This was a very good episode on a very good channel, really enjoying your work. Congrats. But, please, stop with these jokes, they're... not so good, to say the least.
70 years after ,the civil war is still the elephant on the room in greek politics,even today most Greeks vote according to which side their family supported back then
@@vukman2665 yes only 40 % of treu greeks vote until this day all the others are non greeks with greek papers sory for my english and they do alot of cheating in elections too
This topic is actually still kind of a taboo in Greece. Nearly every family has some ancestor who died fighting for one of the sides in the civil war, and the mere mention of this era is enough to spark heated debates over "which side was more right/wrong", with nothing being ever resolved. I've always wondered if the country will ever be able to truly heal from these wounds.
Well still till today we do not know the true history that is why is wound that not been healed. the Right still insists that the bad communist caused the war and the left blames the British.
@@whisperm21 kinda hard for that to happen since the total gulag population from 1924 to 1953 was about 18 million with the most extreme calculations but sure . Also Communism and fascism are pollar opposites
My Grandad lost his hearing in this civil war, it happened somewhere near Edessa in "48 setting up dynamite on a bridge. Fell in the river was discovered by his own troops. Lived until 2003. Miss you Παππούς μου!
@@ncrvako in the school I went to it was never mentioned. Most young people in crete do not even know that it happened. Most books written about it are biased in one side or in the other and it is only widely mentioned on the Internet which is not representative of what happens irl.
@@greekcommie621 well, in the area that i am from (nothern greece) it still afects, one way or the other. the school is not the olny place that you can learn from it. you can begin there, but you can never trust it.
"As I look back in my life and I see all the fighting, killing, fleeing, living horribly that I've witnessed, after having lived my whole life for an ideal, I sincerely tell you, none of that was worth anything. The value of human life was decreased so much, we missed out on so many things, left wingers and right wingers alike, that I sincerely wish we'd known better" - Civil war survivor, Greek political refugee in Poland, now age 83.
We agreed that you would tell me in detail about your Grandfather's Civil war stories next time we meet, it's a little weird finding spoilers of our future conversation on TH-cam 😅
@@luishernandezblonde GREECE WAS DEVASTATED after the German Italian Bulgrian occupation till 1944 then the guerrilla war with the communists till 1949 suffering a MILLION DEAD. Thank God for the MARSHAL PLAN that helped reconstruct Greece and Europe!
As someone who has studied the Greek Civili war extensively, I think that this video is more unbiased and factually correct than any I've seen so far floating around on TH-cam. Obviously there are many events that aren't mentioned (such as certain battles and protagonists) but, overall, a good job.
As a Greek I was initially anxious of how you would approach the events as they are still conflicting and there is much propaganda surrounding them. I believe you managed the subject honestly and truthfully. Great work as usual.
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Musicsort of, yes. At least among older people who were around when things were happening. Unfortunately my generation (late 20s) and the younger people don't care about history to the point that many 17-18 yo that are about to finish high school don't even know that there has been a civil war in recent history. It's a taboo so there no much talk about it and in its not really embedded in general school curriculum
@@sarantis1995 Wow. Yeah, that would mean it's still a livewire topic; I've seen similar situations. Well, it's better than living in Bosnia. Both sides kind of won though; Greece is a highly Socialized democracy while Communism really took a hard fall worldwide. How stable is Greece these days?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music Simple answer: its not. Longer oversimplified answer: There's just something about people voting parties they dont like to avoid the ruling party's re-election that just doesn't scream stability to me. Not to mention the ND government (aka the current one) has had numerous scandals yet somehow they got more votes? Greek politics has been moved by self interest of politicians for a while peaking with the "socialist" PASOK back before the crisis of 2008. False promises, failures to fix the economy, austerity measures and rising prices of well... everything just means that we aren't doing that well. Only saving grace is that the recession has stopped (sort of) and there's been some growth with the economy. Which is probably why the current government got re-elected even though its not them that fixed the economy in reality (growth started from 2016 they first got elected in 2019). They did some things but it was mostly the austerity measures and the bailouts and EU money as well as the previous government (not that the last government was much better) but we only saw the benefits these last couple of years so... Also small note: The only "socialized" part of Greek democracy are the welfare services and it used to be water companies and stuff until we sold them off to foreigners to pay our debts. ND seems like they love privatisation. Plus our elections use a system where we give extra seats to whoever gets the most votes so they can get shit done but that's super undemocratic since the left in Greece is broken into many parties while they right is unified under ND for the most part. The previous government fixed this but ND changed it back and since we had 2 elections this year (the first was inconclusive) the second one used the old system and they got re-elected.
Thank you for covering this topic. My great grandfather was a Greek partisan fighting the Nazis during WW2, after the civil war broke out he supported the communists believing they would bring better times to Greece, after the government crushed the communist uprising he had to flee from Greece with his pregnant wife, never returning to Greece again. They've settled in Czechoslovakia although they didn't speak any Czech.
you are invited to visit crete my friend and spend some quality time with your family, in honor to all those people that shed their blood so we can have a better future.
@@gg1275 Only he chose to back a political ideology that devastated every country it got hold of. Maybe he was an uneducated peasant who did not know better but if he was more educated, there would be no excuse for backing a totalitarian ideology.
This video is one-sided. Both sides murdered people. The left also killed anyone who was not a leftish . No one liked the communists thats why they had minor votes in elections. The left never wanted democracy and never accepted to put weapons aside. When they saw they wold loose the elections they started the killings again. ...
Thousands of Greek immigrants, mostly the DSE supporters, came to live in Poland after the Greek civil war. Some of them became quite well-known and had significant achievements.
lol imagine leaving a country because of a communist civil war and some years later your country you live get capture my the "father" of communist this was hard times for the eastern block
@@richardque4952 you stand in food lines too...its called a chexkout line... Only difference is if youre broke, you dont eat..and thats happening quite a bit for millions right now
The Greek civil war was a sad bloody time, not as light-hearted as you make it seem. My parents left Greece in 1947 to go to America and they felt very lucky to leave. My father was in danger from false rumours about his allegiance and he was lucky to get out alive. It was a horrible time.
From 1921 through till at least 1950 very tough times. No wonder people wanted to forget with all that post-rembetika good-time music and those endless comedy films.
communists are cannibals. They feed off the success of a capitalist republican government and when the resources are exhausted they run away to find easier targets. They are bullies and cowards.
@@MaxStevenson-ih5ji did you even realized what she wrote? Her parents had to flee the country because probably a neighbor that wanted to steal their land wrongly accused them as " sympathetic" too ΚΚΕ Man in you don't know what we are talking about at least educate yourself before starting spamming the thread
I also think it deserves a mention that during the greek civil war, the first post-WW2 use of napalm was recorded. My grandmother's sister was at gramos mountain though she rarely, if ever, talks about it.
Interesting point. During World War II though, napalm was dropped on both Japanese AND German troops. The French public and some American war correspondents witnessed at least 1-2 napalm attacks with their own eyes (while they understood why it was probably being used, the French IIRC thought it was absolutely brutal).
Georgios Petros Papadopoulos Εσυ και ο άλλος από κάτω μάθετε πρώτα να γράφετε στα ελληνικά και να μιλάτε σαν άνθρωποι και μετά τα λέμε... Άτομα που γράφουν ανορθόγραφα και Greeklish μαθήματα πατριωτισμού δεν είναι σε θέση να κάνουν. Από εκει και πέρα, αμφιβάλλω αν καταλάβατε τι έγραψε ο άλλος στο αρχικό του σχόλιο, αλλα ακόμα και αν το κάνατε, ο καθένας έχει δικαίωμα στην άποψη του. Κι εγώ ντρέπομαι που είμαι συμπατριώτης με σκουπίδια μονοψήφιου IQ σαν κι εσάς, αλλα δεν το έκανα θέμα.
Daniel Jakes if you see the replies to your comment, within 2 weeks your point was proven true... According to some highly educated fellow Greeks of mine, I am not entitled to agree that modern Greece is known for petty political struggles, despite our glorious past. Also one of these academics claims that you are spreading anti-Greek propaganda. Would you care to share your patron? George Soros, the force of evil? Angela Merkel?
I have ancestors who fought in this war, on both sides, which was not uncommon. Well made video on the whole. The role of the British in deciding the outcome of this war cannot be understated. Also the Soviet's non-intervention is key too.
Charlie K, Best Comments here 👍 Stalin wouldn't support the various Greek left alliances. Th e Greek Communists, in particular the KKE blatantly lied too many peole in the extreme Northern parts of Greece. The pro-Stalinist KKE claimed they had Stalin's full support even though Tito predominantly supplied them with weapons. Stalin, in reality through the more grounded Marshall Zhukov, was focussed at that time on completely destroying Germany. They hated the Germans with a vengeance. Hitler had both humiliated Stalin with his treachery AND the Soviet Union was economically destroyed. Hitler's army had turned them into an almost primitive agrarian society. Stalin wanted a buffer zone. Zhukov stated that Greece could be easily supplied by the US and the British due to its complete acess via sea ports. It was a case of lets "keep our eyes on the prize" i.e. annihilate Germany and steal ALL their technology and military hardware. Albania, Bulgaria and Tito's Yugoslavia were enough of of a buffer zone as they had no real sea ports. Serbia, and especially Croatia belonged to Tito. The Greek hard core Communists were betrayed. The Greeks who ended up in Albania, Czechoslovakia (my aunty whom I never knew or met), some lucky few who went to Yogoslavia and some unlucky ones who ended up in Moscow. NOTE: The hard core Communists who ended up in the Soviet Union had their fantasies of a socialist utopia shattered. Like the few US immigrants who voluntarily moved into Stalin's 'utopia", they found starvation, hunger, ostracism and the 'lucky few' the Gulags. In an absolute irony Stalin and the KGB through the monster Beria, both hated and feared these voluntary immigrants. Why, they thought would you leave a wealthy country like the USA, or. a country li k e Greece with better weather and in reality, more opportunities than the Soviet Union ? Why indeed. . . The stories o f the few Greek Communists whom left Greece in 1948-49 as healthy young men returned as broken middle aged men in 1986. Those who remained alive after almost a Biblical generation i.e. 40 years, spoke of their loneliness, heartache, hunger and poverty and the cold in 1986.
