The Greek Civil War was fought between the Greek government army and the Democratic Army of Greece – the military branch of the Communist Party of Greece from 1946 to 1949. The fighting resulted in the defeat of the DSE by the Hellenic Army.
The civil war resulted from a highly polarized struggle between left and right ideologies that started in 1943. From 1944 each side targeted the power vacuum resulting from the end of Axis occupation during World War II. The struggle was one of the first conflicts of the Cold War and represents the first example of Cold War postwar involvement on the part of the Allies in the internal affairs of a foreign country. Greece in the end was funded by the US and joined NATO, while the insurgents were demoralized by the bitter split between the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, who wanted to end the war, and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, who wanted it to continue.
Tito was committed to helping the Greek Communists in their efforts, a stance that caused political complications with Stalin, as he had recently agreed with Winston Churchill not to support the Communists in Greece, as documented in their Percentages Agreement of October 1944.