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" The Greek Kingdom in British public debate "
Hionidis, Pandeleimon Lazarou.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1095519
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TLets399528
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| Main Entry
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Hionidis, Pandeleimon Lazarou.
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| Title & Author
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The Greek Kingdom in British public debate\ Hionidis, Pandeleimon Lazarou.
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| College
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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| Date
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2002
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2002
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This study examines British comments on the independent Greek state from thedynastic change in 1862 to the annexation of Thessaly and the Arta region of Epirusin 1881. Its aims are to pinpoint and construe elements of continuity and change in theimage of modem Greece in Victorian Britain and to interpret individual and collectiveexpressions of sympathy with and criticism of the Greek kingdom or the Greek `race'.This study argues that British images of Greek modernity were firmly based oncontemporary notions of `civilization' and `national prosperity', although allusions toclassical antiquity and the Byronic tradition occasionally filtered into the debate.Moreover, from the late 1860s onwards, the gradual application of racialargumentation to the discussion of the Greek case, in terms of an inquiry into thedescent of the modem Greeks and the association of essential and stable traits ofcharacter with members of the Greek `race', confirmed rather than altered the existingbody of British assumptions about the Greek kingdom and crystallized them into adefinite diagnosis of Greek modernity. This study concludes that in the period 1862-1881 British philhellenism, that is, interest in the affairs of modem Greece and theadvocacy of the `Greek cause', should be accounted for mainly within the frameworkof liberal concern for freedom and, consequently, in the context of British interest incontinental nationalities, without, however, overlooking the links between religiousand especially scholarly affiliations and the championship of the Greek cause.After an introductory chapter, which covers the formative years of Otho's reignfocusing on the sources of information on Greece and their lasting impact on Britishunderstanding of that country, the argument developed in this thesis is based on a detailede xaminationo f five episodesT. hesea re the overthrowo f King Otho and thecession of the Ionian Islands to Greece (1862-1864), the Cretan insurrection (1866-1869), the `Dilessi murders' incident (1870), the Eastern crisis (1875-1878), and thefinal settlement of the Greek question (1879-1881). These illustrate, in contrastingand complementary ways, the major facets of the relationship between the Greekkingdom and the formation of opinion in Victorian Britain.
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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