Propaganda and the Cyprus Revolt
Rebellion, Counter-Insurgency and the Media, 1955-59
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:11th Jun '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Demonstrates the crucial significance of British and Greek Cypriot propaganda during the Greek Cypriot anti-colonial revolt (1955-1959), using new English and Greek language source material to reveal how and why the British Empire lost the battle for hearts and minds in Cyprus.
During the EOKA period of Greek Cypriot revolt against British colonial rule, the Greek Cypriots and the British deployed propaganda as a means of swaying allegiances, both within Cyprus and on the international scene. Propaganda and the Cyprus Revolt places new emphasis on the vital role propaganda played in turning the tide against British colonial control over Cyprus. Examining the increase of violence and coercion during this period of revolt, this book examines how the opposing sides’ mobilization of propaganda offered two alternative visions for the future of Cyprus that divided opinion, to the ultimate detriment of British counterinsurgency efforts. Detailing the deployment of propaganda by both parties across radio, television and print channels, the book draws upon previously unpublished archival material in order to paint a detailed picture of how the British Empire lost control over the hearts and minds of the Greek Cypriot people. This study shines new light on a crucial period of Cypriot history and contributes to wider transnational debates around the use of propaganda and the end of empire. This will be an essential read for students of Cyprus history and British colonial history.
Dr Hadjiathanasiou’s book is required reading for all those interested in histories of propaganda, empire and decolonisation. Using a wealth of new archival sources relating to the Cyprus Emergency, including a rich body of evidence in Greek as well as English, she draws out the crucial importance of propaganda and media manipulation in mobilising nationalist resistance and waging wars of counterinsurgency at the end of empire. This ground-breaking and painstaking study allows us see a key late-colonial struggle for power, hearts and minds, in which the combatants targeted audiences in Britain, Cyprus, and around the world, from a new perspective. * Professor Simon J. Potter, University of Bristol, UK *
Can persuasion through directed information take the edges off armed conflict and bring victory at a lower cost? In late-colonial Cyprus the British discovered their presumed superiority at propaganda could not match a sophisticated anti-colonial movement with ethnic unity as their message. Cyprus is a vital case for understanding propaganda’s place in decolonisation conflicts. In Maria Hadjiathanasiou’s able hands, the topic has finally found the analyst its significance deserves. * Dr. Huw Bennett, Cardiff University, UK *
Maria Hadjiathanasiou’s lucid account of the British propaganda campaign in colonial Cyprus tells us how pervasive that information war was, and reveals the many tricks of the trade that protected British interests and sought to diminish EOKA’s impact. This study adds an important new dimension to our understanding of the Cyprus conflict. * Professor David M. Anderson, University of Warwick, UK *
[T]he book is worth reading because, as it is based on a bulk of newly released primary material, it shifts the focus of the current historiography away from an overwhelming emphasis on the use of ‘wholesale coercion’, and clearly proves that propaganda was, along with coercion, a joint driver in the conflict for Cyprus. * The Cyprus Review *
ISBN: 9781788317313
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 542g
264 pages