What Independence for Greece? Abbé De Pradt’s Point of View
(EN)
Barau, Denys
In numerous writings published between 1821 and 1828, Abbé de Pradtapproached the questions concerning Greece’s future independence from two quitedifferent, if not completely opposite, points of view. On the one hand, he argued thatGreece could and should achieve its independence by its own efforts, without theintervention of any foreign power, and that consequently it should also be entirely free tochoose its own institutions. But, on the other hand, he wanted to emphasise the benefitthat Europe could gain from this independence by making Greece play the role of a barrieragainst the expansion of Russian power. And this strategic role implied another principlefor defining the territory and political regime of the new state. We shall see how, as thesituation evolved, this second logic prevailed over the first.
(EN)
