Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War (Ο Eμφύλιος) was a civil war in Greece from 1943 to 1949.

Background

In 1936, anti-communist military dictator Ioannis Metaxas seized power in Greece. After his death in January 1941, Nazi Germany invaded and the whole country was occupied by Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy by May. The KKE formed a resistance against the fascists and formed the Greek Liberation Front (EAM) and the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). By the summer of 1943, ELAS controlled much of the countryside. In 1944, the EAM organized the election of a National Council. The bourgeois resistance movement, EDES, spent more time fighting communists than fighting the Axis. In October 1944, the last German soldiers left Greece and ELAS reached Athens.

After the Axis retreated, a National Unity government was formed under Giorgos Papandreou. While the British released Nazis from prison, they also pushed for disarmament of ELAS. After leftists were prevented from joining the new army, the KKE withdrew from the government.

Battle of Athens

On 3 December 1944, British snipers and Greek police opened fire on a communist demonstration in Athens. Later that day, 60,000 rallied in Syntagma Square and began an uprising against the British. 25,000 people were killed in the Battle of Athens and 12,000 leftists were deported or imprisoned in its aftermath. The British set up machine gun nests and bombed proletarian neighborhoods. They also released thousands of fascist collaborators to help them fight the communists.

Treaty of Varkiza

In January 1945, a ceasefire was agreed, and the Treaty of Varkiza was signed the next month, giving power to the bourgeois parties in the parliament. In the spring of 1946, the war restarted and lasted until 1949, when the last communist troops retreated into Albania and Yugoslavia.