The Greek War for Independence: American Interest and Perceptions in the Fight for
Golden Age Greece
Date: March 24
Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Location: University Room B, Carmichael Student Center
KSU historian Diana Honey will discuss America’s interest in the Greek War of Independence.
This is an area of Greek Revolutionary history often either minimized or overlooked,
altogether. The war, itself, and the many issues, people, individual battles, and
the economics of it, were of keen interest to many in western societies. Some in the
west felt a vested interest in the survival of Greece and its heritage. Many offered
support based on the legacy of a long past Golden Age. That support took the form
of debates in both the British Parliament and the U.S. Congress.
She will review the official bottom line for the U.S. government which was shaped
by America’s own recent independence as well as an ambivalence toward becoming involved
in, as Washington framed it, “…foreign entanglements.” However, as she will note,
non-involvement seemed not to be the answer for most Americans, in general. American
Interest and Perceptions only touches the surface of how Americans did in fact supported
the Greek War for Independence materially, financially, and ethically.