Since securing independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1831, Greece claimed Cyprus due to its majority Greek population. Indeed, the new monarch was styled "King of the Hellenes" to emphasize sovereignty over Greeks everywhere. Enosis (union) with Greece was also the aspiration of Greek Cypriots. In 1915 Britain offered to cede Cyprus to Greece in return for their entry into the war against the Central Powers, but Greece considered the price too great as they expected a German victory. This war-time offer by Britain also raised Cypriot expectations since it invalidated the previous British argument that Cyprus was leased from the Turks and would revert to them when the British departed. When Britain made Cyprus a Crown Colony in 1925, the political campaign for enosis intensified. Serious riots in 1931 were suppressed by the British authorities. The Greek Orthodox Church led the enosis movement, and after the Second World War Archbishop Makarios III personified it. In 1951 he secretly invited Cypriot-born retired Greek Army colonel Georgios Grivas to form EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Aghoniston, National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) as the military wing of the enosis movement.

The catalysts for the outbreak of war were three incidents in 1954:

1. a British ministerial statement that Cyprus would never be granted independence
   
2. the move of British forces, including HQ Middle East Command, from Egypt to Cyprus, thereby turning a colonial backwater into a major military strategic base for the foreign occupier of Cyprus
   
3. the United Nations refusal to consider the Cyprus question.

Through a terrorism (aimed chiefly at British military targets) and propaganda campaign, EOKA sought to gain control of the local population, sway world opinion, and wear down the British. EOKA did not strive for a military victory.

To see all those who died do not fill in any boxes but simply click the search button. For another source of information see Britains' Small Wars - Cyprus and the British Cyprus Memorial Trust. The unveiling of the British Cyprus Memorial on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November, in Kyrenia, North Cyprus is now available on Britain's Small Wars website.

For British Pathe newsreel clips about the Cyrpus Emergency follow this link, the page will open in a new window.

An article from The Telegraph entitled "The forgotten soldiers buried in no man's land" can be found online.

The Police Roll of Honour Trust have a website dedicated to The British Cyprus Police

Database contains 465 records - 18 January, 2025

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