Greece 1941 1974

From 1941 to 1974, Greece experienced foreign occupation, civil war, dominance of government by the Right, and military dictatorship. Those in control and power for much of this period excluded, tormented, and killed many who resisted them or opposed them ideologically.

Greece (1941-1974): Years of Occupation, Years of Strife, and Years of Exclusion examines the history and politics of Greece during the period Greece experienced years of brutal foreign occupation, a savage civil war, dominance by those on the Right of the ideological spectrum, and a military dictatorship. One overarching characteristic of this phase in Greek history was constant interference by many including, of course, the foreign occupiers as well as the British and the Americans. In addition, during these years certain segments of the population were prosecuted, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, sent to labor camps, exiled, and many were killed because they resisted the occupiers, or because of their ideological beliefs and political standing. These are among the reasons why so many Greeks consider their modern history to be difficult and "unkind". Although foreign interference has not lessened, some might argue, it has increased since the financial crisis beginning in 2008-2009, many aspects of the exclusivist state have been eliminated after the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974. And despite the brief rise of extremist Left-wing and Right-wing, today's political landscape is more moderate. Good reasons for Greeks to think that better days lay ahead.

As commander of the Allied Military Mission to the Greek guerrillas in Greece in 1943-4, C. M. Woodhouse had to hold an uneasy balance between the communist and government sides. The struggle for Greece unfolded against a background of conflicting communist doctrine, shifting foreign alliances, territorial disputes and personality differences. The first round began in 1941 with the German occupation of Greece when the National Liberation Front attempted to regain control of the country and overthrow the monarchy. In the second round, the communists tried to seize power at the end of the German occupation in December 1944 and were frustrated by the intervention of British forces. The third round (1946-9) was marked by US intervention, UN fact-finding missions, and the shift from guerrilla tactics to conventional warfare. The communists were weakened by internal feuding and overcome by the US forces. Drawing on interviews with participants, documentary sources and Woodhouse's own experience, this new edition of a classic book analyses the characters, ideologies and events behind one of the longest and most bitter civil wars of modern times.

Some of the most brutal and long-lasting civil wars of our time involve the rapid formation and disintegration of alliances among warring groups, as well as fractionalization within them. It would be natural to suppose that warring groups form alliances based on shared identity considerations - such as Christian groups allying with Christian groups - but this is not what we see. Two groups that identify themselves as bitter foes one day, on the basis of some identity narrative, might be allies the next day and vice versa. Nor is any group, however homogeneous, safe from internal fractionalization. Rather, looking closely at the civil wars in Afghanistan and Bosnia and testing against the broader universe of fifty-three cases of multiparty civil wars, Fotini Christia finds that the relative power distribution between and within various warring groups is the primary driving force behind alliance formation, alliance changes, group splits and internal group takeovers.

For many, “Greece” is synonymous with “ancient Greece,” the civilization that gave us much that defines Western culture today. But, how did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place and then define an identity for itself that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last three hundred years, of building a modern nation on the ruins of a vanished civilization—sometimes literally so. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics; it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people, and of ideas. Opening with the birth of the Greek nation-state, which emerged from encounters between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, Roderick Beaton carries his story into the present moment and Greece’s contentious post-recession relationship with the rest of the European Union. Through close examination of how Greeks have understood their shared identity, Beaton reveals a centuries-old tension over the Greek sense of self. How does Greece illuminate the difference between a geographically bounded state and the shared history and culture that make up a nation? A magisterial look at the development of a national identity through history, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is singular in its approach. By treating modern Greece as a biographical subject, a living entity in its own right, Beaton encourages us to take a fresh look at a people and culture long celebrated for their past, even as they strive to build a future as part of the modern West.