by junta since it is oriental.
-> "If the Germans prevail, we will become their slaves. If the British prevail, we'll become slaves to them!. If neither, Europe will fall apart. It'll fall apart anyway! My God, what despair!"
-> Greece is maritime country, and if blocked by north, all its chances are the navy.
-> Polykatoika
-> After ww2, the exile government, the puppet one, and the communists could take power.
-> "The traditional man-only kapheneion, where elderly denizens played backgammon, drank coffee...replaced by smart bars" (sigh). Taverna, with its fixed menu and prices, replaced by western restaurants. No more free food for foreigners!
-> The war in Cyprus was caused by the Greek Junta, and a once in a lifetime chance to create a new state was ignored in Annan Plan.
-> In 2000's, there were still members of 17N
-> Discussion of religion field shall be removed of identity cards (hahah we know this story)
-> Forest fires are making everyone think there should be some hotel builders around (like Turkey)
-> A proposal to build a mosque in Athens is still denied.

A word for the Greek readers: Kalimera, neighbor! It was great to read Greece's story. Not surprisingly, I found a vast amount of similarities (and differences) about our distinct histories, and the philosophy behind our countries and their institutions. I sincerely enjoyed this read, and if you would be interested in Turkey's modern history, I could recommend https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... as an objective resource from another "western" scholar. I am sure you'll find the story gripping. Greetings from the other side of the Aegean!

[Panos Tserolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/5 in storytelling - this a true page-turner, even if you know all the twists beforehand. I just couldn't stop and I'll read it again in Greek after a couple of months.
5/5 in fact-checking- this is an ambitious, up-to-date and well referenced book
3/5 in perspective - this is not really a peoples' story (often missed in history books) but rather a leaders' story. So the biography perspective is lacking a bit. The absence of the peoples' influence on state politics is better observed when post-2004 Greece is approached.
2,5/5 in the general interpretive concept- One of the most intriguing and interesting things about Greek culture is indeed that Greece has been, throughout centuries, both a western and an eastern country (or geography, or culture, what have you). This is an important tool to understand history, choices, cultural achievements and many more, but in this one the author, caring and loving as he is with Greece, is trying to hard to wear this suit to almost everything from 1821 to 2015. It does work more often than not but especially when approaching contemporary Greece the main tool seems dated and/or insufficient. For example, there are more things in common between Greek December '08 and BLM than December '08 and guerrilla ''klefts'' in the mountains of Peloponnese. Contemporary Greece is a country that the western/eastern contradiction still exists but not predominantly.
2/5 in politics - at points things seem biased and one-sided, and not only in contemporary affairs. The Euro choice and Eurozone's current policy is key to understanding recent history and crisis but the former is presented as an almost neutral, progressive feat and the latter is not merely discussed. The Greek Civil War has Nazi-friendly associates equally to blame with patriotic freedom fighters (overtried a balance here, seems to me). The Grand Idea of the broad nation has not been analyzed geopolitically but rather sentimentally, with its clear correlation (actually, blame) with many Greek tragedies unexplored.

So overall a 3+. I really enjoyed reading this and I really wanted some more in every chapter, a certain ''look'' from someone without the certain burdens of the nationalistic sentimentality and eastern/western contradictions of Greek thought. Highly recommended for the writing style and factual history, medium recommendation for the approach (biography, east/west as main tool), low recommendation on politics and the social struggles of modern Greece, not really recommended for contemporary affairs. I'd suggest this book is an exemplary ''starter's pack'' in Greek History with great references and enough insights to make it intriguing and thought-provoking.

[Λευτέρης Πετρής · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Πριν από διακόσια χρόνια, τη δεκαετία του 1820, οι Έλληνες ήταν οι σκαπανείς οι οποίοι άνοιξαν πρώτοι τον δρόμο που θα οδηγούσε, από την παλιά Ευρώπη των μεγάλων αυτοκρατοριών, στην Ευρώπη των εθνών – κρατών την οποία γνωρίζουμε σήμερα. Κανένας δεν θα πρέπει να θεωρεί δεδομένο ότι στο μέλλον η Ελλάδα και οι Έλληνες θα συμπαρατάσσονται πάντα με τις αξίες, τις παραδόσεις και την πολιτική που τείνουμε να αποκαλούμε ‘‘δυτικές’’. Η γεωγραφία και σε κάποιο βαθμό επίσης η ιστορία μπορεί να ωθήσουν προς την άλλη κατεύθυνση. Όμως, καθώς οι Έλληνες προετοιμάζονται για να γιορτάσουν το 2021 τα διακοσιοστά γενέθλια του ελληνικού έθνους – κράτους, μπορούν να υπερηφανεύονται για ένα επίτευγμα που εξαρχής και από τη φύση του δεν πραγματοποιήθηκε με την απομόνωση, αλλά σε συνεργασία με άλλους Ευρωπαίους σε κάθε δύσκολο βήμα αυτού του δρόμου. Δεν θα μπορούσε να γίνει διαφορετικά. Και αυτό γιατί η ‘‘Ελλάδα’’, όπως και να την κατανοούμε ή την παρανοούμε, ήταν πάντα μέρος της σύγχρονης ταυτότητας της Ευρώπης."

[Faustibooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book that I can recommend to anyone who is planning on visiting Greece, or who is simply interested in one of the most intriguing and fascinating countries in the world! I myself am a big fan, but my knowledge was mostly limited to the ancient and medieval history of the country. Beaton managed to write a balanced overview that covers the history of greece from the late 1700s to 2019. Obviously, this is quite a broad time period, but he still succeeded in giving a balanced summary without only focusing in certain events.

The modern history of Greece, like its ancient and pre-modern history, is extremely interesting to read about. Though now I feel I should read more specific books about certain events because I would have liked to know more. Still, this book was very good and served its purpose well. It’s a good introduction for anybody wanting to get into the modern history of Greece, yet it is fine enough on itself if you want a superficial overview. I also liked the discussion on Greek culture, music and cinema! Four stars!

“Because ‘Greece’, however understood, or misunderstood, has always been part of the modern identity of Europe too.”

[Ozymandias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book bills itself as a biographical approach to a nation. This seems like an odd approach to take, but it pays dividends. The basic question being answered is who are the Greeks and what do they believe? This is a more complicated question than it seems and is very much the sort of question that biographers ask. For example, we get a lot of information on the Greeks before Greece and what they considered themselves to be. What made someone Greek when the territory we know as Greece was merely a region within the Ottoman Empire? By identifying a few divisions based on different answers to that question, he is able to follow these trends throughout Greek history.

The most interesting schism he notes in Greek history is between the nation and the state. Unlike most modern states, the Greek nation extended well beyond state borders. Most Greeks lived outside Greece, on the coastal regions of Asia Minor or further north in Romania and the Balkans. Which means that creating a Greek state was always complicated by the question of who belonged in it. Initially, the Greek revolutionaries didn’t have to worry about the distinction – all Greeks recognized a sense of kinship on some level (more Orthodox Christian than ethnic), which meant that they fought for the abstract idea of a Greek nation. Once independent Greece was established as a thing, the need to preserve the state of Greece conflicted with the goal of unsettling the situation to occupy all territory held by Greeks. The old conservative religious nationalists had become the new liberals as the old separatist regional authorities became the new conservatives. After WW1, the ideal of state preservation had become strong enough for its supporters to abandon the Grand Idea of the Greek nation just at the point when it was becoming a reality. Millions of Greeks were driven from Asia Minor and flooded Greece. The nation vs. state divide was solved, but in a highly negative way.

The other big divide is East vs. West. This is a more complicated sense of identity. Greece by religion and geography belongs to eastern Europe, but culturally it is claimed by the west for its place as the originator of western culture. This should be a pretty familiar divide for anyone who has Greek friends – sooner rather than later the Ancient Greeks will be touted as the originators of western civilization and some form of arational spiritual tradition will be upheld (example: almost all Greeks believe in the evil eye). As such, the push and pull of different regions has long had a major effect on Greek politics. It generally veers west. While the Greeks wanted to look to the Russians for aid, it was the Western powers that secured their independence. And while there was a powerful communist movement in Greece for much of the 20th century, the country remained anti-communist (indeed, often a military dictatorship) and therefore pro-western. But even after consistently veering west, the Greeks feel more kinship to the Orthodox Serbs than the Catholic Croats, even when the latter were being slaughtered.

The complex questions of ethnicity also gets a big focus. Who counts as Greek? If we consider only direct descendants of the Ancient Greeks then nobody’s really Greek. Yet race has long been seen as a defining factor of Greekness. Culture is clearly the dominant factor though, yet how can you determine whether someone is sufficiently Greek to count as a Hellene? As you might imagine, this sort of thinking led to a lot of ethnic cleansing over the years. But that’s true of all the Balkan states. I should stress here that one of the key points he makes is that it didn’t have to be like this. The original revolutionaries called for all Orthodox subjects to rise up as one. When they spoke of the Greeks they naturally included the Serbs and Romanians and Bulgarians. And while he doesn’t get too deep into counterfactuals, he always keeps a very strong focus on what might have been.

