The 7-episode mini-documentary series, “Disasters and Triumphs”, makes its premiere in SKAI on Thursday, January 6 at 21.00 and will be broadcast every Thursday and Friday at the same time. It is a journey into our past, through seven great historical circles of our history that share common elements: ambitious plans, great disasters but also impressive triumphs.
Two hundred years after the outbreak of the Greek Revolution and twelve years after the outbreak of an unprecedented economic crisis, we turn our gaze to the past to be able to imagine the future. Unfortunately, the crisis has taught us to look at the past exclusively from its own perspective. Naturally, depression and pessimism prevailed. Are we worthy and capable of something better?
We can easily see that our history is riddled with great catastrophes: from the massacre of Chios in 1822 and the successive bankruptcies of the 19th century, to the junta and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, going through the National Divide, the Asia Minor Catastrophe , the Occupation and the Civil War. Are we as a country doomed to live one disaster after another? Is our history, after all, an unbroken chain of disasters? And if so, what is the cause? Is it our eternal division? The evil spirit of our race? The conspiracies of foreigners against us?
The series “Disasters and Triumphs” seeks the answers to these questions. The central question is how we finally managed to transform the disasters we experienced into triumphs. And the answers are often surprising.
Watch the trailer:
This is a new, original narrative of our modern history that unfolds in a cinematic way. Starring the natural and structured environment of the place that is closely related to the historical narrative. It unfolds like this, a fascinating mosaic that will surely arouse great interest and much discussion. The series is based on the book of the same name by Stathis Kalyvas, Professor of Political Science at Oxford and formerly at Yale, a member of the American and British Academy of Sciences and is based on the most reliable recent historical research and the involvement of 35 top experts.
The series develops through seven episodes that correspond to seven major historical cycles. Each episode consists of four sections. We begin by describing a major national catastrophe, followed by a flashback to the start of the cycle when an ambitious and ambitious national plan is implemented. The third section describes the historical path that begins with initial successes but ends up in great disaster. Finally, each episode closes with the big upset, showing that finally a triumph springs from the catastrophe and the country continues to progress.
What we will see in the first two episodes:
Thursday, January 6
Episode 1 – A country is born: 1821-1830
1826: The defeat of the uprising
1740: Revolution in education
1821: Weapons and diplomacy
1827: From defeat to independence
In 1824, the Sultan instructed Mehmet Ali to quell the Greek uprising. In the years that followed, his army occupied the Peloponnese, leaving behind scorched earth. At the same time, Messolonghi and Athens are falling. The Greek uprising that started with great hopes and military successes has been defeated militarily and the flame of the revolution is fading. How did the triumph of independence finally emerge from the disaster? The answer lies in the characteristics of the Greeks. A century before the revolution, something remarkable will happen: the Greeks will become pioneering merchants and teachers who will be scattered throughout the Ottoman Empire and Europe. They will thus assimilate the most radical messages of the time and will formulate a groundbreaking demand: the creation of a state for the Greek nation. The revolution will begin with significant military successes. But the objective difference in power between the insurgents and the Ottoman Empire is huge: catastrophe seems inevitable. That is why the element that is of particular interest is why and how the revolution finally succeeded. This was made possible thanks to the unusual extroversion of the Greeks who managed to mobilize the public opinion of the western countries, which saw the struggle of the Greeks with enthusiasm and emotion, but also to involve the governments of the great powers of the time, internationalizing their struggle and provoking a international military intervention in their favor.
Friday 7 January
Episode 2 – A state from scratch: 1830-1912
1897: The great humiliation
1830: Starting from scratch
1833: The Model Kingdom
1912: A new beginning
Gaining independence may have been a huge success, but it was only the first step. The new state of the Greeks is tiny and powerless. The state apparatus is non-existent and central power is challenged by everyone: armed militants, local leaders and robbers. As modern experience shows, building a functioning state is much more difficult than gaining your independence. Greece begins its historical path as a “failed state”, amidst anarchy, widespread violence and ruins. When it clashed with the Ottoman Empire in 1897 in its first post-independence war, it suffered a humiliating defeat. At the same time, as it has already gone bankrupt, it will move to a disgraceful regime of international financial control. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, many see in this double catastrophe the proof of the essential failure of the young Greek state: a bankrupt, powerless state, a humiliated society. But they are wrong. And this, because from the first moment, Greece seeks to establish a modern state based on the most modern standards of the time, goals that seem completely elusive in 1830. Eventually, the country will cover a huge distance. Although it started literally from scratch, it has not stopped improving its institutions and evolving. The defeat of 1897 is not a sign of real failure, but a reflection of the gap between the enormous expectations of the Greeks and reality. After 1897 and under pressure from creditors, the country will be forced to reorganize the state and streamline its finances. In this way, and in just fifteen years, it will be led from the catastrophe to the huge success of the Balkan Wars in 1912-13, when it will double its territory. The catastrophe of 1897 not only did not nullify the real progress the country had made, but it was a precondition for triumph.
DISASTERS AND TRIUMPHS -Mini documentary series by Stathis Kalyvas- Premiere on Thursday, January 6 -Every Thursday and Friday at 21.00, on SKAI
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