the cultures to which they were exposed, French historian and travel writer Claude May the Greeks be Free 2 western Europeans viewed Greek culture as Denis Raffanel wrote: “Près des marbres la terre?” Having sufficiently compelled his audience with this distressing prophecy he Matt Robertshaw the most significant. majestueux…ma vue s’arrêtait avec douleur The Greek peninsula had been part of sur les triste chaumières où végétait, dans transitioned into an utterly non-Romantic the Ottoman Empire since the fall of une lâche abandon, la servile posterité point-by-point rebuttal of anti-Greek arguments. He excused France from its Constantinople in 1453, and, as in other des héros.”1 This emotive and sympathetic commitment to the Congress of Vienna’s European nations, a nationalist movement picture of a Greece having been cast position on Turkey, saying that not only was stirring. Initially the major powers aside by history along with the popular was Turkey absent from the Congress, but if of Europe were reluctant to get involved contemporary Greece-themed poems — the sultan heard that the Christian nations with what was seen as an insurrection. notably Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage had guaranteed to protect his sovereignty The Congress of Vienna clearly held the and Shelley’s Hellas — served to revive over Greece, he would have considered it Ottomans as the rightful rulers of the popular interest in Greece in the years 3 Greeks — to support the rebels would be to leading up to the revolt. to be insolence. In response to the idea fter Napoleon’s final question the basis of the Congress System. Some Romantics were directly involved that the Greeks were the rightful subjects defeat in 1815 a wave of conservatism swept But as the movement progressed, and as in the great powers’ decisions to back the of the Turks, he proclaimed that they were across Europe. Under the leadership of Prince word of its atrocities circulated, sympathy Greek cause. François-René Chateaubriand, not considered subjects, but rather slaves. Klemens von Metternich the great powers grew. The works of Romantic artists played who would later be considered the father of To the Turks they were little more than “des worked together to re-establish the continent’s an influential role in the Greeks’ quest for French Romantic literature, was a member chiens faits pour mourir sous les bâtons de pre-1789 borders and to put down any liberal 4 independence. Through the application of the Académie Française in 1825 when vrais croyans [sic].” Chateaubriand argued or nationalist uprisings in order to maintain of Romantic philosophy to international he wrote a pamphlet encouraging France that the Greeks have obeyed their “rightful the status quo. The integrity of this loose politics, and through their art as a means to to become involved in the Greek War of masters” for almost three and a half association of reactionary states, however, shape and spread the message and garner Independence. Note sur la Grèce was a centuries, and he justified their rebellion by was challenged in less than a decade; in 1821, support, the Romantics made possible an clear example of Romantic philosophy describing their unbearable oppression: the same year Napoleon died, a war erupted independent Greece. applied to politics; it was simultaneously an Mais lorsqu’enfin on a pendu ses prêtres, that involved most of the major powers and Even before the war, a sympathetic interest emotional plea and a measured argument. et souillé ses temples; lorsqu’on a égorgé, signalled the beginning of the disintegration in Greece had been growing in Western It demonstrated Chateaubriand’s ability to brûlé, noyé des milliers de Grecs; lorsqu’on of the ‘Concert of Europe’. Europe. In addition to the general influence act in different roles. In this document, he a livré leurs femmes à la prostitution, Not coincidentally, another movement was of Ancient Greek thought on Western played both the level-headed politician and emmené et vendu leurs enfans [sic] dans sweeping across Europe at the same time. culture, travel writing of the late 18th and the bleeding-heart Romantic. He began by la marché de l’Asie, ce qui restoit [sic] de Romanticism was akin to conservatism since early 19th century had helped to foster gripping his audience with the question: sang dans le cœur de tant d’infortunés it too rejected the Enlightenment’s call for philhellenism in France, Britain and “Notre siècle verra-t-il des hordes de s’est soulevé. Ses esclaves par force, ont rationality as the basis of human expression. elsewhere. Though the Romantic Movement sauvages étouffer la civilisation renaissante commencé a se défendre avec leurs fers. Le Unlike the conservatives, however, the had yet to be named, the autobiographical dans le tombeau d’un peuple qui a civilisé Grec qui déja n’étoit [sic] pas sujet par le Romantics supported the various nationalistic works of travellers to the Ottoman Balkans causes across the continent. For them, human used Romantic language to describe 1 Claude Denis Raffenel. Histoires des événements de la Grèce depuis les premiers troubles jusqu’à ce jour emotion was paramount and therefore the what they saw. What they saw was an (1822) in Michael Glencross. “Greece Restored: Greece and the Greek War of Independence in the French culture of ethnic groups was a more significant oppressed and dejected people — a far cry Romantic Historiography, 1821-1830” Journal Of European Studies 27, no. 1 (January 1997), 41. 