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The ''Dekemvriana'' ((ギリシア語:Δεκεμβριανά), "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945 between the Greek left-wing Resistance forces (EAM-ELAS, KKE) and the British Army supported by the Greek Government, the Cities Police and the far-right Organization X of Georgios Grivas. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the left-wing EAM-ELAS, the country's largest resistance movement which controlled most of Greece, and the British-backed government, which had returned from exile upon the Germans' withdrawal in October 1944. Although EAM had initially participated in the government, mounting differences with the traditional bourgeois parties led to the resignation of its ministers. On 3 December, a huge pro-EAM rally in central Athens was shot upon by the Police on orders from Angelos Evert, leaving 28 protesters dead and 148 wounded. The killings ushered a full-blown armed confrontation between EAM and the British, under General Ronald Scobie. The clashes were limited to Athens, and elsewhere in Greece the situation remained tense, but peaceful. The ''Dekemvriana'' ended with the defeat of EAM-ELAS, leading to its disarmament in the Varkiza Agreement. This first defeat broke the power of EAM, and was followed by a period of "White Terror" that contributed to the outbreak of the Greek Civil War in 1946. ==Background: Greece in 1944== By 1944, the two major resistance movements in occupied Greece, EDES and EAM-ELAS, each saw the other to be their great enemy. They both saw the Germans were going to be defeated and were a temporary threat. For the Left, the British represented their major obstacle. By the summer of 1944 it was obvious that the Germans would soon withdraw from Greece, as Soviet forces were advancing into Romania and towards Yugoslavia, with the retreated Germans at risk of being cut off. In September, Gen. Fyodor Tolbukhin's armies advanced into Bulgaria, forcing the resignation of the country's pro-Nazi government and the establishment of a pro-Communist regime, while Bulgarian troops withdrew from Greek Macedonia. The Axis withdrawal, before the exiled government could return to the country, created a power vacuum. The government-in-exile, now led by prominent liberal George Papandreou, moved to Italy, in preparation for its return to Greece. Under the Caserta Agreement of September 1944, all resistance forces in Greece were placed under the command of a British officer, Gen. Ronald Scobie. The Western allies arrived in Greece in October, by which time the Germans were in full retreat and most of Greece's territory had already been liberated by Greek partisans. On October 13 British troops entered Athens, the only area still occupied by the Germans, and Papandreou and his ministers followed six days later. The king stayed in Cairo, because Papandreou had promised that the future of the monarchy would be decided by referendum. At this point there was little to prevent ELAS from taking full control of the country. With the German withdrawal, ELAS units had taken control of the countryside and of most cities. However, they did not take full control because the KKE leadership was instructed by the Soviet Union not to precipitate a crisis that could jeopardize Allied unity and put Joseph Stalin's larger postwar objectives at risk. KKE’s leadership knew this, but ELAS' fighters and rank-and-file communists did not, which became a source of conflict within both EAM and ELAS. Following Stalin's instructions, KKE’s leadership tried to avoid a confrontation with the Papandreou government. The majority of ELAS members saw the Western Allies as liberators, although some KKE leaders, such as Andreas Tzimas and Aris Velouchiotis, did not. Tzimas was in touch with Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito, and he disagreed with ELAS' cooperation with the Western Allied forces. The issue of disarming the resistance organizations was a cause of friction between the Papandreou government and its EAM members. Advised by British ambassador Reginald Leeper, Papandreou demanded the disarmament of all armed forces apart from the Sacred Band and the III Mountain Brigade, which were formed following the suppression of the April 1944 Egypt Mutiny, and the constitution of a National Guard under government control. EAM, believing that this would leave ELAS defenseless against right-wing militias, submitted an alternative plan of total and simultaneous disarmament. Papandreou rejected this plan, causing EAM ministers to resign from the government on December 2. On December 1 Scobie issued a proclamation calling for the dissolution of ELAS. Command of ELAS was KKE's greatest source of strength, and KKE leader Siantos decided that the demand for ELAS' dissolution must be resisted. Tito's influence may have played some role in ELAS' resistance to disarmament. Tito was outwardly loyal to Stalin but had come to power through his own means and believed that the Communist Greeks should do the same. His influence, however, had not prevented the EAM leadership from putting its forces under Scobie's command a couple of months earlier, in accordance with to the Caserta Agreement. In the meanwhile, following Georgios Grivas' instructions, Organization X members had set up outposts in central Athens and resisted EAM for several days, until British troops arrived, as their leader had been promised. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dekemvriana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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