greek revolution

Philhellenism at the Onset of the Greek Revolution

Philhellenism at the Onset of the Greek Revolution

In the first years of the Greek revolution the government of the major European governments had little sympathy for it.  Those governments’ subjects however often took a very different view.  Travellers had increasingly visited Greece when the Napoleonic wars had made the Italian Grand Tour impossible, and had written glowingly of their experiences.  The study of Latin and Greek was the mainstay of higher education.  Many saw the Greeks as representing Christianity embattled against Islam, and a... »

Direct Democracy in Athens, ancient and modern

Last night I was checking my twitter account, when the most amazing message appeared on screen. “50.000 Greeks obstructed the exits of the Greek parliament at Syntagma square and did not allow the members of the parliament to leave the building”. Similar messages continued throughout the night. Eager to find out more details on the subject I turned on the Greek tv. The silence of the traditional media was deafening. Not a single channel reported the news. In the meantime, twitter liv... »

Why teach and study history

In a previous post Neville Morley commented on the reasons for teaching history. It is worth repeating them in brief here. First of all, it provides critical skills, such as critical reading and analysis. Secondly, it helps us understand the way the world works. History draws together politics, economics, sociology etc. and studies their development and interaction over time. Thirdly, the study of history is a means of understanding how people work. As we are historical animals, we develop a sen... »