ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH GREECE

Transcription

1 ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH GREECE

2 Anglo-American Relations with Greece The Coming of the Cold War, Robert Frazier Palgrave Macmillan

3 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOl / Robert Frazier 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y First published in the United States of America in 1991 ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Frazier, Robert, Anlgo-American relations with Greece: the coming of the Cold War, I Robert Frazier. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN United States-Foreign relations-greece. 2. Greece-Foreign relations-united States. 3. Great Britain-Foreign relations-greece. 4. Greece-Foreign relations-great Britain. 5. United States-Foreign relations-great Britain. 6. Great Britain-Foreign relations-united States. 7. United States-Foreign relations-20th century. 8. Greece-Foreign relations Great Britain-Foreign relations-20th century. I. Title. E183.8.G8F dc CIP

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5 Contents Preface Acknowledgements Glossary 1 Initial British and American Policies, April 1941-August The Andarte Delegation's Visit to Egypt and Its Effect, August-November Roosevelt's Intervention at Cairo, December The British Dilemma before Liberation, December ctober The December Civil War in Athens 6 Post-war Political Tutelage, January 1945-February Post-war Economic Support, January 1945-January The British Decision to Withdraw Aid 9 British Motivations for Withdrawal 10 The American Reaction and the Truman Doctrine 11 Conclusions Notes Select Bibliography Index Vlll XI xii vii

6 Preface In April 1941, the British forces in Greece withdrew in the face of the Gennan invasion, taking with them the remnants of the Greek Government. That government remained under British auspices during the war and was reinstated in Athens in September Two months later the British rescued it from destruction by a Communist-led rebellion, and tried against heavy odds to instill stability and well-being into a country which had known neither for many years. In the face of Britain's limited financial position, the political and economic weakness of Greece, and what was perceived to be a Soviet threat, the United States in 1947 took over the task of rebuilding and maintaining Greece. This transition was remarkable. Until at least 1945, the American Government wanted as little as possible to do with Greece; at best it saw the country as a British sphere of influence which should be respected as a matter of diplomacy; at worst it wanted to disassociate itself from what it saw as British neo-colonialism in an area in which it then had little interest. Several aspects of the relations of the two powers with Greece have already been examined in detail, but usually from either the British or the American position, and for limited periods. John S. Koliopoulos has provided the definitive study of British policy towards Greece up until the evacuation of British policy is analysed by Procopis Papistratis for the period of the German occupation;2 by George M. Alexander, from April 1944 until early 1947;3 and by Heinz Richter, from the Varkiza agreement of February 1945 until the plebiscite of September The American involvement has been given far less attention. John 0. Iatrides included a study of American war-time policies in analysing the December 1944 revolt,5 and Nicholas X. Rizopoulos has examined American policy from the pre-war period until 1947 in an as yet unpublished paper.6 Lawrence S. Wittner, in a work concerning American policies towards Greece for a longer period, provides only two chapters on the events prior to the Truman Doctrine.7 The monograph by Anne Karalekas on American policy in R is brief and incomplete. Terry M. Anderson has shown the importance of Greece to the origins of the new Anglo-American 'Special Relationship', and in so doing has shed considerable light on the policies of both powers.9 A deficiency in viii

7 Preface lx the existing literature is the relative lack of use of the State Department records, particularly in terms of their conflation with the files of British Foreign Office and Cabinet. There are two main purposes of this study. The first is the examination of the process by which British and American policies were developed and how they were related. Equally important is the analysis of how and why this led to the Truman Doctrine and determined the unique characteristics of the Cold War. A further objective is an evaluation of the Anglo-American relationship during the period, so far as Greece was concerned. The formulation and evolution of policy towards Greece is examined with emphasis on conflicting attitudes. While British and American policies for most of the period were divergent, disagreements within the ranks of each government were equally significant. On the British side, at various times the Prime Minister, the Foreign Office, the Treasury and the military had differing policies on Greece; within American circles during the war years there was often a considerable variance between the views of the President and the State Department. An understanding of these internal differences is essential to an explanation of how policy was developed and of the difficulties in its implementation. These conflicts involved incidents which require detailed analysis of causes and effects. Included are the effect of the visit of Greek resistance leaders to Cairo in August 1943; the interference by President Roosevelt in December 1943 which spoiled a critical British initiative; the failure of the Americans to assist in the liberation of Greece; and the efforts by which King George II, often supported by Churchill, was able time and time again to frustrate British attempts to establish stable government. In addition, considerable attention has been given to clarification of the actual process by which the British made the decision to withdraw aid from Greece, a matter often misunderstood. The detailed investigation of these problems is essential to an understanding of the decision by which Britain gave up its long-standing position in Greece to the Americans. They lead to the questions of why Bevin took this action and whether it was the cause of the Truman Doctrine or the pretext for its adoption; in essence, what caused the Americans to accept responsiblity for Greece. Two issues overshadow the others. The first is that of whether the British decision was based on a deliberate attempt to force the United States back into full participation in international affairs. While causes suggested for the British action include financial necessity, left-wing political pressure, and strategic factors, one school of thought holds that the major, if not

8 X Preface the only, motivation for the British withdrawal from Greece was Ernest Bevin's fervent desire to bring the United States to the defence of Europe in the face of a Soviet threat. If this is accepted, Britain must either take the credit for bringing about the American actions which saved the Western world from Communism, or bear the blame for initiating the Cold War. The second major issue is that of the significance of the Truman Doctrine. The thesis expressed herein is that the Truman administration was forced to proclaim a new foreign policy based on anti-communism in order to prevail upon the Republican Congress to provide the funds to rescue Greece. This approach turned the worsening relationships between East and West into a new and different confrontation whose fundamental characteristic was ideology rather than realism; it marked the real beginning of the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was not simply the result of the British decison to end its support; it was brought about by a series of misjudgements and errors with regard to Greece on the part of both Britain and the United States beginning in the early days of World War II. Equally, the Cold War was not caused by the failures of the two powers to solve the many problems of Greece, but East-West relations might well have taken a far different course in the post-war world, if the American administration had not had to bind themselves into an ideological straitjacket in order to take up the burden.

9 Acknowledgements Quotations of Crown-copyright records in the Public Record Office appear by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Copies of pertinent extracts of the diaries of Lord Casey were provided with the kind permission of his daughter, Mrs Jane MacGowan. I should like to acknowledge the aid and advice I have been given by Dr Lars Brerentzen; Mr Nigel Clive; Dr D. H. Close of the Flinders University of South Australia; Dr M. L. Dockrill, King's College London; Professor Hagen Fleischer, University of Crete; Professor John 0. Iatrides, Southern Connecticut State University; Professor Keith Robbins, University of Glasgow; and especially to Dr Derek Spring, University of Nottingham, none of whom are responsible for the views expressed. I should also like to thank the Librarians and staffs of the Hallward Library of the University of Nottingham and the Allen County Public Library of Fort Wayne, Indiana, for their assistance. I can in no way give adequate expression to the gratitude owed my wife whose constant encouragement and support made the work possible. Whatever clarity of prose and argument it contains is due almost entirely to her. xi

10 Glossary AMFOGE AML BBC CAB ccs cos CM CP DEFE DO EAM EDES EKKA ELAS FO FRUS JCS JP KKE MEDC ML NARS oss PREM SOE UNRRA WM WP Allied Mission for the Observation of Greek Elections. Allied Military Liaison (joint Anglo-American relief organisation). British Broadcasting Corporation. Records of the British Cabinet Office. Combined Chiefs of Staff (joint Anglo-American). Records of the British Chief of Staff Committee. British Cabinet Memoranda (minutes). British Cabinet Papers. Records of the British Defence Ministry. Records of the Defence Commitee of the British Cabinet. National Liberation Front (Communist-led Greek resistance movement). National Republican Greek League (the major noncommunist Greek resistance movement). National and Social Liberation (non-communist Greek resistance movement). Popular Greek Liberation Army (military arm of EAM). Records of the British Foreign Office. Foreign Relations of the United States (printed documents). Joint Chiefs of Staff (American). Records of the British Joint Planning Staff. Greek Communist Party. British Middle East Defence Committee. Military Liaison (Anglo-American relief organisation after US authorities required removal of the word 'Allied'.) National Archives and Record Service (in this work, records of US State Department). Office of Special Services (US equivalent of SOE). Records of the Office of the British Prime Minister. British Special Operations Executive. United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. British War Cabinet Memoranda (minutes). British War Cabinet Papers. xu