Difference between pages "December crisis" and "February 12"

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'''December crisis''' or [[December events]] ([[Greek language|Greek]] Δεκεμβριανά) is the name given to the troubles that occurred in [[Greece]] - especially [[Athens]] - during December of [[1944]], after the German occupation forces withdrew leaving a power vacuum behind them.
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==Events==
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*[[1878]]:  2,000 [[Crete|Cretan]] rebels attack fort Icedin at [[Chania]].
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*[[1900]]: The Maritime Hospital of [[Piraeus]] is founded.
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*[[1911]]: A number of professors from the [[University of Athens]] petition Parliament to declare the [[Katharevousa]] version of the [[Greek language]] as the one and only official language of the Greek state.
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*[[1943]]: Greek guerrilas attack and defeat an Italian battalion at [[Oxynia]], [[Thessaly]].
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*[[1944]]: The Norwegian steamship "Oria" sinks off the coast of [[Patroklos island]], causing the death of 4,095 Italian prisoners of war, 21 Greeks and 15 Germans. This is the worst maritime disaster in the Mediterranean Sea.
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*[[1945]]: The [[Varkiza Agreement]] is signed - it was an agreement that terminated institutionally the political and military fighting of December [[1944]] ("[[December events]]") and aimed at reconciliating the opposite blocs of the country.
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*[[1946]]: The second general council of the [[Communist Party of Greece]] takes place which decides to boycott the upcoming elections in favour of armed struggle.
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*[[1949]]: During the [[Greek Civil War]], communist forces are repelled at [[Florina]].
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*[[1962]]: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin visits [[Athens]] and utters his famous quote: "In this country, half the people sell lottery tickets and the other half buy them!"
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*[[1979]]: Weapons are stolen from an army base in [[Rethymno]], [[Crete]].
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*[[1981]]:  Former [[Queen Frederika]] is buried in [[Tatoi]], [[Greece]].
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*[[2023]]: [[Nikos Christodoulides]] is elected [[President of Cyprus]] defeating [[Andreas Mavroyiannis]]. [[Nikos Christodoulides|Christodoulides]] received 51.97% of the vote to 48.03% of his opponent.
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*[[2025]]: Former [[Hellenic Parliament]] Speaker, [[Konstantinos Tasoulas]], is elected [[President of Greece]].
  
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On [[December 4]], a banned [[National Liberation Front]] (EAM) demonstration of approximately 250,000 people took place in central [[Athens]]. Violence broke out with at least one civilian beaten to death on suspicion of belonging to the collaborationist Security Brigades. Meanwhile, positioned in various strategic parts of Athens, [[Organisation X]] members, policemen, LOK (''Lochos Oreinon Katadromon'' troops and British troops awaited the mob, fearful of a takeover of Greece by Communists. The clashes that took place that day led to a full-scale fighting between [[ELAS]] and the Government the following days.
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==Births==
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*[[1925]]: [[Christos Samaras]], [[EOKA]] fighter.
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*[[1933]]: [[Costa-Gavras]], film producer.
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*[[1944]]: [[Spyros Pomonis]], footballer
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*[[1956]]: [[Velimir Zajec]], footballer.
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*[[1959]]: [[Angeliki Nikolouli]], reporter.
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*[[1982]]: [[Louis Tsatoumas]], athlete ([[long jump]])
  
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Western Allies tried to stay neutral but when the battle escalated they intervened, with artillery and aircraft being freely used. At the beginning the government had only a few policemen and a brigade without heavy weapons. On [[December 4]] Papandreou attempted to resign but the British Ambassador convinced him to stay. By [[December 12]] ELAS was in control of most of Greece and [[Piraeus]]. The Western Allies, outnumbered, flew in the 4th Infantry Division from Italy as reinforcements.
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==Deaths==
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*[[1873]]: [[Spyridon Trikoupis]], politician
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*[[1980]]: [[Georgia Vasiliadou]], stage and screen actress
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*[[2004]]: [[Theodoros Polykandriotis]], [[Laika]] composer
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*[[2011]]: [[Konstantinos Kosmopoulos]], Mayor of [[Thessaloniki]].
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*[[2019]]: [[Antonis Poseidon]], footballer
  
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Conflicts continued through December,(therefore known as [[Dekemvriana]]) with the Western Allies slowly gaining the upper hand. Curiously, [[ELAS]] forces in the rest of Greece did not attack the Western Allies concentrating instead on expelling the conservative [[EDES]] from the Greek mainland.
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[[Category:Days]]
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The outbreak of fighting between Western Allied forces and an anti-German resistance movement, while the war was still being fought, was a serious political problem for Churchill's coalition government, and caused much protest in the British and American press and in the House of Commons. To prove his peace-making intention, Churchill himself arrived in Athens on [[December 24]] and presided over a conference, in which Soviet representatives participated, to bring about a settlement. It failed because the EAM/ELAS demands were considered excessive and, thus, rejected.
 
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In the meanwhile, Pravda didn’t mention at all the conflicts. Moreover, the Soviet delegation in Greece wasn’t encouraging or discouraging EAM’s ambitions, as, according to the Moscow agreement, Greece belonged to the British sphere of influence. Any notification about this fact might have staved off December’s clash. It seems that Stalin didn’t have the intention to avert the [[Dekemvriana]], as he would profit no matter the outcome. If EAM rose in power, he would add a country of major strategic value in his realm. If not, he could justify any intervention in his sphere of influence, like the British had done in Greece.
 
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By early January ELAS had been driven from Athens. As a result of Churchill's intervention, Papandreou resigned and was replaced by a firm anti-Communist, General [[Nikolaos Plastiras]]. On [[January 15]] [[1945]] Scobie agreed to a ceasefire, in exchange for ELAS's withdrawal from its positions at [[Patra]] and [[Thessaloniki]] and its demobilisation in the [[Peloponnese]]. This was a severe defeat, but ELAS remained in existence and the [[KKE]] had an opportunity to reconsider its strategy.
 
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KKE's defeat in [[1945]] was mainly political. The exaltation of terrorism on the communist side made a political settlement even more difficult. The hunting of "collaborators" was extended to people who had not been involved in collaboration. The KKE made many enemies by summarily executing up to 8,000 people for various political "crimes", during their period of control of Athens, and they took another 20,000 hostages with them when they departed. Several Trotskyists had to leave the country to save their lives (e.g. [[Cornelius Castoriadis]] fled to France). After the Athens fighting, KKE support declined sharply, and as a result most of the prominent non-Communists in EAM left the organisation.
 
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{{Credit wikipedia}}
 
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[[Category:History of Greece]]
 

Latest revision as of 13:45, February 13, 2025

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