HISTORYTHE MODERN GREEK NATION1944–49
The end of WWII sees
Greece descend into
civil war, pitching
monarchists against
communists. The
monarchists recover in
1946, but the civil war
takes its toll and many
Greeks emigrate in
search of a better life.
1967–74
Right- and left-wing
factions continue to
bicker, provoking in
April 1967 a right-wing
military coup d’état
by army generals who
establish a junta. They
impose martial law
and abolish many civil
rights.1973
On 17 November tanks
ram the gates of the
Athens Polytechnio
(Technical University)
and troops storm the
school buildings in a
bid to quash a student
uprising against the
junta. More than 20
students die.1974
A botched plan to unite
Cyprus with Greece
prompts the invasion
of Cyprus by Turkish
troops and results in the
fall of the military junta.
This acts as a catalyst
for the restoration
of parliamentary
democracy in Greece.for Greek Rally, to power for the third time in succession. Papandreou
accused the ERE of ballot rigging, and the political turmoil that followed
culminated in the murder, in May 1963, of Grigoris Lambrakis, the depu-
ty of the communist Union of the Democratic Left (EDA). All this proved
too much for Karamanlis, who resigned and went to live in Paris.
The EK fi nally came to power in February 1964 and Papandreou wast-
ed no time in implementing a series of radical changes. He freed political
prisoners and allowed exiles to come back to Greece, reduced income
tax and the defence budget, and increased spending on social services
and education.
Colonels, Monarchs & Democracy
The political right in Greece was rattled by Papandreou’s tolerance of
the left, and a group of army colonels, led by Georgios Papadopoulos
and Stylianos Patakos, staged a coup on 21 April 1967. They established
a military junta with Papadopoulos as prime minister. King Constantine
tried an unsuccessful counter-coup in December, after which he fl ed to
Rome, then London.
The colonels declared martial law, banned political parties and trade
unions, imposed censorship and imprisoned, tortured and exiled thou-
sands of dissidents. In June 1972 Papadopoulos declared Greece a repub-
lic and appointed himself president.
On 17 November 1973 tanks stormed a building at the Athens Poly-
technio (Technical University) to quell a student occupation calling for
an uprising against the US-backed junta. While the number of casualties
is still in dispute (more than 20 students were reportedly killed and hun-
dreds injured), the act spelt the death knell for the junta.
Shortly after, the head of the military security police, Dimitrios Io-
annidis, deposed Papadopoulos. In July 1974 Ioannidis tried to impose
unity with Cyprus by attempting to topple the Makarios government in
Cyprus; Makarios got wind of an assassination attempt and escaped. The
junta replaced him with the extremist Nikos Sampson (a former EOKA
leader) as president. Consequently, mainland Turkey sent in troops until
they occupied northern Cyprus, partitioning the country and displacing
almost 200,000 Greek Cypriots who fl ed their homes for the safety of the
south (reportedly more than 1500 Cypriots remain missing).
The junta dictatorship collapsed. Karamanlis was summoned from
Paris to take offi ce and hisNew Democracy (ND) party won a large
majority at the November elections in 1974 against the newly formed
Panhellenic Socialist Union (PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreou (son
of Georgios). A plebiscite voted 69% against the restoration of the mon-
archy and the ban on communist parties was lifted. (The exiled former
royal family still lives in London, where it continues to use its royal titles.
The 1963 political
assassination of
Grigoris Lamb-
rakis is described
in Vassilis
Vassilikos’ novel
Z, which later be-
came an award-
winning film.