The post-World War II Greek Civil War is an episode in European history little known to non-specialist scholars, academics, and military historians. Greece suffered considerably when it was occupied by Axis forces from 1941 to 1944, and after liberation in 1945, became engulfed in a brutal civil war. This internecine conflict was a microcosm of the Cold War, with the Communist bloc (notably Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria) providing indispensable weapons and other aid from the Soviet Union and channeling it to the Greek Communist Party (KKE). In October 1946, the KKE announced the establishment of the Greek Democratic Army (GDA). The GDA conducted cross-border raids into Greece and intensified its guerrilla operations.
Western powers, particularly the United States, Great Britain, and others, were extremely concerned that the Communist insurgency in Greece threatened the security and stability of the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle east, and North Africa. To prevent such a possibility, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced on 12 March 1947 that the United States would provide aid to Greece and Turkey (now Türkiye) and established a sphere of influence in which Communist encroachment would not be permitted. This was called the “Truman Doctrine,” and permitted the United States to replace war-weary Great Britain as the Western hegemon in the eastern Mediterranean. This also served as the basis for United Nations General Assembly Resolution 109 (II) on 21 October 1947, which established the United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans (UNSCOB). UNSCOB was the United Nations’ first observation and peacekeeping mission.
The historical prelude to the establishment of UNSCOB, behind-the-scenes political machinations, legal basis, activation, organization, administrative and financial aspects, comparison with other UN missions, challenges, and operations and overall effectiveness, are chronicled in rich detail in sixteen well-crafted chapters. These activities are placed insightfully within the context of the Cold War and help explain the nascent East-West political and military confrontation. In a balanced and realistic conclusion, the author opines: “. . . the entire UN-led action and machinery in the Balkans . . . did not achieved [sic] fully their mandate in consideration of the little room of a possible settlement between Greece and its northern neighbors without the direct involvement of the Great Powers (namely US and USSR) . . .” due to their conflicting priorities and goals (p. 130). Nonetheless, UNSCOB established a precedent for the UN for future observation and peacekeeping missions.
Author Dr. Enrico Magnani is particularly well qualified to have written this interesting monograph. He first became affiliated with Peace Support Operations in 1991 and joined the European Union Mission in Palestine in 1995. Dr. Magnani served with the OSCE Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1996-1997 before joining the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in 1999, serving with the latter until recently. He thoroughly mined numerous document repositories, including the U.S. National Archives and United Nations Archives, and fully utilized numerous other primary source materials in this study. A detailed bibliography is included, as are two maps, and sixteen images provide a welcome visual dimension to the text.
The United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans (UNSCOB) was a precedent-setting United Nations observer mission that helped prevent Communist domination and the eventual democratization of Greece. Author Magnani has produced a balanced, tightly structured, fast-paced account of UNSCOB that deserves a wide readership.
Featured: Observation of the Yugoslav frontier (1949). The photo shows a Greek liaison officer; Observer John W. Jeffrey (United Kingdom), and Observer Monsalve (Mexico).
