Greek nationalism

{{Short description|Ideology perceiving Greeks as a nation}} [[File:Flag of Greece.svg|thumb|250px|right|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.<ref name=Motyl>{{harvnb|Motyl|2001|loc="Greek Nationalism", pp. 201–203}}.</ref> As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in classical Greece.<ref name=Burckhardt/><ref name=Wilson/><ref name=Vasiliev582/> 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.<ref name=Motyl/> Greek nationalism became also a potent movement in the kingdom of 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.<ref name=Motyl/>

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 (Greek Cypriot nationalism) remains important in the Greco-Turkish dispute over Cyprus<ref name=Motyl/> among other disputes.

==History== ===Background=== ====Ancient period==== [[File:Greek-Persian duel 1.jpg|thumb|right|Greek hoplite (right) and Persian warrior (left) depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC.]] {{Main|Panhellenic Games|Graeco-Persian Wars|Delian League|League of Corinth|Isocrates}} The establishment of Panhellenic sites served as an essential component in the growth and self-consciousness of Hellenic nationalism.<ref name=Burckhardt>{{harvnb|Burckhardt|1999|loc=p. 168: "The establishment of these Panhellenic sites, which yet remained exclusively Hellenic, was a very important element in the growth and self-consciousness of Hellenic nationalism; it was uniquely decisive in breaking down enmity between tribes, and remained the most powerful obstacle to fragmentation into mutually hostile ''poleis''."}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Wilson>{{harvnb|Wilson|2006|loc="Persian Wars", pp. 555–556}}.</ref> Aristotle and Hippocrates offered a theoretical approach on the superiority of the Greek tribes.<ref>{{harvnb|Hope|2007|loc=p. 177: "Hippocrates and Aristotle both theorized the geography was responsible for the differences between peoples. Not surprisingly, both writers theorized their own Greek tribes as superior to all other human collectives."}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2021-07-01|title=The Panhellenic Games|url=https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/the-panhellenic-games|access-date=2021-07-13|website=Hellenic Museum|language=en}}</ref>The Greek alliance led by Sparta during the Second Persian invasion of Greece, the Athenian-led Delian League under Cimon, the Spartan king Agesilaus II, and the Hellenic League led by Philip II of Macedon and then Alexander the Great, all self-presented as defenders of the Greeks against the Persians. Philip was initially urged by Isocrates in 346 BC to unify Greece against the Persians.<ref name=":1">Philip [16]: «μέλλω γάρ '''σοι συμβουλεύειν''' προστῆναι τῆς τε τῶν '''Ἑλλήνων''' ὁμονοίας καὶ τῆς '''ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους στρατείας''': ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν πείθειν πρὸς τοὺς '''Ἕλληνας''' συμφέρον, τὸ δὲ βιάζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους χρήσιμον. ἡ μὲν οὖν περιβολὴ παντὸς τοῦ λόγου τοιαύτη τίς ἐστιν» [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0144%3Aspeech%3D5%3Asection%3D16]</ref>{{Sfn|Harle|1998|page=24 :"The idea of the city-state was first challenged by the ideal of pan-Hellenic unity supported by some writers and orators, among which the Athenian Isocrates became a leading proponent with his Panegyrics of 380 suggesting a Greek holy war against Persia. However, only the rise of Macedonia made the realization of pan-Hellenic unity possible"}} After the Battle of Chaeronea, the League of Corinth was formed and controlled by Philip. Alexander utilized his father's league when planning his pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to expand Macedon and take revenge on the Persian Empire.{{Sfn|Davis Hanson|2012|page=119 :"Afterwards he [Alexander] revived his father's League of Corinth, and with it his plan for a pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to punish the Persians for the suffering of the Greeks, especially the Athenians, in the Greco-Persian Wars and to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor"}} During the Hellenistic period, some Antigonid rulers of Macedon shortly revived the league, also known as the 'Hellenic Alliance'.{{Sfn|Erskine|2009|page=155 :"Following the footsteps of Philip II and his own great-grandfather (and namesake), Antigonos organized yet another 'League of Corinth', although this third version is better known as the 'Hellenic Alliance'"}} Rulers like Pyrrhus of Epirus, Philip V of Macedon, Antiochus the Great, Perseus of Macedon and Mithridates of Pontus presented themselves as champions of Greek liberty against the rising Roman Republic.{{CN|date=May 2026}}

