The liberation of most of mainland Greece from the occupying forces in the autumn of 1944 was not combined with the prevalence of a climate of national unity for the reconstruction of the country, after four years wars and occupation by the Axis powers. It may be that the atmosphere was enthusiastic when the government of National Unity under him entered Athens George Papandreou on October 18, 1944, but the uncertainty and fear about the next day of the country’s governance continued.
It is accepted by many historians that, during the Second World War, the resistance of various organizations against the occupying forces was also a struggle for the conquest of power after liberation, an element that also led to civil conflicts. In any case, however, for the post-war order of things in Balkans the attitude of the British and the Soviets played a decisive role.
Both the bourgeois and the British, as well as the EAM leadership, were possessed by mutual suspicionafter the signing firstly of the Lebanon agreement and then of the Caserta agreement, at the end of September 1944. The Papandreou government and the British were afraid of some dynamic movement by ELAS for the seizure of powerwhile the leading officials of EAM were afraid of it possibility of collusion of the two factors against them. Therefore, the latter did not take very positively the decision of the Papandreou government in November to demobilize ELAS and EDES until December 10, at the same time that the Mountain Brigade of Rimini and the Holy Company would remain active.
The members of the EAM who participated in the government as ministers resigned.
Discussions between the two sides ended in an impasse, and on December 2 the EAM members who participated in the government as ministers resigned. Organized mass rally for December 3rd and a general strike was declared for the following day.
Despite its ban, the rally took place, being impressive with the gathering of so many people in Syntagma Square. It was tarnished, however, by the firing into the crowd by the police and the death of about thirty peopleevents that marked the beginning of the of December. The clashes between the government forces and the British on the one hand and the EAM on the other lasted about a month.
The leadership of the KKE, not having a strong political sense to perceive the importance of Greece for British plans and not knowing the Churchill-Stalin agreement on the future of the Balkans, he overestimated the possibilities of action of ELAS inside Athens and underestimated the British factor. Even when he received a negative response from the Soviet and Yugoslav sides for providing military assistance, he did not accept the opposing side’s proposals for an armistice. At the same time, the British moved thousands of troops from Italy, raising their presence in Athens to several tens of thousands of soldiers.
The KKE leadership saw Churchill’s arrival in Athens as an act of weakness.
Wishing to have a personal view of the course of the fighting, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Christmas day he went to Athens, where he met with the archbishop Damascenes.
On 26 and 27 December, he participated in the large meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended by representatives from the warring sides. The leadership of the KKE mistakenly saw Churchill’s arrival in Athens as an act of weakness, given that the British prime minister was strongly criticized at home for his involvement in Greek affairs. He estimated that he arrived in Greece with the aim of finding an unconditional solution.
At the meeting, the representatives of the KKE, having the illusion that they were negotiating from a position of strength, expressed exaggerated claims, which were rejected by the other participants. The Battle of Athens continued until the night of January 4-5, 1945, when the last units of ELAS withdrew from Athens. Two days earlier, on January 3, Nikolaos Plastiras had formed a government, without the presence of EAM executives. On January 10, the KKE asked for a truce. A month later, on February 12, the two sides signed the Varkiza Agreement.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