I find that even when the topics covered on this channel don’t present me with any new information, necessarily, I still deeply enjoy watching for the way facts are presented, the way the narratives are pieced together, and the occasional fascinating aside that I didn’t really know much about beforehand. This content is some of the best I’ve found about the Cold War, and doesn’t necessarily skew towards the West by default (or without a factual justification for doing so) in the way that many others do. Awesome stuff.
Very informative indeed. As others commented, even today, that civil war has wounds in every Greek family, and political affiliation. Greeks seem to be getting many "Firsts" in History. In this case, it was the First hot war of the Cold War era, it resulted in the most devastation than all of of Europe, the most deaths per size of population in anyone of WW II (since WW II did not finish with capture of Berlin). The first use of the Napalm bombs in a war, the Americans gave them to be dropped against the communists, and since they had "good results" they used them in Vietnam also. I feel very sorry for my fellow Greeks for falling into the Civil War catastrophe, just when it was time for Peace and rebuilding a devastated from WWII country. I wish we NEVER fall into that situation again, bec many outsiders will take advantage of our infighting for their own gains.
communists are cannibals. They feed off the success of a capitalist republican government and when the resources are exhausted they run away to find easier targets. They are bullies and cowards.
It's nearly impossible to summarize the Greek Civil War in 20min videos. The main root of the Greek civil war could be found back on '30s when the "National Schism" began. It's far more complicate than what the video discribes. As a Greek I could surely say that the Civil War is still a great taboo in Greece. For those who would like to get the hole picture I highly recommend the Haagen Flishers book "Crown and Swastika". A German professor wrote the most complete research for the decades of '30s and '40s. The irony is strong in this :P
Every Greek family has at least one member that took part in this war and the sad part is that most of the times some other family member was on the other side, i ve heard may stories about people were saved from execution just because they knew a relative from the ''opponents''. A very hot debate in the greek public speech about who is to blame about the civil war, every side backs up its own narrative
China entered WW2 in 1937 and it ended only in 1949. Estimates of up to 20 million dead Chinese civilians, its funny how little these conflicts are talked about, Yugoslavian one as well.
Thank you for all your time & effort to summarize this horrible time in post war Greece. It was very informative & clarified as best as possible the confusion in hierarchies & organizations ( acronyms ) that drove these events.
Greece has been under foreign meddling back and forth since it's independance it seems. Sad to see greek fight greek because of Soviet/Yugoslav-US/UK interests.
@Peter Magro everyone had their own interests...the greeks too! the only problem was that Greece interests were divided. this usually leads then to a civil war. :)
@@ΛεωνάνδροςΠεργαμενός I agree. It is too short-sighted to see any side as a mere puppet of foreign interest. That is true for every civil war. You sometimes get help from the side that shares your interests, sometimes you also seek help wherever you find it and plan to sort things out later.
Would you like to know more: The Greek presence in Czech Republic is dated to the 20th century. Roughly 12,000 Greek citizens, mainly from Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece, who fled from the 1946-1949 Greek Civil War were settled in several formerly German inhabited areas in Czechoslovakia. Most were concentrated in or around the towns of Brno, Ostrava, Opava, and Krnov in southern Silesia, where Greek farming expertise helped revive agricultural production on lands formerly worked by ethnic Germans. About 5,200 of the migrants consisted of unaccompanied children.
That’s the children refugees marek jankulovski’s grandfather was one off them that ended up in Czech Republic the reason for that was because they were Slavic as they were Macedonians not greeks they ethnically cleansed the Macedonians and replaced them with greeks from Anatolia
@@sase763 Macedonia is in Greece, you are the north part of a geographic region and nothing more , you are a disgrace of humanity , you dont have any honor and you claim a name for your country that is not valid for you ,and it dosent have any link with you , ok your grandparents couldn't have any knowledge of history, and they had believe any crap from people like tito ...but you suppose to be modern people and you can study, stop to be brainwashed and find some decency for your selfs ... this place we call Macedonia or Macedon, js an ancient place way before YOU arrive on that area and kingdom from the Hellenistic age, after century's you Just happen to emigrate to a part of this area, Just like the Albanians, they emigrate in Greece the last 30 years, but they dont call them selfs Greeks, and if it happen many of them to be born in Greece and call them selfs Greeks they doing that after they had adapt the Greek language and traditions For you to call your selfs Macedonians you need first the heritage of the Hellenic kingdom of Macedon, and to adapt the Hellenic language, even the ancient one, if you can not do that, then you are Just Slavs that happen to live in the north part of a geographic region, and as little Kids you are we let you to distinguish your selfs as Slavs without any heritage of the Hellenistic ancient kingdom Who live in the north geographic region of once was the roman GEOGRAPHIC Macedonia You can not declare that you are something you are not.... You are Just slavs that emigrate here thousand years before, and its everything OK with that... The Last two years this is official, now cary on with your lifes MACEDONIA IT MEANS SOMETHING IN GREEK ITS A GREEK FUCKING WORD AND DESCRIBE A SPECIFIC DORIAN GREEK PEOPLE LIKE THE ATHENIANS THE CORINTHIANS THEBANS SPARTANS AND THE FUCKING MACEDONIANS FROM THE FUCKING GREEK KINGDOM OF THE FUCKING MACEDON
@@sase763the child refugees were children taken by the communists to turn them into communists due to their disdain for Greece and love of communism. Many of them today became the so called Slavic ‘Macedonians’.
13:14 “because that’s where the oil is” Not exactly. During WWII the US accounted for 70% of worldwide oil production. The only other countries that produced substantial amounts were the USSR and Venezuela. I’m not saying people didn’t have a hunch about the long term potential of oil production in the Middle East. But to say that was Truman’s primary objective is plainly incorrect.
George Kafiridis no I don’t. The US was even more dominant in oil processing (an advantage that continues to this day). But it was also the most dominant oil extractor in the world during WWII. By far. You can draw a direct line between the US seizing Texas and California and winning WWII.
Glad that this channel is will to talk about tough historical subjects. This video was fairly informative. Never wondered what this was all about. But it's nice that I know a little more now. My compliments to those who made this video a reality.
I compliment you on this video. Its quite accurate and neutral. Greece was pretty much a British protectorate, and the monarchy was there to assure Greece's loyalty to the empire. In Greece's civil war, napalm bombs were first introduced against partisans hiding in the forests. After the civil war, the Right who had prevailed, banned people with relatives or ties to the Left, from participating in society economically, high in the army or the State itself. When the civil rights movement got very strong in 1965, a CIA dictatorship was introduced in 1967. The divided nation reunited in 1981, when PASOK, the liberal center-to-left party won the elections. So though the armed conflict ended in 1949, but civil war really ended in 1981. And that gentlemen, is another Greek tragedy
Thank you for the history lesson. My mom was 5 & aunt was 2 when they were taken away from their village & my grandmother due to the war. My mom was sent to Yugoslavia & returned to her village 6 years later in 1953 thanks to the Red Cross efforts to reunite the children with their families. My mom's last name was erroneously changed during her travels to Yugoslavia & when the Red Cross came looking for her at the orphanage using her correct last name the name mix up caused confusion. She was nearly overlooked until she asserted herself to explain her correct identity. Thankfully she was old enough to know what her name was. My aunt was sent to Czechoslovakia & reunited with her family as a teenager in Canada years later. My grandfather was forced to fight and lost his life. He had no choice in which side he wanted to support. He had to go with whoever came knocking on his door. My dad's village was unaffected & he stayed with his family. A pic of my grandfather, my uncle & unknown person: th-cam.com/users/shorts9JD1G_QgZB8?feature=share
This is such a complicated and overlooked topic. My grandfather was a communist and he fought the Italians in Albania and later joined the resistance against the Nazis. However when the civil war started, he refused to participate. He saw it as an idiocy and didn't want to kill fellow Greeks. In order to avoid being dragged to the fight by force by other communists in his village, he fled to Athens and when he wasn't in prison, he was hiding in relatives' homes. His older brother chose to support the communists and was killed later on.
ΜΠΡΑΒΟ ΜΠΡΑΒΟ ΜΠΡΑΒΟ Ενα από τα πιο δύσκολα θέματα για να ασχοληθείς με τη νεοελληνική ιστορία. Πολύ παρασκήνιο, πολλές οι απόψεις και πιο πολύ το μίσος, γιατί δεν τιμωρήθηκαν αυτοί που έπρεπε την ώρα που έπρεπε... και συνεχίζουμε στο ίδιο μοτίβο
I never heard of the Greek Civil War. This is why I love history, great video! I wonder if these factions in Greece are still around in some way today.
Yep they are and still pretty prevalent. The communist party still exists (unchanged for the last 50 years) even thought it has a 6% of votes in every single election, the papandreou family has also produced 2 prime ministers (both terrible) and the neo-nazis existed, thankfully this year they have been sentenced and they are declining in popularity . So yeah this civil war was more devastating for the Greek people that the WW2 because it split the unity that we had in our struggle against the nazis.
A relevant aspect is the Percentages Accord of Churchill - Stalin since 1944 in regards to the influence in the Balkans. It has been agreed that Great Britain will maintain 90% of influence in Greece, ESSR 90% of influence in Bulgaria, whereas Yugoslavia will be split into 50% 50% between USSR and the West. It's apparent that even before the spark of the Civil War in 1946, Stalin was aware of his limits and the refusal of US and Great Britain to let go of Greece. Thus, Stalin promptly recognized that ESSR expansion stops at the Bulgarian borders. That said, USSR would certainly not be displeased if EAM seized power in Greece - thus any military assistance would come disguised from Greece's north neighbours, namely Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria, and not directly from USSR. Another aspect which cannot be overemphasised is the Stalin - Tito split which indeed led to the closure of the Yugoslavian borders in 1948 and the seizure of much needed medical, military and material assistance as well as Yugoslavian fighters namely, the people which belonged to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia. In regards to the aftermath of the Civil War, the Greek State missed out on a great opportunity of reconstruction after a disastrous German Occupation. The issue of War Reparations from Germany due to the forced loans and crime wars are still a major issue in Greek Diplomacy and remain legally active. Furthermore, Greece had to direct the vast majority of economic assistance from the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to military objectives which hindered its post-recovery. Nevertheless, reconciliation did occur and since 1974 and the fall of the military Junta which was mentioned in the end of the video, the divide between Left and Right is not as relevant as implied. Besides violent protests and clashed since 2010 and the economic recession were mostly due to socio-economic dissent in greek society rather than a strict dichotomised clash of Left and Right, reminiscent of the Civil War belligerence. Still thank you for this video and looking forward for more.
