THE ENLIGHTENMENT REVOLUTIONS, PART 2 (UPDATE)

Jack Posobiec on Human Events had a very interesting series of postings over the last few days dedicated to some of the post Enlightenment revolutions. Generally there are two, very distinct types. The first is the struggle of newly discovered feelings of "national awakening" within the context of the old multicultural concept of empire. Examples of rebellions of this type are the Dutch, the Greek and the American revolutions. The other model is much more violent and is a civil war within the national context on the basis of religion, ethnicity or more usual, social class. Examples of the latter are the French, Russian, German and Spanish revolutions. We will post them all, in parts. Some we have already covered over the years. In part 1: the Dutch Revolution (or the Eighty Years' War), the English Civil Wars, and the American Revolutionary War (link). 

Dec. 26, 2023 Human Events: CHRONICLES OF THE REVOLUTION — THE FRENCH TERROR.

The French Revolution
The French Revolution began in 1787 and ended in 1799 with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. The revolution sought to change the relationship between rulers and the governed, redefine the nature of political power, and uproot institutions such as Roman Catholicism and the monarchy.

The revolution took a radical turn when revolutionaries arrested the King, and the following month, the National Convention was established, proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and established the French Republic. (More)

Although the two are often compared, the ideological roots of the French Revolution were very different from the American War of Independence. The French revolt was Rousseauian in nature. Rousseau might well be seen as the forerunner of Marx. Indeed, the roots of what later became Marxism can clearly be discerned in Rousseau's ideas. (More in Rousseau's Ravages) The revolutions in China and Russia are based on similar resentment.

While the motto of the revolt, "Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood" may sound great, it contains an internal contradiction. Equality and solidarity can only be attained through enforced enslavement of part of the citizenry. 

The French revolutionaries saw themselves as the paradigms of reason, something akin to today's wokesters self identifying as the protagonists of 'democracy' while cancelling their opponents. Nothing is more unreasonable than guillotining fellow citizens by the thousands. 

Interesting is the pseudo religion of reason that birthed the latter years of the Enlightenment. A ripe example of this kind of proto ideology is Positivism, a sociological school founded by Auguste Comte. 

Comte believed in no other source of human knowledge than the empirical method exclusively, and built a fuzzy agnostic pseudo-religion around it. Positivism is the opposite of relativism, it is materialistic and science as an idea gone haywire. (More on Comte and Positivism)

The Greek Revolution
Also known as the Greek War of Independence, the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by Greek revolutionaries and nationalists between 1821 and 1829 against the Ottoman Empire that had overrun the Greek Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire based on Constantinople, or Byzantium) since 1453.

2023 Kings and Generals: Greek War of Independence 1821-32 - Greek & Ottoman History DOCUMENTARY.

The Greeks were backed by the Russians. The Brits and the French also supported Greek independence, however reluctantly because they feared Russia would benefit from the collapse of the Ottomans. There is hardly anything new under the sun!

Greek independence came about much harder than the American Revolutionary War, as the Greeks did not control their own territorial jurisdiction since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. 

The Greek Revolution was largely driven by intellectuals in the diaspora in Britain, France and Russia. They were typical representatives of the Romantic Era called Philhellenes and were attracted to the heritage of the pre Christian era of Classical Greece. Many fought themselves in the revolt. An example Philhellene was Lord Byron (Wiki). 

Jan. 18, 2404 Archon: Heroes of the Greek Revolution of 1821.

Two groups involved drove the practicalities of the war. The klephts (brigands,  partisans, Wiki) and the members of the Masonic Lodge, Philiki Etairia. The first comprised a class of international merchants with privateering as a sideline operating all over Greece.

The second a chapter of the Freemasons serving as cover for revolutionary activities. It fell upon the merchants with their widespread international contacts, particularly in Russia, to lead the revolution. 

Two distinct political forces ultimately won the day. The first was an ethnic nationalist force. The second sought the reconstitution of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Balkans as a muli-ethnic federal state with Greek as the language of the administration and the Church. 

After a long and bloody struggle, independence was finally granted by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. (More)

The years 1810-20 various rebellions broke out across Europe: in Germany, Spain, Piedmont, Naples, France, Russia and Epirus in northern Greece with varying degrees of success and failure. 

Update

Orthodox vlogger David Patrick Harry recently released an analysis on the Masonic origins of the second type revolutions. With an update clarifying points not made clear in part 1. 

Jan. 9, 2024 David Patrick Harry: Freemasonry and the Revolutionary Spirit: Politics and Occult Spirituality. Part 2. 

- More in part 1, part 3 -