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.