If only '21 would come back...

1821 that is...

"One by one the glorious years come back to me,
if only '21 would come back for a moment.

To cross the wide plain, my horse astride,
and alongside Kolokotronis to drink wine.

To fight on the castles during the day,
my sword sprinkling sparks.
And to hold a beauty under the stars
during the night".

What made the Greek National Revolution of 1821 the seal of valour that it truly is to this day is, in my opinion, that it was bitterly opposed by every single one of the European countries and administrations when it erupted as the just complaint of a people rising up again an opressor. The French Revolution and the surge of Napoleon throughout Europe, you see, had convinced the chancellors of Europe that the status quo should not be distrurbed ever again.
The revolutioners fought against every adversary as if they were protecting what was eternally theirs: their right to rule their own lives, the soil of their fathers and their classical culture as the identity by which they wish to be identified. The chancellors of Europe only changed their stance when they saw that, after years of successful fighting, the outcome would not be in their favour if they did not implicate themselves into the procedure.

Faces and incidents change, but history remains the same.



Painting by Theodore Vryzakis (1865), The Oath at Aghia Lavra
Lyrics by Sotia Tsotou from the song "If only '21 would come back" by Stavros Kougioumtzis, sung by Grigoris Bithikotsis.