Had it not been for the CIA and MOSSAD dirty work involvement against Greece's savior the Military of 67-73 would have made Greece a definite regional super power based on its oil and gas reserves that are much larger than anything in the Middle East
Thank you, this was excelent. well presented and trully unbiased. my family still bears the marks of the civil war here. In the street next to my apartment, the ELAS army marched when they liberated the city, with my great-grandfather showing off his warhorse in the front of the unit. the street is still named after the date of the liberation. just a couple days ago, december 2019, we were sent a picture of my great-grandfather from Russia, where he lived and died after he left Greece to avoid execution by the government. just before he left he named his eldest son Stalin, my grandpa, that i lost a decade ago. in retrospect it wasnt such a great idea as he had lots of trouble in his life due to that name. we also keep contact with our relatives in Sweden that left at the same time, part of the same family. On my family's other side, my grandma told me the story of her childhood home. her family was neutral but her uncle was in the EAM-ELAS after he fought the Italians, where her father had been wounded and couldnt join the resistance. she said, during the civil war, in the day the monarchists would pour gasoline on their front door and threaten to burn them if they didnt say where the uncle was. her mother would beg them to spare the house as her husband was a veteran of the war. in the nights the communists would come and try to take what little food they had so, again, the mother would beg them to respect that the uncle was fighting on their side. cheers from Greece.
So many stories like this and so many people and families divided and dislocated........ in the end, it was the little people that suffered the most in the grand schemes of the Cold war.....
The Greek civil war is very complex.My great-grandfather fighting with DSE(Communists) was executed by his first cousin,who was fighting with the royalists and the national army.My grandfather,who was an Epirote and was fighting with EDES(nationalists) during that time.My grandmother always says that she will never forgive the 'Epirote bastards' that killed her father and that she wants to this day, to spit in their graves.While in college,I met a guy from Epirus region that told me that the communists burned his grandpas' house to the ground and that she had to flee to the mountains to escape along with his- then pregnant grandma.My grandparents came from opposing sides of the war, and there was vitriol in the family on politics.Grandpa used to vote for Papagos& Karamanlis(conservative/royalist right-wingers),who were rigging the elections with gendarmerie interference and my grandmother didn't vote at all cause K.K.E.(Communist party) was banned after 1947.She was threatened with exile to Makronisos or Gavdos(unpopulated islands)serving as penal colonies like other Communists when she was just a 14-15 year old.In 1970s,democracy was restored in Greece and they both abandoned their parties(New Democracy and K.K.E.)and started supporting PASOK and its socialist leader Andreas Papandreou.
My great-great-uncle was a soldier during the Greek Civil War. When Churchill told the Greeks to lay down down their guns during the war, my uncle refused, knowing he had sworn an oath to protect his nation. As punishment for that, he was sent to a rocky outcrop where he was tortured. Luckily he survived. That's how I think it went, I may have missed out a few details or be wrong about some. My family has some pretty crazy stories.
my grand mother , still alive btw , at age of 11 ( at late August of 1944 ) was taken by her uncle , an EAM member , she left her along with along with other children at the small town of Ferres , they told the children to match down the road , make a human wall against the german machine gunner and sing songs about the rebellion , they did so , they were way too young to understand that they were in danger , thankfully the germans gave up and the town was liberated by those children . I have been told of many atrocities during the civil war in my village from both sides , the communists killed people and placed their heads in the town square , they also kidnapped some kids from a nearby village , after that the village was almost fully evacuated with the exception of 2 famillies , 1 of them being my grandmother's familly . After a battle in ferres between dse and the local police with multiple casualties from both sides the village was evacuated completely , with the exception of some old people without any famillies there . But from the other hand my grandma will never forget the terror the police created , hearing their footsteps chasing people late at night , arresting and beating people qith no reason , they even tried to kill a familly member , they tried to get him out of his house late at night where they had set an ambushed ut they called yelled at and failled overall ( it is a tragic-funny story ) . My family was communist sympathisers but my grandmother , they even hid antartes from the police in their house , but my grand mother does admit that both sides did many atrocities . Civil wars are the idiotic kind of wars killing each other for the will of USA/USSR , that is just stupid , very stupid
My grandmother and her family had their house in rural Achaia burned twice: Once by the Nazis as retribution for killing some of their soldiers and once by the Greek army during the civil war in order to weaken supplies for the communists, as they would... "procure" food and other supplies from local mountain villages. Miraculously, her family rebuilt the house and it still stands to this day! I know all my grandma's siblings and I even got to know my great grandmother. The suffering these people endured was insane, so many stories of pain and loss because of war, partisan politics etc. They are my heroes, especially my grandma. Σ'αγαπώ γιαγιά!
One thing that should be stressed is that most Nazi collaborators and sympathizers never got punished in Greece because the government used them to fight the communist resistance forces. After the end of the civil war they were considered patriots by the state even if they committed war crimes against fellow Greeks during WWII...
@@migkillerphantom Actually, in this case you are wrong! EAM didn't take over as soon as the nazis were gone although they had people supporting them. Athens were liberated 12th October 1944 and for 3 days there were no government.. They waited for a democratic solution! The fights began when EAM called a strike! Not war!
@@nikolasa.6163 so what? basically what the british did was to spread rebellion everywhere they could as to keep the nazis on their toes... greek resistance wasnt anything noteworthy, all you left wingers cheer about is the explosion of a fucking bridge, which was insignificant to the grant scheme of things... all while the resistance inadvertently but definitely cost hundreds of thousands of greek lives, in nazi retaliations, villages being exterminated etc... but they did blow up that one bridge and they manage to capture or kill like a handful of officers or w/e...
A very good video. Just a few notes: 1. For most of WWII, and definitely the period of Greece's liberation from the Axis in late 1944, King George was not in Egypt, but in London, along with his brother and eventual successor Paul. 2. Organization X existed before Greece was liberated - the video makes it look like it was organized to rival EAM-ELAS in late 1944.
Fun fact. American advisors were sent to Greece, along with financial aid. When Special Forces was formed, anyone who had served as an advisor was authorized to wear the green beret.
To get some things corrected or placed in correct perspective. Greeks almost never had any respect for their government since 1821... basically because the monarchies were imposed by great powers contrary to their goals (Kapodistrias was forming a canton system like the one he help build in swicherland til 1830-31) Security battalions were formed by german occupation government with the funding of prominent industrialists (simens hellas owner in particular) with the goal of helping the occupation fight partisan forces and then form WSS Sparta. EAM-ELAS was from the start to the end a republican / progressive force that was guided / organized by the communist party (they had underground operations experience). Even after liberation and before exile government came back they were taking orders from Egypt allies command (they were ordering clean up operations targeting collaborators), that situation went on till "dekebriana event" when members become radicalized command went to take guidance / orders from COMITERN / USSR but even then the goals have not changed from the original. Rule of the people (λαοκρατία you see in the leaflets), the end of monarchy and the end of foreign influence in greek politics were the goal. (and not the formation of a soviet republic) Critics of the communist party even now accuse it that intentionally limits its appeal in accordance to the infamous 90%-10% influence agreement at yalta. Churchill almost assassinated (bomb at the hotel) as a statement that English basically colonial interference wont be tolerated but the operation stopped at the last minute by EAM orders. Most of the work against EDES was not done by the tactical government army since it was not capable till late in the civil war. English and american air force did the work by napalming all mountain regions that were hosting rebel forces. The severity of that fire bombing campain can still be seen on the mountains despite the intensive post war reforestation attempts.
Its a a real crying shame that we didnt manage to exterminate the entire communist population of greece. I'm sure the world would be better today if we had. And I am also doubly certain the world would be better today if we had taken General Pattons advice, jailed or killed the communist sympathizers(preferably killed), and then ANNIHILATE soviet Russia and install a Republic. Nukes would need to be used naturally but since we're the only ones at that period WITH NUKES that war ends QUICK. Then we can prevent China from ever turning commie in the first place. There is no greater ENEMY of FREEDOM and the WELLFARE OF A NATION STATE and a PEOPLE THAN FUCKING COMMUNISM and MARXIST LEFTISM AND FEMINISM. The fact that you insects took so much help FROM THE VERY START from what you knew where communists PROVES my point the "EAM ELAS" were ALWAYS Communists Front organizations. And the fact also is, that most normal people yes even the fattest and most doughiest soyboy, when you are forced to SUFFER for a great deal of time because of marxist leftist political ideology you grow to hate it and all it is and all who back it; and there can be no denying when you can look at the fucking marxist shill news today that THE LEFT is BRINGING ON THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION. And we WILL BE HAPPY to OBLIGE THEM.
@@chucknorris202 Th saddest of all your drivel and mental diarrhea that you call opinion and expose as to it here is that is exactly that mentality that produce oppression, police state and absolute luck of freedom. Historically for greece what is sad is that we were (and in many ways still are) a colony, with colonial mind set and no natives to oppress (so we take it among us). Last but not least the greatest tragedy of the civil war is that interrupted the clean up of nazi collaborators, black marketeers and other war criminal and traitorous elements of occupied greece. Moreover it absorb them into the post war state structure. (That has cleaned them up, socially "reform" them and enable them to teach you to think that way -assuming you are greek- )
why they dont.pay tax why they have.ten.university.degree.at.50 why.live at home.with mom why they cook the books once they.wanker.lose they rat.our themselves SUBSIDIES by euro.for too long why six janitor.1 broom
The Greek Civil War was the conflict in which the United States honed it counter-insurgency tactics, later to be used elsewhere, such as Vietnam. America's experience in Greece in the 1940s set the pattern, was a model, for subsequent US interventions in other revolutions and civil wars.
