The Origins of Offensive Counterinsurgency During the Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War is often studied as a historical event, but little attention is paid to it as a stage in counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine development. The key point of this war was that it presented the foreign armies that assisted the Greek Royalists with the opportunity to apply traditional and new tactics against the Greek communist guerrillas and learn valuable lessons. This article will trace the origins of the offensive COIN in Greece, the first step in a broader research project that will seek to determine the impact of the Greek Civil War on US Army COIN doctrine development