Petros Pizanias (ed)
The Greek Revolution of 1821: A
European Event
Istanbul: Isis Press, 2011
By Vasiliki Amorati
Boğaziçi University
The Greek revolution of 1821 has been documented
in multiple personal narratives and
testimonies, especially by people who lived
during those years, people who were the protagonists
of these events. Vivid memoirs and
descriptions, including personal diaries written
in an authentic style by the people who fought
in the Greek lands against the Ottomans, and
by foreigners, who either took up arms or
supported the revolution through philhellenic
movements, started to circulate immediately
after the establishment of the first Greek independent
state. However, in recent decades,
there has been little academic historical research
efforts and studies on the Greek war of
independence and what has appeared mainly
involves biographical analyses and anthropocentric
stories.1
Generally speaking, the research interests
of historians specialising on 25 March 1821,
when the banner of revolution was raised
against the Ottoman Empire and the story of
“modern Greece” is usually said to have begun,
have been around the protagonists – the heroes
and their heroic acts before, during and
even after the revolutionary war, neglecting
numerous issues relating to the period. With
this perspective in mind, The Greek Revolution
of 1821: A European Event, edited by Petros
Pizanias, brings together the work of scholars
in the hope of facilitating a more transparent
discourse. Taking this into consideration, and
at the same time moving beyond the military