In the medium term the slow recovery of Greek rural and urban life after the traumas of the Late Ottoman era has culminated in population levels and lifestyles without previous parallel. Advances in production (for example chemical fertilizers, tractors, bank loans) and Greece’s position in the EU and international markets, have enabled the country to achieve a relatively high degree ofprosperity. The massive promotion of tourism ensures a steady year-round income to many parts of the land. In these respects Greece has shared in European-wide innovations and initiatives. In parallel, Early Modern Greece has also shared in the rise of the nation-state, the globalization and commercialization of agricultural and industrial production, and the convergence of political and social values within Western societies. More unique are short-term events, which have hindered Greece’s advance: the
Nineteenth-century failings of its politicians to solve the land question, a twentieth-century dictatorship and military junta, and a society plagued by an infrastructure of clientelism inherited from late Ottoman times. And yet here especially Braudel’s own preference for the longer term seems to offer a positive viewpoint for Greece’s future. Improvements in standards of living and education, the modernization of the still important rural farming sector, and the steady support of EU partners are vital features of Modern Greece which are the result of Greeks enthusiastically and energetically seizing on advances and opportunities arising across Europe as a whole over the last two centuries.
World History
