Rome, in response to the the robbery and murder of the Italian merchants in Phoenice by Illyrian pirates in 230 BCE, had sent ambassadors to the Adieaean kingdom’s queen Teuta, widow of Agros, and received a haughty reception from the militant queen.

The ambassadors had been ambushed and killed on their return through Illyria, causing the Senate to order vengeance against the Illyrians.

Greek allegations that the Illyrians are disrupting commerce and plundering coastal towns helps precipitate a Roman punitive strike in 229 BCE.

In the first action of the Illyrian War, the Romans relieve Corcyra, used as a port by Roman ships and currently besieged by the Illyrians, with little or no fighting.

…moves slowly down the coast to Corfu, where the imperial garrison surrenders at once.

Roger Borsa, the twenty-one year-old son of Guiscard and his Lombard second wife, Sikelgaita, takes part in the capture of Corfu.

At Sikelgaita's instigation, Robert had earlier named Roger Borsa as his heir rather than Bohémond, who no doubt felt early in life that he would have no patrimony because of his half brother and so would have to seek lands and fortune in the weakened condition of the Empire.

Having establishing a bridgehead for reinforcements from Italy, Guiscard's first target is Durazzo, the chief port of Illyria.

…Corfu by the end of 1083, …

Venice aids Manuel in retaking Corfu from the Normans in 1149, but the Venetians offend him by their aggressive behavior.

…Corfu, and …

The island of Corfu had become a possession of the Neapolitan house of Anjou in 1267.

The island has suffered considerably under weak Angevin rule from the inroads of various adventurers; hence in 1386 it had placed itself under the protection of Venice, which acquires formal sovereignty over it in 1401.

…bombards the Venetian ports on the island of Corfu.

The Venetians, receiving some help from Spain, Portugal, and several Italian states, repulse the Turkish assault on Corfu.

The United States of the Ionian Islands, a state and amicable protectorate of the United Kingdom, is created on November 5, 1815, as the successor state of the Septinsular Republic; it covers the territory of the Ionian Islands, in modern Greece.

The British depart the Ionian Islands on May 2, 1864, under terms of the Treaty of London, and the islands become three provinces of the Kingdom of Greece, though Britain retains the use of the port of Corfu.

The British had defeated the French fleet in Zakynthos on October 2, 1809, had captured Kefallonia, Kythera and Zakynthos, and had taken Lefkada in 1810.

The French had held out in Kerkyra until 1814.

The Treaty of Paris in 1815 had turned the islands into the "United States of the Ionian Islands" under British protection (November 5, 1815).

In January 1817, the British had ranted the islands a new constitution.

The islanders had elected an Assembly of 40 members, who advised the British High Commissioner.

The British had greatly improved the islands' communications, and introduced modern education and justice systems.

The islanders had welcomed most of these reforms, and had taken up afternoon tea, cricket and other English pastimes.

Once Greek independence was established after 1830, however, the islanders had begun to resent foreign rule and to press for enosis—union with Greece.

The British statesman William Ewart Gladstone had toured the islands and recommended that they be given to Greece.

The British government had resisted, since, like the Venetians, they had found the islands made useful naval bases.

They had also regarded the German-born king of Greece, King Otto, as unfriendly to Britain.

However, in 1862, Otto had been deposed and a pro-British king, George I, had been installed.

In 1862, Britain had decided to transfer the islands to Greece, as a gesture of support intended to bolster the popularity of the new king.