Greece 1940-1950
The Time of the Civil Wars
by Heinz A. Richter
In contrast to the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, the Greek Civil War, which took place exactly ten years later, is not present in the historical consciousness of Europe. When it raged, Germany was busy with survival and Europe with reconstruction. Its causes date back to 1936, when King George II broke his oath taken on the Constitution and, together with General Metaxas, paved the way for the four-year dictatorship of the fascist system. The overwhelming majority of Greeks, and above all the broad resistance movement, wanted a Greek republic after the end of the war, but Churchill, who believed that only the king could guarantee a pro-British policy for Athens, decided to restore the monarchy by force. This policy of Churchill’s led to the split of the Greek Resistance and to the “first round” in the Greek Civil War, the armed conflict between the ELAS and the EDES in Epirus in the winter of 1943/44, and in the “second round”, British soldiers fought against the leftist Resistance in Athens in December 1944. Despite the peace treaty of Varkiza concluded in February 1945, the victorious Greek Right exercised a veritable reign of terror. Since the British did nothing about it, the left began to resist and an escalation of violence and counter-violence took place, which led to civil war in autumn 1946. Heinz A. Richter’s study is the first scientifically based comprehensive account of the Greek civil war ever. In Greece, the subject is still taboo.
In contrast to the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, the Greek Civil War, which took place exactly ten years later, is not present in the historical consciousness of Europe. When it raged, Germany was busy with survival and Europe with reconstruction. Its causes date back to 1936, when King George II broke his oath taken on the Constitution and, together with General Metaxas, paved the way for the four-year dictatorship of the fascist system. The overwhelming majority of Greeks, and above all the broad resistance movement, wanted a Greek republic after the end of the war, but Churchill, who believed that only the king could guarantee a pro-British policy for Athens, decided to restore the monarchy by force. This policy of Churchill’s led to the split of the Greek Resistance and to the “first round” in the Greek Civil War, the armed conflict between the ELAS and the EDES in Epirus in the winter of 1943/44, and in the “second round”, British soldiers fought against the leftist Resistance in Athens in December 1944. Despite the peace treaty of Varkiza concluded in February 1945, the victorious Greek Right exercised a veritable reign of terror. Since the British did nothing about it, the left began to resist and an escalation of violence and counter-violence took place, which led to civil war in autumn 1946. Heinz A. Richter’s study is the first scientifically based comprehensive account of the Greek civil war ever. In Greece, the subject is still taboo.
- By (author) Heinz A Richter
Other Titles in this Series
Erinnerungen eines Archaologen
Einige bedeutende Kapitel aus der Kulturgeschichte der Republik Turkei
Volume 57
Die griechisch-orthodoxe Kirche und ihr Verhaltnis zu den Kirchen in Russland und in Mitteleuropa
Ausgewahlte Aufsatze I
Volume 20
The Straits of Hell
The Chronicle of a Salonikan Jew in the Nazi extermination camps Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Melk, Ebensee
Volume 30
Griechenland im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1941
Contingenza Grecia - Operationen Barbarity, Lustre und Marita
Volume 2
Similar Books
Dis/United States of Vulnerability
Literary and Cultural Transgressions in U.S. Poetry Since the 1960s
Volume 330
European Drama and Performance Studies
Dramatisations politiques. Théâtre, politique et idéologie au XIXe siècle (1806-1914)
Volume 27
Modernization, Crises, Cultural Revolutions
Yugoslavia’s 1960s and 1970s through the amateur film lens
Visual Memory and Oblivion
Monuments and Conflicts in Urban Spaces in Central and Eastern Europe from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day
“Tod durch Erschießen”
Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber in Norwegen 1940–1945. Erinnerungen – Verhörprotokolle – Urteilssprüche
Volume 63
“Zum Siege unserer menschenfreundlichen Prinzipien”
Ungarische Freimaurernetzwerke im „Orient“ 1886-1920
Coburgs südöstliche Netzwerke – Coburg’s Networks in Southeastern Europe
Bulgarien, Rumänien und Ostmitteleuropa im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Hrsg. von Franziska Bartl und Frank-Lothar Kroll mit einem Grußwort Seiner Majestät des Königs der Bulgaren Simeon II.
Volume 39
Dark Like You
Zur medienreflexiven Modernität der Kinder- und Jugendzeitschrift ‚The Brownies’ Book‘ (1920–1921)
Volume 191
Das Generalgouvernement Belgien im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-17–1918
Die Erinnerungen des Generalobersten Ludwig Freiherrn von Falkenhausen
Volume 64
Das Werden einer Universität
Die Protokolle des Akademischen Senats der Hamburgischen Universität 1919–1921