Do you subscribe to the view that Greek War of Independence was mired in contrasts of the best and the worst episodes? How did affect the Concert of Europe?

Answer:

The Greek War of Independence (1821-32) combined heroic idealism and philhellenic sacrifice with massacre, atrocity and squalid factional strife. It also broke the principle of legitimacy on which the Concert of Europe rested, and so began that system's unravelling.

The best episodes

• The rising expressed a genuine national and cultural awakening inspired by classical memory.
• Philhellenes across Europe, most famously Lord Byron, gave money and their lives to the cause.
• Heroic defences such as that of Missolonghi stirred European opinion profoundly.
• It produced the first successful nationalist secession from the Ottoman Empire.

The worst episodes

• The rising opened with the massacre of Turkish civilians in the Morea.
• Ottoman reprisals were savage, notably the massacre at Chios in 1822 that shocked Europe.
• The Patriarch of Constantinople was hanged in reprisal.
• Greek leaders fell into civil war among themselves in 1824-25, crippling the struggle.
• Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian forces devastated the Morea with great brutality.

The impact on the Concert of Europe

• Metternich's system rested on legitimacy and the suppression of revolution, so Greece posed a dilemma.
• Russia's Orthodox sympathies and ambitions in the Balkans pulled her towards intervention.
• Britain feared Russian gains and preferred to control the outcome by joining her.
• The Treaty of London (1827) and the destruction of the Turco-Egyptian fleet at Navarino followed.
• Powers thus intervened on behalf of rebels against a legitimate sovereign, contradicting their own principle.

The consequences

• Greek independence was recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople in 1832.
• The Concert fractured as national interest openly displaced ideological solidarity.
• The Eastern Question was opened, dominating European diplomacy for a century.
• The precedent encouraged later nationalist movements across the Balkans.

Why the powers intervened

• Russia sought influence over Orthodox Christians and access to the Straits.
• Britain intervened chiefly to prevent Russia from acting alone and dominating the outcome.
• France joined in order to maintain her standing among the powers.
• Philhellenic sentiment made inaction politically difficult in western capitals.
• Canning's replacement of Castlereagh signalled Britain's turn away from Metternich's system.

One may therefore subscribe to the view, for the war did display in equal measure European idealism and communal savagery. Its greater significance, as historians observe, lay in compelling the conservative powers to abandon legitimacy for self-interest, thereby cracking the Concert of Europe and inaugurating the age of nationalism in the Balkans.