The Greek Civil War (Greek: Eμφύλιος πόλεμος Emfilios polemos), fought from 1946 to 1949 by the Governmental forces, receiving logistical support by the Unite Kingdom at first and later by the USA, and the Democratic Army of Greece, military branch of the Greek communist party was the accumulation of a highly polarized struggle between leftists and rightists which started from 1943 and targeted the power vacuum that the German occupation had created. According to some analysts it represents the first example of a post-war West interference in the political situation of a foreign country but nevertheless it also embarked the first serious shakedown of the percentages agreement. The victory of the British - and later US-supported government forces led to Greece's membership in NATO and helped to define the ideological balance of power in the Aegean for the entire Cold War.