The Greek Revolution

1821 and the Making of Modern Europe

By: Mark Mazower

Narrated by: John Lee, Mark Mazower

Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize • One of The Economist's top history books of the year

From one of our leading historians, an important new history of the Greek War of Independence—the ultimate worldwide liberal cause célèbre of the age of Byron, Europe’s first nationalist uprising, and the beginning of the downward spiral of the Ottoman Empire—published two hundred years after its outbreak

As Mark Mazower shows us in his enthralling and definitive new account, myths about the Greek War of Independence outpaced the facts from the very beginning, and for good reason. This was an unlikely cause, against long odds, a disorganized collection of Greek patriots up against what was still one of the most storied empires in the world, the Ottomans. The revolutionaries needed all the help they could get. And they got it as Europeans and Americans embraced the idea that the heirs to ancient Greece, the wellspring of Western civilization, were fighting for their freedom against the proverbial Eastern despot, the Turkish sultan. This was Christianity versus Islam, now given urgency by new ideas about the nation-state and democracy that were shaking up the old order. Lord Byron is only the most famous of the combatants who went to Greece to fight and die—along with many more who followed events passionately and supported the cause through art, music, and humanitarian aid. To many who did go, it was a rude awakening to find that the Greeks were a far cry from their illustrious forebears, and were often hard to tell apart from the Ottomans.

Mazower does full justice to the realities on the ground as a revolutionary conspiracy triggered outright rebellion, and a fraying and distracted Ottoman leadership first missed the plot and then overreacted disastrously. He shows how and why ethnic cleansing commenced almost immediately on both sides. By the time the dust settled, Greece was free, and Europe was changed forever. It was a victory for a completely new kind of politics—international in its range and affiliations, popular in its origins, romantic in sentiment, and radical in its goals. It was here on the very edge of Europe that the first successful revolution took place in which a people claimed liberty for themselves and overthrew an entire empire to attain it, transforming diplomatic norms and the direction of European politics forever, and inaugurating a new world of nation-states, the world in which we still live.

©2021 Mark Mazower (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] pulsating narrative . . . rich with social history and the luminaries of the age . . . The Greek Revolution causes us to think more deeply about the role of the nation-state in a global context. . . . It is hard to imagine it being surpassed any time soon as the definitive English-language account of the Greek Revolution.”—New York Times Book Review

“[A] superb new history of the rebellion and its broader implications. . . . A compelling story—full of conflicting characters, rivalries, massacres, betrayals, enslavements—all of which [Mazower] narrates with earned authority and exceptional power. . . . He achieves more clarity on this tangled subject than other historians in English have managed before.”—Wall Street Journal

“[A] rich, illuminating, and imposing history of [a] paradigm-shifting conflict . . . . An expert storyteller, Mazower unravels a Gordian knot of local, regional, and international factionalisms.”—Claire Messud, Harper's

A Forgotten Revolution

Everyone knows of c!radical Greece but the story of the making of modern Greece through revolution against its Ottoman oppressors is even further distant to today's reader's. This book goes a long way to raising the veil of the struggle that made the Greece we know now and tied it to the revolutions that evolved into modern Europe's rise of democracies and fall of empires.

Excellent, had it not been for the narrator

This is an excellent short overall history of the Greek Revolution but, like other Mazower books that I have read, it does requires some previous background knowledge. For a Greek like me, who grew up being taught the basics over and over again in school, this was not a problem. Indeed, it was refreshing and enlightening to see things being put into perspective and the various actors presented in their real dimensions, rather than being he heroes plastered all over the walls of our schools, that we were supposed to unquestionably admire. However, for someone that knows nothing about the Greek revolution, this books can appear a little confusing and leave many questions open, or subjects only superficially touched upon.

This said, the narrator's performance is horrible. Granted, his life was not made easy by the author, who has peppered his (English) text with countless Greek words and names, presumably transcribed into the Latin alphabet (which complicates things even more) but, honestly, I can't imagine anyone doing a worse job of it! Shouldn't John Lee have at least made an effort to understand some basic rules of Greek spelling, before attempting to read Greek words or names? For instance, was there nobody around to tell him that the word "etaireia" (Society) in the name of the "Filiki Etaireia" (Friendly Society, the secret society that organised the Greek Uprising) is to be read, according to the (admittedly tricky) Greek spelling rules as "eteria" rather than reading all vowels individually and coming up with a ridiculous result? There are countless examples of such misreadings. And don't get me started on stress! It's almost comical, you could bet that whenever a Greek word came up, the narrator would stress the wrong syllable! There can't be more than a handful of Greek words or names in the book that he's managed to stress properly. Add to that an annoying habit of mumbling at the end of a sentence, which means that you don't even understand English words. It was such a relief when the author came back on, to read the epilogue. He should have done the whole book!

The Geek Revolution

Ones sovereigntie. should not be discoraged no one has the right to do that,it also breads I’ll will no happiness are freedom to anyone.It was a great sacrifice to resurrect the Independens of Greece

You butchered the Greek Pronunciation on many names.

Somehow Audible was able to make sure the French and German name pronunciations were on point but for the Greek name pronunciations they couldn’t take the time to actually consult with any Greek speaker if everything sounded alright. Extra accents and weird pauses were added when saying names and words like Karaiskakis. It seems even the Ottoman names were given more analysis on pronunciation. Great respect to Mazower as he is always a great author. Too bad Audible was too lazy or negligent to take the time to make sure they got Greek pronunciations down.

From empires to nations

A must read to understand the development of human civilization, why empires fell and nations were forged and the class conflicts involved.

Lots of detail - lacking the hook.

Be prepared to have a map of Greece handy throughout the book. Lots of mention of places and regions without any context clues or clearly defining places like the Morea, Peloponnese and Rumelia.

The author did a phenomenal job of research and the book is full of detail about finances, politics and human experiences.

Gave the story 4 stars because all these details were strewn together in a manner that did not seem to easily flow. Part of that, to be fair, maybe have been the dry narration whom I found likening to my most full of professors and at 23 hours - it got to be a slog.

In short, you’ll learn a lot if you can make the trudge.

Decent but dry and sometimes hard to listen to…

The reader tries to pronounce Greek words and names with a Greek accent that is almost unrecognizable. He is also inconsistent in his pronunciation. The effect is comical and annoying at the same time. And gets more annoying as the trading continues. The book does a decent job with the subject matter. Not sure the organization of the book works real well either.