AHC: The United States of the Ionian Islands Survives

The United States of the Ionian Islands was a British protectorate from 1815 to 1864, when it was ceded to Greece. The British took control of the Islands in 1815 upon the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.

250px-Ionian_Islands.svg.png


So how can we make this insular little state survive up until the present? Could they become like Malta - a British island territory which gains independence? Why did Britain give them up in 1864 anyway?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
The Ionian Islands had a Greek population. The reason Britain gave them to Greece IIRC was because Greece accepted a King that the Brits were in favor of.
 
The Ionian Islands had a Greek population. The reason Britain gave them to Greece IIRC was because Greece accepted a King that the Brits were in favor of.

Why were the Brits in favor of George? Why didn't they give them to Greece earlier?

I mean, it's not like the British had qualms about ruling over foreign populations.

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Why were the Brits in favor of George? Why didn't they give them to Greece earlier?

I mean, it's not like the British had qualms about ruling over foreign populations.

Cheers,
Ganesha

Well George I was the brother-in-law of the Prince of Wales, so that could have something to do with it. And look at the differences between Otto and George. Otto's reign was disastrous for Greece while George I's highly successful.
 
Britain could certainly have kept the islands as long as it wanted, as there was little Greece could to do force the issue militarily or politically. However, the population was solidly Greek, and long supported union with Greece. The issue had prompted the dispatch of Gladstone as extraordinary High Commissioner already in 1858, long before Otto's ouster. Since George was far more of an Anglophile than Otto, Britain would have a pretty good reason to keep the islands post 1863. They were not as important as Malta or Gibraltar, and IIRC, by the 1860s the British had begun taking Egypt under their influence as well, so barring a change there, the islands were simply not worth the effort.
 
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