It must be said that the author is a bit too eager to promote Greece, despite his fairness. I do like the idea that Greece is the testing ground for a lot of new ideas that spread through Europe (the Grexit debate preceded Brexit, the Cold War was fought there before anywhere else, etc.), but I’m not completely sure this is a general truth. It’s true that Greece was the first new nation-state in Europe (contra textbooks that ignore it in favor of Germany and Italy), but European settlers in the new world had created several others over the previous decades. Furthermore, this was the continuation of a process that spread outwards from the USA and France, and if Greece was the first new nation-state it was never fully able to bring all Greeks within its shell.

I’m really happy with this book. I wanted to get a sense of modern Greek history after being disappointed in The Greek War of Independence (this book explains the revolution better in a single chapter). I’ve read a lot on ancient Greece, have many Greek friends, and have spent a lot of time in the modern nation, so the fact that I know so little about it is fairly embarrassing (though that doesn’t seem to stop a lot of people from having opinions). I feel that I understand Greece much better, both what it stands for and where it comes from/is going. Anyone interested in understanding this beautiful and fascinating nation would do well to start off here.

[Philip Husbands · Rating 5 out of 5]

This elegantly written book is essential reading for those who wish to understand the forces that created, influenced and continue to influence the modern Greek state. I read the Kindle version of this book while visiting Greece and have never made so many highlights and notes on a history book!

The author's purpose is to take the reader from the first ground swell of Greek nationalism to Greece in 2018. This book achieves this with a fantastically written narrative free from digressions.

I have read reviews that this book is too focused on geopolitics. I think the author is right to do so, as he shows time and time again that no other force has had a greater influence on modern Greece during its almost 200 year existence.

Read this book if you want to look beyond ancient Greek history and understand Greece and its people today.

[Athan Tolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Year 2021 will mark 200 years since my country declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire. I’ll be very surprised if between now and then (or, indeed, ever!) anybody manages to produce a finer tribute to modern Greece than this concise, loving and balanced account.

In what must be the shortest 400 pages I’ve read in a long time, professor Roderick Beaton takes you from the first stirrings of independence all the way to the farce / tragedy of the current crisis, always with an eye to both what’s remained constant and to what distinguishes the various phases of this historical progression from one another.

So you’re never allowed to forget that Greece was carved out of a side of a larger empire by its protectors in London, Paris and Moscow, or of the fact that one head of the Byzantine eagle points east and the other west (my analogy, not the author’s), but you’re also steered through the rise and fall of the importance of the military (originally established by Otto's Bavarians), the rise and fall of “the Great Idea,” and the change of the grand divide among Greeks from royalist vs. liberal, to communist vs. right-wing.

Additionally, the author addresses the many interpretations of what it’s meant to be Greek over the past 250 years and how that has been relevant to the modern history of the country. Inevitably, this is also the story of the leaders of the revolution, the state, its expansion, its divisions and its eventual maturing into a modern and vibrant democracy.

My family moved to Greece in 1971. I was only 5 when my grandpa led the family council on how to vote on the 1973 referendum about the King and I remember it like it was yesterday. I have equally vivid memories of the uprising at the Polytechnic school, the annual demonstrations in front of the US Embassy, the rise to power of PASOK and the creation of a leviathan of a state which no government since has had an inclination to curb.

So I thought I knew my country, but this book has made me understand that I was lucky enough to actually experience the most peaceful and balanced and democratic period of the whole two centuries.

I do have my criticisms, of course: Melina Merkouri gets mentioned here more times than Constantine Karamanlis, for example. It is he, rather than Venizelos, who is the most important Greek politician of the 20th century, in my view.

But that’s just my angle, and this is one of the best books I’ve read on any topic.

[James Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not so much a page turner as a thorough and informative account of Greece from Ottoman occupation to today and with more wide-reaching thoughts about what Greece is: nation, state or nation-state?
I learnt masses from this.

[Tom Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating book has painfully, mortifyingly, exposed how ignorant I am about, well, a lot of things. For instance, State vs. Nation (vs. Nation/State) is something I’ve never really deeply pondered until now and the concept is a central force in the modern history of Greece (and I guess most New and Old World politics post the 1600s). I’m just an idiot American, cut me some slack.

