The Grand Game and Britain’s Acquisition of Cyprus

In my following exposition I will try to answer three questions (1) Why did Great Britain want Cyprus in 1878? (2) How and when did London achieve this task? (3) Why did Britain keep Cyprus even when London discovered that after the acquisition of Egypt it did not need Cyprus no longer from a military point of view? While answering these questions I give an outline of the main strands of the story and their interdependence.