Vortrag: George Giannakopoulos (Academy of Athens), Imperialism at the Margins (23.04.2020)

George Giannakopoulos (Academy of Athens)
Imperialism at the Margins: A History of Interventions in Modern Greece

The years 2021 and 2022 mark two consequential events in Modern Greek history with global ramifications. 2021 commemorates the bicentenary of the outbreak Greek Revolution which gave rise to the first independent nation-state in post-Napoleonic Europe. 2022 marks the centenary of the Greek-Turkish population exchange, which brought the nationalist-imperial project for the creation of a Greater Greece to a dramatic end. These events brought Modern Greece at the forefront of key developments in Modern European history: the triumph of liberalism and nation-building in the 19th century, and the failures of nationalism and of the territorial state in the 20th century. The timing therefore is opportune to reconsider Greece’s place in the international system. This is the subject matter of Georgios Giannakopoulos’  forthcoming book titled “Imperialism at the Margins: A History of Interventions in Modern Greece” (1850-1940) (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming) Focusing on the shift from the 19th century Great Power politics to the 20th century international system, the talk sketches the outline of a new international history of the workings of European imperialism in Modern Greece in a regional perspective. It considers a sequence of episodes in critical moments of Greek and European history that shed light on the largely neglected history of European interventions in the territory of a state in flux. Giannakopoulos argues that Modern Greece, a small state in Europe’s periphery, has been a testing ground for European imperialism manifested in different kinds of military, economic and humanitarian interventions.

Georgios Giannakopoulos (Academy of Athens) holds a PhD in history from Queen Mary University of London. His research focuses on 19th and 20th century international and intellectual history. He has held research and teaching fellowships at Queen Mary University of London, UCL, NYU, and Greek academic institutions (Panteion University, University of the Peloponnese). Currently he is an Academy of Athens postdoc fellow affiliated with  King’s College London. He is also a visiting lecturer in politics and history at City University of London and NYU London. His published work has been featured at the Journal of Modern Greek Studies,Global Intellectual History, History of European Ideas, Contemporary European History,Modern Intellectual History. Recently he has edited a special issue on “Britain, European Civilisation and the Idea of Liberty” for the History of European Ideas. More about his current and future projects here: www.geogian.com