DOCSLIB.ORG

Kinley on Tsoutsoumpis, 'A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: the People's Armies'

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kinley on Tsoutsoumpis, 'A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: the People's Armies' H-War Kinley on Tsoutsoumpis, 'A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: The People's Armies' Review published on Thursday, August 20, 2020 Spyros Tsoutsoumpis. A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: The People's Armies. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016. 288 pp. $105.00 (cloth),ISBN 978-1-78499-251-4. Reviewed by Christopher Kinley (The Ohio State University) Published on H-War (August, 2020) Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University) Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=55113 Undeniably, one of the most researched episodes in the history of modern Greece is the Axis occupation and the subsequent civil war that devastated the country and left traces still tangible today. Although there is an abundance of Greek-language scholarship regarding the occupation and resistance fighters, much of it is confined within an accusatory political discourse that obscures historical realities and the nuances of the Greek resistance. Further compounding the limited nature of this scholarship is that Anglophone works regarding the topic are routinely dominated by narratives anchored by the Nazi enterprise, typically to garner a broader audience. What emerges from Spyros Tsoutsoumpis’s book, A History of the Greek Resistance, is a rich study that acts as a corrective to these historiographical shortcomings. In this well-written and provocative study, Tsoutsoumpis meticulously weaves together archival sources, memoirs, and oral histories to unearth the complex nature of the Greek resistance, from internal organization to the motivations that drove individuals to join as well as defect from guerilla bands. The main goal of this book is to transcend the trap of politically motivated biases and “provide a systemic study of the ‘People’s Armies’ of ELAS and EDES during the occupation” (p. 3). To achieve this goal, Tsoutsoumpis divides his book into five thematic chapters aimed at detailing the rank and file of both organizations. The first chapter examines the rise of the resistance and how the People’s Armies gained traction, especially in the rural areas of Greece. Here Tsoustoumpis dispels the assumption that many fighters joined the resistance due to oppression and economic discontent, as the countryside was not affected by famine and economic depression to the same severity as Athens and other densely populated cities. Rather, many individuals joined due to family kinship and cultural ties. Chapter 2 addresses the motives of individuals who joined the People’s Armies, uncovering a plethora of reasons, such as “family ties,” while “others had a problem with the law or looked for adventure” (p. 73). Moreover, the fact that many men defected from ELAS to EDES and vice versa (often several times), demonstrates that political ideology did not play as decisive a role as historians have suggested. In the third chapter, Tsousoumpis details the quotidian activities of resistance fighters, unearthing how these men coped with the harsh realities of guerilla warfare, their interactions and relationships with civilians, and the culture of masculinity that guided daily life. Chapter 4 analyzes the issue of morale Citation: H-Net Reviews. Kinley on Tsoutsoumpis, 'A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: The People's Armies'. H- War. 08-20-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/6351861/kinley-tsoutsoumpis-history-greek-resistance-second-world-war-peoples Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-War and how resistance fighters found solace in the supernatural. While political ideology often did act as an aspect bonding together bands from the top down, as war fatigue became rampant many men looked to religion for respite in the increasing turmoil as resistance shifted to civil war. The final chapter investigates guerilla governance in free Greece, where guerillas and civilians often disagreed on respective roles and responsibilities, and there was a rise in Axis-sponsored anti-guerilla militias. Free Greece became a “Hobbesian dystopia,” Tsousoumpis contends, “where guerillas, militiamen and civilians used their weapons to settle scores, persecute opponents and exterminate their political rivals” (p. 11). Overall, Tsousoumpis achieves his goal of producing a study that circumvents political biases and ideology while providing a provocative account that pieces together the experiences of the rank and file. However, his study is not without a few minor issues. We know that political ideology did play a role in the formation and organization of resistance bands, but it is a role that Tsousoumpis never fully elucidates. Another point of contention is that his narrative is hard to follow in many places as Tsousoumpis abruptly jumps from discussing ELAS bands to EDES, and throughout various regions in Greece, often with unclear transitions. While this was done more than likely to provide parallels between the factions and deemphasize the role of ideology, still, it can lead to some disorientation for the reader. Despite these minor points, A History of the Greek Resistance is a rich and welcome book that brings new and invaluable insights to the historiography of the resistance movement in occupied Greece. Citation: Christopher Kinley. Review of Tsoutsoumpis, Spyros, A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: The People's Armies. H-War, H-Net Reviews. August, 2020.URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55113 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Citation: H-Net Reviews. Kinley on Tsoutsoumpis, 'A History of the Greek Resistance in the Second World War: The People's Armies'. H- War. 08-20-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/6351861/kinley-tsoutsoumpis-history-greek-resistance-second-world-war-peoples Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Explaining Irredentism: the Case of Hungary and Its Transborder Minorities in Romania and Slovakia
