Most of the Cypriot population, especially the lower classes, remained loyal to the British cause during the Great War and the island contributed significantly to the First World War, with men and materials. The British acknowledged this yet failed to institute political and economic reforms once the war ended. The obsession of Greek Cypriot elites with enosis (union with Greece), which only increased after the war, and the British dismissal of increasing the role of Cypriots in government, bringing the Christian and Muslim communities closer, and expanding franchise to all classes and sexes, led to serious problems down the line, not least the development of a democratic deficit.
Andrekos Varnava studies the events and the impact of this crucial period in his book British Cyprus and the Long Great War, 1914-1925 Empire, Loyalties and Democratic Deficit.
Andrekos Varnava was born and raised in Melbourne to Cypriot-born parents.
He is an Associate Professor in Imperial History at Flinders University, Adelaide and an Honorary Professor at De Montfort University, Leicester.
He has authored four monographs: Assassination in Colonial Cyprus in 1934 and the Origins of EOKA; British Cyprus and the Long Great War, 1914-1925: Empire, Loyalties and Democratic Deficit; Serving the Empire in the Great War: The Cypriot Mule Corps, Imperial Loyalty and Silenced Memory and British Imperialism in Cyprus, 1878-1915: The Inconsequential Possession
Andrekos has edited/co-edited 16 collections, most recently: Popular Culture and its Relationship to Conflict in the UK and Australia since the Great War; New Perspectives on the Greek War of Independence: Myths, Realities, Legacies and Reflections; Exiting War: The British Empire and the 1918-20 Moment; After the Armistice: Empire, Endgame and Aftermath; Comic Empires: The Imperialism of Cartoons, Caricature and Satirical Art; Australia, Migration and Empire: Immigrants in a Globalised World; and The Great War and the British Empire: Culture and Society.
He has co-edited special issues of Australian Historical Studies, Contemporary British History, and Itinerario, and published over 50 articles/chapters. He has over 2,350 google scholar citations and a Wikipedia entry.
Andrekos also published his first collection of poems, ‘In the Aviary of Youthful Freedom’, in 2015.