Beaton - Greece: biography of a modern nation

ALLEN LANE

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First published 2019

Copyright Roderick Beaton, 2019

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Photograph of Athens by Frederic Boissonnas, c. 1910
Print from an original glass plate
Photographic Archive of the National Historical Museum in Athens
Cover design: Richard Green

ISBN: 978-0-241-31285-8

In loving memory of my parents, who first introduced me to Greece, and supported me as I went on to discover more and more wonders of the Greek world
Janet Mary Beaton
24 July 192215 April 2018
Duncan MacGillivray Beaton
13 September 19227 April 2018

.

My eyes have seen no land more glorious than this small threshing-floor.

Dionysios Solomos, The Free Besieged (18269)

Those principles which are now in action in Greece will gradually produce their effect, both here and in other countries I cannot calculate to what a height Greece may rise. Hitherto it has been a subject for the hymns and elegies of fanatics and enthusiasts; but now it will draw the attention of the politician.

Lord Byron, speaking at Missolonghi, Greece (1824)

A nation? says Bloom. A nation is the same people living in the same place Or also living in different places.

James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)

A people that has within it a spirit, when it reaches the final depth of despair, finds the strength to react against itself. It reacts suddenly without any warning and without at all preparing the ground The time is ripe for bold pioneers.

Giorgos Theotokas, Free Spirit (1929)

Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be happy to correct any errors or omissions brought to their attention in future editions of this book.

. Ali Tepedelenli, Pasha of Yanya [Ioannina], known as Ali Pasha. Illustration from Thomas Smart Hughes, Travels in Sicily, Greece & Albania (London, 1820). (Getty Research Institute)

. Rigas Velestinlis, also called Pheraios. (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. The tricolour banner of Rigass Hellenic Republic, 1807. (Library of the Romanian Academy of Sciences (Ms. Gr. 928, f.275v))

. Adamantios Korais (Coray). (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. Karaiskakis trophy from Arachova. Watercolour by Athanasios Iatridis, 1827. Benaki Museum, Athens. (Bridgeman Images)

. Theodoros Kolokotronis. Pencil sketch by Karl Krazeisen, 14 May 1827. (National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, Athens)

. Count Ioannis Kapodistrias. Oil painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 181819. Royal Collection Trust. (CopyrightHer Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2018/Bridgeman Images)

. Entry of King Otto of Greece into Nauplia on 6 February 1833 (detail). Oil painting by Peter von Hess, 1835. Neue Pinakothek, Munich. (CopyrightBlauel Gnamm/Artothek)

. King Otto of Greece as a young man. Benaki Museum, Athens. (De Agostini/Getty Images)

. King Otto of Greece. Daguerrotype, c. 1848. (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. Alexandros Mavrokordatos. (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. Ioannis Kolettis. Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (Gift of Aspasia Botasi and Dora Lauder). (Bridgeman Images)

. Ideal View of Athens with the Acropolis and the Areios Pagos. Oil painting by Leo von Klenze, 1846. Neue Pinakothek, Munich. (Copyright Blauel Gnamm/Artothek)

. Panorama of Athens. Lithograph by August Ferdinand Stademann, 1841. Private collection. (Christies/Bridgeman Images)

. King George I of the Hellenes. (The Print Collector/Getty Images)

. The Opening of the Corinth Canal. Oil painting by Konstantinos Volanakis, 1893. (Collection of Alpha Bank, Athens)

. Theodoros Diligiannis. Illustration from The Graphic, 29 May 1886. (Look & Learn/Bridgeman Images)

. Charilaos Trikoupis. Illustration from The Graphic, 29 May 1886. (Look & Learn/Bridgeman Images)

. Panepistimiou Street. Painting by Paul Mathiopoulos, 1900 1910. (National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, Athens)

. Pavlos Melas. Painting by Georgios Jakobides (Iakovidis), 1904. (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. Pericles Giannopoulos, charcoal drawing by Sophia Laskaridou, 1897. (Municipal Art Gallery, Kallithea)

. Eleftherios Venizelos and King Constantine I of the Hellenes, pictured at the time of the Balkan Wars. (De Agostini/Getty Images)

. Serres. Photograph taken during the Balkan Wars. (Kings College London Archives. Reproduced with permission of the Anglo-Hellenic League, Katie Lentakis Collection [AHL Acc3619])

. The village of Doxato, near Drama, 1913. (Kings College London Archives. Reproduced with permission of the Anglo-Hellenic League, Katie Lentakis Collection [AHL Acc3619])

. Postcard showing the territory of Great Greece, according to the terms of the Treaty of Svres, 1920. (National Historical Museum, Athens)

. Greek prisoners of war, 1923. (Kings College London Archives. Reproduced with permission of the Anglo-Hellenic League, Katie Lentakis Collection [AHL Acc3619])

. Greek prisoners of war, 1923. (Kings College London Archives. Reproduced with permission of the Anglo-Hellenic League, Katie Lentakis Collection [AHL Acc3619])

. Eleftherios Venizelos. Oil painting by F. Papoulas, 1928. (Municipal Gallery of Athens Collections/Eleftherios Venizelos Museum)

. Ioannis Metaxas. Propaganda photograph, 1939. (Collection of Marina Petrakis)

. Rebetika: a bouzouki band in the 1930s. From Ilias Petropoulos, [Rebetika Songs] (Athens, 1968), plate 41.

. German troops raising the swastika over the Acropolis, 1941. (World History Archive/Alamy)

. Peoples Rule in Free Greece. (Kings College London Archives. League for Democracy in Greece collection [MGA/PH2])

. A burnt mountain village. (Kings College London Archives. League for Democracy in Greece collection [MGA/PH1])

. Men being rounded up in an Athens blocco during the Occupation. (Kings College London Archives. League for Democracy in Greece collection [MGA/PH1])

. Young soldiers of the Democratic Army. (Kings College London Archives. League for Democracy in Greece collection [MGA/PH5])

. Melina Mercouri in Never on a Sunday, 1960. (United Archives/Alamy)

. A tank prepares to crush the gate of the Athens Polytechnic in the early hours of 17 November 1973. Photograph by Aristotelis Sarrikostas. (AP/Rex/Shutterstock)

. Propaganda poster for the regime of the Colonels. (Private collection)

. Konstantinos Karamanlis, 1975. (