Fight for a Nation

Costas Douzinas on a study of the revolution by which Greece freed itself from the Ottoman empire and was transformed into a self-ruling nation-state

- By Costas Douzinas. Photographs by Bridgeman

New dawn An allegory of the reawakening of Greek nationalism under Ottoman rule. This was one of a number of factors that sparked the Greek Revolution of 1821–29, the subject of a new study by Mark Mazower

The Greek Revolution by Mark Mazower Allen Lane, 608 pages, £30

In March 1821, Antonios Oikonomou - a sea captain from the Aegean island of Hydra and a member of the revolutionary Filiki Eteria, or Friendly Society - was drinking in a tavern in the port of the island when he heard that an uprising to free Greece from the control of the Ottoman empire had been launched. Springing into action he gathered a band of sailors and deposed the representative of the Porte, the Ottoman central government. Oikonomou was made sole governor but soon lost the upper hand. Forced to flee Hydra by rich shipowners, in December 1821 he was gunned down by hired men.

Mark Mazower's book is full of such episodes – stories that humanize the long and bloody history of the Greek Revolution. It reads like a long series of adventure tales, rich in heroes, villains, triumphs, and betrayals.