Greece, relations with

Greece, relations with. Although Greece was included in a number of grand tours, the extra distance and primitive conditions meant that it was less well known to British travellers than Italy. When the Greeks rose in revolt against their Turkish rulers in 1821, British opinion was divided. There was sympathy for struggling nations and for Greek culture, but the policy of supporting the Ottoman empire lest Russia become overmighty was already well established. For a while the British government solved its dilemma by urging the Turks, not for the first time, to institute reform. The revolt dragged on, with appalling atrocities on both sides, and in 1827 Britain, France, and Russia by the treaty of London offered mediation: the Greeks accepted, the Turks declined. At Navarino, Codrington with an allied naval force intended to separate the combatants destroyed the Turkish fleet. In 1830 the three powers guaranteed Greek independence. Codrington's action, though unintended and for which the British government apologized to the Turks, was important, though France and Russia played a greater role in establishing Greece.

Britain did not always find the new Greek regime easy to deal with, but the Don Pacifico affair in 1850, though it had important consequences for Palmerston, was not a serious rift. Greece made substantial territorial gains. In 1864 Britain ceded the Ionian Islands (including Corfu) which had been acquired in 1815. In 1881 Greece added Thessaly and, after the Balkan War of 1913, Macedonia and Crete. In 1914, under great pressure from both sides, Greece remained neutral, even after the Turks and Bulgarians had entered the war on the side of Germany (November 1914, October 1915). The country was badly split and on the verge of civil war, but joined the allies in 1917 when they landed troops to support Venizelos, the former prime minister. At the peace conference, Greece made large demands, including Thrace and Smyrna, which the Turks refused to hand over. Even with British support, Greece had to be content at Lausanne in 1923 with western Thrace.

In the Second World War Greece was invaded by the Germans in April 1941 and though the British sent troops, they were unable to stem the attack. But at the end of the war, Churchill succeeded at Yalta in keeping Greece out of the Soviet sphere of influence. It soon became clear that Britain had no longer the military or economic strength to offer protection, but the intervention of the USA by the Truman doctrine of 1947 kept Greece outside the iron curtain.

J. A. Cannon