Greek nationalism

The national flag of Greece was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolises Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Greek nationalism, otherwise referred to as Hellenic nationalism, refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in classical Greece. 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.

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.

Greek nationalism was also the main ideology of two dictatorial regimes in Greece during the 20th century: the 4th of August Regime (1936–1941) and the Greek military junta (1967–1974). Today Greek nationalism remains important in the Greco-Turkish dispute over Cyprus among other disputes (Greek nationalism in Cyprus).

History

Main articles: Ancient Greece, Panhellenic Games, Byzantine Greeks § Identity, and Greeks § Identity

Greek hoplite (right) and Persian warrior (left) depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC.

St. John III Doukas Vatatzes the Merciful King, Emperor of the Romans and "Father of the Greeks".

Grateful Hellas, painting by Theodoros Vryzakis (1858), National Historical Museum, Athens. Greece personified as a woman, depicted with revolutionaries who participated in the Greek War of Independence.

Eleftherios Venizelos, a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.

The establishment of Panhellenic sites served as an essential component in the growth and self-consciousness of Greek nationalism. 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. Aristotle and Hippocrates offered a theoretical approach on the superiority of the Greek tribes.

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.

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". The generations after John looked back upon him as "the Father of the Greeks".

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. Some prominent personalities at the time also proposed changing the Imperial title from "basileus and autocrat of the Romans" to "Emperor of the Hellenes". 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.

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. 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 political parties

Nationalist parties include:

Active

• Greek Unity (1989–)
• Popular Orthodox Rally (2000–)
• Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias (2008–)
• National Hope (2010–)
• United Popular Front (2011–)
• National Unity Association (2011–)
• National Front (2012–)
• Popular Greek Patriotic Union (2015–)
• National Unity (2016–)
• New Right (2016–)
• Greek Solution (2016–) (parliamentary)
• Spartans (2017–) (parliamentary)
• Patriotic Radical Union (2018–)
• Democratic Patriotic Movement (2019–) (parliamentary)
• National Popular Consciousness (2019–)
• National Party – Greeks (2020–)

Defunct

• Golden Dawn (1985–2020) (parliamentary)
• Independent Greeks (2012–2019) (parliamentary)
• Nationalist Party (1865–1913) (parliamentary)
• New Party (1873–1910) (parliamentary)
• Liberal Party (1910–1961) (parliamentary)
• Freethinkers' Party (1922–1936) (parliamentary)
• National Union of Greece (1927–1944)
• Greek National Socialist Party (1932–1943)
• Hellenic Socialist Patriotic Organisation (1941–1942)
• Politically Independent Alignment (1949–1951) (parliamentary)
• Greek Rally (1951–1955) (parliamentary)
• 4th of August Party (1965–1977)
• National Democratic Union (1974–1977)
• National Alignment (1977–1981)
• United Nationalist Movement (1979–1991)
• Party of Hellenism (1981–2004)
• National Political Union (1984–1996)
• Political Spring (1993–2004)
• Hellenic Front (1994–2005)
• Front Line (1999–2000)
• Patriotic Alliance (2004–2007)

Gallery

• 
  St. John III Doukas Vatatzes, a Byzantine Emperor known as the "Father of the Greeks".
• 
  Traditional flag used from 1769 to the Greek War of Independence.
• 
  Flag of the Filiki Eteria (1814), a secret organization which planned to overthrow the Ottoman rule and establish an independent Greek State.
• 
  Louis Dupré's depiction of Nikolakis Mitropoulos raising his flag at Salona; a scene from the early stages of the Greek War of Independence in 1821.
• 
  "The Arcadian Holocaust" by Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri; scene from the Cretan Revolt (1866–69).
• 
  Alexandros Koumoundouros, founder of the Greek Nationalist Party.
• 
  Pavlos Melas, a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army that was killed during the Macedonian Struggle (1893–1912).
• 
  Lorentzos Mavilis, a Greek war poet that was killed during the First Balkan War (1912–13).
• 
  Poster celebrating the "New Greece" after the Balkan Wars.
• 
  Map of "Greater Greece" after the Treaty of Sèvres, featuring Eleftherios Venizelos, when the Megali Idea seemed close to fulfillment.
• 
  Members of the National Organisation of Youth (EON) hail in presence of Ioannis Metaxas during the 4th of August Regime.
• 
  Georgios Grivas, Greek nationalist and leader of Cypriot Enosis movement against British colonial rule.

See also

• Background of the Greek War of Independence
• Cyprus problem
• Exchange of population between Greece and Turkey
• First Hellenic Republic
• Kingdom of Greece
• Rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire
• Treaty of Constantinople (1832)

References

Sources

• Burckhardt, Jacob (1999) [1872]. The Greeks and Greek Civilization. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-24447-7.
• Çaǧaptay, Soner (2006). Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who is a Turk?. London and New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 978-0-415-38458-2.
• Hope, Laura Leigh Bevis (2007). Staging the Nation/Confronting Nationalism: Theatre and Performance by Contemporary Irish and German Women. Davis, CA: University of California, Davis.
• Motyl, Alexander J. (2001). Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Volume II. London and San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-08-054524-0.
• Vasiliev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1952). History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453, Volume II. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-80926-3.
• Wilson, Nigel (2006). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. New York, NY: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 978-1-136-78799-7.

Further reading

• Moles, Ian N. (1969). "Nationalism and Byzantine Greece". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. 10 (1): 95–107.