After World War II, as Europe floundered economically, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee looked to disengage Britain from some of its broad international obligations and increase American support for its new foreign agenda. One place he sought to do so was in Greece, which was in the midst of a civil war. Through an in-depth study of Anglo-American diplomacy in Greece from 1946-50, Spero Simeon Z. Paravantes reveals how the relationship between Britain and the US developed in this formative period. He argues that, in many ways, Britain used the fast-escalating tensions of (what would become) the Cold War to direct and manipulate US policy in Greece, encouraging the Americans to take a more active role and (essentially) take Britain's place in the region. In the process, he sheds fresh light onto how the American experience in Greece contributed to the formulation of the Truman Doctrine, the infamous NSC-68 document and the ultimate birth of the Cold War.
Drawing on a wide range of sources from Britain, the US, Greece and across the Balkans, Paravantes has produced the first book to focus on this crucial period in such close detail, and reveals the ways in which various foreign and domestic concerns coincided at a pivotal moment of twentieth century history. This book is essential reading for all scholars looking to gain fresh insight into post-WWII Greece, the Anglo-American alliance and the complex origins of the Cold War.