The modern Greek state was born from the confrontation between Orthodox Christians and Muslim Ottomans. It served as a central lever for the Great Powers in their efforts to separate Europe from the East.

But what were the relations of the Greeks within and outside the Ottoman Empire during the period of its gradual dissolution in the 19th century? Was there a single line that defined the events? In this book, Katerina Mystakidou describes the opposing forces and conflicting interests among Phanariots, Greek subjects of the sultan, and Greeks from the mainland.

The first, focusing on the Greek Orthodox millet and the Patriarch, were fully integrated into the mechanism of the High Porte. The second - Greek Anatolians and Pontians - had a national consciousness as Greeks but perceived the multi-ethnic territories of the Ottoman Empire as their homeland. As for the Greeks from the mainland, they had already formed a solid national identity in a geographically homogeneous religious space.

Within such a complex and simultaneously conflicting framework, the author examines historical developments from a different perspective: from the movement for the formation of the new Greek state to the Asia Minor catastrophe and the Treaty of Lausanne.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]