Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War was a war fought between 1942 and 1949. On one side was the conservative part of the Greek society and the armed forces of the Greek government, supported at first by Britain and later by the United States. On the other side was the revolutionary part of the Greek society and the forces of the biggest wartime resistance organization (ELAS) against the German occupation, whose leadership was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece.

Confrontation: 1944

By late 1944 it was obvious that the Germans would soon withdraw from Greece, because the armed forces of the Soviet Union were advancing into Romania and Yugoslavia and the Germans risked being cut off. The government in exile, now led by a prominent Liberal, George Papandreou, moved to Caserta in Italy in preparation for the liberation of Greece. Under the Caserta Agreement of September 1944, all the resistance forces in Greece were placed under the command of a British officer, General Ronald Scobie.

Related Topics:
1944 - Soviet Union - Romania - Yugoslavia - George Papandreou - Caserta - Ronald Scobie

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British troops landed in Greece in October. There was little fighting since the Germans were in full retreat. They were greatly outnumbered by ELAS, which by this time had 50,000 men under arms and was re-equipping itself from supplies left behind by the Germans. On October 13 the British entered Athens, and Papandreou and his ministers followed a few days later. The King stayed in Cairo, because Papandreou had promised that the future of the monarchy would be decided by referendum.

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At this point there was little to prevent ELAS from taking full control of the country. They did not do so because the KKE leadership was under instructions from the Soviet Union not to precipitate a crisis that could jeopardise Allied unity and put at risk Stalin's larger post-war objectives --above all control of Germany. Stalin had in fact agreed with Winston Churchill that Greece would be in the British sphere of influence after the war. The KKE leadership knew this, but the ELAS fighters and rank-and-file Communists did not. This became a source of conflict within EAM and ELAS.

Related Topics:
KKE - Stalin's - Winston Churchill

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Under Stalin's instructions, the KKE leadership tried to avoid a confrontation with the Papandreou government. The majority of ELAS members saw the British as liberators although some KKE leaders like Andreas Tzimas or Aris Velouchiotis did not trust the British. Tzimas was in touch with the Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito and he disagreed with ELAS's co-operation with the British forces.

Related Topics:
Andreas Tzimas - Aris Velouchiotis - Josip Broz Tito

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The issue of disarming the resistance organisations was the cause of the friction between the Papandreou government and its EAM members. Advised by the British ambassador Sir Reginald Leeper, Papandreou demanded the disarmament of all armed forces and the constitution of a National Guard under government control. EAM, believing that this would leave ELAS defenceless against the right-wing militias, submitted an alternative plan which Papandreou rejected, and EAM then resigned from the government. On December 1, Scobie issued a proclamation requiring the dissolution of ELAS. Command of ELAS was the KKE's greatest source of strength, and the KKE leader Siantos decided that the demand for ELAS's dissolution must be resisted.

Related Topics:
Reginald Leeper - December 1 - KKE

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Tito's influence may have played some role in ELAS's resistance to disarmament. Tito was outwardly loyal to Stalin but had come to power through his own forces and believed that the Greeks should do the same. His influence, however, had not prevented the EAM leadership from putting its forces under Scobie's command a couple of months earlier.

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On December 3, following an outbreak of shooting at an EAM demonstration in Syntagma Square in central Athens, full-scale fighting between ELAS and troops of the Greek government and the British began, with artillery and aircraft being freely used. On December 4 Papandreou attempted to resign but the British Ambassador forced him to stay. By December 12 ELAS was in control of most of Athens and Piraeus. The British, outnumbered, flew in the 4th Infantry Division from Italy as reinforcements. During the battle, ex-Nazi collaborators fought side by side with the government forces and the British troops, triggering a massacre by ELAS fighters.

Related Topics:
December 3 - Syntagma Square - December 4 - December 12 - Piraeus - 4th Infantry Division

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Fighting continued through December, with the British slowly getting the upper hand. Curiously, ELAS forces in the rest of Greece did not attack the government forces or the British. It was obvious that ELAS did not have a plan for a real coup, but was drawn into the fighting by the indignation of its fighters.

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The outbreak of fighting between British troops and an anti-German resistance movement, while the war was still being fought, was a serious political problem for Churchill's coalition government, and caused much protest in the British and American press and the House of Commons. To prove his peace-making intention, Churchill himself arrived in Athens on December 24 and presided over a conference, in which Soviet representatives participated, to bring about a settlement. It failed because the EAM/ELAS demands were considered excessive and rejected.

Related Topics:
House of Commons - December 24

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By early January ELAS had been driven from Athens. As a result of Churchill's intervention Papandreou resigned and was replaced by a firm anti-Communist, General Nikolaos Plastiras. On January 15 1945 Scobie agreed to a ceasefire, in exchange for ELAS's withdrawal from its positions at Patras and Thessaloniki and its demobilisation in the Peloponnese. This was a severe defeat, but ELAS remained in existence and the KKE had an opportunity to reconsider its strategy.

Related Topics:
Nikolaos Plastiras - January 15 - 1945 - Patras - Thessaloniki - KKE

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The KKE's defeat in 1945 was mainly political. The exaltation of terrorism on both sides made a political settlement even more difficult. The hunting of "collaborators" was extended to unrelated people. The KKE made many enemies by summarily executing up to 8,000 people for various political "crimes" during their period of control of Athens, and they took another 20,000 hostages with them when they departed. After the Athens fighting its support declined sharply. As a result of this, most of the prominent non-Communists in EAM left the organisation. On the other hand, terrorism among the right-wing extremist gangs was strengthened.

Related Topics:
KKE - 1945

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