The Greeks and the British in the Levant, 1800-1960s ─ Between Empires and Nations

This book explores the concept of the Levant as a component of the regional and international system during the age of imperialism. At its heart is a focus on the experience of Greek-speaking societies and the independent state of Greece from 1830. A key sub-theme running through the account is the Anglo-Hellenic connection stemming from an enhanced British presence in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 1830s and 1840s. The core of the volume deals with three interlocking themes: modernity, nationalism and trans-nationalism. Ultimately these forces were to prove at odds with the ambiguity and elite structures that characterized the Levant in its nineteenth-century heyday.

Robert Holland is an historian of the British Empire, with a special interest in the Mediterranean. He has published widely on Cyprus and on Anglo-Hellenic relations generally, including Britain and the Cyprus Revolt, 1954-59 (1998). He is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College London. George Kazamias is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus and former Dean of the Faculty of Letters (2011-2014). His research focuses on the relations of Greece with Britain in the 20th century, post-1960 Cyprus, oral history and the history of the Hellenic Diaspora. Anastasia Yiangou specializes on the history of British rule in Cyprus with a focus on the period of the Second World War and after. She is the author of Cyprus in World War II: Politics and Conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean (2010). She has taught at the University of Cyprus and the Open University Cyprus.