The dual development of nationalism in the 19th century Byzantine Empire
The development of nationalism had a most interesting result in the Byzantine Empire as it resulted on a huge division in the populace instead of bringing unity.
But this statement needs a bit of a clarification as many a reader who is only familiar with the state of affairs today might think of a divide between the greeks, bulgarians and armenians – to mention just the most important ones. Its a much less well known fact that the biggest divide was created by the birth of nationalism not between this today distinct nationalities but between the greeks – or the ones whom we call today greek as some of the greek speaking people of the time would have taken offence if we used this term to describe them. And indeed its a valid question if we should consider them people of the same nation – but more on that later.
At the beginning of the 19th century the empire territory wise was a significantly bigger than today – however most of those extra territories were de facto no more than colonies of the Empire wich were pretty newly acquired at the time though the Empire regarded this as reconquests. This territories were on the Middle East and the population was mostly arabic. Most of them were lost after the Great War so these reconquests didnt last long – with one exception. Syria is the big difference as the resettlement policy of the empire managed to turn this territory greek – once again as today greek nationalist like to emphasize.
If we take a look at the peoples of the empire we will see that most of them spoke greek. The most numerous minorities were the bulgarians especially north of the Balkan mountains. The armenians in all the cities of the empire and even in rural communities in its eastern territories were numerically smaller than the bulgarians but economically far more important for the mpire. Other smaller groups are the serbs in northern Macedonia, the jews and there were some georgians and kurds leaving in the eastern territories.
But most of the Empire spoke greek and it was this greek people who first developed a nationalism in the empire. In the birth of greek nationalism the poet Konstantinos Stavropulos played a vital role. He and his friends were heavily influenced by western ideas and looked at the west as an ideal to follow. They proclaimed that they are greeks – the descendants of the ancient hellens and their successor. They revered Athens – Konstantinos who himself was born in Athens took the lead in this regard as well. They were mostly anticlerical, some deist and a few even atheist – but all of them wanted the secularisation of the state. They were supporters of a democratic reform of the Empire, though the ones with more political sense would agree to a parliamentary monarchy. They had a huge following especially among the youth of the universities. Territory wise their ideas found most support among the greeks of the Balkans and in Asia Minor whilst they had less success in the east. In their opinion the empire was a greek empire and they demanded the assimilation of the not greek populace to the culturally superior greek nation. They found the Liberal Party in 1841.
The other important nationalism to develop was the Roman nationalism. This too affected mostly the greek people of the empire, but had a lot of armenian supporters and even a few bulgarians. Later most of the jews became a supporter for this group as well. The birth of roman or imperial nationalism was a reaction to the growing greek nationalistic movement. The Roman nationlist refused the idea that they would be greek – the Byzantine or as they called it and was officially named at the time - the Roman Empire was alive for more then 2 millenia and they were the proud citizens of it. Imperial nacionalism didnt require greek language and was a much more open concept – this was the main reasons why the urban armenian population became so early a really strong supporter of it. They were christians and supporters of the Emperor and in most cases imperial autocracy. Its important to note that there was a roup among them that would have preferred a parliamentary monarchy. The founding of the Conservative Party took place in 1847.
A bit later most of the ’small’ nations of the empire developed their own nationalism, but we wont tuch that subject now.
The greek nationalist were the leading faction when on the spring of nations rebellions shook the Empire. The revolution lost – the army remained loyal to the emperor and they lost a lot of their strength fighting the bulgarian rebels and that was enough. The Empire was led by the Conservative Party for most of the century. They had the support of the emperor and a big part of the populace. The number of those favoring parliamentary monarchy among them gradually grew but this ddnt lead to a breach before the war.
In this time period its a really interesting question if these were simply the conservative and liberal sides of the same nation or they were two separate nations. If we asked either a greek or a roman of the time they would state that there is not two but one nation, and their are the members of that same nation. However they would never agree on the name of that nation they insisted they were both members of.
The interesting fact is that the rise of nationalism took the greek populace of the empire apart and for a time created two separate people out of them. The defeat of the Empire in the great war and the rebellions of the national minorities discredit the conservatives and the roman more open nation idea enough to bring about its permanent defeat. In the end the Roman Empire was finally killed by the greek nationalist, and the now officially Byzantine Empire was unquestionably a greek nationalistic state.