Great. Freedom was saved from the communist global expansion plans. If you think i'm crazy, just look at the soviet emblem. It doesn't depict their country but the whole planet
@@antikokalis Τι λες ρε μάγκα? Γίναμε σκυλάκια της Αμερικής και μας ληστεψανε κιόλας! Πρωτιμω (μετα από αυτά που έχουν δει τα μάτια μου) να μας κατακτουσαν οι Σοβιετικοι
@@HellenoBalkan Είναι θαύμα πάντως που κάποιος σαν εσάς, που έχει υποστεί τόσο σκληρή λοβοτομή καταφέρνει να μπαίενι στο ίντερνετ και να γράφει και σχόλια. Σας παραδέχομαι για το κουράγιο σας
@@antikokalis Τι λες βρε άνθρωπε? Βλέπεις τι γράφεις? Τολμάει ο Κούλης σου να πει όχι στην Αμερική? Μας έχουν κάνει σκυλάκια τους και μας έχουν φάει όλα τα λεφτά.
Civil war came as a result of pressure by Churchill to keep Communists out of the new formed government . That partisan movement had a significant influence on Greek people through German occupation, due to the fact that they were the only ones who sustain a level of resistance against the enemy. Forcing them out of Athens in 1944 led them to form a new guerrilla army in 1946 mostly for self protection. That's when this tragedy of civil war started
My Yaya told me stories of her sister in law being raped by a platoon of communist soldiers in front of her husband who was then executed. Stories like this along with stories from my other side of the family that fought communists in Korea and Vietnam have fostered a healthy disdain and disgust for communists that will never wain or dissipate. This political ideology must be confronted and crushed wherever it may be at any and all costs.
EAM gerilas forsed open our home in Athens and almost killed my father for a non existent pistol.I was 10 months old at the time,hungry sic and screaming at the top of my lungs.......about thr same time, in a village of Peloponnese, they busted open my (much later) mother- in - laws house,robed everything they could, broke everything else, and my father in law( to be) was taken prisoner, up in the mountains, and it was really a miracle he was set free later on.....
My family lived through this period.The communists were killing people throughout Greece commiting atrocities rivaling the later Pol Pot Regime.Communists were not the victims but the aggressors!
My grandma’s family supported the communists so her family was terrorised by their own neighbours while my grandfather’s family supported the royalist so communist partisans raided his village,his cousin was blown up by a grenade thrown by a commie while he got wounded and almost died by the same grenade.10 years later my grandparents went to west Germany to find a better life
On the casualties of the World War II, Greece suffered the sideffect of the famine of the winter 1942/1943 that cost the lives of nearly 700.000 people. Sortcommings of vital food caused by the Germans ( who rose heavy toll on crops stock and diary ) as well as the activity of black marketeers had a detrimental effect much bigger than the hostilities. If one takes the famine of the winter 1942/1943 into consideration, Greece is the country with the second bigger toll of casualties per population in Europe after the Soviet Union.
@@catfood_03_4stray actually third biggest causality-per-population rate in Europe, the USSR was second and Poland (despite losing more than 10 million people less) first.
Nice video. However, for your information, the video footages from the classes arround 16:45 is between the communist party and anarchists. Political situation in Greece is a little bit more complex.
1. You 've forgot to mention that in December '44 the British bombarded Athens! 2. You 've forgot to mention that the American's used for first time the napalm bomb on the greek mountains and this is how the nationalists won. 3. The X group were not nazi sympathisers but colaborators that killed thousands during the occupation and were never judged! 4. The nazi colaborators were used by the British and later by the Americans to fight the communists that had liberated the country ! They formed the national army that made the dictatorship of '67. Why don't you mention all that??
10:30 And this is where most people are confused. With all due respect to the producers of The Cold War channel, but it is clear who first opened fire. Angelos Evert, a The chief of Athen's Police gave explicitly the order for Sharpshooters to open fire on the EAM crowd as they were approaching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is not clear wether the order was given by George Papandreou but sharptshooters from Organisation X had already taken positions to shoot the EAM demonstrators. I love this channel and the detail in it's job, and it is extremely confusing to document briefly such complex political events. However for clarity and historic accuracy i would like you to take a look at the following sources and the references. If you would like any help with translating Greek i am more than available for your service. You guys are awesome! December events in both Greek and English. 1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekemvriana#The_events 2) el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%94%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B2%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC#%CE%9F%CE%B9_%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8E%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%82_%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82 Info on Angelos Evert in both Greek and English 1)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelos_Evert#Biography 2)el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%86%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%88%CE%B2%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%84
@@TheBeefCentral the dude could have used the sources Wikipedia used instead of using wikipedia itself as the source. It would have made for a stronger argument.
Why should they sponsor this?It's not like the tourists will come here to find out about this war,or any other war.They'll come to swim,eat and drink themselves to death.
Merry Christmas! We are not taking any time off, so expect at least one more video until the end of the year. :-)
🇬🇷
The Cold War nice
Factual mistake:
At 1:55 the right picture is of EPON, the youth wing of EAM, not YVE.
And YVE generally was not a major organisation.
This was a very good episode on a very good channel, really enjoying your work. Congrats. But, please, stop with these jokes, they're... not so good, to say the least.
Please can you make video about India Pakistan wars. Mainly wars fought in the cold war, 1947,1965 and 1971
70 years after ,the civil war is still the elephant on the room in greek politics,even today most Greeks vote according to which side their family supported back then
you are wrong majority of greeks dont vote at all
johny guitar You're Greek?
@@vukman2665 yes only 40 % of treu greeks vote until this day all the others are non greeks with greek papers sory for my english and they do alot of cheating in elections too
Yes because there are a lot that don't live in Greece so the next election will show how many don't vote because they are lazy
@@johnyguitar258 they is a low turnout indeed but the majority of Greeks do vote
This topic is actually still kind of a taboo in Greece. Nearly every family has some ancestor who died fighting for one of the sides in the civil war, and the mere mention of this era is enough to spark heated debates over "which side was more right/wrong", with nothing being ever resolved. I've always wondered if the country will ever be able to truly heal from these wounds.
Do be honest, as long as our politicians are using the civil war to "polarise " the voters we will never get on ...
Sure we will.When all commies die.
@2manynegativewaves sorry, you mean the communist is not fascism??
Up to ten million people murder in the gulag.
Communists and Nazi is the same.
Well still till today we do not know the true history that is why is wound that not been healed. the Right still insists that the bad communist caused the war and the left blames the British.
@@whisperm21 kinda hard for that to happen since the total gulag population from 1924 to 1953 was about 18 million with the most extreme calculations but sure . Also Communism and fascism are pollar opposites
My Grandad lost his hearing in this civil war, it happened somewhere near Edessa in "48 setting up dynamite on a bridge. Fell in the river was discovered by his own troops. Lived until 2003.
Miss you Παππούς μου!
Ο προγιαγιά μου πέθανε στα Δεκεμβριανά.
@@jason3163 I'm sorry for your loss, mate!
Ήταν με τους Φασίστες ή τον ΔΣΕ?
@@HellenoBalkan ΔΣΕ
@@HellenoBalkan οι φασίστες ποιοι ήταν ;
Great topic,the Greek Civil War isn't a much covered topic, good job
cleary you are not a greek or lived enough in greece.
@@ncrvako it truly isn't though.
@@greekcommie621 don't be so sure.
@@ncrvako in the school I went to it was never mentioned. Most young people in crete do not even know that it happened. Most books written about it are biased in one side or in the other and it is only widely mentioned on the Internet which is not representative of what happens irl.
@@greekcommie621 well, in the area that i am from (nothern greece) it still afects, one way or the other. the school is not the olny place that you can learn from it. you can begin there, but you can never trust it.
"As I look back in my life and I see all the fighting, killing, fleeing, living horribly that I've witnessed, after having lived my whole life for an ideal, I sincerely tell you, none of that was worth anything. The value of human life was decreased so much, we missed out on so many things, left wingers and right wingers alike, that I sincerely wish we'd known better"
- Civil war survivor, Greek political refugee in Poland, now age 83.
We agreed that you would tell me in detail about your Grandfather's Civil war stories next time we meet, it's a little weird finding spoilers of our future conversation on TH-cam 😅
Right
totally agree. we need to know more about life and let life truth riding over any political ideal.
Was he a communist? I'd say that most of us thought that he should go back to Greece since Poland was at a far worse situation than Greece.
@@luishernandezblonde GREECE WAS DEVASTATED after the German Italian Bulgrian occupation till 1944 then the guerrilla war with the communists till 1949 suffering a MILLION DEAD.
Thank God for the MARSHAL PLAN that helped reconstruct Greece and Europe!
As someone who has studied the Greek Civili war extensively, I think that this video is more unbiased and factually correct than any I've seen so far floating around on TH-cam. Obviously there are many events that aren't mentioned (such as certain battles and protagonists) but, overall, a good job.
What's your thoughts on this one
th-cam.com/video/ONIyJJjucHk/w-d-xo.html
@@smokyondagrass2353 heart-rending...
As a Greek I was initially anxious of how you would approach the events as they are still conflicting and there is much propaganda surrounding them. I believe you managed the subject honestly and truthfully. Great work as usual.
Still?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Musicsort of, yes. At least among older people who were around when things were happening. Unfortunately my generation (late 20s) and the younger people don't care about history to the point that many 17-18 yo that are about to finish high school don't even know that there has been a civil war in recent history. It's a taboo so there no much talk about it and in its not really embedded in general school curriculum
@@sarantis1995 Wow. Yeah, that would mean it's still a livewire topic; I've seen similar situations. Well, it's better than living in Bosnia.
Both sides kind of won though; Greece is a highly Socialized democracy while Communism really took a hard fall worldwide. How stable is Greece these days?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music Simple answer: its not. Longer oversimplified answer: There's just something about people voting parties they dont like to avoid the ruling party's re-election that just doesn't scream stability to me. Not to mention the ND government (aka the current one) has had numerous scandals yet somehow they got more votes? Greek politics has been moved by self interest of politicians for a while peaking with the "socialist" PASOK back before the crisis of 2008. False promises, failures to fix the economy, austerity measures and rising prices of well... everything just means that we aren't doing that well. Only saving grace is that the recession has stopped (sort of) and there's been some growth with the economy. Which is probably why the current government got re-elected even though its not them that fixed the economy in reality (growth started from 2016 they first got elected in 2019). They did some things but it was mostly the austerity measures and the bailouts and EU money as well as the previous government (not that the last government was much better) but we only saw the benefits these last couple of years so...
