The Communist Party of Greece is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its current name in November 1924. It is the oldest political party in modern Greek politics. The party was banned in 1936, but played a significant role in the Greek resistance and the Greek Civil War, and its membership peaked in the mid-1940s. Legalization of the KKE was restored following the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.
The Greek People's Liberation Army was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek resistance until February 1945, when, following the Dekemvriana clashes and the Varkiza Agreement, it was disarmed and disbanded. ELAS was the largest and most significant of the military organizations of the Greek resistance.
The Greek resistance, involved armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II. The largest group was the Communist-dominated EAM-ELAS. The Greek Resistance is considered one of the strongest resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe, with partisans, known as andartes, controlling much of the countryside prior to the German withdrawal from Greece in late 1944.
The National Republican Greek League was one of the major resistance groups formed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.
National and Social Liberation was a Greek Resistance movement during the Axis occupation of Greece. It was founded in autumn 1942 by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros and politician Georgios Kartalis.
Evripidis Bakirtzis, born in Serres, Ottoman Empire, was a Hellenic Army officer and politician. Dismissed from the army twice due to his participation in pro-republican coup attempts and sentenced to death, later during the Axis Occupation of Greece, in World War II he co-founded the National and Social Liberation (EKKA) resistance group along with Dimitrios Psarros and was the military head of the organization. He later he joined and was a prominent member of the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its military wing the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). He served as head of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), a government of Greek Resistance-held territories also called the "Mountain Government", from 10 March to 18 April 1944. He was nicknamed "the Red Colonel", from his pen name in the newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece, the Rizospastis.
The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of Greece to assist its ally, Fascist Italy, which had been at war with Allied Greece since October 1940. Following the conquest of Crete, all of Greece was occupied by June 1941. The occupation of the mainland lasted until Germany and its ally Bulgaria were forced to withdraw under Allied pressure in early October 1944. However, German garrisons remained in control of Crete and some other Aegean islands until after the end of World War II in Europe, surrendering these islands in May and June 1945.
Napoleon Zervas was a Hellenic Army officer and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League (EDES), the second most significant, in terms of size and activity, resistance organization against the Axis Occupation of Greece.
The Treaty of Varkiza was signed in Varkiza on February 12, 1945 between the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) for EAM-ELAS, following the latter's defeat during the Dekemvriana clashes. One of the aspects of the accord called for a plebiscite to be held within the year in order to resolve any problems with the Greek Constitution. This plebiscite would help establish elections and thus create a constituent assembly that would draft a new organic law. In another aspect of the treaty, both signatories agreed that the Allies send overseers in order to verify the validity of the elections. The accord also promised that members of the EAM-ELAS would be permitted to participate in political activities if they surrendered their weapons. Moreover, all civil and political liberties would be guaranteed along with the undertaking by the Greek government towards establishing a nonpolitical national army.
Athanasios Klaras, better known by the nom de guerreAris Velouchiotis, was a Greek journalist, politician, member of the Communist Party of Greece, the most prominent leader and chief instigator of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the military branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM), which was the major resistance organization in occupied Greece from 1942 to 1945.
The Dekemvriana refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the communist EAM, some parts of its military wing, the ELAS stationed in Athens, the KKE and the OPLA from one side and from the other side, the Greek Government, some parts of the Hellenic Royal Army, the Hellenic Gendarmerie, the Cities Police, the far-right Organization X, among others and also the British Army.
Operation Harling, known as the Battle of Gorgopotamos in Greece, was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups EDES and ELAS, which destroyed the heavily guarded Gorgopotamos viaduct in Central Greece on 25 November 1942. This was one of the first major sabotage acts in Axis-occupied Europe, and the beginning of a permanent British involvement with the Greek Resistance.
The Greek Civil War was a civil war that took place between 1943 to 1949 in Greece, mainly fought between the Monarchist Kingdom of Greece and the People's Republic of the Provisional Democratic Government, governed by the Communist Party of Greece and its military branch, the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE). It began as a conflict between the communist-dominated left-wing resistance organization EAM-ELAS and loosely allied anti-communist resistance forces, and later escalated into a major Civil War between the Greek state and the communists. Fighting resulted in the defeat of the DSE by the Hellenic Army.
Germanos Dimakos was a Greek priest and prominent member of the Greek Resistance during World War II, fighting in the ranks of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). He is best known by his nom de guerre, Papa-Anypomonos.
The National Bands Agreement was an agreement concluded on 5 July 1943 at the village of Liaskovo, between the British military mission to occupied Greece and the three main Greek Resistance organizations, EAM-ELAS, EDES and EKKA. Its aim was to coordinate the actions of the Resistance movement in Greece, including the establishment of a joint headquarters under the aegis of the British GHQ Middle East.
The Feneos Executions is the name given to a series of killings committed by the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) resistance group, and especially by its secret police OPLA, in the Feneos area of Corinthia, Greece, during the first stages of the Greek Civil War, while the country was still occupied by the Axis Powers.
The Lebanon conference was held on May 17–20, 1944, between representatives of the Greek government in exile, the pre-war Greek political parties, and the major Greek Resistance organizations, with the British ambassador Reginald Leeper in attendance. The conference occurred after an anti-monarchist mutiny among the Greek military the previous month. PM Georgios Papandreou's policy was to create a National Unity government with the participation of the communist-dominated EAM. Finally there was a partial agreement, though tensions and disagreements remained.
The Panhellenic Liberation Organization, was a Greek resistance organization against the Axis occupation of Greece. It was founded in 1941 by a group of Greek army officers, under the name Defenders of Northern Greece, employing methods of non violent resistance. In 1943, YVE was renamed as the Panhellenic Liberation Organization (PAO), shifting its focus towards armed struggle. In the August of the same year it came into conflict with Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), a communist-led resistance organization. PAO was defeated in the ensuing civil war and its remnants turned towards collaboration with the Germans.
The Battle of Meligalas took place at Meligalas in Messenia in southwestern Greece, on 13–15 September 1944, between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the collaborationist Security Battalions.
Red Terror is a term used by some historians to describe incidents of violence against civilians, by EAM from approximately 1942 or 1943 until the end of the Greek Civil War in 1949. In the countryside, operations were conducted by the ELAS; in cities, by the Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle (OPLA).
