At the apex of Cold War tension, an alliance of Greek military leaders seized power in Athens. Seven years of political repression followed yet, as Cold War allies, the Greek colonels had continued international support, especially from Britain. Based on newly released National Archive documents, US and Greek sources and personal interviews with leading actors, Alexander Nafpliotis explores why the British governments of Harold Wilson and Edward Heath choose to pursue an alliance with these military dictators and offers the first systematic study of Britain and the Greek military Junta of the early 1970s. Comparing and contrasting the attitudes of both Labour and Conservative governments towards the Junta in Greece, Nafpliotis outlines a great degree of continuity, as well as showing where and how moral and public relations issues were overcome in order to facilitate a close relationship with the colonels.

'Britain and the Greek Colonels' is a comprehensive history of international diplomacy and realpolitik in the Cold War period and will be essential reading for students and scholars of Cold War history, the history of modern Greece and International Relations.