Contacts with Britain

With regard to Britain, Greek foreign policy was dominated by the spirit of friendly cooperation during the 1930s, as a result of the recognition of Britain's vital interests in the preservation of the balance of power in eastern Mediterranean. In this direction, the then Greek government condemned the insurrection of 1931 in Cyprus, in spite of the apparent sympathy of the Greek public opinion towards the Cypriot people's claim for union with Greece (Enosis). Four years later, Greece, along with the other signatories of the Balkan Treaty, endorsed the British-French proposal for the imposition of sanctions on Fascist Italy through the League of Nations, in reaction to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the violation of the latter's sovereignty.