Greek nationalism, otherwise referred to as Hellenic nationalism, refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture. [1] As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in classical Greece. [2] [3] [4] In modern times, Greek nationalism became a major political movement beginning in the early 19th century, which culminated in the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. [1]
Greek nationalism became also a potent movement in Greece shortly prior to, and during World War I, when the Greeks, inspired by the Megali Idea, managed to liberate parts of Greece in the Balkan Wars and after World War I, briefly occupied the region of Smyrna before it was retaken by the Turks. [1]
Greek nationalism was also the main ideology of two dictatorial regimes in Greece during the 20th century: the 4th of August Regime (1936-41) and the Greek military junta (1967-74). Today Greek nationalism remains important in the Greco-Turkish dispute over Cyprus [1] among other disputes (Greek nationalism in Cyprus).
The establishment of Panhellenic sites served as an essential component in the growth and self-consciousness of Greek nationalism. [2] During the Greco-Persian Wars of the 5th century BCE, Greek nationalism was formally established though mainly as an ideology rather than a political reality since some Greek states were still allied with the Persian Empire. [3] Aristotle and Hippocrates offered a theoretical approach on the superiority of the Greek tribes. [5]
The establishment of the ancient Panhellenic Games is often seen as the first example of ethnic nationalism and view of a common heritage and identity. [6]
During the times of the Byzantine Empire and after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, the Roman Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes made extensive use of the words 'nation' (genos), 'Hellene' and 'Hellas' together in his correspondence with the Pope. John acknowledged that he was Greek, although bearing the title Emperor of the Romans: "the Greeks are the only heirs and successors of Constantine", he wrote. In similar fashion John’s son Theodore II, acc. 1254, who took some interest in the physical heritage of Antiquity, referred to his whole Euro-Asian realm as "Hellas" and a "Hellenic dominion". [7] The generations after John looked back upon him as "the Father of the Greeks". [8]
When the Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Paleologi dynasty (1261–1453), a new era of Greek patriotism emerged, accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece. [4] Some prominent personalities at the time also proposed changing the Imperial title from "basileus and autocrat of the Romans" to "Emperor of the Hellenes". [4] This enthusiasm for the glorious past constituted an element that was present in the movement that led to the creation of the modern Greek state, in 1830, after four centuries of Ottoman rule. [4]
Popular movements calling for enosis (the incorporation of disparate Greek-populated territories into a greater Greek state) resulted in the accession of Ionian Islands (1864), Thessaly (1881), Crete (1912), southern parts of Macedonia and Thrace (1913), and finally Dodecanese (1947). Calls for enosis were also a feature of Cypriot politics during British rule in Cyprus. During the troubled interwar years, some Greek nationalists viewed Orthodox Christian Albanians, Aromanians and Bulgarians as communities that could be assimilated into the Greek nation. [9] Greek irredentism, the "Megali Idea" suffered a setback in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), and the Greek genocide. Since then, Greco-Turkish relations have been characterized by tension between Greek and Turkish nationalism, culminating in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974).
Nationalist parties include:
The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day.
The Megali Idea is a nationalist and irredentist concept that expresses the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire, by establishing a Greek state, which would include the large Greek populations that were still under Ottoman rule after the end of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1828) and all the regions that had large Greek populations.
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek rump states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine/Roman Empire that fled when Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian armed forces during the Fourth Crusade, a military event known as the Sack of Constantinople. Like the other Byzantine rump states that formed due to the 1204 fracturing of the empire, such as the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, it was a continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived well into the medieval period. A fourth state, known in historiography as the Latin Empire, was established by an army of Crusaders and the Republic of Venice after the capture of Constantinople and the surrounding environs.
Enosis is the movement of various Greek communities that live outside Greece for incorporation of the regions that they inhabit into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea, an irredentist concept of a Greek state that dominated Greek politics following the creation of modern Greece in 1830. The Megali Idea called for the annexation of all ethnic Greek lands, parts of which had participated in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s but were unsuccessful and so remained under foreign rule.
Relations between Greece and Turkey began in the 1830s following Greece's formation after its declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Modern relations began when Turkey declared its formation in 1923 following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of British rule in Cyprus, and for eventual union with Greece.
There have been several Greco-Turkish Wars:
This article is about the history of Cyprus from 1878 to the present.
