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The French Revolution of 1789 was a turning point in modern European history. It did away with the ancien regime in France and the political and social status quo in Europe. It spread ideas of
liberalism and nationalism. Closely related to the Enlightenment, the French Revolution influenced developments in Greece and acted as a counterbalance to the Russian influence; Russia was an adherent of tradition and Orthodoxy, while France supported innovative ideas. |
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Greek thinkers absorbed much from the thinkers of the Enlightenment, French philosophers and the Declaration of the Rights of the Man. However, the ideas of the Enlightenment penetrated also to the popular classes. Greek seamen, breaking the French boycotage, carried food to the ports and disseminated French ideas to their countrymen. |
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The Treaty of Campo Formio:
Treaty signed in 1797 between France and Austria-Hungary. The two powers divided the territories. Austria gained Venice and France received the Ionian islands, Prague and Preveza.
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Napoleon's administrative reforms shaped the new regime. French victories in the Adriatic Sea, Napoleon's triumphant advance in Italy, the decline of despotism, the dissolution of the aristocratic rulers of Venice and the disembarkation of the democratic French army in the Eptanisa. At the time when Napoleon was in Trieste to negotiate the treaty of Campo Formio, members of the Greek community came in to contact with him. Napoleon's plans in the East precipitated a revolution. In 1797-98, two French citizens of Greek origin, Dimos and Nikolaos Stephanopoli, disembarked in the Peloponnese to examine the possibility of a revolution; the Greeks welcomed French intervention in their affairs. In addition, the Greek community in Marseille disseminated democratic ideas in Greece. The influence of French liberal ideology and Russia's loyalty to Orthodox doctrine had an effect on the Revolution and the Greek's state future.
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