The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949

The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949
Author: James Horncastle
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2019-06-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498585051

In this study of Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, the author examines how their participation in the conflict, and the attempts by other groups to manipulate them, gave rise to modern issues that continue to affect politics in the region today. The Macedonian Question has confounded academics, politicians and the people of the Balkans since the nineteenth century. While the countries have resolved the territorial component of the Macedonian Question, the critical and confusing question surrounding the ethnic and linguistic identity of the people of the region continues to be the source of international debate. Part of the reason for this confusion is because the history of the Macedonian Question is shrouded in nationalist polemics. The role of the Macedonian Slavs involvement in the Greek Civil War is particularly contentious and embedded in nationalist polemics, which has impacted academic inquiry. This book argues that the preponderance of Macedonian Slavs within the communist forces during the Greek Civil War influenced the actions of all the major actors involved, and is a significant factor in shaping the modern Macedonian national identity.

Greece at the Crossroads

Greece at the Crossroads
Author: John O. Iatrides
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 027104330X

A collection of essays by European and American specialists offering new and authoritative analyses of the Greek civil war and its international dimensions. The Greek civil war that broke out at the end of World War II was one of the formative events in the early days of the Cold War. In the fall of 1944, at the moment of liberation from the German occupiers, Greece stood at the &"crossroads,&" in need of a new constitutional and social order. However, the factions that vied for influence over the state promoted their particular agendas with a vehemence, exclusiveness, and mistrust that destroyed any chance for genuine compromise and reconciliation. The essays collected here represent a systematic attempt to examine the domestic and external forces that were actively involved in the Greek civil war of the late 1940s and that contributed to its resolution. Specifically, they consider the political options available to postwar Greece by identifying the principal actors promoting such options and analyzing their programs, tactics, strengths, and weaknesses. They also highlight the close interaction among domestic, regional, and global levels of conflict and measure the impact of that conflict on the political development of Greece.

The Macedonian Question

The Macedonian Question
Author: Dimitris Livanios
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2008-04-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191528722

The Macedonian Question - the struggle for control over a territory with historically ill-defined borders and conflicting national identities - is one of the most intractable problems in modern Balkan history. In this lucid and persuasive study, Dimitris Livanios explores the British dimension to the Macedonian Question from the outbreak of the Second World War to the aftermath of the Tito-Stalin split. Investigating British policy towards the Bulgar-Yugoslav controversy over Macedonia, the author assesses the impact of British actions and strategy during this period, with a particular focus on wartime planning concerning the future of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and attempts to prevent Tito from creating a federation of the South Slavs, both during and after the war. Making extensive use of British archives, Livanios brings to light important documentary evidence to offer a fresh perspective on the emergence of the federal Macedonian unit within Tito's Yugoslavia, and on the efforts to create a functioning Macedonian national ideology.

The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians

The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians
Author: Alexis Heraclides
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000289400

This book is a comprehensive and dispassionate analysis of the intriguing Macedonian Question from 1878 until 1949 and of the Macedonians (and of their neighbours) from the 1890s until today, with the two themes intertwining. The Macedonian Question was an offshoot of the wider Eastern Question – i.e., the fate of the European remnants of the Ottoman Empire once it dissolved. The initial protagonists of the Macedonian Question were Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, and a Slav-speaking population inhabiting geographical Macedonia in search of its destiny, the largest segment of which ended up creating a new nation, comprising the Macedonians, something unacceptable to its three neighbours. Alexis Heraclides analyses the shifting sands of the Macedonian Question and of the gradual rise of Macedonian nationhood, with special emphasis on the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian claims to Macedonia (1870s–1919); the birth and vicissitudes of the most famous Macedonian revolutionary organization, the VM(O)RO, and of other organizations (1893–1940); the appearance and gradual establishment of the Macedonian nation from the 1890s until 1945; Titos’s crucial role in Macedonian nationhood-cum-federal status; the Greek-Macedonian name dispute (1991–2018), including the ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ – the deep-seated reasons rendering the clash intractable for decades; the final Greek-Macedonian settlement (the 2018 Prespa Agreement); the Bulgarian-Macedonian dispute (1950–today) and its ephemeral settlement in 2017; the issue of the Macedonian language; and the Macedonian national historical narrative. The author also addresses questions around who the ancient Macedonians were and the fascination with Alexander the Great. This monograph will be an essential resource for scholars working on Macedonian history, Balkan politics and conflict resolution.

The Pawn that Would be King

The Pawn that Would be King
Author: James R Horncastle
Publisher:
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

The Macedonian Question has confounded academics, politicians and the people of the Balkans since the nineteenth century. While countries have resolved the territorial component of the Macedonian Question, the critical and confusing problem surrounding the ethnic and linguistic identity of the people of the region continues to be the source of international debate. Part of the reason for this confusion is because the history of the Macedonian Question is shrouded in nationalist polemics. The role of the Macedonian Slavs involvement in the Greek Civil War is particularly contentious and embedded in nationalist polemics, which has impacted academic inquiry. This dissertation argues that the preponderance of Macedonian Slavs within the communist forces during the Greek Civil War influenced the actions of all the major actors involved, and has been a significant factor in shaping the modern Macedonian national identity. Equally important was that the Macedonian people's cognizance of their contribution to the conflict initially allowed them to pursue political and social objectives that would have been impossible under conventional circumstances. Ultimately, regional and international politics prevented the most idealist sections of the Macedonian Slavs from achieving their goal of an independent Macedonian state. Those elements that followed the Yugoslav vision, which developments in the Greek Civil War helped facilitate, however, did achieve the goal of an independent Macedonian political entity. This dissertation demonstrates that one cannot gain a comprehensive understanding of the Greek Civil War without examining the role of the Macedonian Slavs and Macedonian Question in the conflict.

Greece, European Political Cooperation and the Macedonian Question

Greece, European Political Cooperation and the Macedonian Question
Author: Aristotle Tziampiris
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017-11-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351734539

This title was first published in 2002. An important examination of an international event from the perspective of Greek foreign policy, within the wider context of foreign policy in European integration

NATO’s First Enlargement

NATO’s First Enlargement
Author: Evanthis Hatzivassiliou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2017-10-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134798512

This volume discusses the entry of Greece and Turkey to NATO in 1952 from the perspective of history and international relations. The chapters were originally collected in 2012 to mark the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the accession of the two states to NATO. The focus is not on the diplomatic/political events that led to the accession (a subject which has already been extensively discussed in the available bibliography), but expands on a reassessment of this event for the two states as well as for the Balkans, covering aspects of the wider post-war period and providing perspectives for the policies of Turkey, Greece and NATO until the present day. This book was originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece

Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece
Author: Dimitris Keridis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2022-06-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442264713

Greece is a ancient land, blessed with a stunning natural beauty and an inspiring cultural heritage but burdened with history and conflict, it shares many traits and comparable trajectories with its neighbors and countries of a similar background. Modern Greece is a successor nation-state of the Ottoman Empire, created in the early 19th century through the interplay of an evolving Greek national idea, the crisis of the Ottoman state, and the intervention of great powers. Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 200 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Greece.