The military history of Greece is the history of the wars and battles that took place in Greece, the Balkans, and the Greek colonies in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, respectively, since classical antiquity.
Venizelism was one of the major political movements in Greece from the 1900s until the mid-1970s.
The rise of the Western notion of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman millet system. The concept of nationhood, which was different from the preceding religious community concept of the millet system, was a key factor in the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
The Cyprus Emergency, also known as the Greek Cypriot War of Independence or the Cypriot War of Independence, was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between November 1955 and March 1959.
The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent fall of the successor states of the Eastern Roman Empire marked the end of Byzantine sovereignty. Since then, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia, although there were some exceptions: the Ionian Islands were under Venetian rule, and Ottoman authority was challenged in mountainous areas, such as Agrafa, Sfakia, Souli, Himara and the Mani Peninsula. Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called rayas by the Turks, a name that referred to the large mass of subjects in the Ottoman ruling class. Meanwhile, Greek intellectuals and humanists who had migrated west before or during the Ottoman invasions began to compose orations and treatises calling for the liberation of their homeland. In 1463, Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and “all of the Latins” to aid the Greeks against the Ottomans, he composed orations and treatises calling for the liberation of Greece from what he called “the abominable, monstrous, and impious barbarian Turks.” In the 17th century, Greek scholar Leonardos Philaras spent much of his career in persuading Western European intellectuals to support Greek independence. However, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. In the 18th and 19th century, as revolutionary nationalism grew across Europe—including the Balkans —the Ottoman Empire's power declined and Greek nationalism began to assert itself, with the Greek cause beginning to draw support not only from the large Greek merchant diaspora in both Western Europe and Russia but also from Western European Philhellenes. This Greek movement for independence, was not only the first movement of national character in Eastern Europe, but also the first one in a non-Christian environment, like the Ottoman Empire.
Alexandros Kontoulis was a Hellenic Army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. He was among the driving minds behind the Macedonian Struggle and was involved in the Albanian national movement, with the nom de guerre of Kapetan Skourtis. Kontoulis fought with distinction in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and the First Balkan War, where he was heavily wounded. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, he commanded the I Army Corps on the southern sector of the Greek front from February 1921 to June 1922. After his retirement, he served as ambassador to Albania.
Nikos Kapetanidis was a Greek journalist and newspaper publisher. He was one of the notable Pontians hanged by Turkish nationalists serving under Mustafa Kemal.
Greek Cypriot nationalism, also known as Cypriot Hellenism, is a form of ethnic nationalism emphasising the Greekness of the Cypriot nation. It is not the same as Greek nationalism, the main goal of which is the integration of Cyprus into Greece—a process known as enosis. Having abandoned the idea of enosis, Greek Cypriot nationalists now aim to establish a Greek Cypriot-controlled state with close relations to Greece, which they see as their "motherland". Variants of Greek Cypriot nationalism have been espoused across Cyprus' political spectrum by the centre-left Movement for Social Democracy, the centre-right Democratic Party and Democratic Rally, and the right-wing New Horizons, as well as the Church of Cyprus.
The 1931 Cyprus revolt or October Events was a revolt against British colonial rule that took place in Cyprus, then a British crown colony, between 21 October and early November 1931. The revolt was spearheaded by Greek Cypriot nationalists who advocated the Enosis (Union) of the island with Greece. The defeat of the rebels led to a period of autocratic British rule known as "Palmerocracy" (Παλμεροκρατία), that would last until the beginning of World War II.
Christodoulos Sozos was a Greek Cypriot politician and lawyer. He served as a member of the Cypriot Legislative Council (1901–1911), mayor of Limassol (1908–1912) and Limassol–Paphos MP (1908–1912). On 7 November 1912, he voluntarily enlisted in Greek army as private which at the time was fighting in the First Balkan War. He was killed in action on 6 December. His prewar activism on behalf of the cause of Enosis and the circumstances surrounding his death made him one of the most important figures of Greek Cypriot nationalism.
Greece and the Ottoman Empire had a history of conflict. They developed formal relations in 1830 when Greece was recognised as an independent state by the Ottoman Empire following the Greek War of Independence.
The New Jersey–Cyprus National Guard Partnership is one of 25 European partnerships that make-up the U.S. European Command State Partnership Program and one of 88 worldwide partnerships that make-up the National Guard State Partnership Program
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