Kitromilides, Paschalis M. and Matthaiou, Sophia (eds) Greek-Serbian Relations in the Age of Nation-Building (review)

Abstract

SEER, 95, 3, JULY 2017 564 of the publication of Russian books in nineteenth-century Berlin, and an appreciation of Hoffmann’s late colleague Bruno Widera. The major single focus in these pieces is on A. F. Büsching, the principal subject of six essays: useful if specialized additions to Hoffmann’s excellent Büsching biography and correspondence edition. The six reviews deal with subjects ranging from Ivan Fedorov, sixteenth-century initiator of printing in the Russian sphere, to the ‘church struggle’ (Kirchenkampf) in Nazi Germany. As a collection the book suffers from the weaknesses of many such retrospectives — the essays are of varying scope and quality, have been only partly brought up to date, and it has little coherence except in the person of its author. Nevertheless, as a tribute from colleagues to a remarkable survivor and productive scholar, this book can have its place. With his Radishchev biography and two essay collections, Peter Hoffmann has bowed out with a flourish. Ludlow Roger Bartlett Kitromilides, Paschalis M. and Matthaiou, Sophia (eds). Greek-Serbian Relations in the Age of Nation-Building. Institute of Historical Research, NationalHellenicResearchFoundation,Athens,2016.257pp.Illustrations. Notes. Index. €20.00 (paperback). In his introduction to the volume, Paschalis M. Kitromilides argues for more historical substance and nuance in describing the relations between the two peoples and countries that pride themselves on a shared religious (Byzantine Orthodox)backgroundandnomutualarmedconflictsincetheearlyfourteenth century. Evoking yet more convergences, Kitromilides rightly wonders what this means when so much else has changed over the centuries, and especially during the last two. This collection presents contributions by Greek and Serbian scholars at two colloquia held before the Greek financial crisis erupted. The Serbian economic situation is less well known internationally but it is in fact one of the very few countries that is still to recover from the recession of 2008. This lost decade has also meant a long delay for this volume, which focuses on the more recent period of relations between both countries. Just two studies deal with the years that precede the age of nation-building. In the most theoretical of all the contributions, Marios Hatzopoulos looks at commonalities and differences in recorded cases of pre-modern messianism, a term he uses in place of Traian Stoianovich’s millennialism, providing an eloquent justification of it and reinterpreting the few known cases, such as that of Stephen the Little in late-eighteenth-century Montenegro. More importantly, by pointing to REVIEWS 565 the ‘prophetic structures of the Orthodox community’, Hatzopoulos sheds new light on both the Serbian and Greek uprisings against the Ottomans in the early nineteenth century. In addition, Ljiljana Stošić examines common motives in the visual arts that derived from a shared religious background, but also the free movement of artists before the creation of modern states. The volume’s core topic is discussed in four contributions. Based on ample research, Dušan T. Bataković recapitulates Serbian-Greek relations in the long nineteenth century which were marked by multiple attempts at alliances and cooperation but equally by failures due to contested interests in Macedonia, or simplyeconomic,politicalandmilitaryweaknesses.VojislavPavlovićconsiders the ecclesiastical dimension in conflicts, whereas Ljubodrag P. Ristić adds a foreign, chiefly British, dimension to conflicts between the nascent Balkan states that illuminates continuous foreign interference. Finally, Miroslav Svirčević summarizes the development of parliamentary government over the two countries. Whereas these studies charter well known territory, the articles by Ioannis Koubourlis and Sophia Matthaiou offer new perspectives, and together with Hatzopoulos’s contribution, elevate this volume above the conventional. Koubourlis analyses how political events influenced the perception of Serbs and Montenegrins in the work of Constantinos Paparrigopoulos, and how his views in turn influenced later Greek dispositions and events. This is important, as Paparrigopoulos, who famously denounced Jakob Fallmerayer’s theories on the racial origins of the Greeks, was the key contributor to the formation of a historical narrative and conscience amongst modern Greeks. Sophia Matthaiou’s piece on the fortunes of the two Koumanidis brothers is the most interesting and telling contribution in the volume, illuminating the complex relationship between the nascent modern nations on a human level that is often omitted from old-fashioned diplomatic histories. The two...