The People at the Top Can Do These Things, Which Others Can't Do
Winston Churchill and the Greeks, 1940—45
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10076751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thanasis D Sfikas (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 307-332 |
| Publication date | 1991-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/002200949102600206 |
| OpenAlex | W1991368030 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
In 1953, speaking to his physician Lord Moran about the 'Percentages Agreement' with Stalin, Churchill reflected that 'the people at the top can do these things, which others can't do'.1 In so far as it concerned Anglo-Greek relations during the second world war, the contention was certainly valid. Unfashionable as it may be to treat historical phenomena in terms of individual personalities, this article seeks to argue that Churchill's imprint on the course of Greek affairs in the early 1940s was as commanding as that of any inanimate 'factor' or 'force'. Thorough-going surveys of British wartime policy towards Greece are already available,2 and a repetition of their conclusions falls outside the scope of this study. Instead, this article will attempt to show that a proper assessment of Churchill's intervention in Greek affairs must necessarily take into account the individual motivation and broader political beliefs of the British prime minister, and also set his actions in their appropriate Greek context. Specialized studies of British policy towards Greece invariably fail to do the former, thus tending to suggest that Churchill, free of preconceived notions and predilections, was largely responding to developments inside Greece; at the other end, studies which ignore the realities of Greek politics in the 1930s and the 1940s could easily lead to uncritical blanket justifications of any policy. This article aims to contribute towards a better understanding of Churchill's obsessive pursuit of his objectives in Greece
Context (archaeology · Greeks · Intervention (counseling · Political science · Politics · Prime minister · Scope (computer science · Sociology · Balkan and Eastern European Studies · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Classics · Computer Science · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,12 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2017 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |