Modern Greece: A Short History [Paperback]

C M. Woodhouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000

Acclaimed for its penetration, balance, and insight, Modern Greece tells the story of Greece and its people, from the founding of Constantinople to the eclipse of socialism in the late twentieth century. C. M. Woodhouse is uniquely qualified to write the history of Greece, having served there in the Allied military and the British embassy during and after World War II before writing several books on Greece. In this classic work, which Woodhouse has updated five times to create a truly comprehensive history, the depth of his knowledge and understanding of the country and its citizens comes through clearly in every chapter, as he ranges from the ascendancy and eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire through the emergence for the first time of a unified Greek kingdom in the 1800s to the political turmoil of twentieth-century politics. This is a book for readers and travelers who wish to understand the history and culture behind the beauty that is eternal Greece.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is in adversity that the particular merits of the Greek character are shown most brightly, and Woodhouse, whose affection for Greece is evident in everything he writes, is well qualified to bring out these merits."--The Times Literary Supplement

"Whenever Woodhouse cares to write on Greece, his work will always be welcome, both to scholars and general readers."--History

About the Author

C. M. Woodhouse is also the author of The Philhellenes; Apple of Discord: A Survey of Recent Greek Politics; The Struggle for Greece, 1941-1949; and many other books. He lives in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1st edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571197949
• ISBN-13: 978-0571197941
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Excellent Work, January 16, 2001

By 

Alekos (Cancun, Quintana Roo Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Greece: A Short History (Paperback)

This is an extremely fine history of Greece up to about 1990. The word MODERN appears in the title even though it starts with Constantine, but this only enriches the total work. Its main virtue is that it weaves the cultural and intellectual life of Greece into the story of national development in the post-Turkish period. Especially good is the way it details 18th and 19th century attempts to develop a national Greek consciousness. It also offers fascinating details on the intellecual currents that led to the armed insurrection against the Ottoman government.

Probably deserves more than five stars.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book on the history of Greece, July 28, 2001

By 

E. Danielyan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Greece: A Short History (Paperback)

If you need a book on the history of Greece from 4th to 20th century, this is it. The author shows a very good knowledge of Greek history and shares his analysis of the events. At it's price, this is the best book on modern Greek history you can get.

25 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars C. M. Woodhouse on Greek Ambivalence Toward Democracy, August 4, 2003

By 

Fred W. Hallberg "A Retired Humanities Prof." (Janesville, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modern Greece: A Short History (Paperback)

Woodhouse's "Modern Greece: A Short History," has saved me from some unnecessary disappointments during my first visit to Greece this fall. I will be touring Greek cities and cruising the Aegean, so I read Woodhouse's book for prepatory background information. He described the disillusionment of the 19th Century European "panhellenes" (lovers of things Greek) who flooded into Greece to help fight the 1820-1827 wars of Greek liberation. These panhellenes saw themselves as defending the lineal descendants of the heros of Thermopylae and Marathon, but they quickly discovered modern Greeks exhibit no organic connection with the world of the ancient Greek city states. At least they have no more connection than contemporary Egyptians do the builders of the pyramids. Since I have been educated in the classics of Hellenic Greece, I too had been looking forward to experiencing the world which produced Pericles and Socrates. Woodhouse showed this to be nothing but a silly romantic projection on my part.

Greeks do think and act in the light of their long cultural tradition. But the tradition which informs them does not go back to the Hellenism of the 5th Century B.C.E. It goes back instead to the foundations of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople in the 4th Century C.E. By the 7th Century this eastern branch of the Roman Empire was all that remained of classical civilization. It was defined by its distinct language (Greek) and by its distinct version of Christianity (Greek Orthodoxy).

Woodhouse explains that these social and religious features of the Byzantine Empire were not erased when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. The Turks incorporated many of the forms of Byzantine rule into their own empire, and left the Orthodox Church and the Greek Language largely untouched among their conquered Greek subjects. (Woodhouse claims this Islamic attitude of toleration toward conquered "people of the book" was one reason for the rapid Muslim advance. Muslim rulers were frequently experienced as being less oppressive than their Christian predecessors.)

Like the Jews before them, the Greek people's common religion and language provided an enduring basis for their national identity. This became increasingly evident as the Ottoman Turks began to lose their grip on power late in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. But the Byzantine traditions of Greeks living under Turkish rule did not provide these Greeks with much purchase on democratic ideas or practices. The Byzantine Empire had often been severely totalitarian. Greek Orthodox Christianity demanded "orthodoxy" (right inner belief) as well as "orthopraxy" (right external behavior). Consensus about orthodoxy was difficult to sustain because of the complications surrounding the Doctrine of the Trinity. Christian Byzantium was riven with heresies, all having to do with plausible, but mutually contradictory, interpretations of that doctrine. Since each "heretical" faction had a belief community to back them up, these conflicts became political as well as theological. For example, the so-called "Nika" riots which occurred during Justinian's reign nearly destroyed his government. The rioters were members of opposing "Blue" and "Green" parties, and each party was defined by differing views of the "nature" of Christ. That was the sort of problem which led Byzantine rulers to insist on detailed conformity of beliefs. But this requirement made their rule oppressively totalitarian, especially when compared to the simpler theology and orthopraxy characteristic of Islam.

Woodhouse explains how this Byzantine tradition of doctrinaire factionalism informs Greek politics to this day. The Greek electorate acquiesced in the military dictatorship of 1967-1974, but then five years later it elected the party of the doctrinaire socialist Andreas Papandreou and sustained it in power for nearly eight years. The Greek electorate today appears to have repudiated both military dictatorship and militant socialism. But the polarities of totalitarianism and anarchism still exercise a strong influence on Greek political consciousness. According to Woodhouse, this tendency toward extremism in politics can be traced to the Greek experience of eleven centuries of Byzantine Empire and four centuries of Muslim occupation and rule.

I feel I have a far better appreciation of the cultural realities I will be encountering in Greece this fall, as a result of having read Woodhouse. For that I am grateful.

Fred Hallberg