Gunboat Diplomacy in the 19th Century in the Context Of British-Greek Relations -in the Example of Don Pacifico

Abstract

Diplomacy has always been an important tool throughout the history, in the intervention and implementation of international relations. In this respect, diplomacy maintains its importance in ensuring and sustaining national interests. Considering the economic, technological and scientific developments in addition to the difficulties in solving the problems that arise along with international developments, it seems that it is difficult to pursue and implement a stable and consistent foreign policy. For this reason, diplomacy has undergone various transformations and has continued to be carried out with different applications at different times, just like every other area. On the other hand, the diplomacy, which is based on very ancient histories in terms of its implementation also has a special importance with which the method is carried out. In this respect, considering the national power of a state, navy power as well as military forces, which are the mainstay of security, are of special importance. In this context, especially in the nineteenth century, gunboat diplomacy, which emerged in a form based on naval power, was among the diplomatic methods applied. In the context of the Don Pacifico issue, which is a good example of the method of gunboat diplomacy in this study, and which has caused a crisis between the AngloGreek states, the application, nature and features of this diplomatic method are discussed. In this framework, the role and effects of the gunboat diplomacy played in solving a political issue were tried to be revealed.