MODERN GREECE: A History since 1821 - Amazon Web Services

6 INTRODUCTION
war lords, “armatoles” of central Greece, handpicked by the Ottomans
among the formidable brigands in order to police the rough terrain of
the hinterland, constituted a pure expression of the “segmentary” community.
The armatoles operated on a strict hierarchical basis within
their own segment that cut society vertically to include various strata
within the same clan. Each group would cling to its hard-earned privileges
and would consider the members of other competing groups as
enemies. Subverting state institutions and penetrating governments
has been a constant pursuit of the segmentary community. Clientelism
provided the group with its sorely needed connections in a hostile
universe.
Nineteenth-century state-building and its modernist institutions
aspired to unify a society of citizens under the rule of law. Kapodistrias,
Mavrocordatos, Trikoupis, Venizelos, and Karamanlis, all modernizing
statesmen, sought to curtail the divisive influence of the segmentary
society. They established the rule of law to the best of their abilities and
promoted the concept of civil society to offset the pernicious effect of
the traditional segmentary community. Splinter groups, clans, and
extreme familism were checked by legal constraints and principles of
universal application. The solidarity among citizens acted as a counterbalance
to the predatory segments of society. The success of promoting
civil society in Greece was nevertheless temporary. Principles of modernization
always met with silent resistance from the many incarnations
of the segmentary society.
Every system produces the heroes it deserves. Such early heroes of
the Greek pantheon as Kolokotronis, Karaiskakis, Botsaris and Miaoulis,
were selected according to their military contribution to the war for
independence. All four, and a host of others, offered invaluable services
to the cause of freedom. Latecomers in this company, such as Ioannis
Makriyannis, were the choice of twentieth-century intellectuals in
search of a popular Greek identity. Makriyannis was a small-time chieftain
who left his limited mark during the Revolution. Unlike the hereditary
caste of the major armatoles of central Greece, he was a self-made
bearer of arms who became visible thanks to his inspired Memoirs, published
close to a century after the events they describe. 5 Makriyannis
was a gifted story-teller and such prominent figures of Greek literature
as George Seferis and George Theotokas hailed him in the late nineteenthirties
as a guiding light of popular wisdom. His work, although it
shows a literary flair, is one among several memoirs full of complaints by