Description

A participant in the Greek struggle for independence alongside Lord Byron, the philhellene George Finlay (1799-1875) lent his support to the newly liberated nation while diligently studying its past. The monographs he published in his lifetime covered the history of Greece since the Roman conquest, spanning two millennia. His two-volume History of the Greek Revolution (1861) is reissued separately in this series. Edited by the scholar Henry Fanshawe Tozer (1829-1916) and published in 1877, this seven-volume collection brought together Finlay's histories, incorporating significant revisions. Notably, Finlay gives due consideration to social and economic factors as well as high politics. Volume 5 covers the history of Greece under Ottoman and Venetian rule from 1453 to 1821. Finlay gives an overview of the political and military organisation of the Ottoman empire, touching also on the social conditions of the Greeks. He argues that growing national consciousness set the stage for Greek independence.