Η Ελλάδα στη βαλκανική πολιτική του Τρίτου Ράιχ (Απρίλιος 1939-Απρίλιος 1941)

Abstract

The writer uses chiefly German sources to support his contention that the
Third Reich’s interest in Greece was mainly economic. From a political point of
view, Berlin had placed Greece in the Italian sphere of influence and did not
want the British-Italian rivalry in the eastern Mediterranean to be resolved in
Britain’s favour. But Greece’s entry in mid-1939, following pressure from
London, into the British economic war with Germany made Berlin unwilling to
oppose Italy’s plan’s vis-à-vis Greece. Although Berlin averted an Italian
assault on Greece in the summer of 1940, it gave tacit consent in October so as
not to upset the delicate balance of Italo-German relations, in the hope that
Italy’s occupation of Greece would be a matter of a few days. The German
assault on Greece was considered necessary to expel the British, who, from the
Greek islands, could have struck at the Romanian oil wells that were so
important to Germany. Berlin’s conditions for abandoning the Marita Plan
were Italo-Greek reconciliation, the departure of the British from Greece, and
Greece’s return to a policy of neutrality.