'The art of manipulation': British foreign policy in Greece and the declaration of the Truman Doctrine: October 1944 to March 1947

From 1940 to 1945, Churchill's foreign policy in South-Eastern Europe was geared towards maintaining Greece in the British sphere of influence. Even after the election of a Labour government in the summer of 1945, for the next year and a half the Albion's policy focussed on the preservation of British influence in the tip of the Balkan Peninsula. However, in what appeared to be a major reversal of policy in February of 1947, the British informed the United States that they could do no more in Greece, and in so doing manipulated the Americans into assuming support for their interests through the declaration and implementation of the Truman doctrine.The reasons behind the British decision to surrender Greece to the United States after being determined to hold onto it for so long, and the question of whether or not they quietly manoeuvred the United States into assuming support for British interests are the central issues of this thesis. Furthermore, the fact that British troops remained in Greece into 1948 and beyond could indicate that their situation was not as desperate as they presented in February 1947. Additionally, this shift may not have been as significant as it seemed initially since the American intervention allowed British strategic interests in the Mediterranean to be preserved at a dramatically reduced cost.