2 François- René Chateaubriand, Note sur la Grèce, (Paris: Le Normand Fils, 1825), 8.3 Ibid., 11.4 Ibid., 14. division than traditional borders. Of all from the splendour of Classical Greece. 10 11 droit politique, est devenu libre par le droit de had previously been to support the Turks war.10 By the end of 1823, despite his lack as the heirs of Greece’s lofty tradition. In nature.5 in order to keep Russia away from the of military experience, Byron was making reality, the modern Greeks were a far cry Dardanelles. Largely due to public interest preparations to take the fortress of Lepanto, from their Classical counterparts. There Finally, after Chateaubriand sufficiently in the Greek cause, both France and Britain giving £4,000 of his own money to pay the were about five million ethnic Greeks appeased his more rational listeners, he changed position by 1827, and the two fleet; but in the end he never saw battle. spread throughout eastern Europe, with returned to his Romantic style and admitted nations began to prefer an independent In April of 1824 Byron died, of a feverish around two million in the area that would that he had been talking passionlessly about Greece to a Russia-dominated Balkan sickness made worse by bloodletting. become the Kingdom of Greece. They a topic that was very dear to his heart: “On a Peninsula. The three nations backed Greece It was far from a romantic death, but were a part of many distinct groups which parlé sans passion, préjugé, sans illusion, avec militarily at the decisive battle of Navarino. Byron’s demise added greatly to the fought amongst themselves. They did not calme, réserve et mesure, d’un sujet dont on est Russia, however, would have entered the mythic image of the war. This image was refer to themselves as “Greeks” but as profondément touché.”6 He then abandoned all war with or without the Russian Romantics. painstakingly crafted by Romantic painters, “Romaioi”, a reference to the Byzantine, or rational pretence and filled the last seven pages In ‘backward’ tsarist Russia it was unlikely whose depictions served to increase Eastern Roman Empire. Their commonality of his short pamphlet with an excerpt from that an artist might influence policy like popular support for the war in Western lay in their religion, which was Eastern his travelogue, Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem, one would in parliamentary Britain or post- Europe. Joseph Denis Odevaere was one of Orthodox and was centred on the Patriarch 11 in which he, again, described a bleak picture revolutionary, polarized France. Still, there the many to portray Byron’s death. In his at Constantinople. To the chagrin of their of life in contemporary Greece.7 His balanced were Romantics in Russia who supported 1826 painting, Byron was unmistakeably a Western European patrons, they showed plea was instrumental in finding popular and the Greeks. Alexander Pushkin, on hearing martyr for liberty. He is presented wearing nothing of the serene culture of Classical political support for the Greek cause, which of the revolt in 1821, praised Ypsilanti a laurel on his head and holding a lyre in Greece. Byron, for one, was shocked by would ultimately convince France to deviate and hoped that Russia would support his hand. A statue of Liberty stands above their barbarity, which was often on par, or 8 from the Congress System and support the the rebels. He was one of many Russians the head of his bed and a sheathed dagger worse, than that of the Turks.12 Atrocities rebels. This ‘rule breaking’ was central to to join Filiki Etaria, a secret philhellenic hangs from the headboard. This blatantly were carried out by both sides. Some Romantic philosophy, which sought to act society that raised money for the Greeks. symbolic painting, and others like it, made justified the Greeks’ barbarity by blaming it purely on one’s emotions with no regard for Lord Byron, another founding father of the Byron into a symbolic hero of the Greek on their long time existence as slaves; one established protocol. Romantic movement, also played a key role War. contemporary Romantic historian said that Unlike France, Russia had a clear political in the Greek War. Byron was a member The use of Classical Greek motifs was it was unfair to expect to find “le poli de la interest in circumventing the boundaries of the London Greek Committee — a common in artists’ renditions of the Greek civilisation sous les chaines de l’esclavage.”13 set by the Congress System. They had seen non-governmental body that had raised War. Unlike the depicters of the French Atrocities carried out by the Greeks were themselves as protectors of the Christian £800,000 for the Greek cause — which sent Revolution who sought to sever ties to the ignored while those of the Turks were 9 peoples of the Balkans and had for years hoped him to Greece in 1823. Byron was never ancien régime and start anew, the Janus- painted ad nauseam. The romantics skewed to dissolve the Ottoman Empire, gaining given clear instructions on what to do in faced supporters of the Greek Revolt the message for maximum support. much coveted access to the Mediterranean Greece but he sent back reports and lent recalled the imagery of antiquity as they The first atrocity to attract the attention of in the process. French and British policy his name to the Romantic image of the longed for a Greece reborn. In paintings, western Europe was the Turkish massacre they sought to portray the modern Greeks