Also small note: The only "socialized" part of Greek democracy are the welfare services and it used to be water companies and stuff until we sold them off to foreigners to pay our debts. ND seems like they love privatisation. Plus our elections use a system where we give extra seats to whoever gets the most votes so they can get shit done but that's super undemocratic since the left in Greece is broken into many parties while they right is unified under ND for the most part. The previous government fixed this but ND changed it back and since we had 2 elections this year (the first was inconclusive) the second one used the old system and they got re-elected.
@@jojoironboi Thanks for your answer. I guess to an American Greece looks highly socialized. 😁
Thank you for covering this topic.
My great grandfather was a Greek partisan fighting the Nazis during WW2, after the civil war broke out he supported the communists believing they would bring better times to Greece, after the government crushed the communist uprising he had to flee from Greece with his pregnant wife, never returning to Greece again. They've settled in Czechoslovakia although they didn't speak any Czech.
you are invited to visit crete my friend and spend some quality time with your family, in honor to all those people that shed their blood so we can have a better future.
Many thanks to your grandfather. He was a hero
there is a high chance that we might be relatives. most of my family fled greece and never got back!
@@gg1275 Only he chose to back a political ideology that devastated every country it got hold of. Maybe he was an uneducated peasant who did not know better but if he was more educated, there would be no excuse for backing a totalitarian ideology.
@@arispaok3883 A misguided hero if even one at all.
I am from Greece and i have to tell you that this was a great video about civil war of our country.Thank you.
I was waiting for this one. Another fairly unknown Cold War conflict. Great coverage!
This video is one-sided. Both sides murdered people. The left also killed anyone who was not a leftish .
No one liked the communists thats why they had minor votes in elections.
The left never wanted democracy and never accepted to put weapons aside.
When they saw they wold loose the elections they started the killings again. ...
If by great coverage you mean communist propaganda and bias, then yes.
@@TheApocalypticKnight I enjoyed this video. Besides a bit of propaganda, its a good video.
Thousands of Greek immigrants, mostly the DSE supporters, came to live in Poland after the Greek civil war. Some of them became quite well-known and had significant achievements.
Wonder how there grandson think about communism while waiting in the food line.
lol imagine leaving a country because of a communist civil war and some years later your country you live get capture my the "father" of communist
this was hard times for the eastern block
@@richardque4952 you stand in food lines too...its called a chexkout line...
Only difference is if youre broke, you dont eat..and thats happening quite a bit for millions right now
@@richardque4952 most of their grandsons where born in Greece or returned to Greece in the 70s and 80s. So no food lines for them.
Factual mistake:
At 1:55 the picture on the right is of EPON, the youth wing of EAM, not YVE.
And YVE generally was not a major organisation.
I noticed too, αδελφε!
@@Armorius2199 ναι, έβγαζε μάτι!
Ξέρει κανείς τι ήταν το YVE?
@@Barberserk It was just a little mistake brother
YVE was an insignificant organisation.
This is a topic we learn nothing about in Greek schools, because it is still relevant today. Thanks for the video.
This was also doesn't benefit the politics of the government so why would they teach it?
Greece experienced the highest death rate outside eastern Europe under german occupation and that got to add this to the pile.
Greece is in Eastern Europe.
@@gnas1897 He means the former Eastern Bloc countries.
@@gnas1897greece is Southern Europe
as a greek i give you my respects for your work at covering with sobriety this topic, for us it' s stil an open wound
The Greek civil war was a sad bloody time, not as light-hearted as you make it seem. My parents left Greece in 1947 to go to America and they felt very lucky to leave. My father was in danger from false rumours about his allegiance and he was lucky to get out alive. It was a horrible time.
From 1921 through till at least 1950 very tough times. No wonder people wanted to forget with all that post-rembetika good-time music and those endless comedy films.
It was not a civil war it was a gang war
communists are cannibals. They feed off the success of a capitalist republican government and when the resources are exhausted they run away to find easier targets. They are bullies and cowards.
@@MaxStevenson-ih5ji did you even realized what she wrote? Her parents had to flee the country because probably a neighbor that wanted to steal their land wrongly accused them as " sympathetic" too ΚΚΕ
Man in you don't know what we are talking about at least educate yourself before starting spamming the thread
@@Pavlos_Charalambous How do you know that is the case? You are putting words in her mouth. Typical commie tactics....... SMH
The Greeks have never Identified with one govermnent since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453!
Implying they did before 1453.
Actually Greeks in fortified Cities like " Mistras " or at hippirus was considering the government in constantinople as not Greek but " Roman " 😏
Wrong, there were plenty of civil wars during the byzantine period
@@petrosbaliouskas7293 τυφλά να είχε το game of thrones 😄😄😄
Argyrus 47 Greeks didn't identify with Constantine XI's government either since he converted to catholicism in hope the Pope will rescue the empire.
I also think it deserves a mention that during the greek civil war, the first post-WW2 use of napalm was recorded. My grandmother's sister was at gramos mountain though she rarely, if ever, talks about it.
Interesting point. During World War II though, napalm was dropped on both Japanese AND German troops. The French public and some American war correspondents witnessed at least 1-2 napalm attacks with their own eyes (while they understood why it was probably being used, the French IIRC thought it was absolutely brutal).
Ah, Greece...
-“Birthplace of Democracy”-
-“Heir of Alexander”-
-“Economic Sinkhole of Europe”-
“The Land of Political Abbreviations”
Ahhh overstatements....
Unfortunately it is true...
@Georgios Petros Papadopoulos Μα τι λέτε τώρα κύριε Παπαδόπουλε - Ο Ρίγας είναι αυτό που λέμε "προοδευτικός" ραγιάς - έλεος!
Georgios Petros Papadopoulos Εσυ και ο άλλος από κάτω μάθετε πρώτα να γράφετε στα ελληνικά και να μιλάτε σαν άνθρωποι και μετά τα λέμε... Άτομα που γράφουν ανορθόγραφα και Greeklish μαθήματα πατριωτισμού δεν είναι σε θέση να κάνουν.
Από εκει και πέρα, αμφιβάλλω αν καταλάβατε τι έγραψε ο άλλος στο αρχικό του σχόλιο, αλλα ακόμα και αν το κάνατε, ο καθένας έχει δικαίωμα στην άποψη του. Κι εγώ ντρέπομαι που είμαι συμπατριώτης με σκουπίδια μονοψήφιου IQ σαν κι εσάς, αλλα δεν το έκανα θέμα.
Daniel Jakes if you see the replies to your comment, within 2 weeks your point was proven true... According to some highly educated fellow Greeks of mine, I am not entitled to agree that modern Greece is known for petty political struggles, despite our glorious past. Also one of these academics claims that you are spreading anti-Greek propaganda. Would you care to share your patron? George Soros, the force of evil? Angela Merkel?
I have ancestors who fought in this war, on both sides, which was not uncommon. Well made video on the whole. The role of the British in deciding the outcome of this war cannot be understated. Also the Soviet's non-intervention is key too.
Charlie K,
Best Comments here 👍
Stalin wouldn't support the various Greek left alliances.
Th e Greek Communists, in particular the KKE blatantly lied too many peole in the extreme Northern parts of Greece. The pro-Stalinist KKE claimed they had Stalin's full support even though Tito predominantly supplied them with weapons.
Stalin, in reality through the more grounded Marshall Zhukov, was focussed at that time on completely destroying Germany. They hated the Germans with a vengeance.
Hitler had both humiliated Stalin with his treachery AND the Soviet Union was economically destroyed.
Hitler's army had turned them into an almost primitive agrarian society.
Stalin wanted a buffer zone. Zhukov stated that Greece could be easily supplied by the US and the British due to its complete acess via sea ports.
It was a case of lets "keep our eyes on the prize"
i.e. annihilate Germany and steal ALL their technology and military hardware.
Albania, Bulgaria and Tito's Yugoslavia were enough of of a buffer zone as they had no real sea ports. Serbia, and especially Croatia belonged to Tito.
The Greek hard core Communists were betrayed. The Greeks who ended up in Albania, Czechoslovakia (my aunty whom I never knew or met), some lucky few who went to Yogoslavia and some unlucky ones who ended up in Moscow.
NOTE: The hard core Communists who ended up in the Soviet Union had their fantasies of a socialist utopia shattered.
Like the few US immigrants who voluntarily moved into Stalin's 'utopia",
they found starvation, hunger, ostracism and the 'lucky few' the Gulags.
In an absolute irony Stalin and the KGB through the monster Beria, both hated and feared these voluntary immigrants.
Why, they thought
would you leave a wealthy country like the USA, or. a country li k e Greece with better weather and in reality, more opportunities than the Soviet Union ?
Why indeed. . .
The stories o f the few Greek Communists whom left Greece in 1948-49 as healthy young men returned as broken middle aged men in 1986.
Those who remained alive after almost a Biblical generation
i.e. 40 years,
spoke of their loneliness, heartache, hunger and poverty and the cold in 1986.
@@FrostedSeagull excellent comment! 👍
The soviets sent a lot of money and ammunition through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania.
👌
fun fact: the greek civil war was the first conflict of the cold war
The first proxy war , exactly
I find that even when the topics covered on this channel don’t present me with any new information, necessarily, I still deeply enjoy watching for the way facts are presented, the way the narratives are pieced together, and the occasional fascinating aside that I didn’t really know much about beforehand. This content is some of the best I’ve found about the Cold War, and doesn’t necessarily skew towards the West by default (or without a factual justification for doing so) in the way that many others do. Awesome stuff.
Also, great video! Nice coverage, nice detailing, no oversimplifications, no overanalyzing. 10/10
Very informative indeed. As others commented, even today, that civil war has wounds in every Greek family, and political affiliation.