    Explaining irredentism: the case of Hungary and its transborder minorities in Romania and Slovakia by Julianna Christa Elisabeth Fuzesi A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Government London School of Economics and Political Science University of London 2006 1 UMI Number: U615886 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615886 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Signature Date ....... 2 UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Abstract of Thesis Author (full names) ..Julianna Christa Elisabeth Fiizesi...................................................................... Title of thesis ..Explaining irredentism: the case of Hungary and its transborder minorities in Romania and Slovakia............................................................................................................................. ....................................................................................... Degree..PhD in Government............... This thesis seeks to explain irredentism by identifying the set of variables that determine its occurrence. To do so it provides the necessary definition and comparative analytical framework, both lacking so far, and thus establishes irredentism as a field of study in its own right. The thesis develops a multi-variate explanatory model that is generalisable yet succinct.
    [Show full text]
  • Military Entrepreneurship in the Shadow of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949)
    JPR Men of the Gun and Men of the State: Military Entrepreneurship in the Shadow of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949) Spyros Tsoutsoumpis Abstract: The article explores the intersection between paramilitarism, organized crime, and nation-building during the Greek Civil War. Nation-building has been described in terms of a centralized state extending its writ through a process of modernisation of institutions and monopolisation of violence. Accordingly, the presence and contribution of private actors has been a sign of and a contributive factor to state-weakness. This article demonstrates a more nuanced image wherein nation-building was characterised by pervasive accommodations between, and interlacing of, state and non-state violence. This approach problematises divisions between legal (state-sanctioned) and illegal (private) violence in the making of the modern nation state and sheds new light into the complex way in which the ‘men of the gun’ interacted with the ‘men of the state’ in this process, and how these alliances impacted the nation-building process at the local and national levels. Keywords: Greece, Civil War, Paramilitaries, Organized Crime, Nation-Building Introduction n March 1945, Theodoros Sarantis, the head of the army’s intelligence bureau (A2) in north-western Greece had a clandestine meeting with Zois Padazis, a brigand-chief who operated in this area. Sarantis asked Padazis’s help in ‘cleansing’ the border area from I‘unwanted’ elements: leftists, trade-unionists, and local Muslims. In exchange he promised to provide him with political cover for his illegal activities.1 This relationship that extended well into the 1950s was often contentious.
    [Show full text]
  • Britain and the Greek Security Battalions, 1943-1944
    VOL. XV, Nos. 1 & 2 SPRING-SUMMER 1988 Publisher: LEANDROS PAPATHANASIOU Editorial Board: MARIOS L. EVRIVIADES ALEXANDROS KITROEFF PETER PAPPAS YIANNIS P. ROUBATIS Managing Eidtor: SUSAN ANASTASAKOS Advisory Board: MARGARET ALEXIOU KOSTIS MOSKOFF Harvard University Thessaloniki, Greece SPYROS I. ASDRACHAS Nlcos MOUZELIS University of Paris I London School of Economics LOUKAS AXELOS JAMES PETRAS Athens, Greece S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton HAGEN FLEISCHER OLE L. SMITH University of Crete University of Copenhagen ANGELIKI E. LAIOU STAVROS B. THOMADAKIS Harvard University Baruch College, C.U.N.Y. CONSTANTINE TSOUCALAS University of Athens The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora is a quarterly review published by Pella Publishing Company, Inc., 337 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018-6401, U.S.A., in March, June, September, and December. Copyright © 1988 by Pella Publishing Company. ISSN 0364-2976 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS DAVID GILMORE is professor of anthropology at the State Uni- versity of New York at Stony Brook . MOLLY GREENE is a doc- toral candidate at Princeton University . CLIFFORD P. HACKETT is a former aide to U.S. Representative Benjamin Rosenthal and Senator Paul Sarbanes. He is currently administering an exchange program between the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament and is also executive director of the American Council for Jean Monnet Studies . JOHN LOUIS HONDROS is professor of history at the College of Wooster, Ohio ... ADAMANTIA POLLIS is professor of political science at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Re- search . JOHN E. REXINE is Charles A. Dana Professor of the Classics and director of the division of the humanities at Colgate Uni- versity .
