The traitor in NATO

One of the things I noticed while looking through various third world war stories that involve NATO vs the Warsaw Pact Greece is the nation that is most likely to abandon their NATO allies and refuse to support them in conflict Italy sometimes gets this treatment and sometimes Turkey but why is Greece the primary ''traitor'' in an hypothetical East V West
 
One of the things I noticed while looking through various third world war stories that involve NATO vs the Warsaw Pact Greece is the nation that is most likely to abandon their NATO allies and refuse to support them in conflict Italy sometimes gets this treatment and sometimes Turkey but why is Greece the primary ''traitor'' in an hypothetical East V West
I guess the fact it could have easily gone Communist in OTL (the insurgency in the late 40s)? Not sure.
 
One of the things I noticed while looking through various third world war stories that involve NATO vs the Warsaw Pact Greece is the nation that is most likely to abandon their NATO allies and refuse to support them in conflict Italy sometimes gets this treatment and sometimes Turkey but why is Greece the primary ''traitor'' in an hypothetical East V West
For the same reason, that in a hypothetical Cold War between the U.S. and an European Alliance, third world war stories would feature the UK as the most likely candidate to abandon it's allies:
- Reluctant Member to begin with
- historical ties (substituted for religious ones regarding Greece-Russia)
- in it only for what they can get out of it instead of with any real commitment
- historical grievances against it's supposed allies that they are still angry about
 
Turkey, Turkey , Turkey, Greece seemed unable to agree with anything Turkish in the 1980's. I think it was overstated and if NATO called for help Greece would have done it's bit.
 
To be honest the Greeks and Turkey will first see if they need to actually do anything before they fight . Turkey is more likely to fight then the Greek's purely because of the historical threat level . Greece will need to keep an eye on their Northern Border and would be scared of Bulgaria and Romania being part of the invasion . Greece will be screaming for help .
 

Redbeard

Banned
Once the Greek civil war was over I don't think there was a serious threat of Greece going communist.

But as I recall there was a serious concern about the Italian communist party winning an election and forming government. I'm also quite sure that this would not just have been passively watched but countered by actions that would be difficult to unite with a true democratic spirit. I also think this expectation contributed to the Italian communists then very much underlining their "non-soviet Euro-communist" stance (the French communists tried something similar).

There were Moscow lead communist parties in most of the NATO countries and since Prague 1948 there was a constant concern about communist coup attempts. It was a reason behind the creation of the Danish Home Guard in 1949 and in 1977 I as a 17 year old joined to actively fight if they should try and had live ammo and a MG42 (post war production) at home. Another 72.000 had joined too and most had weapons and socalled "coup-ammo" at home. I don't know of serious considerations in Moscow about coups in NATO countries, but I can tell you it wouldn't have worked here.

The socalled peace movements, who grew strong in the 1960s were another concern however. They were broadly based and had quite an appeal well into the 1980s but the Moscow directed communists had a most worrying influence on their agenda and sometimes on a majority in the parliaments.

In the mid 80s a Conservative Danish government so had to issue socalled footnotes to NATO policies because they were forced to by a majority in the parliament including the left wing parties, the socialdemocrats and a small liberal party with a long and very naive pacifist tradition.

It was seen as a crisis then and it certainly was, but probably was as far as the broad majority behind NATO membership (incl. the socialdemocrats) could be pressed.
 
There is a noticeable and vicious anti-NATO attitude in Greece. The posters around Suda Bay and in Chania are something to behold.
 
One of the things I noticed while looking through various third world war stories that involve NATO vs the Warsaw Pact Greece is the nation that is most likely to abandon their NATO allies and refuse to support them in conflict Italy sometimes gets this treatment and sometimes Turkey but why is Greece the primary ''traitor'' in an hypothetical East V West
Because Russia and Greece have close cultural ties and the Greeks and Turks hate each other?
 
The problem with this though is that the Soviet Union is officially atheist, which rubs the Greeks the wrong way. The Russia today is probably a far more palatable partner due to its shared Orthodox religion, but not before. I can't see any realistic scenario where Greece willingly abandons NATO for an atheist, communist alliance, not even for a stab at Turkey. Today may be a different story, but that's a discussion for Chat.
 
One of the things I noticed while looking through various third world war stories that involve NATO vs the Warsaw Pact Greece is the nation that is most likely to abandon their NATO allies and refuse to support them in conflict Italy sometimes gets this treatment and sometimes Turkey but why is Greece the primary ''traitor'' in an hypothetical East V West
Because...Greece is the word?
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Seriously though, with the instability of the fifties coupled with Cyprus and the ongoing feud with Turkey as well as it's economic misfortune, they have always been seen as a destabilizing force.
 
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