The Cyprus War

It all depends on when they decide to go for war.

In OTL there were considerable forces there, that would inflict very heavy losses to the invasion fleet if they were deployed in time.
 
It all depends on when they decide to go for war.

In OTL there were considerable forces there, that would inflict very heavy losses to the invasion fleet if they were deployed in time.

There were not considerable forces there, and it was the Turkish intervention that caused the Junta to collapse. If they had decided to go to war with Turkey, I don't see how they could have accomplished much, given the relative distances of Turkey and Greece from Cyprus. While the military disparity was not as overwhelming as it is today, this can't turn out well for Greece, and it would be a disaster for NATO.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
If I'm not mistaken, weren't there considerable UN peacekeepers on the island at the time? I can recall that the Canadian Airborne Regiment made a combat drop into the main airport.

If shots started getting fired and peacekeepers were caught in the middle, I can't see a war lasting very long before the rest of NATO would start leaning hard on both sides to quit, both for the security of NATO's south-central portion (Greece), and it's ability to bottle up the Soviet Black Sea Fleet with the Bosporus (Turkey).
 
There were not considerable forces there, and it was the Turkish intervention that caused the Junta to collapse.
If they had decided to go to war with Turkey, I don't see how they could have accomplished much, given the relative distances of Turkey and Greece from Cyprus.
I am sorry, but you are wrong.
There were indeed no considerable forces IN Cyprus. However there were several squadron of Greek aircraft, including F4s ready and armed in Crete to hit the invasion fleet. Furthermore, land troops were being loaded into LSTs in Salamis. Air lifting troops also happened in OTL in limited stage and would commence on a far larger scale if Greece decided to join the battle. Olympic Airways was asked to hand over passenger aircraft in OTL to fill them with troops and send them over.
The biggest threat however came in the form of Type 209 submarines that were ordered to head for the area were the invasion fleet was, but were later recalled just past Rhodes. The Type 209 submarine was state of the art technology back then and the Turks had little to no ASW capabilities. Ha the submarines gotten there and started pounding at the invasion fleet, it would have been a slaughter.

The window of success however is quite limited for Greece. If they have any chance of stopping the invasion, then they need to do it pretty fast, this means before the bulk of the Turkish forces get ashore and the supply chains established.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
If that happen, Greece would have to leave NATO, and perhaps start to lean on their ideological nemesis in Moscow. A war between Greece and Turkey would be a worst case scenario for the US. Suddenly Makarios would not quite be seen as the Castro of the Mediterranean anymore.
 
If that happen, Greece would have to leave NATO, and perhaps start to lean on their ideological nemesis in Moscow. A war between Greece and Turkey would be a worst case scenario for the US. Suddenly Makarios would not quite be seen as the Castro of the Mediterranean anymore.
Why shouldn't it happen?
Greek (NOT Cypriot Greek) forces were already engaged in Cyprus against the turkish invasion force, troops were flown in on transport aircraft and were committed to battle. The Greek Navy also fought against the Turks, an LST currently on routine duty of transporting Greek forces to and from Cyprus (there has always been a small greek detachment in Cyprus) fired against Turkish troops with its guns for example.

There was a limited war between Greek and Turkish forces during the Cyprus invasion. It was just very limited. If the junta wanted to, they would have gone all the way. For example the Type 209 subs were diverted to and away from Cyprus numerous times. They closed in on the Turkish fleet, then recalled, then sent back in, then recalled. It all happened because in Athens the junta could not make up their minds over going to war with Turkey or not.
The reason was that other western nations (especially the US) kept telling them, that the Turks would pull out or that Soviet Pact were getting ready to invade through Bulgaria as soon as war broke out between Greece+Turkey.
It was in the best interests of the US not to have war between Greece+Turkey. And the British were actually quite happy that the invasion happened. That way the Greek Cypriots lost power, Makarios was in trouble and the British bases on the island secure.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
It was in the best interest of the US to have Greece and Turkey not go to war, but I read theories that the whole Cyprus crisis was in the best interest of the US. It got rid of the Greek junta (that was a huge embarassment for democratic NATO) and it taught the Greek Cypriots that it was dangerous to flirt with the Communists. So all in all, the winner in Cyprus was the US. If Greece and Turkey had gone to war, then the big loser would be the US since they just lost Greece as a Mediterranean ally.
 
It was in the best interest of the US to have Greece and Turkey not go to war, but I read theories that the whole Cyprus crisis was in the best interest of the US. It got rid of the Greek junta (that was a huge embarassment for democratic NATO) and it taught the Greek Cypriots that it was dangerous to flirt with the Communists. So all in all, the winner in Cyprus was the US. If Greece and Turkey had gone to war, then the big loser would be the US since they just lost Greece as a Mediterranean ally.

I wonder what would happen if the Soviets went out against Turkey when the Greek-Turkish war erupted over Cyprus.
Would the US decide to intervene? Would the rest of NATO support Turkey and fight the Soviets.
WWIII was supposed to start with the Soviet Union invading W. Germany. With Germany invaded, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Denmark, France were all threatened. Therefore it was quite certain that an invasion of W. Germany by Soviet troops would be met by NATO. But what about Turkey? What if the Soviet Union used the whole Greek-Turkish clash over Cyprus to settle old bills with Turkey? Would NATO intervene? With Greece, another NATO member at war with Turkey and Turkey just having invaded a sovereign country like Cyprus?
Would NATO risk nuclear war or a worldwide clash with Warsaw Pact forces, just because of Turkey?
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Somehow I see Soviet intervention unlikely, they didn't wanted a nuclear war more than anything else, however Soviet could become a great financial supporter of Greece, if the junta goes to war with Turkey.
 
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