    [Show full text]
  • Haifa 12/12/02 FREEDOM OR DEATH: the Jews in the Greek Resistance Steven Bowman, University of Cincinnati Visiting Profe
    Haifa 12/12/02 FREEDOM OR DEATH: The Jews in the Greek Resistance Steven Bowman, University of Cincinnati Visiting Professor, University of Haifa “Better one hour of freedom than 40 years of slavery and prison” Rigas Pheraios (1757-1798) Neither the Greek Government nor the Greek people accepted the surrender of their trapped and exhausted armies in April 1941. Nor did the people of Crete who fought alongside the remnants of the Greek army and the British Expeditionary Force accept the German invasion and subsequent occupation. Resistance continued from the victory over the Italians and was the Greek response to the Axis invasions. Resistance took many forms. Urban resistance emphasized gathering of information, refusal to volunteer for labor in Germany, occasional acts of sabotage, demonstrations and protests, sympathy with and assistance to British prisoners of war; even survival was an act of resistance. Rural resistance, in the main, consisted of hiding food and offering sanctuary and assistance to escaped British POWs and to resistance fighters. Eventually the rural population contributed its sons – and daughters – to the new vision of Greece imposed by EAM-ELAS. The mountains however have justly claimed the historical high ground for resistance. It was to the mountains, as traditionally among the klephtes of the Ottoman period, that men and women ran from the occupying authorities and planned their attacks. The mountains, as Leon Uris described them, were angry, indeed as angry as a swarm of bees whose pastoral life was disturbed by rabid wolves. The resistance in Greece began as a continuation of the war against the Axis forces that had invaded, conquered, and occupied Greece.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise and Fall of the 5/42 Regiment of Evzones: a Study on National Resistance and Civil War in Greece 1941-1944
    The Rise and Fall of the 5/42 Regiment of Evzones: A Study on National Resistance and Civil War in Greece 1941-1944 ARGYRIOS MAMARELIS Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy The European Institute London School of Economics and Political Science 2003 i UMI Number: U613346 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U613346 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 9995 / 0/ -hoZ2 d X Abstract This thesis addresses a neglected dimension of Greece under German and Italian occupation and on the eve of civil war. Its contribution to the historiography of the period stems from the fact that it constitutes the first academic study of the third largest resistance organisation in Greece, the 5/42 regiment of evzones. The study of this national resistance organisation can thus extend our knowledge of the Greek resistance effort, the political relations between the main resistance groups, the conditions that led to the civil war and the domestic relevance of British policies.
