In the new series of radio documentaries on European history, the historical scholar Vassilis Panagiotopoulos is a guest on Aris Portosalte’s show to describe the assessment of the Liberation Struggle of the Greeks and the formation of the new Greek state.

In the show of Sunday September 29, in the first part of this series of shows, we are in the early 19th century where the discussion started with the Hellenism of the Diaspora. As Mr. Panagiotopoulos explained, the Greek diaspora was the migration of Greeks from the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan countries to Russia, central and western Europe. The Greeks of the diaspora, at that time, had managed to detach themselves from the Ottoman rule, to live in the European area and to come into contact with the great social and political change that was developing in Europe from the French revolution to the fall of Napoleon in 1815.

Alongside the English industrial revolution that begins at that time, Europe is in a space of intellectual, technical, scientific and emotional ferment. The European identity movement had now touched almost all the intellectuals of the time, and Greek scholarship also joined it. The perception of the urban idea passed to the Greeks of the diaspora as most of them now lived in urban European centers.

Afterwards, Aris Portosalte and Mr. Panagiotopoulos talked about the creation of new layers of intellectuals, who were willing and able to lead a revolution. In addition, there were strong middle classes of economic factors and Greece for the first time acquires a spiritual leadership vanguard and develops the feeling of religious identity that was very important for the formation of the overall Greek identity.

Don’t miss the continuation of SKAI 100.3’s historical radio documentary on the next show, Sunday 6 October at 9am.

You can listen to the show in detail below

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To find the entire archive of the shows click here