The aim and ambition of this work is to understand the causal relationships that develop between national issues and political power during the last quarter of the Greek 19th century.
In the first part of the study, emphasis is placed on the Eastern Crisis of 1896-1897, specifically on its internal and international dimensions. The narrative of the crisis is framed around the national issue, particularly its irredentist-expansionist aspect.
In the second part, the narrative is permeated by the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and more specifically by the traumatic connotations of defeat. The emphasis is on the constitutional issue; specifically, the assertive claim to the hegemony of the power structure by the Greek Throne, centered on “national regeneration.”
In the third part, the study again focuses on the national issue, but emphasizing another dimension: the internal imperative of reform. More specifically, it examines how reform strategies become a state priority, thus a crucial field of hegemonic power struggles. At the same time, it explores how and to what extent reforms as top-down strategies engage with the demands of progress and social prosperity, as represented from below.
In the fourth part of the book, an attempt is made to understand the terms of political instability, ideological fluidity, and social unrest that intersect during the period of 1902-1906. The political-party realignments observed in the two major factions are also studied, as well as how centrifugal and sometimes secessionist tendencies gradually shape new collective formations and elevate new political identities.
