The fate of the Greek claims

The final consequence of the incorporation of the Balkans in the context of the Cold War confrontation regarded the fate of the Greek territorial claims after the end of the Second World War. The initially negative attitude of the British authorities to the re-examination of the Greek-Albanian border (i.e. the Greek claim over northern Epirus) had postponed the discussion of the issue.

When the Greek government reiterated its claim in 1946, by that time the prevalence of a communist regime in Albania, under Hodza, inevitably conceptualised the issue in the wider framework of the Cold War. The same fat awaited the Greek claim for military compensations from Bulgaria, since the latter had occupied part of northern Greece during the 1941-44 period. On the other hand, the geographical distance of the Dodecanese from the battlefield of the Cold War permitted the cession of the islands to Greece in 1947.