Greeks seem to be getting many "Firsts" in History. In this case, it was the First hot war of the Cold War era, it resulted in the most devastation than all of of Europe, the most deaths per size of population in anyone of WW II (since WW II did not finish with capture of Berlin). The first use of the Napalm bombs in a war, the Americans gave them to be dropped against the communists, and since they had "good results" they used them in Vietnam also.
I feel very sorry for my fellow Greeks for falling into the Civil War catastrophe, just when it was time for Peace and rebuilding a devastated from WWII country.
I wish we NEVER fall into that situation again, bec many outsiders will take advantage of our infighting for their own gains.
communists are cannibals. They feed off the success of a capitalist republican government and when the resources are exhausted they run away to find easier targets. They are bullies and cowards.
I like that you had to answer your red phone, the "hotline".
Control
It's nearly impossible to summarize the Greek Civil War in 20min videos. The main root of the Greek civil war could be found back on '30s when the "National Schism" began. It's far more complicate than what the video discribes. As a Greek I could surely say that the Civil War is still a great taboo in Greece. For those who would like to get the hole picture I highly recommend the Haagen Flishers book "Crown and Swastika". A German professor wrote the most complete research for the decades of '30s and '40s. The irony is strong in this :P
I can't find the book you mentioned. Is there a link or something you can provide?
@@davidjefferson4941 unfortunately I could not find the English edition of the book.
Every Greek family has at least one member that took part in this war and the sad part is that most of the times some other family member was on the other side, i ve heard may stories about people were saved from execution just because they knew a relative from the ''opponents''. A very hot debate in the greek public speech about who is to blame about the civil war, every side backs up its own narrative
Greece entered WWII on 28Oct1940.
and that war ended for Greece at the end of August 1949!
China entered WW2 in 1937 and it ended only in 1949.
Estimates of up to 20 million dead Chinese civilians, its funny how little these conflicts are talked about, Yugoslavian one as well.
I actually never knew the Greek Civil War was a thing, so much history to learn. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for all your time & effort to summarize this horrible time in post war Greece. It was very informative & clarified as best as possible the confusion in hierarchies & organizations ( acronyms ) that drove these events.
I love that you're taking Indy's gimmick of answering the phone
Kind of a copycat but its ok
@@coinreviewer6196 It's the same production though.
Greece has been under foreign meddling back and forth since it's independance it seems.
Sad to see greek fight greek because of Soviet/Yugoslav-US/UK interests.
@Peter Magro everyone had their own interests...the greeks too! the only problem was that Greece interests were divided. this usually leads then to a civil war. :)
@@ΛεωνάνδροςΠεργαμενός I agree. It is too short-sighted to see any side as a mere puppet of foreign interest. That is true for every civil war. You sometimes get help from the side that shares your interests, sometimes you also seek help wherever you find it and plan to sort things out later.
This war isn't known like other ones and your video describes it very well.
Congratulations.
Would you like to know more: The Greek presence in Czech Republic is dated to the 20th century. Roughly 12,000 Greek citizens, mainly from Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece, who fled from the 1946-1949 Greek Civil War were settled in several formerly German inhabited areas in Czechoslovakia. Most were concentrated in or around the towns of Brno, Ostrava, Opava, and Krnov in southern Silesia, where Greek farming expertise helped revive agricultural production on lands formerly worked by ethnic Germans. About 5,200 of the migrants consisted of unaccompanied children.
and there was a big number in Hungary. The is a the greek vilage named Beloiannisz.
That’s the children refugees marek jankulovski’s grandfather was one off them that ended up in Czech Republic the reason for that was because they were Slavic as they were Macedonians not greeks they ethnically cleansed the Macedonians and replaced them with greeks from Anatolia
@@sase763 Macedonia is in Greece, you are the north part of a geographic region and nothing more , you are a disgrace of humanity , you dont have any honor and you claim a name for your country that is not valid for you ,and it dosent have any link with you , ok your grandparents couldn't have any knowledge of history, and they had believe any crap from people like tito ...but you suppose to be modern people and you can study, stop to be brainwashed and find some decency for your selfs ...
this place we call Macedonia or Macedon, js an ancient place way before YOU arrive on that area and kingdom from the Hellenistic age, after century's you Just happen to emigrate to a part of this area, Just like the Albanians, they emigrate in Greece the last 30 years, but they dont call them selfs Greeks, and if it happen many of them to be born in Greece and call them selfs Greeks they doing that after they had adapt the Greek language and traditions
For you to call your selfs Macedonians you need first the heritage of the Hellenic kingdom of Macedon, and to adapt the Hellenic language, even the ancient one, if you can not do that, then you are Just Slavs that happen to live in the north part of a geographic region, and as little Kids you are we let you to distinguish your selfs as Slavs without any heritage of the Hellenistic ancient kingdom Who live in the north geographic region of once was the roman GEOGRAPHIC Macedonia
You can not declare that you are something you are not.... You are Just slavs that emigrate here thousand years before, and its everything OK with that... The Last two years this is official, now cary on with your lifes
MACEDONIA IT MEANS SOMETHING IN GREEK ITS A GREEK FUCKING WORD AND DESCRIBE A SPECIFIC DORIAN GREEK PEOPLE LIKE THE ATHENIANS THE CORINTHIANS THEBANS SPARTANS AND THE FUCKING MACEDONIANS FROM THE FUCKING GREEK KINGDOM OF THE FUCKING MACEDON
@@panstantzos3013 You can continue to believe in Your false history written by Germans and British.
@@sase763the child refugees were children taken by the communists to turn them into communists due to their disdain for Greece and love of communism. Many of them today became the so called Slavic ‘Macedonians’.
13:14 “because that’s where the oil is”
Not exactly. During WWII the US accounted for 70% of worldwide oil production. The only other countries that produced substantial amounts were the USSR and Venezuela.
I’m not saying people didn’t have a hunch about the long term potential of oil production in the Middle East. But to say that was Truman’s primary objective is plainly incorrect.
George Kafiridis no I don’t. The US was even more dominant in oil processing (an advantage that continues to this day). But it was also the most dominant oil extractor in the world during WWII. By far. You can draw a direct line between the US seizing Texas and California and winning WWII.
I agree with you, it had more to do with geopolitical advantages than with economic resources’ access
Glad that this channel is will to talk about tough historical subjects. This video was fairly informative. Never wondered what this was all about. But it's nice that I know a little more now. My compliments to those who made this video a reality.
Just came across your channel specifically looking for info on the Greek civil war, awesome channel!! Thank you
I compliment you on this video. Its quite accurate and neutral. Greece was pretty much a British protectorate, and the monarchy was there to assure Greece's loyalty to the empire. In Greece's civil war, napalm bombs were first introduced against partisans hiding in the forests. After the civil war, the Right who had prevailed, banned people with relatives or ties to the Left, from participating in society economically, high in the army or the State itself. When the civil rights movement got very strong in 1965, a CIA dictatorship was introduced in 1967. The divided nation reunited in 1981, when PASOK, the liberal center-to-left party won the elections. So though the armed conflict ended in 1949, but civil war really ended in 1981. And that gentlemen, is another Greek tragedy
Thank you for the history lesson. My mom was 5 & aunt was 2 when they were taken away from their village & my grandmother due to the war. My mom was sent to Yugoslavia & returned to her village 6 years later in 1953 thanks to the Red Cross efforts to reunite the children with their families. My mom's last name was erroneously changed during her travels to Yugoslavia & when the Red Cross came looking for her at the orphanage using her correct last name the name mix up caused confusion. She was nearly overlooked until she asserted herself to explain her correct identity. Thankfully she was old enough to know what her name was. My aunt was sent to Czechoslovakia & reunited with her family as a teenager in Canada years later. My grandfather was forced to fight and lost his life. He had no choice in which side he wanted to support. He had to go with whoever came knocking on his door. My dad's village was unaffected & he stayed with his family. A pic of my grandfather, my uncle & unknown person: th-cam.com/users/shorts9JD1G_QgZB8?feature=share
What happened in Italy though ? Still haven't covered that former axis power yet .
This is such a complicated and overlooked topic. My grandfather was a communist and he fought the Italians in Albania and later joined the resistance against the Nazis. However when the civil war started, he refused to participate. He saw it as an idiocy and didn't want to kill fellow Greeks. In order to avoid being dragged to the fight by force by other communists in his village, he fled to Athens and when he wasn't in prison, he was hiding in relatives' homes. His older brother chose to support the communists and was killed later on.
Take in mind,that Greece was at war from october 1940 till august 1949.When all countries were thriving after the war greece was further worsened.
ΜΠΡΑΒΟ ΜΠΡΑΒΟ ΜΠΡΑΒΟ
Ενα από τα πιο δύσκολα θέματα για να ασχοληθείς με τη νεοελληνική ιστορία. Πολύ παρασκήνιο, πολλές οι απόψεις και πιο πολύ το μίσος, γιατί δεν τιμωρήθηκαν αυτοί που έπρεπε την ώρα που έπρεπε...
και συνεχίζουμε στο ίδιο μοτίβο
I wouldn't expect such a good cover, and sum up of a very little known conflict by a non-Greek. Well done! I really enjoyed it!
Very interesting! I'm surprised by the quality of this video. I'll share it with my best friend, who wrote a thesis about this period.
My grandfather nearly lost his life on several occasions during this war it’ started when he was 17 and he lived to age 91, Rest In Peace Pappou
RIP
Awesome Work by Kings And Generals ,Always Up to the Mark Content and Well Documented Story
"some see it as just a game"
Not a game, a ladder, a ladder you climb by causing chaos.
GoT reference. Nice.
I keep on coming back to these excellent and informative videos
So glad I stumbled here from Kings and General's channel. Didn't realize this was their second channel, amazing content!
I never heard of the Greek Civil War. This is why I love history, great video! I wonder if these factions in Greece are still around in some way today.
Yep they are and still pretty prevalent. The communist party still exists (unchanged for the last 50 years) even thought it has a 6% of votes in every single election, the papandreou family has also produced 2 prime ministers (both terrible) and the neo-nazis existed, thankfully this year they have been sentenced and they are declining in popularity . So yeah this civil war was more devastating for the Greek people that the WW2 because it split the unity that we had in our struggle against the nazis.