Within my confusion I then start pondering, “Is The United States even a nation? Or is that maybe just a politically expedient myth?"

And (hey!) speaking of myths, Greece has quite a few of its own (beyond the Ancient Greek ones, of course!)! So I ponder the myth of Greek Exceptionalism. And that gets me thinking about the notion of American Exceptionalism. And then Greek Exceptionalism vis-a-vis American Exceptionalism. And that leads me to think about how difficult, tumultuous, and self-defeating modern Greek history has been. And then I think, “Hey, our country has some pretty profound and foundational problems of its own.”

This book is a thinker!

If you want to understand Greece on a deeper level than beaches, feta cheese, and pita bread, read this book. (If you want, you can cheat a bit and read it on a beach.) This doesn't mean, though, I'll be forgoing Pita and Feta on my upcoming trip. I love that stuff!

GB # 12

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book.
Like most people i was knew more about Ancient Greece than modern Greece. This book filled in the gaps and then some.
Starting in the early 1800's just before the Greeks launched their bid for freedom from the Ottoman Empire and finishing just after the financial crisis of 2010 this book covers just on 200 years of modern Greek history in an easy to read and engaging style.
Stand out chapters for me were the Junta of the late 1960's to early 1970's, the German occupation in WW2 and the messy aftermath of civil war and the disaster of the 1920's war against Turkey.
This is a near perfect book for anyone interested in modern Greece. Highly recommended.

[Theodoros Manolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πλούσια βιβλιογραφία, στοχευμένες πηγές και γνώση, αντικειμενική άποψη μέσα από ένα δύσβατο μονοπάτι ιστοριογραφιας της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας. Το βιβλίο του Roderick Beaton, αποτελεί έναν καλό σύντροφο και οδηγό σε όσους θέλουν να κατανοήσουν άγνωστες πτυχές της νεότερης Ελλάδας, συμμαχίες με τη Δύση και Ε.Ε., εμφυλίους πολέμους - υπό την αιγίδα των Ξενων δυνάμεων (άλλοτε της Δύσης, άλλοτε της ΕΣΣΔ.) και εν τέλει τη δράση ενός νεοσύστατου σύγχρονου κράτους, που ακόμα και τώρα περνάει μια περίοδο κρίσης αλλά όπως τονίζει και ο συγγραφέας αποτελεί αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι της ευρωπαϊκής Ταυτότητας, αν και μπροστάρης ή "σκαπανέας" όπως χαρακτηριστικά αναφέρεται.

Must Read!

[Amid عميد · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Mirror to Modern Dilemmas

In Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Roderick Beaton embarks on a meticulous journey through the annals of modern Greek history, offering a repository of insights that reverberate beyond the Aegean. The book is a commendable endeavor to condense a vast timeline into a coherent narrative, laying bare the nation’s struggles and aspirations as it grapples with its illustrious ancient past.

The book's exploration into Greece's ideological and historical tapestry resonated particularly due to the parallels one can draw with modern Arab societies, especially Egypt, which similarly grapples with reconciling its ancient past and present-day identity. Through the Greek lens, the book provides a reflective outlook on how nations might navigate their historical narratives amidst modern societal and political challenges.

However, where the book gains in informative breadth, it slightly loses in narrative allure. The prose, albeit competent, doesn’t sparkle with engagement that some other historical recounts do. A more captivating narrative style could have enlivened the dense historical tapestry being unfolded.

One of the notable merits of the book is its ability to evoke reflection on the pitfalls of extreme nationalism and religious entanglements in politics, a lesson that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries. The bizarre wrangle between Greece and Macedonia over the latter’s name is an eye-opener to the frivolities that can consume nations’ political agendas, overshadowing the core governmental duties of ensuring security, justice, and economic equity.

The final chapter serves as a microcosm for Greece's ongoing identity crisis, examining the dichotomy between its illustrious history and uncertain future. It explores the tensions arising from Greece's precarious position in the European Union, where its celebrated past complicates its present realities. The text also touches on the potential of Greece shifting towards Russia due to historical and religious ties, although these aspirations were not realized. The chapter ends by suggesting that Greece serves as a "canary in the coalmine" for the European Union, its experience serving as a critical test for the survival and adaptability of EU institutions. All these elements aptly encapsulate the identity crisis embroiling Greece, a poignant note that echoes the sentiments of many nations entranced by a glorified past at the expense of a pragmatic present. The chapter's message amplifies the book's relevance, making it a crucial read for anyone interested in the intricacies of national identity, especially for individuals or nations navigating a similar identity maze.

