'At last, our voice is heard in the world’ : Greece and the Six Nation Initiative during the Euromissile Crisis

The emergence of the Second Cold War revived the nuclear arms race and triggered millions of demonstrators to take to the streets to protest against the looming nuclear threat. Most of the historiography has focused on these anti-nuclear rallies as well as the Cold War summits between Reagan and Gorbachev to deal with the Euromissiles escalation. This chapter will shed light on a completely neglected scheme called the ‘Six Nation Initiative’ launched by Greece along with India, Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania and Sweden, in May 1984 to halt what they called ‘a rush towards global suicide’ and to facilitate an agreement on nuclear arms control. It will show how these six peripheral countries, and Greece in particular, had an impact on the discourse, framing and at times decisions on peace and disarmament, illustrating the margins for manoeuvre of small states and their potential influence on Cold War dynamics.