Capital and Life Around: Specific Features of the Greek State’s Development in the First Third of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Since the time of its liberation in the mid-nineteenth century, the Greek state has sought to downplay the importance of Eastern culture in the life of the country. This was facilitated by the hardships of life under the Ottomans, the longing for the historical heritage of antiquity, and, most importantly, the influence of the great powers on modern life in Greece. By the early twentieth century, the previously emerging orientation toward the European model of development was clearly evident in all areas of life: politics, culture, and the spiritual sphere. Reformation tendencies were also observed during the emergence of cities. First of all, they were visibly manifested in Athens and in the second factual capital — Thessaloniki. Athens was changing, modernising itself according to the model of modern European centres, attracting the Greek elite, as well as the poetic and creative bohemia. In Thessaloniki, after the terrible fire of 1917, which destroyed most of its historical buildings, the Greek authorities received a unique chance to modernise the northern capital, taking into account the urban planning practices of European cities. However, most of Greece remained neutral to the new Western European trends, because of the financial problems of the authorities, the lack of an extensive road network—the main channel of communication with the capital and its newfangled trends—an acute migration problem, accompanied by the strengthening of the original element in the life of small towns, commitment to Eastern traditions, and a high degree of religiosity. The article attempts to identify modernisation trends that manifested themselves in the appearance of Greek cities, and partly recreate a visualisation of their existence and the atmosphere of urban life through the prism of the opposition “modernisation — traditionalism”. The sources used by the author are the testimonies of contemporaries — travellers, journalists, writers, politicians, diplomats, cultural figures, and publications in the media.