    [Show full text]
  • Military History of Italy During World War II from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Military history of Italy during World War II From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. The imperial ambitions of the Fascist regime, which aspired to restore the Roman Empire in North Africa and the Mediterranean (the Mare Nostrum, or the Italian Empire), were partially met with the annexation of Albania and the Province of Ljubljana, and the occupation of British Somaliland and other territories, but ultimately collapsed after defeats in the East and North African campaigns. In July 1943, following the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy and its colonies in May 1940 (Dodecanese islands Benito Mussolini was arrested by order of King and Tientsin concession in China are not shown) Victor Emmanuel III, provoking a civil war. Italy surrendered to the Allies at the end of the Italian Campaign. The northern half of the country was occupied by Germans with the fascists help and made a collaborationist puppet state (with more than 600,000 soldiers), while the south was governed by monarchist and liberal forces, which fought for the Allied cause as the Italian Co-Belligerent Army (at its height numbering more than 50,000 men), helped by circa 350,000[1] partisans of disparate political ideologies that operated all over Italy. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Imperial ambitions 1.2 Industrial strength 1.3 Economy 1.4 Military 2 Outbreak of the Second World
    [Show full text]
  • Spyridon Sfetas the Founding of the Slavo-Macedonian Popular
    Spyridon Sfetas Autonomist Movements of the Slavophones in 1944: The Attitude of the Communist Party of Greece and the Protection of the Greek-Yugoslav Border The founding of the Slavo-Macedonian Popular Liberation Front (SNOF) in Kastoria in October 1943 and in Fiorina the following November was a result of two factors: the general negotiations between Tito’s envoy in Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia, Svetozar Vukma- nović-Tempo, the military leaders of the Greek Popular Liberation Army (ELAS), and the political leaders of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in July and August 1943 to co-ordinate the resistance movements1; and the more specific discussions between Leonidas Stringos and the political delegate of the GHQ of Yugoslav Macedonia, Cvetko Uzunovski in late August or early September 1943 near Yan- nitsa12. The Yugoslavs’ immediate purpose in founding SNOF was to in­ culcate a Slavo-Macedonian national consciousness in the Slavophones of Greek Macedonia and to enlist the Slavophones of Greek Macedonia into the resistance movement in Yugoslav Macedonia; while their indirect aim was to promote Yugoslavia’s views on the Macedonian Question3. The KKE had recognised the Slavophones as a “Slavo- 1. See T.-A. Papapanagiotou, L ’Effort pour la création du grand quartier général balca- nique et la coopération balcanique, Juin-Septembre 1943 (unpublished postgraduate disser­ tation, Sorbonne, 1991); there is a copy in the library of the Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki. 2. See S. Vukmanović-Tempo, Revolucija Koja teče, vol. 3, Zagreb 1982, p. 114. In a postwar report to the Central Committee of the KKE on SNOF’s activities, Stringos had this to say about the meeting: “Abas requested that our sections work together against the Germans and that we make things a little easier for their sections that were obliged, because of the operations, to cross over into Greek territory frequently; and they also offered to help with the work among the Slavo-Macedonians, who were still being influenced by the komitadjif’.
    [Show full text]
  • Greece and NATO Master's Thesis Presented
    The “Menace from the North” and the Suppression of the Left: Greece and NATO Master’s Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University Ioannis Pavlou, B.A. Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Studies The Ohio State University 2015 Thesis Committee: Georgios Anagnostou, advisor Anthony Kaldellis Copyright by Ioannis Nikos Pavlou 2015 Abstract In the aftermath of the Greek Civil War, the right-wing elements of Greece’s government felt that they needed to join NATO to protect Greek interests from the perceived threat posed by Communism and their Balkan neighbors. Throughout this period of time, the Greek state implemented several drastic and often undemocratic motions that led to measures against minority groups, suppressing left-wing politicians, and applying old nationalistic rhetoric such as the “Menace from the North” to the situation with the Communist regimes in their neighboring countries. During this time, Greek interests often were pushed aside in order to appease the United States and other members of NATO while at other points, Greece nearly went to war with their NATO ally Turkey over the future of Cyprus. Meanwhile, Greece’s new-found alliance with NATO led to an improvement of their military capabilities to the point where the highly nationalistic, anti-Communist army would seize control of the government in 1967 and form a Military Junta. During the seven years of military control, NATO continued to work with the Military Junta which in turn would have drastic consequences when Greece nearly went to war with Turkey over Cyprus.