@@dma3d it's 4%
When the teacher puts you an exersise about the greek civil war.
"Cold war channel makes a video about it"
Me: oh it s that easy?
Underrated video. Very good.
A relevant aspect is the Percentages Accord of Churchill - Stalin since 1944 in regards to the influence in the Balkans. It has been agreed that Great Britain will maintain 90% of influence in Greece, ESSR 90% of influence in Bulgaria, whereas Yugoslavia will be split into 50% 50% between USSR and the West.
It's apparent that even before the spark of the Civil War in 1946, Stalin was aware of his limits and the refusal of US and Great Britain to let go of Greece. Thus, Stalin promptly recognized that ESSR expansion stops at the Bulgarian borders.
That said, USSR would certainly not be displeased if EAM seized power in Greece - thus any military assistance would come disguised from Greece's north neighbours, namely Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria, and not directly from USSR.
Another aspect which cannot be overemphasised is the Stalin - Tito split which indeed led to the closure of the Yugoslavian borders in 1948 and the seizure of much needed medical, military and material assistance as well as Yugoslavian fighters namely, the people which belonged to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia.
In regards to the aftermath of the Civil War, the Greek State missed out on a great opportunity of reconstruction after a disastrous German Occupation. The issue of War Reparations from Germany due to the forced loans and crime wars are still a major issue in Greek Diplomacy and remain legally active. Furthermore, Greece had to direct the vast majority of economic assistance from the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to military objectives which hindered its post-recovery.
Nevertheless, reconciliation did occur and since 1974 and the fall of the military Junta which was mentioned in the end of the video, the divide between Left and Right is not as relevant as implied. Besides violent protests and clashed since 2010 and the economic recession were mostly due to socio-economic dissent in greek society rather than a strict dichotomised clash of Left and Right, reminiscent of the Civil War belligerence.
Still thank you for this video and looking forward for more.
Thank you for the additional information!
Thanks for the additional information.
Had it not been for the CIA and MOSSAD dirty work involvement against Greece's savior the Military of 67-73 would have made Greece a definite regional super power based on its oil and gas reserves that are much larger than anything in the Middle East
I think you said it better than the actual video
All of your videos are very elucidating and multi-dimensional, you deserve more views and subscribers.
Thank you, this was excelent. well presented and trully unbiased. my family still bears the marks of the civil war here.
In the street next to my apartment, the ELAS army marched when they liberated the city, with my great-grandfather showing off his warhorse in the front of the unit. the street is still named after the date of the liberation. just a couple days ago, december 2019, we were sent a picture of my great-grandfather from Russia, where he lived and died after he left Greece to avoid execution by the government. just before he left he named his eldest son Stalin, my grandpa, that i lost a decade ago. in retrospect it wasnt such a great idea as he had lots of trouble in his life due to that name. we also keep contact with our relatives in Sweden that left at the same time, part of the same family.
On my family's other side, my grandma told me the story of her childhood home. her family was neutral but her uncle was in the EAM-ELAS after he fought the Italians, where her father had been wounded and couldnt join the resistance. she said, during the civil war, in the day the monarchists would pour gasoline on their front door and threaten to burn them if they didnt say where the uncle was. her mother would beg them to spare the house as her husband was a veteran of the war. in the nights the communists would come and try to take what little food they had so, again, the mother would beg them to respect that the uncle was fighting on their side.
cheers from Greece.
So many stories like this and so many people and families divided and dislocated........ in the end, it was the little people that suffered the most in the grand schemes of the Cold war.....
ΕΑΜ-ΕΛΑΣ-ΕΠΟΝ
@yiorgosmav actually yes, for a long time. he later moved to Sweden
Love your RED PHONE as well as your whole set up of old technology! Great channel..n this was something I never knew! Ty for telling us about this!!!
Very good video . You cover pretty much everything in 17 mins.
The Greek civil war is very complex.My great-grandfather fighting with DSE(Communists) was executed by his first cousin,who was fighting with the royalists and the national army.My grandfather,who was an Epirote and was fighting with EDES(nationalists) during that time.My grandmother always says that she will never forgive the 'Epirote bastards' that killed her father and that she wants to this day, to spit in their graves.While in college,I met a guy from Epirus region that told me that the communists burned his grandpas' house to the ground and that she had to flee to the mountains to escape along with his- then pregnant grandma.My grandparents came from opposing sides of the war, and there was vitriol in the family on politics.Grandpa used to vote for Papagos& Karamanlis(conservative/royalist right-wingers),who were rigging the elections with gendarmerie interference and my grandmother didn't vote at all cause K.K.E.(Communist party) was banned after 1947.She was threatened with exile to Makronisos or Gavdos(unpopulated islands)serving as penal colonies like other Communists when she was just a 14-15 year old.In 1970s,democracy was restored in Greece and they both abandoned their parties(New Democracy and K.K.E.)and started supporting PASOK and its socialist leader Andreas Papandreou.
My great-great-uncle was a soldier during the Greek Civil War. When Churchill told the Greeks to lay down down their guns during the war, my uncle refused, knowing he had sworn an oath to protect his nation. As punishment for that, he was sent to a rocky outcrop where he was tortured. Luckily he survived.
That's how I think it went, I may have missed out a few details or be wrong about some. My family has some pretty crazy stories.
my grand mother , still alive btw , at age of 11 ( at late August of 1944 ) was taken by her uncle , an EAM member , she left her along with along with other children at the small town of Ferres , they told the children to match down the road , make a human wall against the german machine gunner and sing songs about the rebellion , they did so , they were way too young to understand that they were in danger , thankfully the germans gave up and the town was liberated by those children . I have been told of many atrocities during the civil war in my village from both sides , the communists killed people and placed their heads in the town square , they also kidnapped some kids from a nearby village , after that the village was almost fully evacuated with the exception of 2 famillies , 1 of them being my grandmother's familly . After a battle in ferres between dse and the local police with multiple casualties from both sides the village was evacuated completely , with the exception of some old people without any famillies there . But from the other hand my grandma will never forget the terror the police created , hearing their footsteps chasing people late at night , arresting and beating people qith no reason , they even tried to kill a familly member , they tried to get him out of his house late at night where they had set an ambushed ut they called yelled at and failled overall ( it is a tragic-funny story ) . My family was communist sympathisers but my grandmother , they even hid antartes from the police in their house , but my grand mother does admit that both sides did many atrocities . Civil wars are the idiotic kind of wars killing each other for the will of USA/USSR , that is just stupid , very stupid
My grandmother and her family had their house in rural Achaia burned twice: Once by the Nazis as retribution for killing some of their soldiers and once by the Greek army during the civil war in order to weaken supplies for the communists, as they would... "procure" food and other supplies from local mountain villages. Miraculously, her family rebuilt the house and it still stands to this day! I know all my grandma's siblings and I even got to know my great grandmother. The suffering these people endured was insane, so many stories of pain and loss because of war, partisan politics etc. They are my heroes, especially my grandma. Σ'αγαπώ γιαγιά!
I was coincidentally wondering about the Greek Civil War last night.
Extremely Insightful episode, as all are.
Where are you from if is not a secret?
@@majkaljoni713 his name is Polish, so I am assuming Poland
A very good and up to point presentation. Thank you.
The leaders of EDES and EAM were relatives. The EDES leader was the uncle of the EAM leader. Still, they fought each other
Yes. Napoleon Zervas and Aris Veluchiotis .
Good video, thank you for covering that.
One thing that should be stressed is that most Nazi collaborators and sympathizers never got punished in Greece because the government used them to fight the communist resistance forces. After the end of the civil war they were considered patriots by the state even if they committed war crimes against fellow Greeks during WWII...
That's the sad irony
Calling communists "resistance forces" is disingenous. Resistance forces fight against occupation, communists fight to impose their own occupation.
@@migkillerphantom Actually, in this case you are wrong! EAM didn't take over as soon as the nazis were gone although they had people supporting them. Athens were liberated 12th October 1944 and for 3 days there were no government.. They waited for a democratic solution! The fights began when EAM called a strike! Not war!
migkillerphantom if there weren’t communists, the resistance movements in most European countries during WW2 would have been a farce
@@nikolasa.6163 so what? basically what the british did was to spread rebellion everywhere they could as to keep the nazis on their toes... greek resistance wasnt anything noteworthy, all you left wingers cheer about is the explosion of a fucking bridge, which was insignificant to the grant scheme of things... all while the resistance inadvertently but definitely cost hundreds of thousands of greek lives, in nazi retaliations, villages being exterminated etc... but they did blow up that one bridge and they manage to capture or kill like a handful of officers or w/e...
A very good video. Just a few notes:
1. For most of WWII, and definitely the period of Greece's liberation from the Axis in late 1944, King George was not in Egypt, but in London, along with his brother and eventual successor Paul.
2. Organization X existed before Greece was liberated - the video makes it look like it was organized to rival EAM-ELAS in late 1944.
Did X even do anything important? All i know is that they trolled Germans in Athens.
F in the chat for greece. Gave us lots of things for politics and philosophy and yet those very things could not help them themselves.
rip their economy
@Dimitris kouz Oti nane les file
@Dimitris kouz greece is bankrupt ?
@Dimitris kouz pes gia to petreleo pou les. Pou einai? posa barelia bgazei? pio einai to kostos e3ory3hs?
It did help us, being an empire for almost 1.000 years. It's just that, our time run out. It happens to everyone.
I love vids about topics largely unknown. Good job!
Fun fact. American advisors were sent to Greece, along with financial aid. When Special Forces was formed, anyone who had served as an advisor was authorized to wear the green beret.
Prepare for incoming Greeks fighting each other in the comment section
Indeed
No problem with that, political conciousness is extremely important and politics is inherently violent.
Αχααχα γεσσσ
@@jimtroy4380 I like the way you think
X
Greece, a nation of brave people.
Very brave and stronk.
@@ares106 and younk
And stupid people
And nazi collaborators of course.
@@ComradeHellas they stopped the italian army single handedly. And resisted the nazis. How come they are collaborators?
It's really nice to see y'all grow into the format and diverge from the style of your parent channel. I definitely see Indy Neidell's influence :)
To get some things corrected or placed in correct perspective.
