In 1878, Britain occupied Cyprus to protect imperial interests in the Near East and India, interests, both strategic and economic, that Russian expansion threatened and Ottoman weakness undermined. By 1912, Cyprus had become a pawn. The island had not been converted into the strategic, economic or political base to protect and extend British interests in the Near East. The policy of 1878 had failed because it was perceived rather than actual benefits that underlay the imposition of British rule. / The primary aim of this study is to present Cyprus as a failed case of imperialism. Historians have traditionally claimed that Cyprus was a strategic asset within the British imperial structure throughout British rule (1878-1960). That notion is challenged for the first phase of British rule – from the occupation of Cyprus in 1878 to when it was annexed in 1914 and then offered to Greece in October 1915. The approach is to situate the island within the British imperial imagination, which will help to understand why the island was occupied, and then to situate it within the British imperial structure after it was occupied to determine its place, value and viability. Understanding British politics and imperial policy is vital when trying to grasp the complexities of the imperial imagination(s) and the role of Cyprus within the imperial structure. This dissertation will show that perceptions generate reality and inform policy and that often these perceptions are imagined and exaggerated and thus, not based on evidence or reality. / This study will show that the British perceived Cyprus within two competing imaginaries that were at the heart of an imagined European spiritual identity: the Christian/Crusader/Holy Land tradition and that of Ancient Greece. The first tradition helps to explain why Cyprus was occupied; understanding the second provides one of the main reasons why the British failed in their imperial venture in Cyprus. Many British Conservative politicians and those that knew the Near East, through their imagined view of the Holy Land and their travels, diplomatic and military careers, situated Cyprus within the first tradition. They considered it strategically vital to the Levant and beyond to Armenia and Mesopotamia. Liberal leaders perceived Cyprus to be apart of Europe and, more significantly, within the unitary ideal of Modern Greece that the British had fashioned in continuum of the unitary ideal of Ancient Greece. Although the identity of the Cypriots was complex, the British imposed – unwittingly – modernity on the Cypriots. / Ultimately, it was the latter imagination that became dominant and with the failure of Cyprus to have a place within imperial strategy, it became a pawn to be parted to Greece with.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245045 |
| Creators | Varnava, Andrekos |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Restricted Access: Abstract and Citation Only |
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