    [Show full text]
  • The Truth About Greek Occupied Macedonia
    TheTruth about Greek Occupied Macedonia By Hristo Andonovski & Risto Stefov (Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov) The Truth about Greek Occupied Macedonia Published by: Risto Stefov Publications [email protected] Toronto, Canada All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written consent from the author, except for the inclusion of brief and documented quotations in a review. Copyright 2017 by Hristo Andonovski & Risto Stefov e-book edition January 7, 2017 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface................................................................................................6 CHAPTER ONE – Struggle for our own School and Church .......8 1. Macedonian texts written with Greek letters .................................9 2. Educators and renaissance men from Southern Macedonia.........15 3. Kukush – Flag bearer of the educational struggle........................21 4. The movement in Meglen Region................................................33 5. Cultural enlightenment movement in Western Macedonia..........38 6. Macedonian and Bulgarian interests collide ................................41 CHAPTER TWO - Armed National Resistance ..........................47 1. The Negush Uprising ...................................................................47 2. Temporary Macedonian government ...........................................49
    [Show full text]
  • Dodecanese Campaign from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history Dodecanese Campaign From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Dodecanese Campaign of World War II was an attempt by Allied forces, mostly Navigation Dodecanese Campaign British, to capture the Italian-held Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea following the Part of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of Main page surrender of Italy in September 1943, and use them as bases against the German- World War II Contents controlled Balkans. The Allied effort failed, with the whole of the Dodecanese falling to Featured content the Germans within two months, and the Allies suffering heavy losses in men and Current events ships.[3] The operations in the Dodecanese, lasting from 8 September to 22 November Random article 1943, resulted in one of the last major German victories in the war.[4] Donate to Wikipedia Contents 1 Background Interaction 2 Initial Allied and German moves — The Fall of Rhodes Help 3 Battle of Kos About Wikipedia 4 Battle of Leros Community portal 5 Naval operations Recent changes 6 Aftermath Map of the Dodecanese Islands (in dark blue) Contact Wikipedia 7 In popular culture Date September 8 – November 22, 1943 8 References Location Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea Toolbox 9 Sources 10 External links Result German victory What links here Territorial German occupation of the Dodecanese Related changes changes Background [edit] Upload file Belligerents Special pages Further information: Military history of Greece during World War United Kingdom Germany Permanent link II and Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II Kingdom of Italy Republican State of Page information South Africa Italy The Dodecanese island group lies in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, and had been Data item Greece under Italian occupation since the Italo-Turkish War.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 UNNEGOTIATED TRANSITION . SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME: THE PROCESSES OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN GREECE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Neovi M, Karakatsanis, B.A., M.A.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Macedonian Question on Civil Conflict in Greece (1943 - 1949)
    THE IMPACT OF THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION ON CIVIL CONFLICT IN GREECE (1943 - 1949) Hardly one single issue had such diverse and long-standing repercussions on the inception, plan- ning, conduct and perceptions of the Greek Civil War as the Macedonian question. Imbued with the legacy of 19th century conflicting national visions and inter-war destabilizing revisionist schemes, it found itself in the wartime whirlpool of revolutionary change, activating forces — and passions — that were to affect developments in three Balkan states1. An examination of the impact of the Macedonian question on the Greek Civil War can hardly be restricted to the years 1946-1949. Its ramifications in internal Greek conflicts were discernible even in the early phases of the Occupation and throughout the Resistance, continued unabated to Decem- ber 1944 and, despite the Varkiza settlement, remained active during the interlude of 1945-19462. Perceptions and realities in Macedonian affairs rarely coincide. Contemporaries suffered much by lack of dependable information on the aims and policies of adversaries and allies alike. Pre-conceived notions frequently substituted for intelligent analyses. As a result, deep-rooted fears and suspicions persisted and created a permanent sense of insecurity, which was further fanned by psychological warfare operatives, tempering with a sensitive national issue for political ends. Meanwhile, dogmatic approaches to rapidly changing situations blurred the vision of leaders and disoriented public opi- nion. In the end, actors on the Macedonian stage found themselves performing in a theater of the absurd. During the occupation, civil strife in Greek Macedonia between resistance groups was not limited to a contest for post-war political predominance.
    [Show full text]