After the Greek War of Independence, from 1833 to 1880 the Greek Army
established a separate General Staff Officer’s Corps. Afterwards, in the course of a
long period of reorganisation and modernization of the Armed Forces, this Corps
was abolished and Officers would be placed in the staffs of the Secretariat on Army
and Naval Affairs. At the end of the 19th century, a small number of Greek officers
was trained in War Colleges abroad.
Shortly after the establishment of General Staffs at the Secretariat on Army
and Naval Affairs, the need for staff training for a larger number of Officers became
obvious, and the establishment of War Colleges in Greece was decided. The
developments of the Balkan Wars, the First World War (WWI) and the Asia Minor
Campaign postponed the establishment of these schools up to 1925. In fact, the
establishment of the Air Force War College was postponed due to WWII and the
modernization of the Air Force that followed; it was finally established in 1957.
In 1999 the Hellenic National General Staff, having taken into consideration
the lessons learned on modern warfare, founded the Joint National Defence Staff
Officer College (JNDSOC), which operated until 2003. The College was attended
by a small number of senior officers of all Services, who had already graduated
from their respective War Colleges, which operated in parallel and were the main
military institutes.
Finally, in 2003 the Supreme Joint War College (SJWC) was established as
the successor of the Joint National Defence Staff Officer College; it also undertook
a large part of the training activity of the Senior Officers’ Course of all three
Services’ War Colleges.