====Medieval period==== {{Main|Byzantines#Identity}} [[File:St. John Vatatze the Merciful.jpg|thumb|right|200px|St. John III Doukas Vatatzes the Merciful King, Emperor of the Romans and "Father of the Greeks".]] During the times of the Byzantine Empire and after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, the Roman Emperor of Nicaea 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 realm as "Hellas" and a "Hellenic dominion".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Byzantium 1220 To 1330 {{!}} Byzantine Empire {{!}} Constantinople|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/30421469/Byzantium-1220-to-1330|access-date=2021-07-13|website=Scribd|language=en|archive-date=2016-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811152526/https://www.scribd.com/doc/30421469/Byzantium-1220-to-1330|url-status=live}}</ref> The generations after John looked back upon him as "the Father of the Greeks".<ref>A. A. Vasiliev. ''History of the Byzantine Empire''. Vol. 2. University of Wisconsin Press, 1971. pp. 531–534.</ref> 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.<ref name=Vasiliev582>{{harvnb|Vasiliev|1952|p=582}}.</ref> Some prominent personalities at the time also proposed changing the Imperial title from "basileus and autocrat of the Romans" to "Emperor of the Hellenes".<ref name=Vasiliev582/>

===Modern era=== {{Further|Ottoman Greeks|Greek War of Independence|Megali Idea|Greeks#Identity}} [[File:Theodoros Vryzakis, Grateful Hellas (1858).jpg|thumb|right|200px|''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.]] [[File:Eleftherios Venizelos, portrait 1935.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Eleftherios Venizelos, a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.{{citation needed|date=May 2026}}]] The last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos became known in later Greek folklore as "The Marble Emperor" ({{langx|el|Μαρμαρωμένος Βασιλιάς}}, {{Transliteration|el|Marmaroménos Vasiliás}} {{lit|Emperor turned into Marble}}). This reflected a popular legend that Constantine had not actually died, but had been rescued by an angel and turned into marble, hidden beneath the Golden Gate of Constantinople awaiting a call from God to be restored to life and reconquer both the city and the old empire.{{citation needed|date=May 2026}}

The enthusiasm for the glorious past constituted an element that was present in the movement that led to the Greek War of Independence and the creation of the modern Greek state, in 1830, after four centuries of Ottoman rule.<ref name=Vasiliev582/> 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, Greek Macedonia, Epirus and most of the North Aegean islands (1912-1913), Western Thrace (1920) and finally Dodecanese (1947). Greek irredentism, the "Megali Idea" ended after the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Çaǧaptay|2006|p=161}}.</ref>

Calls for ''enosis'' were also a feature of Cypriot politics during British rule in Cyprus. After the Treaty of Lausanne, Greco-Turkish relations have been characterized by tension between Greek and Turkish nationalism especially for the Cyprus problem, culminating in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974).{{citation needed|date=May 2026}} Historians Erik Sjöberg (historian) and Andrekos Varnava argue that Greek nationalism specifically in the form of Identity politics and memory-making was a primary driver in the "construction" of the Greek genocide as a collectivist historical fact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erik Sjöberg, "The Making of the Greek Genocide: Contested Memories of the Ottoman Greek Catastrophe" (Berghahn Books, 2018) |url=https://newbooksnetwork.com/erik-sjoberg-the-making-of-the-greek-genocide-contested-memories-of-the-ottoman-greek-catastrophe-berghahn-books-2018 |access-date=2026-02-16 |website=New Books Network |language=en}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery class="center"> File:St. John Vatatze the Merciful.jpg|St. John III Doukas Vatatzes, a Byzantine Emperor known as the "Father of the Greeks". File:Greek Independence 1821.svg|Traditional flag used from 1769 to the Greek War of Independence. File:Filiki Eteria flag.svg|Flag of the Filiki Eteria (1814), a secret organization which planned to overthrow the Ottoman rule and establish an independent Greek State.<ref name="1897Book">{{cite book |last=Alison |first=Phillips W. |title=The war of Greek independence, 1821 to 1833 |publisher=London : Smith, Elder |year=1897 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/warofgreekindepe00philiala/page/20 20], 21 |url=https://archive.org/details/warofgreekindepe00philiala}} (''retrieved from University of California Library'')</ref> File:Dupre-Salona-1821.jpg|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. File:Gatteri - The Arcadian Holocaust.jpg|"The Arcadian Holocaust" by Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri; scene from the Cretan Revolt (1866–69). File:Koumoundouros.png|Alexandros Koumoundouros, founder of the Greek Nationalist Party. File:Pavlos Melas Portrait.jpg|Pavlos Melas, a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army that was killed during the Macedonian Struggle (1893–1912). File:Lorentzos Mavilis, Greek poet - Athens, 2008.JPG|Lorentzos Mavilis, a Greek war poet that was killed during the First Balkan War (1912–13). File:New Greece Hellenic Fleet and Conquered Lands 1821-1913 Print.jpg|Poster celebrating the "New Greece" after the Balkan Wars. File:Map of Great Greece (Megali Hellas) Venizelos c1920.jpg|Map of "Greater Greece" after the Treaty of Sèvres, featuring Eleftherios Venizelos, when the ''Megali Idea'' seemed close to fulfillment. File:Metaxas-regime-greek-fascism.png|Members of the National Organisation of Youth (EON) hail in presence of Ioannis Metaxas during the 4th of August Regime. File:Georgios Grivas 1967.jpg|Georgios Grivas, Greek Cypriot nationalist and leader of Cypriot ''Enosis'' movement and EOKA against British colonial rule. </gallery>

