Balcanica 2009 Issue 40, Pages: 95-145
https://doi.org/10.2298/BALC0940093M
Full text ( 383 KB)
Anglophiles in Balkan Christian states (1862-1920)
Markovich Slobodan G. (School of Political Sciences, Belgrade)
The life stories of five Balkan Anglophiles emerging in the nineteenth
century - two Serbs, Vladimir Jovanović (Yovanovich) and Čedomilj Mijatović
(Chedomille Mijatovich); two Greeks, Ioannes (John) Gennadios and Eleutherios
Venizelos; and one Bulgarian, Ivan Evstratiev Geshov - reflect, each in its
own way, major episodes in relations between Britain and three Balkan
Christian states (Serbia, the Hellenic Kingdom and Bulgaria) between the
1860s and 1920. Their education, cultural patterns, relations and models
inspired by Britain are looked at, showing that they acted as intermediaries
between British culture and their own and played a part in the best and worst
moments in the history of mutual relations, such as the Serbian-Ottoman
crisis of 1862, the Anglo-Hellenic crisis following the Dilessi murders,
Bulgarian atrocities and the Eastern Crisis, unification of Bulgaria and the
Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, the Balkan Wars 1912-13, the National Schism in
Greece. Their biographies are therefore essential for understanding
Anglo-Balkan relations in the period under study. The roles of two British
Balkanophiles (a Bulgarophile, James David Bourchier, and a Hellenophile,
Ronald Burrows) are looked at as well. In conclusion, a comparison of the
Balkan Anglophiles is offered, and their Britain-inspired cultural and
institutional legacy to their countries is shown in the form of a table.
Keywords: Anglo-Balkan relations, Balkan Anglophiles, Balkans, Serbia, Hellenic Kingdom, Bulgaria, British Balkanophile