In conclusion, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation earns a solid four stars for its enlightening content and its mirror to modern dilemmas, despite a narrative style that could use a dash more engagement. It is a significant addition to the shelves of not only Hellenophiles but also those keen on understanding the delicate dance between history, identity, and modernity.

[Clara Mundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great insight regarding the creation of the modern Greek state and Greek identity. I was particularly fascinated by how Greece has oftentimes manipulated its history to connect itself further with its ancient empire and emphasize its position as the forefather of modern Europe. Also didn’t expect so many mentions of Lord Byron. Some sections definitely dragged but that’s probably more down to personal preference than the book itself. Either way, learned a lot and it made me eager to continue expanding my reading pool.

[Mark Pedlar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written and interesting history of the last 200 years of Greek history. It also seems balanced in terms of the politics. My only quibble was with the very last paragraph which seemed to point at the Euro, and continuing submission to its demands, as the key to the future. It could be argued that the determination to stay in the common currency at all costs has hollowed out Greeece as a democracy, which the last 200 years has been spent fighting for. Recent civil unrest and the rise of the far right Golden Dawn can be attributed to the austerity imposed by the Troika, as the writer admits. Apart from the common currency, Greece has been let down by the EU, which has allowed thousands of migrants and asylum seekers to languish in overcrowded camps on the Aegean islands. I have no idea what the alternative for Greece could be, but clinging to the Euro will surely bring further hardship, economically and socially.

[Ioannis Touras · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for the modern reader of history, for international readers and for all Greeks in the world. It made me laugh, cry and ponder on the history of Greece as modern nation. 200 years of the nation's life next year, and so many things that are still going on that can link to the past. For a time of self-reflection and identity crisis, in the now post economic crisis world, the book is a good point to finally ask the questions that we the Greeks have not asked before. I didn't agree with parts of it, but the thinking on my opposing views and why events happened in this 200 year strong history, proved a significant impact of the book to me, and one to explore further in the future. Thank you Roderick Beaton for this book and the journey.

[Zulu Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful. For a reader like me who has no prior knowledge of Greece and no background in Hellenic studies, Beaton's book was exactly what I was looking for. Academic but still very accessible; packed with information but very readable and seldom dry; even-handed but doesn't shy away from passing judgement - I loved it.

I especially enjoyed how Beaton took the time to explain some of the historiography that surrounds various episodes he narrates, and how he at times entertains counterfactuals and considers the significance of the various events he narrates.

I would highly recommend this book both for someone with no prior background who just wants to learn more about modern Greece (i.e. the last 200 years) as well as for more knowledgeable readers.

[Alexandros Potapidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few nations can boast the diverse and rich historical and cultural values that Greeks (or Hellens) have produced. The ancient Greek legacy would come to play a significant role in the early stages of the formation of the modern Greek nation, but its effects would be limited as the Greeks reinvented their identity and their place in the nation state building project. The modern Greek nation, as it emerged after the revolution of 1821 and the formation of an independent Greek state, has a fascinating story (a biography, as Beaton artfully contents) in the last 200 years. It is a biography of pain, perseverance, glory, dissapointment, economic rise and fall, internal divisions, and external struggle. All this while the Greek nation is defining and re-defining its identity and what it means to be Greek in the era where history belongs to the past.

In this respect Beaton has managed to produce a concise and comprehensive account of the re-birth of Greece as a nation and as a state. He is not offering any innovative ideas or a fresh reading of the existing perspectives, but he manages to encapsulate the main historical events and their effects in a project of brevity. His main contribution is to offer an insight not only of the works of statesmen and events that seemingly shaped developments, but provide an account of the lives of everyday people, the society in general, the state of the arts, and what preoccupied the nation in different historical periods. In this respect Beaton's work takes and transmits to its readers the pulse of the Greek nation as a whole.

The question this books attempts to answer is what makes Greece and Greeks unique. This is part of a broader debate of what nationalism is and how to define each nation. Not surprisingly for Greeks and their rich ancient history this problem took even more complex dimensions. Ancient Greece, despite being the birthplace of ideals and elements that contributed to the development of the modern western civilasation, did not possess a national conscience. The geographical space that defines Greece today was conquered over centuries by various empires. The last one was the Ottoman Empire. The only common element that united the people living in this space was the Greek language. When ideas emanating from the French Revolution started spreading all over Europe, educated Greeks sowed the first seeds for Greek self determination based on ancient Greek principles.

