Book reviewed in 'Diplomacy & Statecraft'

The latest review of 'Britain and the Greek Colonels' appeared recently in Diplomacy & Statecraft (Volume 25, Issue 2, 2014)

The review is written by Dr Sotiris Rizas (Academy of Athens Modern Greek History Research Centre), author of some of the most well-researched Greek history books on the 1960s and 1970s.

Click here to read the review.

47 years after the Colonels' coup d'etat

Here are two links (from skai.gr and BBC Radio 4) on the Greek Military Coup and the resistance to the regime:

1) BBC Radio 4 Witness:

'In April 1967, seven years of military dictatorship began in Greece. During the rule of the colonels, thousands of people were arrested and tortured. 

Sociologist Gerasimos Nortaras was part of the armed resistance to the military. He was captured, but refused to give away his fellow fighters, even under brutal torture."

2) Skai.gr article (in Greek)

Book reviewed in 'The Cyprus Review'

Another review of 'Britain and the Greek Colonels' appeared recently.

This time Dr Andreas Constandinos (author of 'The Cyprus Crisis: Examining the Role of the British and American Government's During 1974') wrote his opinion on the book for The Cyprus Review (Vol. 25 n. 2, Fall 2013).

Here's a small excerpt:

You can find more info on the journal here.

Book reviewed in the Anglo-Hellenic Review

'Britain and the Greek Colonels' reviewed by Dr William Mallinson for the Anglo-Hellenic Review (No 48, Autumn 2013).
Here's an excerpt:

Dr Mallinson is Lecturer in British History, Literature and Culture at the Ionian University, Corfu and has written extensively on Cyprus and British foreign policy towards the island.

You can find his blog here.

'Britain and the Greek Colonels' reviewed in 'Southeast European and Black Sea Studies'

A review of the book by Dr. Konstantina E. Botsiou was recently published in Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2013.


Dr. Konstantina E. Botsiou is an Associate Professor of Modern History and International Politics and Vice Rector for Financial Planning at the University of Peloponnese. 

Here's an excerpt:

'In the mid-1970s, the European Community emerged as a hub organization for the promotion of democracy and the protection of human rights. It was widely considered suitable for the role by virtue of its successful democratization and integration since the Second World War. Contemporary events only reinforced that political image. The Helsinki Final Act of August 1975 reflected a mutual East–West intention of rapprochement based on the respect of territorial integrity and human rights. At the same time, Western Europe was celebrating the restoration of democracy in three Mediterranean countries, Greece (1974), Portugal (1974–1975) and Spain (1975–1976). All three of them hastened to apply for EC-membership right after the collapse of dictatorial rule, clearly linking the stabilization of democratic governance with participation in ‘democratic Europe’. Accordingly, the fulfilment of their integration hopes until the mid-1980s underlined the EC’s willingness to accept the linkage, as was to be verified again a few years later in the European Union’s post-Cold War ‘Eastern enlargement’.
The evolution of Europe to the status of a global player in issues of democracy and human rights renders all the more interesting the investigation of defining moments as well as occasions when either the EC/EU or single European states were confronted with critical dilemmas as to the prioritization of ‘democracy’ in the shaping of foreign policy. Both characteristics apply to the period right before the democratization wave in the South of the 1970s. For quite a few years, historians and political scientists have been chiefly examining the transition to democracy as a manifestation of the expanding influence of pro-European forces. More light needs to be shed, however, on the opposite direction, too; namely on the impact of dictatorial rule upon the democratization agenda of various West European countries and, ultimately, the European Community itself. Such research questions are crucial in Alexandros Nafpliotis’ book titled Accommodating the Junta in the Cold War: Britain and the Colonels.
The title is telling of the author’s aim to analyse the rationale behind Britain’s search of a modus vivendi with the Greek military regime between 1967 and 1974. To achieve this goal, he explores a broad spectrum of London’s international objectives and commitments. According to a central theme of the book – originally a doctoral dissertation concluded at the London School of Economics and Political Science – the military dictatorship in Greece unfolded while Britain was rapidly losing economic strength and political leverage both in Europe as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean. Not surprisingly, national security interests and the centrality of NATO are considered to have far outweighed concerns over the political ‘anachronism’ of the junta. The stability of Greece as a NATO-partner was deemed more necessary than interference in Greek affairs for the sake of democratization. [...]'

SocialistResistance reviews 'Britain and the Greek Colonels'

Here you can read a review of the book by Piers Mostyn:
http://socialistresistance.org/5749/britains-smashing-of-greek-democracy

The review is entitled 'Britain’s smashing of Greek democracy' and was published on 30 December 2013.