Εκστρατευτικό Σώμα της Ελλάδος (ΕΚΣΕ) στην Κορέα: η λήψη της απόφασης, η προετοιμασία και η συμβολή στην ελληνική ένταξη στην Ατλαντική Συμμαχία

• Main Authors: Daskalakis, Ippokratis, Δασκαλάκης, Ιπποκράτης
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: Greek
• Published: Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences 2020
• Subjects: Ελληνικό Εκστρατευτικό Σώμα στην Κορέα; Εγγυήσεις ασφαλείας; Ατλαντική Συμμαχία; Αμυντική διπλωματία; Greek Expeditionary Corps in Korea; Security guarantees; North Atlantic Organization (NATO); Defence diplomacy; Πολιτικές Επιστήμες; Κοινωνικές Επιστήμες; Διεθνείς σχέσεις; Political Science; Social Sciences; International Relations; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10442/hedi/47452; https://doi.org/10.12681/eadd/47452

The following doctoral thesis answers the three basic questions concerning the Greek Expeditionary Corps and particularly: making decision for the deployment of troops to UN operations in Korea, their military preparation and the consequences of this contribution to the Greek admission in the Atlantic Alliance (1952). The thesis examines simultaneously both the internal (Greek) and the external (international) environment. A more detailed account of the approach, methodology and conclusions is made in the Introduction. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the international environment and the circumstances in which the Cold War framing progressively culminated in the invasion of the North Korean troops. Next Chapter (Chapter 2) examines the post-war situation in Greece, the civil conflicts and the agonizing efforts to ensure territorial integrity, national independence and the weak democratic regime. The history, the processes and the factors that led to the decision to deploy troops in Korea are discussed in Chapter 3 (Decision Making). Greece immediately joined the western states, supported the Security Council resolutions, and gradually made available combat troops and aircraft to UN operations. The above mentioned decisions were sometimes hesitant, outside the institutional framework and motivated by interpersonal initiatives as the internal political situation was fluid and while threatening (or at least impressing) the resurgence of the communist uprising or even the invasion of the Northern communist countries (mainly of Bulgaria). The cost of the participation of armed forces also played an important role in the Greek hesitancy, while the American positions were initially contradictory to the Greek participation, which further intensified the Greek hesitations. The final decision of participation (initially of a brigade and subsequently of a reinforced infantry battalion and a squadron of transports) demanded intense personnel and material preparation unprecedented for the Greek experience. The US ...