==Nationalist and Ultranationalist political parties== {{Conservatism in Greece sidebar}} ===Before Metapolitefsi=== *French Party (1825-1865) *Russian Party (1825-1865) *English Party (1825-1865) *New Party (1873–1910) (parliamentary) *Nationalist Party (1865–1913) (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)

===After Metapolitefsi=== *Political Spring (1993–2004) (parliamentary) *Popular Orthodox Rally (2000–) (parliamentary) *Independent Greeks (2012–2019) (parliamentary) *Greek Solution (2016–) (parliamentary) *Democratic Patriotic Movement (2019–) (parliamentary) *Spartans (Greek political party) (parliamentary) *Golden Dawn (1985–2020) (parliamentary) *Voice of Reason (2023–) (European parliamentary) *National Party – Greeks *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) *Hellenic Front (1994–2005) *Panhellenic Macedonian Front *Front Line (1999–2000) *National Political Union (1984–1996) *Greek Unity (1989–201;) *National Hope (2010–) *United Popular Front (2011–) *National Unity Association (2011–) *National Front (2012–) *Patriotic Alliance (2004–2007) *Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias (2008–2020) *Popular Greek Patriotic Union (2015–2022) *New Right (2016–2023) *National Unity (2016) *Patriotic Radical Union (2018–2022) *National Popular Consciousness (2019–2023)

==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist|2}}

===Sources=== {{refbegin|2}} *{{cite book|last=Burckhardt|first=Jacob|title=The Greeks and Greek Civilization|year=1999|orig-year=1872|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-24447-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6viARAF6uowC}} *{{cite book|last=Çaǧaptay|first=Soner|title=Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who is a Turk?|year=2006|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group)|isbn=978-0-415-38458-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0xU7NjkkqAC}} *{{cite book|last=Hope|first=Laura Leigh Bevis|title=Staging the Nation/Confronting Nationalism: Theatre and Performance by Contemporary Irish and German Women|year=2007|location=Davis, CA|publisher=University of California, Davis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mZ9eD8FA4sC}} *{{cite book|last=Motyl|first=Alexander J.|author-link=Alexander J. Motyl|title=Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Volume II|year=2001|location=London and San Diego|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-054524-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pvHRNNk9hHEC}} *{{cite book|last=Vasiliev|first=Aleksandr Aleksandrovich|title=History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453, Volume II|year=1952|location=Madison, WI|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-80926-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2X8LtjDLNl8C}} *{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Nigel|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece|year=2006|location=New York, NY|publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group)|isbn=978-1-136-78799-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TzjAQAAQBAJ}} {{refend|2}}

==Further reading== *{{cite journal|last=Moles|first=Ian N.|title=Nationalism and Byzantine Greece|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|volume=10|number=1|year=1969|pages=95–107|url=http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/10651/4317}}

Greek Category:Greek nationalism Nationalism