Greek Civil War (1946–1949): Communists Against the Government

The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek government and the Democratic Army of Greece, the armed wing of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). The government, supported first by Britain and then massively by the United States, defeated the communist forces in the mountains of northern Greece in August 1949.

It was the first armed conflict of the Cold War in Europe. It shaped American policy through the Truman Doctrine and left divisions in Greek society that lasted for decades.

Background

Greece was occupied by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria from 1941 to 1944. The largest resistance movement was the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its army, ELAS, led by the communists, which controlled much of the mountainous interior by 1944. Rival resistance groups, the government-in-exile and the British all distrusted it, and armed clashes between resistance factions had already begun in 1943.

After liberation in October 1944, tensions exploded in Athens. In December 1944 fighting broke out between ELAS and British and Greek government forces, an episode known as the Dekemvriana. The Varkiza Agreement of February 1945 disarmed ELAS, but in the months that followed right-wing bands and state forces persecuted former leftist fighters in what is often called the “White Terror”. Many leftists fled to the mountains.

Outbreak

The KKE, led by Nikos Zachariadis, boycotted the general election of 31 March 1946. On the night before the vote, a communist band attacked the police station at Litochoro at the foot of Mount Olympus, an event usually taken as the start of the war. In September 1946 a plebiscite restored King George II to the throne.

In October 1946 the communist bands were organised as the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) under Markos Vafeiadis, a veteran of the resistance. Using the mountains along the borders, it received weapons, training and safe havens from Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria. In December 1947 the communists proclaimed a Provisional Democratic Government in the mountains, and the Greek government outlawed the KKE.

International involvement

Britain had backed the Greek government since 1944, but in February 1947 it told Washington that it could no longer afford to do so. The result was the Truman Doctrine of March 1947, under which the United States gave large amounts of military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey. From early 1948 a US military mission under General James Van Fleet advised the Greek army.

The Soviet Union gave little direct help. Stalin had accepted in 1944 that Greece lay in the British sphere, and he was sceptical of the rising. Most outside support came from Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito.

Key people

Nikos Zachariadis (1903–1973), general secretary of the KKE, spent most of the occupation in the Dachau concentration camp and returned to Greece in 1945. He directed communist strategy and pushed for conventional warfare; after the defeat he lived in exile in the Soviet Union, where he was later removed from the party leadership.

Markos Vafeiadis (1906–1992), a resistance commander in Macedonia, led the Democratic Army in 1946–1948 and headed the Provisional Democratic Government.

Alexandros Papagos (1883–1955), the general who had led the Greek army against Italy in 1940–1941, took overall command in 1949 and later became prime minister from 1952 to 1955.

James Van Fleet (1892–1992), a US Army general, headed the American military advisory group from 1948 and helped retrain and reorganise the government army.

Course of the war

In 1946 and 1947 the Democratic Army fought a guerrilla war, raiding villages and towns and tying down far larger government forces. At its peak it probably had around 25,000 fighters, many of them recruited by force in the later years, including a large proportion of Slavic Macedonians and women.

Government forces suffered early setbacks. Poorly trained conscripts and a divided command struggled against mobile bands that struck and then vanished into the mountains or across the frontiers, and the army’s large clearing operations of 1947 failed to destroy the guerrillas.

Zachariadis pushed for a shift to conventional warfare and the capture of a town to serve as a capital. An attack on Konitsa at the end of 1947 failed. Markos, who favoured guerrilla methods, was sidelined in 1948 and formally removed in early 1949. Meanwhile the government army, rebuilt with American equipment and aircraft, grew stronger and evacuated mountain villages to deny the guerrillas food and recruits.

The Tito–Stalin split of June 1948 proved decisive. The KKE sided with Moscow, and Yugoslavia gradually reduced its support, closing its border in July 1949. In January 1949 Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos became commander-in-chief of the government forces. In August 1949, in Operation Pyrsos (“Torch”), the army stormed the Democratic Army’s strongholds on Mount Vitsi and Mount Grammos. The survivors fled into Albania, and on 16 October 1949 the KKE announced it was ending armed struggle.

Human cost

The war was devastating for a country already ruined by occupation and famine. Casualty figures are uncertain; military deaths in 1946–1949 are commonly estimated at around 40,000–50,000 on both sides, and estimates that include civilians, reprisals and executions are higher. Several hundred thousand villagers were displaced by fighting and forced evacuations.

Tens of thousands of communist fighters and civilians, often estimated at 50,000 or more, went into exile in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The Democratic Army removed an estimated 25,000–28,000 children to communist countries, an episode Greeks call the paidomazoma; the government, for its part, placed thousands of children in institutions known as “children’s towns”. Thousands of leftists were tried by military courts, executed or held in island prison camps such as Makronisos. On Makronisos, detainees were pressed to sign declarations renouncing communism, and the camp became a lasting symbol of the period’s repression. The economic damage was also severe, delaying Greece’s recovery until the 1950s.

Consequences and legacy

Greece remained in the Western camp and joined NATO in 1952 together with Turkey. The post-war state, however, was deeply anti-communist: the KKE was banned, leftists faced discrimination in jobs and public life, and certificates of “social beliefs” were required for many posts. These divisions contributed to the political instability that ended in the military junta of 1967.

Reconciliation came slowly. The KKE was legalised in 1974 after the fall of the junta, and in the 1980s many exiles were allowed to return, although initially only those of Greek ethnic origin. In 1989 the Greek parliament officially recognised the conflict as a civil war, replacing the old official term “bandit war”.

Timeline

• 1944, December: Fighting between ELAS and British and government forces in Athens (the Dekemvriana).
• 1945, 12 February: The Varkiza Agreement disarms ELAS.
• 1946, 30–31 March: Communist attack on Litochoro on the eve of the general election.
• 1946, October: The Democratic Army of Greece is formed under Markos Vafeiadis.
• 1947, 12 March: Truman announces aid to Greece and Turkey.
• 1947, 24 December: The communists proclaim a Provisional Democratic Government.
• 1948, June: The Tito–Stalin split begins to cut the Democratic Army’s lifeline.
• 1949, August: Government forces take Vitsi and Grammos in Operation Pyrsos.
• 1949, 16 October: The KKE announces a ceasefire, ending the war.

Why it matters

The Greek Civil War decided that Greece would remain part of the Western world, and it was the first test of American containment policy. It also left a legacy of bitterness, exile and political exclusion that shaped Greek life for a generation.