Greece’s Security Problems in the Cold War

Notably, Greece’s strategic location has been both an asset and a liability. Its real and enduring strategic importance for both the Western and the Soviet Alliance during the Cold War derived from many political and geographic conditions and circumstances. Since it laid directly across Soviet sea and air lines of communication to the Mediterranean and beyond, it offered vantage points for the United States and NATO from electronic reconnaissance and surveillance. Greece provided continuity to the Southern region of the Alliance, not only for the purpose of military communications, but also in protecting Italy from the East and Turkey from the West. The greatest Greek strategic asset, however, was its land mass which, along with the nearly 3000 Greek islands of the Aegean gave strategic depth in Alliance defence.