In 2015 Syriza, a party of the European left, rose to power in Greece amidst an unprecedented social and financial crisis that exemplified the structural constrains of the common European project. Why did the Greek people choose a party of the left to tackle the challenges of the 21st century? In his talk Kostis Karpozilos will highlight the importance of historical legacies in the contemporary Greek political landscape and will present his ongoing research project for a national/international history of the Greek left from the Balkan Wars to the Eurozone crisis. Demonstrating how national questions throughout the 20th century interplayed with significant international and regional transformations, Karpozilos argues for a transnational history of the left. This historiographical perspective entails also an expansion of geographical and linguistic boundaries towards the diverse worlds of expatriates, immigrants, and political exiles that shaped the revolutionary projects of the 20th century. The history of the Greek left underscores the globalizing dimensions of political radicalism and offers an opportunity to rethink the links connecting national and transnational historiography.