ABSTRACT
In early 1941, in a desperate attempt to stem the impending German advance, the British government sent an expeditionary force into Greece and tried to hatch a Balkan bloc comprising Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia. The Foreign Office was concerned with the disruptive potential of Balkan nationalisms, especially the ever explosive territorial issues which the war had helped rekindle. In Greece, the British were determined to keep the advancing Soviets out by diplomatic means and to avert a communist take-over, if necessary by force. The political vacuum created by enemy occupation was tempting to groups, communist or separatist, which opposed the restoration of the pre-war order. British planning for South-East Europe after spring 1941 was conditioned by developments in other fronts and, especially, the exigencies of Anglo-Soviet and Anglo-American relations. The British also attempted to engage the Soviets in some sort of working partnership' in the region, especially in Yugoslavia.
