Nikolaos Alexatos
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Department of History, Undergraduate
As the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini decided to invade Greece it was a common belief that the Greek army would collapse after some days or weeks. Mussolini took his decision after Germany sent troops to Rumania to protect the... more
As the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini decided to invade Greece it was a common belief that the Greek army would collapse after some days or weeks. Mussolini took his decision after Germany sent troops to Rumania to protect the significant oilfields of Ploiesti against eventual air raids of the Royal Air Force or an invasion of the Red Army. Mussolini saw in this development a German provocation because the German decision was been taken with-out consulting with the Italian leadership and wanted through the invasion of Greece to re-establish a power balance to Hitler. The Greek army didn’t collapse and took initiative in the battlefields with the result that the Italian army was forced to retreat. Hitler was aware of a British presence in Greece, which would be a serious threat for the oilfields. The problem could be solved by an invasion and occupation of Greece by German forces or eventually by an armistice and a peace treaty between the two enemies.
I researched for continuities in the German foreign policy concerning Greece, the Greek-German relations in the second half of the 1930s, the Italian policy relating to Greece and the German foreign policy in relation to the Greek-Italian war in its double strategy: the preparations for the Balkan-Campaign that took place in spring 1941 and the attempt to bring the two enemies to negotiations. Considering that some historians have ignored and are still ignoring these attempts I focused on the presence of these attempts in the historians’ research and the way of their presentations together with the evaluation of the documenta-tion of the sources. Before that I tried to show that these attempts were part of continuity in German foreign policy. In addition I am presenting two documents that show that the at-tempts were been taken seriously by the British and Greek diplomacy.
I researched for continuities in the German foreign policy concerning Greece, the Greek-German relations in the second half of the 1930s, the Italian policy relating to Greece and the German foreign policy in relation to the Greek-Italian war in its double strategy: the preparations for the Balkan-Campaign that took place in spring 1941 and the attempt to bring the two enemies to negotiations. Considering that some historians have ignored and are still ignoring these attempts I focused on the presence of these attempts in the historians’ research and the way of their presentations together with the evaluation of the documenta-tion of the sources. Before that I tried to show that these attempts were part of continuity in German foreign policy. In addition I am presenting two documents that show that the at-tempts were been taken seriously by the British and Greek diplomacy.
Research Interests:
Continuities, transformations and discontinuations between the roman law and the laws of the Kingdom of the Visigoths made visible in this contribution using the exampl of the slave laws, showing that all three options could be used in... more
Continuities, transformations and discontinuations between the roman law and the laws of the Kingdom of the Visigoths made visible in this contribution using the exampl of the slave laws, showing that all three options could be used in the effort to understand the late antiquity.