History of Europe

excesses of hurrah patriotism. Act I:Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution

Ideological stupidity has really existed in every imaginable form throughout history. There have been the dumbest political ideas on the left, on the right, and everywhere in between. And of course it's fun to talk about them. So one of them should be the focus again today:patriotism. Or more specifically, cheerleader patriotism! We saw some related ideas in the article on History's Stupidest National Myths. Here I would like to turn to the practical implications of an ill-conceived ideology. And because there are so many examples of this, after Philhellenism today, two more parts of the story will follow in the next few weeks. It's just fun...

Dumb, dumber, hooray patriotism

Well, the nationalism discussed in the article linked above is not quite the same as patriotism. All proud patriots are always particularly keen to mention that. Nevertheless, the two ideologies belong to the same family. And they're both pretty stupid too. Up until about two hundred years ago, no one would have thought of identifying with their “people”. In the corporate society of the Middle Ages and modern times, that simply made no sense! No no. It all really got going in the 19th century when the estates and divine monarchy and so on just didn't really work anymore.

Where nationalism became the new basis of modern states, patriotism became their most powerful weapon. Its logic is also simple. It's all well and good to belong to a state thanks to ethnicity. Of course, it is better if you also feel that you belong and show it. Preferably by being willing to die for your people. You also have to be thankful! For being born here and not somewhere else. As is well known, you and the state can do a lot for it.

But if patriotism itself is ideologically a bit… shaky, cheer patriotism is its logical and much more shaky continuation. There are really no more critical questions asked here. You just think your own nation is awesome and that's that! This form of patriotism has appeared time and again in history and its name comes from the masters of uncritical love of the fatherland:Prussia. Prussian troops are said to have used the "hurray" as a battle cry during the Napoleonic Wars. Somehow it stuck and by the time of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the term had caught on to such an extent that wonderfully clumsy poems like this could be created:

Well then...

The Greek Revolution... good enough!

But one thing has to be said about the followers of early patriotism:They were very flexible in terms of the object of their enthusiasm. While in Germany, of course, Germany was cool at first (and England in England, France in France...), a new reason for a bit of hurrah patriotism arose in the 1820s:Greece and the Greek Revolution that was taking place there. At first glance this seems strange. Suddenly patriots from Germany, England and elsewhere got together to celebrate Greece in the name of so-called philhellenism.

Greece and philhellenism somehow offered themselves. After the Napoleonic Wars, not so much happened on the national front in Germany or Great Britain. From 1821, however, the Greeks tried to revolt against the Ottoman Empire! This Greek Revolution became one of the earliest successful national liberation movements in European history. At least if you don't count the French Revolution, which you probably should... At the end of the war in 1829, Greece emerged victorious from the liberation struggle and became an independent state. On the one hand, that was the first nail in the coffin of the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, it was also the beginning of many, many national revolutions all over Europe, so in the spirit of our hurray patriots.

Of course, without the help of the great powers, Greece could hardly have ended its war of liberation victoriously. It was ultimately Britain, France and Russia that brought the Greek Revolution to a successful conclusion and won independence from the Ottoman Empire. Geopolitical motives certainly played a decisive role. But not exclusively. The followers of philhellenism in their own ranks were meanwhile creating quite respectable pressure in these states! Or Hooray, hooray, Greece is wonderful , as the linguistic genius Ferdinand Freiligrat would probably have put it.

Europe under the spell of Philhellenism

The Greek revolutionaries were thus doubly lucky. Not only did the great powers want to prevent the Ottomans and, above all, the Egyptians they had recruited from gaining strength, they also had to contend with considerable pressure in their own country. The people there – that is, the young, male, aristocratic at least – had meanwhile succumbed en masse to the fever of patriotism. You could really live it out, especially in Germany, but of course not. Germany didn't even exist yet, even if the patriots would have liked to change that. Greece was a wonderful alternative to let off steam. After all, it was the origin of democracy and European civilization itself and so on. This is also an argument that poorly informed people still like to use today.

When the Greek Revolution broke out in 1821, philhellenic organizations quickly formed in numerous cities in Western Europe. That's where the young patriots met and... yes, I don't know what exactly they were doing... Maybe learn Greek and talk about the "good old days" around 500 BC? Sounds pretty nerdy at first glance. A bit like joining an Esperanto club or something. But philhellenism was extremely en vogue at the time. Among the members of such organizations were numerous colorful names. Schiller for example. But Goethe and Humboldt were also among them, as were important figures in France such as Victor Hugo and in Great Britain the poet and womanizer Lord Byron. The Bavarian King Ludwig thought it was so great that he quickly renamed his kingdom from Bavaria to Bavaria. The Ypsilon is also so much nicer... Later a Bavarian was even sent to Greece as a king!

The patriotic death for another nation

In addition to merry coffee rounds in their societies, some Philhellenes actually became active and moved to Greece to fight in the War of Independence! In Germany, so-called "German Legions" were then formed, in which the hurray patriots of the time could enlist in order to die in distant Greece. Lord Byron even left his young lover in Genoa for the purpose (he was actually still on Grand Tour at the time. He then died in 1824 during the fighting in Greece, not in battle but of hypothermia. There have been more glorious deaths... But you have to imagine that:People were actually willing to go to war and die for another country back then! "Patriots" could only say.

Yes, and this is the story of how Greece became the first cause of Western European cheer patriotism. Over the next two centuries, this odd craze would crop up again and again. There is another example in the next article. In the meantime, you can read here again why we should be interested in the whole story at all. If you are also looking for an object of your enthusiasm, you can really get involved here and register for the e-mail newsletter. Hooray, hooray, newsletter blabla!