The Origins Of The Greek Civil War (1995)
David H. CloseIn this striking and original study, David Close does justice both to the domestic context of the conflict and also to its international significance. His emphasis, however, is on the former, since to most readers the political history of Greece in the period will be unfamiliar territory. His purpose is to explore the issues which were at stake; to explain why deep-rooted tensions erupted in violence; and to understand why the conflict involved so large a proportion of the population across so much of Greece.
He begins with an analysis of Greece after the First World War, showing why the country was so vulnerable to the devastating economic and ideological forces which swept through Europe in the earlier part of the century. He shows how foreign powers manipulated the warring factions in Greece for their own purposes - but he also emphasises how far the Greek factions professed ideologies, and pursued strategies, that were their own, and not imported from abroad. He traces the long descent into bloodshed; and the book ends with a concise account of the conflict itself, and its eventual outcome.