Book Review: Middle East, the Memoirs of General Grivas
| Author | W. M. Dobell |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000230 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
275
of
the
Treaty
Empire
followed
inexorably,
until
the
Iraqui
coup
of
1958
marked
the
end
of
a foreign
policy.
This,
briefly,
is
Fitzsimmon's
account-not
an
original
tale, but
a
capable,
if
sometimes
laboured,
summary,
which compresses
a
great
deal
of
information
into
a
relatively small
book.
If
the
story
reads
dismally,
some
may
find
consolation
in
the
view
that
British
interests
remain largely
unimpaired,
though unprotected.
It
is
difficult,
however,
to
accept
the
author's
claim
that,
ergo,
British
policy
was
a success.
Evaluations
apart,
the student
of
foreign
policy
may
regret
some
omissions.
The
first
is
that
the author
does
not
consider
more
specifically
the
political
and
economic
nature
of
the
British-Arab re-
lationship-surely
essential
to
any
understanding
of
British
policies
and
Arab reactions. The
second
is
that
he
does
not
pry
further
into
the
attitudes
of
British
policy-makers. We
are
told
that
British
policy
"involved
a
disentangling
of
proclaimed
vital
interests
from essential
interests"
(p.
3),
and
that
"the British
approach
to
the
Middle
East
has
been
largely
dictated
by
her statesmen's
reading
of
Britain's
inter-
ests"
(p.
224),
but
the
distinction
between
vital
and
essential
is
never
made
clear
and
the
emphasis
is
on
events
rather
than
the
interpreta-
tion
of
interests.
Such
shortcomings
limit the
value
of
this
book
to
the
student
of
politics,
though
not,
perhaps,
to
the
historian.
University
of
Alberta
DAviD
Cox
THE
MEMOIRS
OF
GENERAL
GRIVAS.
Edited
by
Charles
Foley.
1964.
(Tor-
onto:
Longmans.
226pp.
$6.75)
The
reader
seeking
revelations
on
the
most
recent
Grivas-Makarios
feud
and
on
the
current
communal
strife
in
Cyprus
will be
disappointed
by
these
Memoirs.
Not
that
they
are
excessively
discreet:
no
one could
fault
Grivas
on
that
score.
But
the
theme
itself,
the
EOKA
campaign
of
the
Fifties,
imposes
its
own
limits.
Little
recorded
in
this
book
could
not
have
been
published
at
any
time
of
the
past
six
years.
Indeed
much
of
it
was,
notably
in
the
original
Greek
version
published
in
1961.
Additional
material
has
now
been
incorporated
from
letter,
diaries,
and
interviews,
presented
with
the
professional
skill
of
an
editor
trained
under
Beaverbrook.
No
attempt
has
been
made
to
fill
out
Grivas's
two-
dimensional
attitudes
with
fuller
thought
and
argument.
Nor has
Foley
extracted anything
new
from
the
General
on
the
Anglo-French
prepara-
tions in
Cyprus
preceding
the
Suez
landings.
Otherwise
the
book is
full
of
hard
facts
on
matters
which
Grivas
had mastered
and
firm
opinions
on
those
which
he had
not.
The
questionable
judgments
are
none
the
less
authentic
for
being
opinions
rather than
facts.
According
to
Grivas,
Greece
refused
to
accept
Cyprus
in
the
First
World
War
owing
to
the
chaos of
Athens
politics;
the
British Army
in
Cyprus
fighting
EOKA
experienced
frequent
instances
of
military
dis-
obedience;
the
Cypriots
brought
back
by
the
British
from
London
were
chosen
from the
London
underworld;
Foot's
letter
requesting
a
meeting
was
concocted
with
the
British
Government's
approval;
the
Turks
blew
up
their
own
Consulate
in
Salonika.
The
list
of
inaccuracies
and
half-
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