Popular Civil Guard
The People's Civil Guard (Greek: Λαϊκή Πολιτοφυλακή, ΛΠ) was the security force of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) during the Greek Civil War (1946–49). It was the police counterpart of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), KKE's military force. It was actually the successor of the National Civil Guard, which was the successor of the Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle (OPLA). The People's Civil Guard included both men and women; all of them were volunteers and ideologically dedicated to the Communist Party, a situation different from that of the DSE, which engaged in forced recruitment, especially in the last stages of the Civil War. In June 1948, the KKE leadership published a booklet to be studied by the civil guards, "Lessons of Popular Civil Guard" (Μαθήματα Λαϊκής Πολιτοφυλακής), where it was emphasized that the Popular Civil Guard was a security force "of a new type", different from the Greek Gendarmerie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Language
Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting impo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Communist Party Of Greece
The Communist Party of Greece ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece. Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its current name in November 1924. It is the oldest political party in modern Greek politics. The party was banned in 1936, but played a significant role in the Greek resistance and the Greek Civil War, and its membership peaked in the mid-1940s. Legalization of the KKE was restored following the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. The party has returned MPs in all elections since its restoration in 1974, and took part in a coalition government in 1989 when it got more than 13% of the vote. History Foundation The October Revolution of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917 gave impetus for the foundation of Communist parties in many countries globally. The KKE was founded on 4 November 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece (Gr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος [Πόλεμος], ''o Emfýlios'' [''Pólemos''], "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and the United States and won in the end. The losing opposition held a self-proclaimed people's republic, the Provisional Democratic Government, Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, which was governed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its military branch, the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE). The rebels were supported by Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The war has its roots at the WW2 conflict, between the Communist Party of Greece, communist-dominated left-wing Greek Resistance, resistance organisation, the National Liberation Front (Greece), EAM-ELAS, and loosely-allied anticommunist resistance forces. It later escalated into a major civil war between the state and the communist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Democratic Army Of Greece
The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; el, Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας - ΔΣΕ, Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas - DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and women. The DSE was backed up by the Popular Civil Guard (), the Communist Party's security police force. History After the liberation of Greece from the Axis occupation, the ''Dekemvriana'' and the Varkiza Agreement (in which ELAS, the main Partisan Army in Greece, agreed to a disarmament), the persecution of left wing citizens, communists and officials of EAM, started. There were 166 different anti-communist groups, such as those of Sourlas and Kalabalikis in Thessaly, and Papadopoulos in Macedonia. Archives of D.S. National Solidarity indicate that by 31 March 1946, nationwide, 1,289 suspected communists had been killed, 6,671 had been wounded, 84,931 had been arrested, 165 be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Civil Guard
The National Civil Guard ( el, Εθνική Πολιτοφυλακή, ''Ethniki Politophylaki'') was the security force of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), the government that the National Liberation Front (EAM) had established in the territory it controlled during the Nazi occupation of Greece in 1944.Πολιτική Επιτροπή Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης (1944) academia.edu It was the successor of the EAM'S [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Organization For The Protection Of The People's Struggle
The Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle ( el, Οργάνωση Περιφρούρησης Λαϊκού Αγώνα, abbreviated ΟΠΛΑ – OPLA, an acronym meaning "weapons" in Greek) was a special division of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) during the Axis Occupation of Greece in World War II. Officially, it was semi-autonomous part of the broader National Liberation Front (EAM). In fact, it was not controlled by EAM, but directly by the Politburo of the KKE. It can be described as a paramilitary security force. It operated in the cities, and its purpose was the self-defense of the members of the National Liberation Front and its affiliated organizations from the German occupation authorities and the collaborationist government and its organs, the Police, the Gendarmerie (especially its notorious branch named as Special Security, expertised at the anti-communistic struggle) and the Security Battalions. It proved to be very successful in assassinatin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Gendarmerie
The Hellenic Gendarmerie (, ''Elliniki Chorofylaki'') was the national gendarmerie and military police (until 1951) force of Greece. History 19th century The Greek Gendarmerie was established after the enthronement of King Otto in 1833 as the Royal Gendarmerie ( el, Βασιλική Χωροφυλακή) and modeled after the French National Gendarmerie. It was at that time formally part of the army and under the authority of the Army Ministry. Several foreign advisers (particularly from Bavaria, who emphasized elements of centralization and authoritarianism), were also brought in to provide training and tactical advice to the newly formed force. The main task of the Gendarmerie under the army as a whole during this period was firstly to combat the extensive banditry which was endemic in the countryside throughout the 19th century and included kidnappings for ransom, the suppression of local revolts, and the establishment of a strong executive government. Dimitrios Deligeorgi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cities Police
The Cities Police ( el, Αστυνομία Πόλεων) was a Greek police force extant from 1921 to 1984, responsible for policing urban areas. It complemented the Hellenic Gendarmerie, which was responsible for rural and suburban areas. History Its creation was decreed in 1918 (Law 1370/1918) and confirmed in 1920 (Law 2461/1920). The force became operational in the city of Corfu in 1920, followed by Patras (1921), Piraeus (1923) and Athens (1929). Remarkably, in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, the force was not established due to the Gendarmerie's opposition, despite the law's provisions. Unlike the paramilitary Gendarmerie, which had close ties to the Hellenic Army and was commanded by Army generals, the Cities Police was a purely civilian force, modeled after the Metropolitan Police of London, and with training provided by a British mission under Sir Frederick Loch Halliday. From the late 1920s, the Cities Police, and especially its feared General Securi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, also constituted by the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) and the Hellenic Navy (HN). The army is commanded by the chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), which in turn is under the command of Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS). The motto of the Hellenic Army is ('Freedom stems from valour'), from Thucydides's '' History of the Peloponnesian War (2.43.4)'', a remembrance of the ancient warriors that defended Greek lands in old times. The Hellenic Army Emblem is the two-headed eagle with a Greek Cross escutcheon in the centre. The Hellenic Army is also the main contributor to, and "lead nation" of, the Balkan Battle Group, a combined-arms rapid-response force unde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany. During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism (german: Hitlerfaschismus). The later related term "neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War. Nazism is a form of fascism, with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. It incorporates a dictatorship, fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, scientific racism, and the use of eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist '' Völkisch'' movement which had been a prominent aspect of German nationalism since the late 19th century, and it was strongly influenced by the paramilitary groups that emerged af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |