Favouritism in NATO's Southeastern flank: The case of the Greek Colonels, 1967–74

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of the Cold War era on a historic event with serious consequences for Greece, namely the Greek Colonels' regime, which lasted between April 1967 and July 1974. Greece, due to its strategic position, served as guarantor of stability in NATO's southeastern flank, a benefit that the alliance considered indispensable to its strength, therefore impossible to compromise. In the light of this consideration, NATO tolerated, to put it mildly, the dictatorial, albeit pro-NATO regime that the Greek Colonels imposed on Greece on 21 April 1967. This paper will attempt to account for NATO's reactions to the Greek regime and the factors dictating them – a small, albeit indicative, peripheral segment of the puzzle of the global antagonism between the West and the East during the Cold War era.

Acknowledgements

I am heavily indebted to the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the Hellenic Observatory for hosting my Leventis Research fellowship, which facilitated the writing of this article. A special token of gratitude is also owed to NYU's Remarque Institute and the LBJ Library, whose hospitality and generosity made the collection of material from the American sources possible. Last, but not least, sincere thanks go to Professor John Iatrides for reading through my final draft and making constructive comments.

Notes

Dr Konstantina Maragkou (BA Lon, MPhil, PhD Cantab) is a visiting Lecturer at the History Faculty and postdoctoral research fellow at the Hellenic Studies Program of Yale University. Her current project involves the revision, expansion and publication of her doctoral dissertation on Britain and the Greek Colonels, 1967–1974.

 [1] Veremis, ‘Greece and NATO: Continuity and Change’, 237.

 [2] MC 48/3 (Military Decision), NATO Strategy Documents, 1949–1969, 11–12.

 [3] Snyder, Defending the Fringe, 7.

 [4] British National Archives (NA), CAB 158/66, 1967 Reports, Memos, Cabinet JIC series, Soviet policies in the Middle East and North Africa and their likely development.

 [5] Stavrou, Mediterranean Security at the Crossroads, 2.

 [6] James, Keeping the Peace in the Cyprus Crisis of 1963–64, 51.

 [7] James, Keeping the Peace in the Cyprus Crisis of 1963–64, 51

 [8] NA, FCO 46/1018, Annex, Draft Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, GEN 187(73)5, Cabinet, Interdepartmental Working Group on Cyprus, Cyprus: Financial claims and facilities, Secret, 14 November 1973.

 [9] CSIA European Security Working Group, ‘Instability and Change on NATO's Southern Flank’, 150.

[10] Lyndon Baines Johnson Library (LBJ), NSF, Country File, Middle East, Memos & Miscellaneous, VOL III, Intelligence Memorandum, Subject: Military takeover in Greece (Situation Report Number 2 – 1130 EST), CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, 21 April 1967.

[11] LBJ, NSF Country File, Middle East, Box Number 126, The White House, Memorandum for the President, Subject: The Greek Coup as of 9 a.m., W.W. Rostow, Confidential, 21 April 1967.

[12] LBJ, NSF, Country File Middle East, CIA Intelligence Memorandum, Directorate of Intelligence, The situation in Greece, No 1255/67, Secret, 6 July 1967.

[13] Maragkou, ‘The Foreign Factor and the Greek Colonels’, 438–9.

[14] The Joint US Military Aid Group (JUSMAGG), whose ranks swelled to 595 personnel at its peak during the Cold War, played an important part in channelling over 5 billion dollars in Marshall Plan post-war and Cold War security assistance aid to Greece between 1947 and 1977, helping to make Greece the single-largest recipient of Western aid in all of post-war Europe. Despite Greece's problematic post-war history, this aid is largely credited with holding Greece within the embrace of Western Europe, despite the economic collapse of literally all of Greece's Cold War-era communist neighbours.

[15] NA, PREM 13/3246, Prime Minister PM/70/9, Greece: Prime Minister's talks in Washington, 22 January 1970.

[16] Hellenic Review 1, no. 4 (September 1968), 12.

[17] LBJ, NSF Country File, Middle East, Memorandum for the President, Dean Rusk, Subject: Normalization of US–Greek relations, 21 July 1967.

[18] NA, FO 371/185666 Record of a Meeting held at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 12 September 1966, between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Confidential, Foreign Office and Whitehall Distribution, 12 September 1967.

[19] NA, FO 371/185666 Record of a Meeting held at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 12 September 1966, between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Confidential, Foreign Office and Whitehall Distribution, 12 September 1967

[20] NA, PREM 13/3246, GMV (70) 2d meeting extract, Confidential, 3 March 1970.

[21] American National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MA (NARA), Department of State, Central Files, POL Greece, Telegram, NATO 74, US Mission NATO to Secretary of State, Secret, 23 October 1967.

[22] NARA, Department of State, Central Files, POL 23–9 Greece, Telegram, Athens 3188, Talbot, Confidential, 16 January 1967.

[23] NARA, Department of State, Central Files, POL 23–9 GR, Research memorandum REU-68, Subject: Western Europe and Canada confront the Greek situation, George C. Denney to Rusk, Confidential, 27 December 1967.

[24] NARA, Department of State, Central Files, POL 16 Greece, Telegram, Athens 3238, Talbot, American Embassy in Athens to Secretary of State, Secret, Immediate, 19 January 1968.

[25] LBJ Library, NSF Memos to the President, Walt Rostow, Vol. 57, 16–24 January 1968 [2 of 2], Memorandum to the President, Subject: Reply to the Greek Prime Minister, 19 January 1968.

[26] NA, FCO 9/214, Extract from the New York Herald Tribune, 25 May 1968.

[27] NA, FCO 9/214, Extract from the New York Herald Tribune, 25 May 1968

[28] The Times, 23 September 1968, 6.

[29] Valinakis, ‘The US Bases in Greece’, 9.

[30] Valinakis, ‘The US Bases in Greece’, 9

[31] Valinakis, ‘The US Bases in Greece’, 9, 11.

[32] Treholt, ‘Europe and the Greek Dictators’, 214.

[33] NARA Department of State, Central Files, POL Greece–USSR, Director of Intelligence and Research, Intelligence Note 878, Subject: USSR–Greece: Moscow wants good relations with present regime, INR-George C. Denney to the Secretary, Secret/No foreign dissemination, 30 December 1969.

[34] NARA Department of State, Central Files, POL Greece–USSR, Director of Intelligence and Research, Intelligence Note 878, Subject: USSR–Greece: Moscow wants good relations with present regime, INR-George C. Denney to the Secretary, Secret/No foreign dissemination, 30 December 1969

[35] NARA, NSSM 116, POL 1 Greece–US, Briefing Memorandum, J.J. Sisco, NEA, to Under-Secretary, Subject: Policy towards Greece, Secret, 19 March 1971.

[36] Parliamentary Records, House of Commons, Vol. 781, c. 231, 1 April 1969.

[37] NA, FCO 9/885, R.H.G. Edmonds to Bendall, Memorandum on policy towards Greece, Confidential, 6 January 1969.

[38] Greek Report, February 1969, 16.

[39] Greek Report, February 1969, 16

[40] Greek Report, February 1969, 16

[41] NARA, NSC Files, Nixon Presidential Material, Memorandum, Henry Tasca to The US President, Subject: some aspects of Soviet objectives and tactics in the Mediterranean, Secret, 30 December 1969.

[42] NARA, POL Greece–US, Intelligence Note, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Greece: Rapprochement with US, Secret, No Foreign Dissemination, 2 November 1970.

[43] Parliamentary Records, House of Commons, Vol. 793, c. 1139, 16 December 1969.

[44] NARA, Department of State, Central Files, DEF 19-8, US–Greece, Telegram 257714, Dept of State to American Embassy in Athens, Confidential, Priority, 18 October 1968.

[45] NARA, Department of State, POL Greece–US, Attachment, Action Memorandum from NEA (Sisco) to the Secretary of State, Secret, 10 August 1971.

[46] NARA, Central Files, Department of State, DEFE 19 US–Greece, Telegram Athens 6505, Tasca American Embassy Athens to Department of State, Subject: US Military Assistance for Greece, Secret, 1 December 1970.

[47] NA, CAB 148/35, OPD (68) 16th meeting, 12 September 1968.

[48] NA, FCO 9/871 Record of a meeting on policy towards Greece: The supply of arms to Greece, Confidential 19 June 1969.

[49] NARA, RG 59, DEF 19 US–Greece, Telegram, Athens 6505, Tasca American Embassy Athens to Department of State, Subject: US Military Assistance for Greece, Secret, 1 December 1970.

[50] NARA, RG 59, DEF 19 US–Greece, Telegram, Athens 6505, Tasca American Embassy Athens to Department of State, Subject: US Military Assistance for Greece, Secret, 1 December 1970

[51] NARA, RG 59, DEF 19-8 US–Greece, Telegram, Athens 2105, Tasca, American Embassy Athens to Secretary of State, Secret, 30 April 1970.

[52] NARA, DEF 19-8 US–Greece, Memorandum, Joseph J. Sisco NEA to the Secretary, Department of State, Subject: Arms Shipments to Greece, Secret, No dissemination, 5 June 1970.

[53] NARA, DEF 19-8 US–Greece, Memorandum, Joseph J. Sisco NEA to the Secretary, Department of State, Subject: Arms Shipments to Greece, Secret, No dissemination, 5 June 1970

[54] NA, FCO 9/1392, Letter, R. L. Secondé to Mr Wiggin and Mr Goodenough, Greece and NATO, Confidential, 13 December 1971.

[55] NA, FCO 9/1392, Letter, R. L. Secondé to Mr Wiggin and Mr Goodenough, Greece and NATO, Confidential, 13 December 1971

[56] Winrow, Dialogue with the Mediterranean, 54.

[57] NARA, Department of State, Central Files, Telegram, American Embassy Athens to Department of State, Subject: Suggestions for strengthening détente and building peace, Secret, 3 January 1974.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Konstantina Maragkou

Dr Konstantina Maragkou (BA Lon, MPhil, PhD Cantab) is a visiting Lecturer at the History Faculty and postdoctoral research fellow at the Hellenic Studies Program of Yale University. Her current project involves the revision, expansion and publication of her doctoral dissertation on Britain and the Greek Colonels, 1967–1974.