High Hopes, Bold Aims, Limited Results: Britain and the Establishment of the NATO Mediterranean Command, 1950–1953

Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War

“…4 Yet, a fundamental difference continued to exist between the British, who were trying to place Greece, and particularly Turkey, in a Middle Eastern context and include the Greek and Turkish forces to the proposed separate Mediterranean or Middle East Command, and the Americans, who were thinking purely on terms of the European theatre and the NATO area. Until September 1952, the reorganization of the southern flank command set-up was finalized; the Greek and Turkish land and air forces were fully integrated in the NATO area and the European command; in late 1952, the Americans and the British also reached a compromise settlement on the naval command set up in the Mediterranean (Chourchoulis 2009). Despite the significant success that accession to NATO represented on the level of grand strategy, operationally things continued to be very difficult.…”