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WI: Crete as a "Greek Taiwan"?

Hendryk

Taken back control yet?
Published by SLP
Location
France
In WIAF I am toying with the idea of having the Red Army "liberate" mainland Greece in the course of WW2 (something whose plausibility I am open to having shot out of the water by more knowledgeable people, but bear with me).

So, let's say that in the immediate post-war years, the USSR turns Greece into a People's Republic on the same model as other Eastern European countries under Red Army occupation. However, Crete is under the control of the British, who put the government of George II in charge as it had already breifly been in 1941. Presumably the capital is at Chania (let's say it is renamed Eleutheria). How would this play out in the following decades?
 
The effects on Cyprus would be interesting. Does this kill enosis as an idea? If so, inter-community violence on that island might be reduced. Or perhaps in manifests itself in the desire for a Crete/Cyprus federation while making big noises about mainland Greece. Perhaps if the violence isn't changed and enosis is out of the question might see more of an acceptance of takism from a minority of Greek Cypriots. Or perhaps the idea of union with Crete/Greece just fizzles away entirely.
 
The effects on Cyprus would be interesting. Does this kill enosis as an idea? If so, inter-community violence on that island might be reduced. Or perhaps in manifests itself in the desire for a Crete/Cyprus federation while making big noises about mainland Greece. Perhaps if the violence isn't changed and enosis is out of the question might see more of an acceptance of takism from a minority of Greek Cypriots. Or perhaps the idea of union with Crete/Greece just fizzles away entirely.

Does Turkey end up going Red as well here? That could really make things interesting in Cyprus.
 
Does Turkey end up going Red as well here? That could really make things interesting in Cyprus.
Things aren't cast in stone at this point, but the idea is to have Turkey become pro-US as in OTL, meaning that there's a bit of iron curtain running through Thrace.
 
Things aren't cast in stone at this point, but the idea is to have Turkey become pro-US as in OTL, meaning that there's a bit of iron curtain running through Thrace.

That suggests that the US may be actively funding groups against Enosis as part of efforts to keep Turkey sweet.
 
Interesting idea - as noted above, Cyprus obviously complicates matters to some extent.
Yes, the future status of Cyprus would be a conundrum. On the one hand the Greek government in Crete would get a boost in legitimacy if enosis could be implemented, but on the other Turkey would be opposed and as the main US ally in the region, its preferences can't be ignored. How could this be plausibly resolved? (The outcome may well be sub-optimal, so long as it's historically realistic).
 
Air battles between Greek and Turkish air forces were already heated OTL(and even today). With a Greek Taiwan to put oil on the fire... boy, that corner of Mediterranean airspace is gonna be a hot potato.

Air battles between British Lightnings and Mig-21 over the Mediterranean (grabs popcorn).

I can see the British sending a squadron of Canberra, Buccaneer or even V-bomber to sacre the shit out of the Greeks (although V-bombers would be completely overkill, even without nukes). Probably more carriers in Malta, and more RN overall.
And on top of that, if the Greek are crazy enough to ever try an invasion, then - Falkland war, but in the Mediterranean.
 
On the People's Republic of Greece, will they remain in the Soviet sphere or might they go the way of Albania or even Yugoslavia in breaking with Moscow?

Perhaps too strategically important to allow to go their own way, the thought of the Soviet Navy going through the bosphorus to deliver troops to go full Hungary or Czechoslovakia is an interesting one.
 
The thing with Albania and Yugoslavia is that they achieved liberation with limited Red Army intervention. It's going to be much harder for Greece to develop an independent line, considering both its position and how much influence Moscow has on the local party.

The Greek-Turkish rivalry ITTL will be something else.
 
Quite. Controlling a port in the Mediterranean would make the USSR reluctant to allow the place much autonomy. There's probably going to be a thorough purge of the Communist partisans as soon as the dust settles.
 
Quite. Controlling a port in the Mediterranean would make the USSR reluctant to allow the place much autonomy. There's probably going to be a thorough purge of the Communist partisans as soon as the dust settles.

To squash butterflies for a moment, might a warm-water port on the Med blunt later Soviet interest in the Mideast?
 
To squash butterflies for a moment, might a warm-water port on the Med blunt later Soviet interest in the Mideast?
They still might want to disrupt US influence in the region and secure their Central Asian flank, but I suppose their main focus will be on power projection in the Eastern Mediterranean.
 
I also wonder if Turkey might, with tacit US blessing, take back Western Thrace and a few Aegean islands?
 
I also wonder if Turkey might, with tacit US blessing, take back Western Thrace and a few Aegean islands?

On the subject of Aegean Islands, presumably the Dodecanese would get surrendered to the British as per OTL and then transferred to Crete.
 
Wasn't Crete somewhat left-wing and Republican in OTL, I can see a white terror that leads to a distinct Cretan identity happening.
 
So there could be something of a political and cultural divide between the exiled mainlanders and the locals, same as Taiwan with the waishengren and the bendiren?

Yes, I would assume so, especially if the exiles decide to take "decisive measures" against Cretan civil society and dissenters.
 
A related query is how many mainlanders would manage to relocate, aside from the government-in-exile itself.
 
...having the Red Army "liberate" mainland Greece in the course of WW2...

I think it's more likely that an advancing Red Army would meet up with Greek Communists who had won the fighting in the immediate aftermath of the German withdrawal; the situation would then be more analogous of Tito's victory in Yugoslavia.
 
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