![]() This paper will attempt to provide a brief, but hopefully thorough, analysis of interactions in the Mediterranean between the British Empire, Russia (in all its iterations) and, to a lesser degree, the United States prior to the Cold War. We’ve fought the bear before, and while we’re Britons true, the Russians shall not have Constantinople.” “ We don’t want to fight but by Jingo if we do, we’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men’ we’ve got the money too. In fact, the chorus of McDermott’s War Song, the etymological root of jingoism, rallied support for British sailors in the Mediterranean with the words: It should be noted that this perception was not limited to Foreign Office mandarins and students of geopolitics and International Relations, and was in fact widespread in British society just before the turn of the 19 th century. ![]() In this case, there has long existed a perception in the Anglo-American world that the Russian Federation and its predecessors (the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union) have been consistently attempting to establish a strong presence in the Mediterranean since the late 18 th century. While it is still too early to estimate the full ramifications of the invasion, history can be a valuable guide in efforts to glean lessons from the past and identify the dangers facing the region today. It is self-evident that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to the tensest standoff between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance and the Russian Federation since the end of the Cold War. Both this show of force by the Russian Navy’s Mediterranean Squadron, a herald of things to come, and President Vladimir Putin’s longstanding efforts to expand the Russian fleet’s base of Tartus, can be seen as aspects of the latest round in a struggle for control of the Eastern Mediterranean that began almost 250 years ago. In late February 2022, mere days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two Russian Slava-class cruisers (the Marshal Ustinov and the Varyag) were sailing near Greek waters and off the Syrian coast in the East Mediterranean they were there to impede the work of NATO carrier strike groups in the area and deter any intervention. Read here the Policy paper by Constantine Capsaskis, Research Fellow, ELIAMEP. These include the complete control of the Black Sea, the pre-occupation of NATO resources in a region peripheral to Russian coastal security, and rendering regional energy sources vulnerable.In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a significant concentration of Russian and NATO warships in the Eastern Mediterranean as Russia recognizes the critical importance attached by NATO to the region and hopes to achieve disproportionate gains with a threatening presence there.This included coming to difficult terms with the Soviet Union over the future of Europe and militarily confronting Greek left-wing guerrillas. Britain went to great lengths during World War Two to ensure that, following the defeat of the Axis, Greece remain oriented away from the USSR. This policy would remain unchanged right up to the beginning of the Cold War.Britain in the 19 th century pursued a policy of directly defending the Canal while also supporting a proxy (primarily the Ottoman Empire) to form a counterweight to the Russian threat. The British Empire saw the region as an essential lifeline, connecting the British Isles to India and the dominions of Oceania through the Suez Canal.There is a longstanding perception that the Russian Federation, and its historical predecessors (the Russian Empire and the USSR), desired control of the Eastern Mediterranean.It will then seek to use this historical context to examine the present situation in the region. To do so, a brief, but hopefully thorough, analysis of interactions in the Mediterranean between the British Empire, Russia (in all its iterations) and, to a lesser degree, the United States prior to the Cold War will be presented. This paper seeks to glean lessons from the past and help identify the dangers that may face the region today. The region has been the site of competition between Russia, and its historical predecessors, and the Anglo-American world for almost 250 years. The vital role of the Eastern Mediterranean has once again come to the fore in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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