Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Νεώτερη και Σύγχρονη Ελληνική ΙστορίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Supervisors info:
Eυάγγελος Καραμανωλάκης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Δήμητρα Λαμπροπούλου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ευάνθης Χατζηβασιλείου, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Ο ελληνικός Τύπος και η έκρηξη του πολέμου της Κορέας (1950): Προσλήψεις και αναγνώσεις
Translated title:
The Greek Press and the outbreak of the Korean War (1950): Perpectives and viewpoints
Summary:
This thesis aims to outline the perspectives of the Korean War in the Greek daily press. The emphasis is on the first six months after the start of the fighting, on June 25, 1950. More specifically, an attempt is made to examine the characteristics and instrumentalisation of the Cold War imaginary, as it was formed in Greece in 1950-1951. The conflict between North Koreans and South Koreans broke out just nine months after the end of the Greek Civil War and the defeat of the communist forces. After the traumatic 1940s, all political factions were faced with difficult challenges arising from both domestic and international realignments brought about by the cosmogony of the Cold War. In this already demanding reform process, the Korean War added new variables. The daily press, as a dominant factor in the public sphere, provides us with useful tools to negotiate a number of critical issues related to a reality where the boundaries between national and supranational seemed extremely blurred. In the present study, newspapers are used not so much as a faithful mirror of public opinion, but as exponents of specific ideologies and worldviews. In this context, the newspapers “Kathimerini”, “Vima”, and “Demokratikos” are examined as representative examples of the Right, the Center and the Left respectively. The first chapter is introductory. In other words, the historical context of the time is presented, both in Greece and in Korea. The aim is to understand from the beginning the circumstances under which what is commented on in the work was written. The second chapter is about Kathimerini. It examines how the newspaper used the war to promote domestic political demands but also how the position of Greece in the Cold War was perceived. The third chapter deals with the centrist and pro-government Vima. In general, the same direction is followed as in the previous chapter. In addition, however, an attempt is made to highlight the way in which the newspaper's discourse struggles to balance between supporting the domestic government agenda on the one hand and identifying with the "free world" camp on the other, at a time when these two tendencies seemed to clash. The fourth chapter deals with Demokratikos. This is a leftist view of the war that openly challenges the dominant tendencies of the time, while at the same time it is the first attempt of the illegal Greek Communist Party to publicly state its positions, albeit in an indirect and covert way. The fifth and last chapter approaches the decision of the Greek government to send a Greek battalion to Korea. Given that this is the most important fact of Greece's connection with the war, it was deemed fruitful to write a separate chapter on this issue. In addition, this gives us the opportunity to verify some of the findings previously made in this thesis.
Main subject category:
History
Keywords:
Korean War, Korea, Greece, Cold War, Press, 1950, Right, Centre, Left, Κathimerini, Vima, Demokratikos, conservatism, anti-communism, anti-americanism, Plastiras
Number of references:
264