The resurgence of the Greek national consciousness in the end of the 18th century was based on the common Greek language and Orthodox Christian religion. When the Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire achieved the establishment of a modern Greek state, the next step was the creation of a nation. A new interpretation of history was needed to provide coherence and continuity to the Greek nation. The Greek language from ancient times until the beginning of Middle Ages was this element, whereas Christianity during the Byzantine times was the glue that kept together diverse populations in the southeast corner of Europe. In this sense modern Greece is an amalgamation of cultural and institutional elements of ancient and Byzantine origins.

While the Greek state was coming of age in the 19th and 20th centuries, there were some common denominators that shaped its political culture. Greece experienced several deadly civil wars, especially during catastrophic times, in the midst of the fight for its independence against the Ottomans or after the German occupation in the Second World War. These societal and political divisions led to, or were the result of, the intervention of the army and constituted authoritarianism as a prominent feature of the political life in the 20th century Greece. During its creation and well until the 1980s foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of the Greek state was a prominent characteristic in line with the Great Power politics of each era. Greece played its role in the balancing act of the power politics of Great Britain, France, Russia, and during the Cold War of the US and Soviet Union. Joining the structures of the European Union brought a relative independence and economic prosperity that was painfully disrupted by the 2008 financial crisis and hit Greece more than any other European nation.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book during my honeymoon (in Greece) to gain a deeper understanding of life in Greece and its rich, complex history. Before reading, my knowledge was limited to ancient Greece and the usual tourist stereotypes. This biography delivers! It thoughtfully distinguishes between the Greek nation and state, and describes how modern Greek identity draws from both ancient and Byzantine roots.

Beaton covers the country's from 1718 through the 2010s, including regional wars, major political movements, and cultural developments. I especially appreciated how he connects historical events to present-day national character, showing the pride and tension in Greece’s effort to balance East and West, ancient and modern.

At times, it reads a bit like a textbook. Perhaps because I wasn’t yet familiar with many of the major Greek historical figures. But that didn’t detract from the insight of the writing.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting a thoughtful, structured overview of Greece’s modern history and national identity.

[Kylie Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, maybe even 3. An overview for the most part, so leans a little more on the dry side of things (especially with elections, political parties, etc - but also things get messy). In general though super interesting considering I realized I knew basically nothing about Greece in the past couple hundred years and had some cool insights about identity and nation building.

[Cristina Mestre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro excepcional para entender la historia de Grecia entre los siglos XIX y XXI. Muy interesante y bien contado, aunque pasa de puntillas sobre ciertos temas en los que se podría profundizar (las dictaduras de Metaxás y de los coroneles) y se le nota el sesgo en el último capítulo. Aun así, lo recomiendo muchísimo.

[Antonis Tzortzakakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.
No prejudices, no passion, no sides.
A cool look at what we call Greek State.

[Barksdale Penick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I want in a history survey. With some background, Beaton covers the history of the Greek state since independence in 1821. Beaton suggests that Greece was ahead of the wave of uprisings in the mid 19 th century, and it is true that the French Revolution inspired Greece to push off the rule of the Ottomans, but how odd that the popular upraising accepted a 17 year old Bavarian as their king. And later a young Dane, all because the great powers wanted it so. Indeed, Greek independence in 1821 had much to with persuasion of the elites in Russia, France,and England that Greece ought to be independent.

The long era of separation of peoples was fascinating, as the Greeks pushed out others who had long lived among them, while Greeks were pushed out of Anatolia and many other places. Most of these ethic separations were relatively peaceful, although the uprooted individuals suffered greatly, of course. It seems that even in the mid 20th century the Greek population of Istanbul dropped from 100K to 2K in the wake of unrest following troubles in Cypress. I would have thought, naively I suppose, that people who had lived together for many generations would lose their antipathy, but this history says otherwise.

The descriptions of the Balkan theater in the two world wars is excellent and instructive, as well as the Greco-Turkish war following WWI and the Greek civil war immediately following WWII. I also learned from the chapter on the crises that led to the division of Cypress.

Just a few sentences here and could have been streamlined or made clearer, but overall this is very well done.

[Anthony Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It was a wonderful summary of the recent (ish) history of a fascinating country. It was very accessible for me, whose knowledge of Greek history was extremely scanty before reading. Highly highly recommend