What is the element that would give value to a retrospective historical engagement with Greece and its foreign policy during the period 1928-32? In any case, Greece was then, as it is now, a small country whose external behavior had a negligible impact on the international system, its key players, and their main problems.

It is the following series of reasons, in our opinion, that makes the study of Greece's foreign relations interesting. The first is its geopolitical position. Greece is part of a system of states that includes five neighboring nations of similar size and power. If the Italian states of the Renaissance and the European stage of the 18th and 19th centuries serve as typical examples, the Balkans of the interwar period represent the closest possible approximation of "classical" balance of power.

All the key players had to remain continuously vigilant of one another and adjust their policies to the movements of the others. The peoples of the Balkans, apart from being rational competitors with specific interests, were also heirs to long historical traditions. This explains the hostility and prejudices against one another that have marked the memory of the peoples.

Thus, in determining their foreign policy, they had to take emotional variables into account. Consequently, the Balkan context gives us the opportunity to examine not only the dynamic interactions within a given system but also the influence exerted on it by the survival of old sentiments and views.