Editing Truman Doctrine (section)

==Greek crisis==
{{Main|White Terror (Greece)|Greek Civil War}}
[[File:Georgeiiofgreece.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|160px|King [[George II of Greece]] (r. 1922–1924, 1935–1947), whose rule was opposed by communist insurgents in the Greek Civil War]]
In October 1944, British and Greek forces [[Operation Manna|landed in Greece]] following the gradual withdrawal of [[Axis occupation of Greece|Axis occupational forces]] from the country. Despite the [[Caserta Agreement]] stipulating that all [[Greek resistance]] factions would join a new [[Hellenic Army|Greek Army]] under British command, General [[Ronald Scobie]] ordered the [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|EAM]]'s armed wing, [[ELAS]], to unilaterally disarm on December, 1 1944. EAM responded to the "Scobie Order" by organizing a rally in [[Athens]] on December 3 in protest, which was fired upon by Greek security forces, killing 28 protestors. This sparked the ''[[Dekemvriana]]'', a series of clashes between EAM and Greek government forces along with their British allies. It ended in EAM's defeat and disarmament under the terms of the [[Treaty of Varkiza]], which marked the end of ELAS and broke EAM's power. This was followed by the [[White Terror (Greece)|White Terror]], a period of persecution against Greek leftists, which contributed to the outbreak of the [[Greek Civil War]] in 1946.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJoqDQAAQBAJ&q=Athens+December+&pg=PA376|title=An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949|last=Gerolymatos|first=André|date=2017|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300180602|pages=100–111|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJoqDQAAQBAJ&q=White+Terror&pg=PA376|title=An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949|last=Gerolymatos|first=André|date=2017|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300180602|pages=194–203|language=en|access-date=2020-11-03|archive-date=2023-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630110921/https://books.google.com/books?id=jJoqDQAAQBAJ&q=White+Terror&pg=PA376|url-status=live}}</ref> 

After the civil war broke out, [[Communist Party of Greece]] (KKE) guerrillas revolted against the internationally recognized Greek government which was formed after [[1946 Greek parliamentary election|elections in 1946]] which were boycotted by the KKE. The British realized that the KKE were being directly funded by [[Josip Broz Tito]] in neighboring [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. In line with the Anglo-Soviet [[percentages agreement]], the KKE received no help from the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia provided them support and sanctuary against [[Joseph Stalin]]'s wishes.<ref>Bærentzen, Lars, John O. Iatrides, and Ole Langwitz. Smith. ''Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945–1949''. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1987. 273–280. Google Books. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zMr7EK3ms7AC&dq=%22Soviet+Union%22+%22Greek+Civil+War%22&pg=PA267 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406193744/https://books.google.com/books?id=zMr7EK3ms7AC&dq=%22Soviet+Union%22+%22Greek+Civil+War%22&pg=PA267 |date=2023-04-06 }}</ref> By late 1946, Britain informed the U.S. that due to its own declining economy, it could no longer continue to provide military and economic support to the Greek government.<ref>Bullock, ''Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary'' (1983) ch 8</ref>

[[File:George F. Kennan 1947.jpg|thumb|252x252px|[[George F. Kennan]] proposed the doctrine of [[containment]] in 1946.]]

In 1946–47, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from being wartime allies to Cold War adversaries. The breakdown of Allied cooperation in [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]] provided a backdrop of escalating tensions for the Truman Doctrine.<ref name="MerrillTruDoct" /> To Truman, the growing unrest in Greece began to look like a [[pincer movement]] against the oil-rich areas of the [[Middle East]] and the warm-water ports of the Mediterranean.<ref name="Painter 2012 29">{{Harvnb|Painter|2012|p=29}}: "Although circumstances differed greatly in Greece, Turkey, and Iran, U.S. officials interpreted events in all three places as part of a Soviet plan to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Mention of oil was deliberately deleted from Truman's March&nbsp;12, 1947, address before Congress pledging resistance to communist expansion anywhere in the world; but guarding access to oil was an important part of the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was named after Harry S. Truman. This doctrine stated that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces."<p>One draft, for example, of Truman's speech spoke of the "great natural resources" of the Middle East at stake ({{Harvnb|Kolko|Kolko|1972|p=341}}).</p></ref> In February 1946, George F. Kennan, an American diplomat in [[Moscow]], sent his famed "[[X Article|Long Telegram]]", which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of containment; that is, stopping their geographical expansion. After the British warned that they could no longer help Greece, and following [[Prime Minister of Greece|Prime Minister]] [[Konstantinos Tsaldaris]]'s visit to [[Washington, D.C.]] in December 1946 to ask for assistance,<ref>{{cite book |author=Freeland, Richard M. |title=The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. |year=1970 |pages=g. 90}}</ref> the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]] formulated a plan. Aid would be given to both Greece and Turkey, to help cool the long-standing rivalry between them.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}}

American policy makers recognized the instability of the region, fearing that if Greece was lost to communism, Turkey would not last long. Similarly, if Turkey yielded to Soviet demands, the position of Greece would be endangered.<ref>{{cite book |author=Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards |title=The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |year=2006 |pages=64}}</ref> A regional [[domino effect]] threat therefore guided the American decision. Greece and Turkey were strategic allies important for geographical reasons as well, for the fall of Greece would put the Soviets on a particularly dangerous flank for the Turks, and strengthen the Soviet Union's ability to cut off allied supply lines in the event of war.<ref>{{cite book |author=McGhee, George |title=The US-Turkish-NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine Contained the Soviets in the Middle East |publisher=St. Harry's Press |year=1990 |pages=g. 21}}</ref>