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

Shipping Tycoons and Authoritarian Rulers: Doing the Oil Business with the Greek Dictatorship, 1967–1974

“…Roles: Minister to the prime minister (April 1967-December 1967; prime minister (December 1967-October 1973; regent (March 1972-June 1973; president of the Hellenic Republic (June 1973-November 1973). Nikolaos Makarezos, member of the triumvirate (1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973).…”

“…1 The colonels' dictatorship, however, is still largely unexplored terrain in Greek historiography (Antoniou et al 2017;Tsakas 2017). Diplomatic historians, who relied mainly upon British and US documents, were the first to study Greece's relations with some of its major NATO partners and their alleged role in the colonels' coup (Klarevas 2006;Maragkou 2006;Maragkou 2009;Nafpliotis 2013;Pedaliu 2011). More recently, historians of European integration have made use of newly released documents from European organizations and have addressed the impact of the freezing of the association agreement between Greece and the EEC (originally signed in 1961) and Greece's forced withdrawal from the Council of Europe (Fernández Soriano 2017;Varsori 2008).…”

Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War

“…Although, the Johnson administration did not intervene or even condemn the coup, it suspended the delivery of military hardware from the mutual aid program (MAP) appropriations until the end of its tenure in late 1968. Despite this, as the conspirators had easily and immediately prevailed without any resistance by the King and the loyalist military, Washington accepted the fait accompli and decided to carry on normal relations with the junta (Maragkou 2009;Miller 2009, 147-9, 151-4;Keeley 2010, 97, 104, 108, 118). Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 503 Less than a couple of months after the imposition of the Greek dictatorship, regional tension was significantly aggravated in the eastern Mediterranean due to the escalation of the Arab-Israeli crisis which led to the outbreak of the six-day war.…”

“…Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 503 Less than a couple of months after the imposition of the Greek dictatorship, regional tension was significantly aggravated in the eastern Mediterranean due to the escalation of the Arab-Israeli crisis which led to the outbreak of the six-day war. When the six-day war broke out, Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos called the US Ambassador, Phillips Talbot, and offered Greek assistance to the USA in whichever way the latter needed (Maragkou 2009). It was during this conflict that the USSR transferred a powerful naval force in the Mediterranean, while in subsequent years, Soviet political penetration in the Middle East and naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean increased significantly (Vego 2000, 164).…”

“…Therefore, the greater the escalation of superpower antagonism in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the higher importance was attributed to Greece's position and cooperation, regardless of its dictatorial regime. The dictators understood that the rising tension in the eastern Mediterranean would increase Greece's geostrategic value, and grew confident that the USA and the west, in general, would take no further action against them (Maragkou 2009;Keeley 2010, 130;Pedaliu 2011). Of course, the regional volatility and the increase of Soviet military presence in the eastern Mediterranean posed new challenges to Greek security: by late 1960s, Greek military planners feared that Soviet naval and air forces could outflank Greek defence and strike in Crete and southern Greece.…”