The Greek Civil War: Strategy, Counterinsurgency and the Monarchy (International Library of War Studies)

"The Greek Civil War (1946-1949) was one of the few instances in the post-World War II era of a clear-cut and permanent victory by right-wing government forces over an insurgent communist movement. Spyridon Plakoudas here explores the factors which ultimately caused the downfall of the communist insurgency in Greece which had, at some points, seemed undefeatable. He questions whether the guerrilla movement fell victim to the feud between Stalin and Tito or whether the significant British and, above all, American aid in fact rescued the Greek monarchist regime from collapse. Plakoudas explores the strategies adopted by government forces in order to counter the communist insurgency, how external and internal actors influenced these policies and when, how and why these policies achieved success. Featuring previously unseen sources and documents, this book reveals the strategy and tactics of the monarchist regime."--Page 4 de la couverture Cover 1 Author Biography 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Preface 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction: What about the Greek Civil War? 12 Why Study the Greek Civil War? 12 The Different Interpretations of the Greek Civil War 13 Scholarly Work 14 Non-Scholarly Work 15 Structure of the Book 16 1. The ‘War of the Flea’: Theory and Practice 18 The Ambiguous Concept of Insurgency 18 The Strategy of the Insurgents 20 Strategy of the Counterinsurgents 24 2. A Stillborn Peace: February 1945–January 1947 31 The ‘White Terror’ (?): 1945 31 AWar by Proxy?: 1945 36 Weak State-building: February 1945–March 1946 38 Bullets and Ballots: March 1946 43 ‘Long Live the King’: April–September 1946 49 Bullets and Olive Branches: September–October 1946 56 The Crisis of the Right: October 1946–January 1947 62 3. A ‘Peace-and-War’ State: January–October 1947 69 The ‘Seven-Headed’ Government: January–February 1947 69 Greece and the Great Powers: January–May 1947 73 The Division of Europe: June–August 1947 77 A Marriage of Convenience: August 1947 83 The Declaration of War: September–November 1947 88 4. ‘Communism Delenda Est’: November 1947–October 1949 92 From Appeasement to Repression: November 1947 92 ‘Free Greece’: December 1947–January 1948 94 Periculum ex Septentrionalis (Danger from the North)?: February 1948 98 The Palace and Army: March–May 1948 104 The Tito–Stalin Schism: June 1948 107 The High Tide of the DSE: July–December 1948 108 A Militarily Supervised Democracy: November 1948–January 1949 113 The Insurgency’s Death Rattle: January–October 1949 118 Normality Restored: October 1949–50 125 Conclusion What does the Greek Civil War Teach Us? 130 The Significance of the War 130 The Various Myths around the War 132 The Impact of Strategic Culture 136 Appendix 139 Notes 153 Bibliography 216 Index 252