Greeks almost never had any respect for their government since 1821... basically because the monarchies were imposed by great powers contrary to their goals (Kapodistrias was forming a canton system like the one he help build in swicherland til 1830-31)
Security battalions were formed by german occupation government with the funding of prominent industrialists (simens hellas owner in particular) with the goal of helping the occupation fight partisan forces and then form WSS Sparta.
EAM-ELAS was from the start to the end a republican / progressive force that was guided / organized by the communist party (they had underground operations experience). Even after liberation and before exile government came back they were taking orders from Egypt allies command (they were ordering clean up operations targeting collaborators), that situation went on till "dekebriana event" when members become radicalized command went to take guidance / orders from COMITERN / USSR but even then the goals have not changed from the original. Rule of the people (λαοκρατία you see in the leaflets), the end of monarchy and the end of foreign influence in greek politics were the goal. (and not the formation of a soviet republic)
Critics of the communist party even now accuse it that intentionally limits its appeal in accordance to the infamous 90%-10% influence agreement at yalta.
Churchill almost assassinated (bomb at the hotel) as a statement that English basically colonial interference wont be tolerated but the operation stopped at the last minute by EAM orders.
Most of the work against EDES was not done by the tactical government army since it was not capable till late in the civil war. English and american air force did the work by napalming all mountain regions that were hosting rebel forces. The severity of that fire bombing campain can still be seen on the mountains despite the intensive post war reforestation attempts.
Its a a real crying shame that we didnt manage to exterminate the entire communist population of greece. I'm sure the world would be better today if we had. And I am also doubly certain the world would be better today if we had taken General Pattons advice, jailed or killed the communist sympathizers(preferably killed), and then ANNIHILATE soviet Russia and install a Republic. Nukes would need to be used naturally but since we're the only ones at that period WITH NUKES that war ends QUICK. Then we can prevent China from ever turning commie in the first place.
There is no greater ENEMY of FREEDOM and the WELLFARE OF A NATION STATE and a PEOPLE THAN FUCKING COMMUNISM and MARXIST LEFTISM AND FEMINISM. The fact that you insects took so much help FROM THE VERY START from what you knew where communists PROVES my point the "EAM ELAS" were ALWAYS Communists Front organizations. And the fact also is, that most normal people yes even the fattest and most doughiest soyboy, when you are forced to SUFFER for a great deal of time because of marxist leftist political ideology you grow to hate it and all it is and all who back it; and there can be no denying when you can look at the fucking marxist shill news today that THE LEFT is BRINGING ON THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION. And we WILL BE HAPPY to OBLIGE THEM.
@@chucknorris202 Th saddest of all your drivel and mental diarrhea that you call opinion and expose as to it here is that is exactly that mentality that produce oppression, police state and absolute luck of freedom.
Historically for greece what is sad is that we were (and in many ways still are) a colony, with colonial mind set and no natives to oppress (so we take it among us).
Last but not least the greatest tragedy of the civil war is that interrupted the clean up of nazi collaborators, black marketeers and other war criminal and traitorous elements of occupied greece. Moreover it absorb them into the post war state structure. (That has cleaned them up, socially "reform" them and enable them to teach you to think that way -assuming you are greek- )
why they dont.pay
tax
why they have.ten.university.degree.at.50
why.live at home.with mom
why they cook the books
once they.wanker.lose
they rat.our themselves
SUBSIDIES by euro.for too long
why
six janitor.1 broom
@@ostapbendervan7874 one question: WTF are you saying man?
Do you have any sources, I would like to read more.
quality info thank you.
The Greek Civil War was the conflict in which the United States honed it counter-insurgency tactics, later to be used elsewhere, such as Vietnam. America's experience in Greece in the 1940s set the pattern, was a model, for subsequent US interventions in other revolutions and civil wars.
Great. Freedom was saved from the communist global expansion plans. If you think i'm crazy, just look at the soviet emblem. It doesn't depict their country but the whole planet
@@antikokalis Τι λες ρε μάγκα? Γίναμε σκυλάκια της Αμερικής και μας ληστεψανε κιόλας! Πρωτιμω (μετα από αυτά που έχουν δει τα μάτια μου) να μας κατακτουσαν οι Σοβιετικοι
@@HellenoBalkan Είναι θαύμα πάντως που κάποιος σαν εσάς, που έχει υποστεί τόσο σκληρή λοβοτομή καταφέρνει να μπαίενι στο ίντερνετ και να γράφει και σχόλια. Σας παραδέχομαι για το κουράγιο σας
@@antikokalis Τι λες βρε άνθρωπε? Βλέπεις τι γράφεις? Τολμάει ο Κούλης σου να πει όχι στην Αμερική? Μας έχουν κάνει σκυλάκια τους και μας έχουν φάει όλα τα λεφτά.
I hope to see US invasion to Dominican Republic in 1965.
Nice video
Thank you
Thanks for this
Oh wow, this is a topic that isn’t often covered
Merry Christmas David and team. Thank you for the Cold War episodes.
Civil war came as a result of pressure by Churchill to keep Communists out of the new formed government . That partisan movement had a significant influence on Greek people through German occupation, due to the fact that they were the only ones who sustain a level of resistance against the enemy. Forcing them out of Athens in 1944 led them to form a new guerrilla army in 1946 mostly for self protection. That's when this tragedy of civil war started
Exactly - see my other comment where I give details on this
My Yaya told me stories of her sister in law being raped by a platoon of communist soldiers in front of her husband who was then executed. Stories like this along with stories from my other side of the family that fought communists in Korea and Vietnam have fostered a healthy disdain and disgust for communists that will never wain or dissipate. This political ideology must be confronted and crushed wherever it may be at any and all costs.
EAM gerilas forsed open our home in Athens and almost killed my father for a non existent pistol.I was 10 months old at the time,hungry sic and screaming at the top of my lungs.......about thr same time, in a village of Peloponnese, they busted open my (much later) mother- in - laws house,robed everything they could, broke everything else, and my father in law( to be) was taken prisoner, up in the mountains, and it was really a miracle he was set free later on.....
My family lived through this period.The communists were killing people throughout Greece commiting atrocities rivaling the later Pol Pot Regime.Communists were not the victims but the aggressors!
No, it worked both ways.
I’ve been waiting for this episode
My grandma’s family supported the communists so her family was terrorised by their own neighbours while my grandfather’s family supported the royalist so communist partisans raided his village,his cousin was blown up by a grenade thrown by a commie while he got wounded and almost died by the same grenade.10 years later my grandparents went to west Germany to find a better life
'The Political' - yes, you hit it on the head. Very informative and thought-provoking narrative.
The war claimed the lives of an estimated 80,000 Greeks, a fatality rate that surpassed the suffering the country during World War II.
On the casualties of the World War II, Greece suffered the sideffect of the famine of the winter 1942/1943 that cost the lives of nearly 700.000 people. Sortcommings of vital food caused by the Germans ( who rose heavy toll on crops stock and diary ) as well as the activity of black marketeers had a detrimental effect much bigger than the hostilities. If one takes the famine of the winter 1942/1943 into consideration, Greece is the country with the second bigger toll of casualties per population in Europe after the Soviet Union.
@@catfood_03_4stray actually third biggest causality-per-population rate in Europe, the USSR was second and Poland (despite losing more than 10 million people less) first.
The final phrase of your clip is very compelling. Who gets shut out ? Pretty powerful.
Nice video.
However, for your information, the video footages from the classes arround 16:45 is between the communist party and anarchists.
Political situation in Greece is a little bit more complex.
Σύνταγμα am I right chat?
Calmest day in Syntagma square:
The acronyms are a difficult task to understand. However, this video does a pretty good job of explaining the whole situation.
@The Cold War, Instead of mentioning the YVE who were nobodies, you should have given EPON a mention, after all you showed their posters in the video!
Wasn't the EPON the youth wing of the EAM?
👍 Do a section on Crete. That would be interesting.
1. You 've forgot to mention that in December '44 the British bombarded Athens!
2. You 've forgot to mention that the American's used for first time the napalm bomb on the greek mountains and this is how the nationalists won.
3. The X group were not nazi sympathisers but colaborators that killed thousands during the occupation and were never judged!
4. The nazi colaborators were used by the British and later by the Americans to fight the communists that had liberated the country ! They formed the national army that made the dictatorship of '67.
Why don't you mention all that??
Interesting stuff, Good video
10:30 And this is where most people are confused. With all due respect to the producers of The Cold War channel, but it is clear who first opened fire. Angelos Evert, a The chief of Athen's Police gave explicitly the order for Sharpshooters to open fire on the EAM crowd as they were approaching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is not clear wether the order was given by George Papandreou but sharptshooters from Organisation X had already taken positions to shoot the EAM demonstrators.
I love this channel and the detail in it's job, and it is extremely confusing to document briefly such complex political events. However for clarity and historic accuracy i would like you to take a look at the following sources and the references.
If you would like any help with translating Greek i am more than available for your service. You guys are awesome!
December events in both Greek and English.
1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekemvriana#The_events
2) el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%94%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B2%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC#%CE%9F%CE%B9_%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8E%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%82_%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82
Info on Angelos Evert in both Greek and English
1)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelos_Evert#Biography
2)el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%86%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%88%CE%B2%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%84
Your sources are form wikipedia? seriously? If you want to put sources, put actual historical literature, not wikipedia fanfics ^^
Noobster he could even cite from Wikipedia. They usually have pretty good sources unless it’s been tampered with
@@TheBeefCentral the dude could have used the sources Wikipedia used instead of using wikipedia itself as the source. It would have made for a stronger argument.
LORD HEMP yeah that’s what I’m talking about lol. I must have worded it weird
@@noobster4779 still, he isn't wrong, about who shoot first.
I love your work and absolutely your level of detail But would love more map detail in terms of gains and reduction in territory going forward :)
Despite the interesting topic I think the Greek tourist board won't sponsor this video (shocking, I know)
Yeah, it is true
Why should they sponsor this?It's not like the tourists will come here to find out about this war,or any other war.They'll come to swim,eat and drink themselves to death.
@@hebanker3372 I am just joking... I should add bazinga after this