The Role of Greek Merchants in European Capitalism and Greek Independence Movement

Abstract

This article aims to understand the mostly-neglected role of the Greek merchants in the Greek independence movement by looking into their integration in European capitalist system. By doing this, we believe that we are able to move beyond the general tendency of romantic nationalist readings in the literature which focuses only on the Greek or European intelligentsia, as the first and foremost stimulating power behind the Greek struggle for independence. The Greek independence movement has a different place in international relations since it shows the crucial connection between the nationalist feelings and the nationalist economies. The claim in this article is that the emerging bourgeois class of the Greeks, which adapted quickly and successfully to the European capitalist system with its privileges in trade, sought independence from the Ottoman Empire in line with its economic advantages and interests. As they effectively got involved in international trade with the commercial advantages, they became wealthy and powerful enough to seek for their own nation-state that could be a strategic actor in European capitalist system. To this end, the accumulation of capital and the spirit of Europeanization encouraged them to become financiers of the emergence of the Greek intelligentsia and the formation of an ideological base in the struggle for an independent Greek state. The fact that the static and introverted empire economies that could not keep up with the dynamism of international capitalism were replaced by the nation-states explains why the enriched Greek merchant class moved away from the Ottoman Empire and turned towards European capitalism. Their successful involvement in capitalist development in Europe can be understood better when we look into the trade capacity of the Greeks at the European ports and their effective existence in international financial networks. In this context, based on the inference that there would be a link between joining international trade networks and seeking national independence, it was concluded that the Greek merchant class left the Ottoman Empire's control area and the enriched capital class became demanding its own nation-state.