Facing the Colonels: British and American diplomacy towards the Colonels' Junta in Greece, 1967-1970.

The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the foreign policy making of Britain and the United States towards Greece during the first three critical years that the military dictatorship of the Colonels ruled the country (1967-1970). The introductory chapters review the general foreign policies of and interrelationships between the United States and Britain towards Greece during the Cold War. Through a mainly chronological structure the thesis is subsequently arranged in nine chapters, each divided into two parts, which examine alternately the American and the British attitude on the same key issues: doing business with the dictatorship, deciding on the arms supplies- to Greece, dealing with opposition to the regime at home and in the international organisations, supporting the Greek King, facing the internal pressures on the question of the welfare of Greek prisoners. In the conclusion, the study reveals that the American foreign policy-makers placed more emphasis on the US security-military considerations following a so-called 'cool but correct' attitude towards the regime, while Britain gave priority to her political objectives adopting a 'working relationship' with the colonels. The study mainly draws on the data and the information collected from the archives of the LBJ Library in Austin, the National Archives II in Maryland, and the Public Records Office in London.