5 Ibid., 15. 6 Ibid., 31. 7 Chateaubriand, Note sur la Grèce, 41-48. 8 Peter Cochran, Byron’s Romantic 10 David Howarth, The Greek Adventure, (New York: Atheneum, 1976), 132. 11 Jennifer Wallace. “‘We Politics, (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), 311-313. are all Greeks’?: National Identity and the Greek War of Independence” Byron Journal 23, no. 1 (1995), 9 Cochran, Byron’s Romantic Politics, 317. 39. 12 Cochran. Byron’s Romantic Politics, 326-327. 13 H. Lauvergne. Souvenirs de la Grèce pendant la campagne de 1825 (Paris: Ponthieu, 1826) in Glencross. “Greece Restored,” 42. 12 13 of nearly the entire Greek population of the convince the French government to become is personified as a beautiful, fair-skinned, France and Russia, in true romantic island of Chios, numbering at a minimum involved. bare-breasted woman who stands on the fashion, had to ignore the boundaries of ten thousand people.14 This tragedy A final Romantic technique employed to shore among the dead. She looks straight established by the Congress of Vienna in was the emotional symbol the Romantics promote the Greek cause was aesthetics. at the audience, arms outstretched as if order to back the rebels. Through their needed to get Europe’s support. In 1824, To shape the myth surrounding the pleading for help. Over her shoulder in the art, Romantics spread the message to Eugène Delacroix painted Scènes des war, painters used the aesthetic contrast distance, a black-skinned Oriental looks on. the public, stirring up sympathy with massacre de Scio. He did not attempt to between beauty and ugliness and between It is a depiction of two opposite peoples; their highly symbolic interpretation. show glory in war but to evoke sympathy civilization and barbarity to move their the contrast is altogether racial, cultural, They emphasized specific elements of the for a people in desperation. Critics audience. Delacroix painted La Grèce sur and religious. The religious imagery in conflict, ignoring others that did not fit condemned the painting for its lack of a les ruines de Missolonghi in 1826 and this and many other works is intentional. their message, and depicted a war in the central figure: a child sucks at the breast displayed it at the Salon of 1827. Greece Indeed, conservatives in France and name of Liberty. Ultimately, three of the of a dead woman in one corner, a nearby Russia also viewed the war as a religious great powers — France, Britain, and Russia Turkish officer abducts a nude maiden as struggle akin to the Crusades. The Turks — committed militarily to the cause and a Greek man pleads helplessly for her, two reinforced this idea when they executed won a decisive naval battle at Navarino. children lie in a dying embrace. One critic Gregory V, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Had it not been for the philosophy and the dismissed it as “a confused assemblage of Constantinople, after Mass on Easter art of the growing romantic movement, the of figures, or rather half-figures.”15 A true Sunday 1821. Conveniently overlooking Greeks would never have found the support Romantic, Delacroix abandoned the rules the fact that shortly before his death he they needed to gain their independence. of composition to create an uncomfortable, had excommunicated the rebels for their A peace treaty was signed in 1829 and a haunting effect. The painting was exhibited insurrection, the Romantics set Gregory Bavarian prince was crowned Otto I, King 17 at the 1824 Salon and inspired heated up as a martyr for Greek Independence. of Greece, in 1833. Romantics from across debated both on the subjects of the Greek The Romantics were masters of building Europe, perhaps more than the Greeks War and of the Bourbon government that symbolism around events to inspire themselves, could at last sing with Percy had yet to do anything to help the hallowed the desired emotional response in their Shelley: rebels. Two Salon attendees, for example, audience. The world’s great age begins anew, said: “A barbaric war, dishonourable for The Greek War of Independence was, in The golden years return, humanity…is now taking place in the many ways, compatible with Romantic The earth doth like a snake renew heart of Europe, at the doorstep of the ideology. The Ancient Greek legacy Her winter weeds outworn. most civilized countries, and all that contributed to sentiments of emotional and … these countries have found to do is to spiritual connection to the contemporary A loftier Argo cleaves the main, Fraught with a later prize; stay neutral.”16 Cries like this would help Greek cause. Participants from Britain,

