An Uneasy Triangle: Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Greek Colonels and the Greek Communists (1967-1974)

Abstract

This article examines the rapprochement between Ceaușescu’s Romania and the dictatorship of the Greek Colonels (1967-1974). Specifically, the paradoxically positive attitude of Ceaușescu towards the Greek Junta is approached not only on a bilateral level but also through the lens of an emerging Balkan cooperation spirit and most importantly in relation to its reception by the Greek Communists. By focusing on this triangle this study demonstrates how ideological differences were at times at odds with Cold War realities. Based on Romanian archival material, the contextualization of this unseemly Balkan cross-bloc cooperation offers new insights and a better understanding of the uses of ideology and political expediency in the pursuit of authoritarian legitimacy in the South-Eastern European theatre of the Cold War.