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Abstract
This paper, based on evidence from the British archives and a memorandum by Robert Burrows, the principal of King's College and a philhellene, examines the British offer of Cyprus to Greece in October 1915 in return for immediate participation in the war and full support of the Greek army to Serbia. Burrows's plan to stir up a popular movement in Greece to make the Zaimis government give up neutrality and join the Allies, was rejected by the British government in favour of a more diplomatic course. As Greece decided not to move but maintain a neutrality benevolent towards the Allies, the offer lapsed, never to be renewed.
Key words: WWI; Great Britain, Cyprus, Greece, Ronald Burrows.
Slowa kluczow'e: I wojna swiatowa, Wielka Brytania, Cypr, Grecja, Ronald Burrows.
Cyprus has been used as a political pawn for centuries by the great powers who realized the value of the island as a base for military or religious ventures and trade in the Levant. The island was ruled successively by the Ptolemies, Romans, Byzantines, Lusignans, and Venetians and then conquered by the Ottoman in 1578. After three centuries of Turkish rule, on 4th June 1878, Britain concluded a treaty, the Convention of Defensive Alliance, with the sultan. The treaty aimed to maintain the integrity of Turkish dominions in Asia. In return, the sultan, pledged various reforms and assigned Cyprus to be "occupied and administered" by Britain while at the same time retaining Turkish sovereignty over the island.1 The British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, was convinced that Cyprus was "the key of Western Asia"2 and especially India. However, when Britain gained control of the Suez Canal, the importance of Cyprus diminished considerably.3 In 1914, after Turkey joined the Axis powers, Britain decided that the legal basis of the 1878 agreement had lapsed. On 5 October 1914, Britain annexed Cyprus and the island became not only de facto, but also de jure part of the British Empire.4
The following paper explores Cyprus as a pawn in the political games of the Great Powers during the First World War, specifically the British offer of the island to Greece in October 1915.5 Sources for this project come from government documents at the British National Archives (BNA), Kew, including the...