The Diplomatic Significance of Ionian Neutrality, 1821–31 (review)

162 Reviews Thus, through his brinkmanship and "Napoleon complex" Makarios took Cyprus unwillingly to stalemate and disaster, and let Turkey take everything. Reading Clerides' and Eudokas' accounts of the negotiations during the colonial period and of the causes of the post-colonial crisis provide interesting contrasts about the motivations and the intentions of the two authors. Clerides' book is the more credible of the two volumes examined in this review. Clerides' incisive account is most valuable, and his documentary section makes this book a significant addition to the literature on Cyprus. In contrast, Eudokas' critique evokes dimensions of yellow journalism that adds little to the author's credibility. This disappointing volume however highlights a dimension of Cypriot politics that proved of critical importance in the breakdown of the political consensus on the island and led to the disaster of 1974. For these reasons both volumes ought to be read by those interested in the Cyprus problem. Van Coufoudakis Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne W. D. Wrigley, The Diplomatic Significance of Ionian Neutrality, 1821— 31. New York; Bern; Frankfurt am Main; Paris: Peter Lang. 1988 (American University Studies: Ser. 9, History; Vol. 41). Pp. xii + 335. $41.95. What a pity that the title of this monograph fails to indicate the breadth and diversity of its contents, which are based on exhaustive research in the British state archives and of relevance to historical processes extending well beyond its chronological and geographical framework. In confining attention to the book's central objective, it misleadingly suggests a specialist's preoccupation with an arcane subject of minor significance. To be sure, it focuses geographically on the Ionian Islands, all seven of them inhabited by Greeks, long ruled by Venice, and in 1815 turned into a British protectorate. Its main concern is the policy of neutrality toward both belligerents in which the Ionian British authorities persisted throughout the Greek war of independence . The nature ofthat policy is systematically and thoroughly examined, as are the motivations, obstacles, modes of implementation, and consequences that it entailed. However, the study ranges far beyond its defined focus because, as Wrigley correctly perceived, one Reviews 163 cannot judge the historical significance of a subject without probing the much wider arena for which it might have had significance. What he has produced, therefore, is a broadly conceived and masterfully executed study of British policy in the Eastern Mediterranean as it evolved in response to the consequences of the Greek Revolution. Thanks to the wealth of empirical data on which it is based and the sophisticated analysis which it involves, it goes well beyond diplomacy in the narrow sense and illuminates, in often striking and important ways, topics ranging all the way from regional ones like Greek insurgency and Ottoman reaction to global ones like British colonialism, the Eastern Question, and European rivalries. Consequently, it will interest a wide variety of specialists, which is another way of saying that it should appeal to the generalist as well. The carefully crafted and highly symmetrical organization of this book will keep the latter, especially, from getting lost in its complex and difficult terrain. Besides an introduction, conclusion, and bibliography , all brief but comprehensive, it consists of seven chapters. The first provides a useful overview of Ionian history (1085—1821). Chapters 2, 4, and 6 focus on Ionian neutrality in its regional context, one for each of the phases into which the Greek Revolution is divided: 1821-24, 1824-27, and 1828-31. Chapters 3, 5, and 7, working through the same three phases, deal with high-level Anglo-Ottoman relations in the broader context of "diplomatic events surrounding the topic of the Greek Revolution in the Eastern Question" (p. xii). Each chapter is divided into sections, which are unfortunately not listed in the table of contents. In the first set of chapters, these sections are defined by the wartime exigencies which a policy of neutrality had to address (blockades, refugees, trade policy, and military defense) and are grouped into three parts, each treating the relationship of Ionian neutrality to domestic, Anglo-Ottoman, and Anglo-Hellenic considerations respectively. In the second set each section focuses on Anglo-Ottoman relations at different levels or with...