14 Howarth. Greek Adventure, 63. 17 Phil Sherrard. “Church, State and the Greek War of Independence” in Richard Clogg ed. The Struggle for 15 Charles Massas, Revue critique des productions de peinture, sculpture et gravure, exposées au Greek Independence, 182-183. Salon de 1824 in (Paris, 1825) in Nina Athanassoglou-Kallymer. French Images from the Greek War of Independence 1821-1830, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 31. 16 Ferdinand Flocon and Marie Aycard. Salon de 1824 in Athanassoglou-Kallymer. French Images, 35

14 15 Another Orpheus sings again, the Greek War of Independence. New Haven: Yale And loves, and weeps, and dies. University Press, 1989. … Cochran, Peter. Byron’s Romantic Politics. Newcastle Another Athens shall arise, upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011. And to remoter time Bequeath, like sunset to the skies, Sherrard, Philip. “Church, State and the Greek War The splendour of its prime.18 of Independence.” in Richard Clogg ed. The Struggle for Greek Independence. London: Archon Books, 1973.

Efstathiadou, Anna. “French and Greek Lithographs from the Greek War of Independence (1821-1827) and the Greek-Italian War (1940-1941),” Journal Of Modern Greek Studies 29, no. 2 (October 2011): Works Cited 191-218. Primary Sources: Glencross, Michael. “Greece Restored: Greece and the Greek War of Independence in the French Byron, George Gordon. “The Isles of Greece,” 1821. Romantic Historiography, 1821-1830,” Journal Of Modern History Sourcebook. Fordham University, European Studies 27, no. 1 (January 1997): 33-48. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/byron-greece. asp Howarth, David. The Greek Adventure: Lord Byron and Other Eccentrics in the War of Independence. Chateaubriand, François. Note sur la Grèce. Paris: New York: Atheneum, 1976. Le Normand Fils, 1825. (Digitized by Google Books) Lekas, Padelis E. “The Greek War of Independence Delacroix, Eugène. Scènes des Massacre de Scio. from the Perspective of Historical Sociological,” The 1824. and La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi. Historical Review 2 (2005): 161-183. 1826. Wallace, Jennifer. “‘We are all Greeks’?: National Odavaere, Joseph Denis. Death of Byron, 1826. Identity and the Greek War of Independence,” Byron Journal 23, no. 1 (1995): 36-50. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Hellas.” Pisa: 1821. eBooks @ Adelaide, The University of Adelaide, http://ebooks. adelaide.edu.au/s/shelley/percy_bysshe/s54cp/ volume16.html

Secondary Sources:

Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina. French Images from

18 Percy Bysshe Shelley, Hellas, (Pisa: 1821), 1060-1087.

16 17