The development of nationalism had a most interesting result in the Byzantine Empire as it resulted on a huge division in the populace instead of bringing unity.
But this statement needs a bit of a clarification as many a reader who is only familiar with the state of affairs today might think of a divide between the greeks, bulgarians and armenians – to mention just the most important ones. Its a much less well known fact that the biggest divide was created by the birth of nationalism not between this today distinct nationalities but between the greeks – or the ones whom we call today greek as some of the greek speaking people of the time would have taken offence if we used this term to describe them. And indeed its a valid question if we should consider them people of the same nation – but more on that later.
At the beginning of the 19th century the empire territory wise was a significantly bigger than today – however most of those extra territories were de facto no more than colonies of the Empire wich were pretty newly acquired at the time though the Empire regarded this as reconquests. This territories were on the Middle East and the population was mostly arabic. Most of them were lost after the Great War so these reconquests didnt last long – with one exception. Syria is the big difference as the resettlement policy of the empire managed to turn this territory greek – once again as today greek nationalist like to emphasize.
If we take a look at the peoples of the empire we will see that most of them spoke greek. The most numerous minorities were the bulgarians especially north of the Balkan mountains. The armenians in all the cities of the empire and even in rural communities in its eastern territories were numerically smaller than the bulgarians but economically far more important for the mpire. Other smaller groups are the serbs in northern Macedonia, the jews and there were some georgians and kurds leaving in the eastern territories.
But most of the Empire spoke greek and it was this greek people who first developed a nationalism in the empire. In the birth of greek nationalism the poet Konstantinos Stavropulos played a vital role. He and his friends were heavily influenced by western ideas and looked at the west as an ideal to follow. They proclaimed that they are greeks – the descendants of the ancient hellens and their successor. They revered Athens – Konstantinos who himself was born in Athens took the lead in this regard as well. They were mostly anticlerical, some deist and a few even atheist – but all of them wanted the secularisation of the state. They were supporters of a democratic reform of the Empire, though the ones with more political sense would agree to a parliamentary monarchy. They had a huge following especially among the youth of the universities. Territory wise their ideas found most support among the greeks of the Balkans and in Asia Minor whilst they had less success in the east. In their opinion the empire was a greek empire and they demanded the assimilation of the not greek populace to the culturally superior greek nation. They found the Liberal Party in 1841.
The other important nationalism to develop was the Roman nationalism. This too affected mostly the greek people of the empire, but had a lot of armenian supporters and even a few bulgarians. Later most of the jews became a supporter for this group as well. The birth of roman or imperial nationalism was a reaction to the growing greek nationalistic movement. The Roman nationlist refused the idea that they would be greek – the Byzantine or as they called it and was officially named at the time - the Roman Empire was alive for more then 2 millenia and they were the proud citizens of it. Imperial nacionalism didnt require greek language and was a much more open concept – this was the main reasons why the urban armenian population became so early a really strong supporter of it. They were christians and supporters of the Emperor and in most cases imperial autocracy. Its important to note that there was a roup among them that would have preferred a parliamentary monarchy. The founding of the Conservative Party took place in 1847.
A bit later most of the ’small’ nations of the empire developed their own nationalism, but we wont tuch that subject now.
The greek nationalist were the leading faction when on the spring of nations rebellions shook the Empire. The revolution lost – the army remained loyal to the emperor and they lost a lot of their strength fighting the bulgarian rebels and that was enough. The Empire was led by the Conservative Party for most of the century. They had the support of the emperor and a big part of the populace. The number of those favoring parliamentary monarchy among them gradually grew but this ddnt lead to a breach before the war.
In this time period its a really interesting question if these were simply the conservative and liberal sides of the same nation or they were two separate nations. If we asked either a greek or a roman of the time they would state that there is not two but one nation, and their are the members of that same nation. However they would never agree on the name of that nation they insisted they were both members of.
The interesting fact is that the rise of nationalism took the greek populace of the empire apart and for a time created two separate people out of them. The defeat of the Empire in the great war and the rebellions of the national minorities discredit the conservatives and the roman more open nation idea enough to bring about its permanent defeat. In the end the Roman Empire was finally killed by the greek nationalist, and the now officially Byzantine Empire was unquestionably a greek nationalistic state.