1. Outbreak of the Civil War

1. In 1943 skirmishes broke out among resistance groups.

1. Conflict developed between EDES and ELAS after Zervas declined an offer to command the latter.
2. Stephanos Seraphis, a Venezelist officer and a non-communist, became commander of ELAS.
3. A tripartite command was imposed in ELAS, with a political commisar and a kapitanios (Ares).
4. This was designed to assure EAM (political) control over ELAS.

                B. Britain came to fear the growing power of EAM.

1. Britain looked ahead to the situation at the end of the war.
2. The British government was determined to restore the king as the best way to insure British interests in Greece and in the Eastern Mediterranean generally.
3. Britain seems to have been unaware of how opinion in Greece had turned against the monarchy.
4. No one in the resistance supported the monarchy and many people in Greece had come to view the king as useless at best.
5. Britain decided to control the power of EAM/ELAS by building up EDES.
6. Some attempts at compromise were made.

1. In August 1943 a guerilla delegation was flown to Cairo for discussions.
2. The guerillas demanded the king agree not to return to Greece without a plebiscite and that they be given three key ministries in a post-war government.
3. This idea was supported by Churchill and Roosevelt, but the king refused.

II. The "First Round" (1943-45)

1. Full-scale civil war broke out in the winter of 1943/44, when it became clear that the Germans were pulling out of Greee.
2. The Plaka Agreement

1. In February 1944 an agreement was signed, delimiting the areas controlled by each group: EDES was restricted essentially to Epiros.
2. In March pro-EAM elements led to mutinies in the Greek army in Egypt, bringing down the government in exile.

                C. George Papandreou

1. Papandreou was a prominent Venezelist, but a non-communist.
2. He knew the real situation in Greece—that people would not support the king and that the communists were in control of most of the country.
3. He arrived in Greece amid the chaos after the Plaka Agreement.
4. The Security Battalions set up by the quisling government occasionally fought with the guerillas, but otherwise they terrorized the countryside.

                D. At the same time (1944) Stalin and Churchill were making arrangements for the division of Europe after the war.

1. The Soviet Union was to have a free hand in Romania, in exchange for British control of Greece.
2. These arrangements were unknown to EAM, which looked forward to a dominant role in post-war Greece.
3. By this time EAM was clear the dominant power in the country.
4. By taking a real interest in the welfare of the people, including peasants and women, EAM had secured great prestige.
5. Perhaps because of Soviet insistence, EAM decided to join a government of national unity and thus lost its opportunity to seize the country by force.

                E. Government of National Unity

1. The Germans withdrew from Greece in October of 1944.
2. Papandreou lead an "all-party" government; he arrived in Greece on 18 October 1944, accompanied by 6,000 British troops.
3. The primary issue of the period focused on the disarming of the guerillas.
4. Ultimately ELAS refused to disarm and a demonstration on December 3 led to confrontation and violence.
5. The British troops soon became directly involved, although the Americans and Soviets remained neutral.
6. British troops were quickly put on the defensive and shut up in the centers of the large cities: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos.
7. Nevertheless, ELAS did not actively prosecute the war and did not attack British troops outside Athens.
8. The reasons for this restraint by EAM have been questioned: perhaps it wanted to gain power through constitutional means.

                F. Churchill in Athens

1. Churchill came secretly to Athens at the end of 1944.
2. British reinforcements began to turn the tide of battle.
3. Churchill finally came to understand some of the depth of feeling against the monarchy.
4. He agreed to the appointment of Archbishop Damaskinos as regent and the replacement of Papandreou as Prime Minister.

                G. Varkiza Agreement – 12 February 1945

1. British concessions led ELAS to agree to disarm.
2. There followed great instability, as all the sides attempted to form some sort of political system.
3. The British supported moderate politicians, but this only generated opposition from both left and right—one should remember that there were many extremists on both sides.
4. In this climate the Left began to withdraw from politics, which became increasingly corrupt, while right-wing reprisals became increasingly common.

                H. Return of the Monarchy

1. In 1946 elections were contested between the right-wing Populists (who represented the royalists) and Center-Moderates.
2. Constantine Tsaldaris emerged as a Populist Prime Minister (he was nephew of Panagiotis Tsaldaris).
3. A plebiscite for the return of the king was called for 1 September 1946.
4. This was decided in favor of the king, and on 27 September 1946 George II returned to Greece.
5. George died in April 1947 and was succeeded by his son Paul.

III. The "Second Round"

1. In the winter of 1946/47 war began again.

1. The KKE was outlawed and the communist press closed down.
2. The United States became involved for the first time.
3. The Truman Doctrine expressed America’s willingness to
   "stop communism."
4. The Marshall Plan appropriated $400,000,000 for "relief" in Greece.

                B. The Democratic Army.

1. ELAS had ceased to exist; old and new fighters who represented its ideals enlisted in a new organization entitled the Democratic Army of Greece.
2. The Democratic Army relied in part on Greece’s communist neighbors to the north, especially Tito in Yugoslavia.
3. They had their greatest support and controlled most territory in the rugged mountains of the North.

                C. The "national" army, meanwhile, relied increasingly on American support.

1. General Van Fleet became commander of JUSMAPG.
2. There was a large influx of American military aid, including airplanes, tanks, and artillery—virtually none of which the DAG had—as well as advice from seasoned American military advisers.

                D. The Democratic Army had several disadvantages.

1. The communist leaders advocated an independent Macedonia—something very few Greeks could support.
2. Their recruits were poorly trained and poorly equipped—and this got worse as time went on.
3. Stalin abandoned any support of Greece.
4. The DAG abandoned guerilla tactics and sought to meet the national army in open battles.

                E. The Course of the Civil War

1. The DAG gained successes in 1947-48.
2. In 1948 Tito split with Stalin, causing a rift within the KKE, whose leadership ultimately sided with Stalin.
3. Tito accordingly closed the border with Greece in July of 1949, depriving the DAG of a place of refuge.
4. Papagos commanded the National Army, the DAG was originally commanded by Markos Vafiadis, but he was purged and replaced by Zakhariadis, who advocated direct battles.
5. The DAG carried off some 25,000 children into communist countries—this earned for them considerable enmity, although their supposed purpose was to remove these children from the war zone.
6. After significant defeats, influenced by the air power that the National Army now had, the remnants of the DAG fled into Albania and in October 1949 the KKE proclaimed an end to hostilities.
7. The toll of the Civil War:

                                                                                700,000 refugees, almost 10% of the population

                                   8. A legacy of division, hatred, and weak, essentially anti-democratic institutions.

Return to History 517 List of Lectures