Greek military junta of 1967-1974
Encyclopedia
The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", (ˈdʒʌntə or /ˈhʊntə/; Greek Χούντα, ˈxuda) and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments
that ruled Greece
from 1967 to 1974. Rule by the Greek military started in the morning of 21 April 1967, with a coup d'état
led by a group of colonels, and ended in July 1974.
of Greece during World War II
. After the liberation in 1944, Greece
descended into a civil war
, fought between the communist forces and the now returned government-in-exile
.
In 1947, the United States formulated the Truman Doctrine
, and began to actively support a series of authoritarian governments in Greece
, Turkey
and Iran
, in order to ensure that these states did not fall under Soviet influence. With American and British
aid, the civil war ended with the military defeat of the communists in 1949. The Communist Party of Greece
(KKE) was outlawed and many Communists either fled the country or faced persecution. The CIA and the Greek military began to work closely, especially after Greece joined NATO in 1952. Greece was a vital link in the NATO defense arc which extended from the eastern border of Iran
to the northern most point in Norway
. Greece in particular was seen as being at risk, having experienced a Communist insurgency
. In particular, the newly-founded Hellenic National Intelligence Service
(KYP) and the LOK Special Forces (later actively involved in the 1967 coup) maintained a very close liaison with their American counterparts. In addition to preparing for a Soviet
invasion, they agreed to guard against a left wing coup. The LOK in particular were integrated into the Gladio
European stay-behind
network. Although there have been persistent rumors about an active support of the perpetrators of the coup d'état by the US government there is no evidence to support such claims. It is however likely that the US military was informed of the coup a few days in advance by Greek liaison officers.
Georgios Papandreou, Sr.
as Prime Minister
was a sign of change. In a bid to gain more control over the country's government than what his limited constitutional powers allowed, the young and inexperienced King Constantine II
clashed with liberal reformers, dismissing Papandreou in 1965, causing a constitutional crisis known as the Apostasia of 1965
.
After making several attempts to form governments, relying on dissident Center Union and conservative MPs, Constantine II appointed an interim government under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos
, and new elections were called for 28 May 1967. There were many indications that Papandreou's Center Union
would emerge as the largest party, but would not be able to form a single-party government and would be forced into an alliance with the United Democratic Left, which was suspected by conservatives of being a proxy for the banned Communist Party of Greece
. This possibility was used as a pretext for the coup.
Greek historiography and the press have also hypothesized about a "Generals' Coup", a coup that would have been deployed at the behest of the palace, under the pretext of combatting communist subversion. In the confusion of the first few hours it was actually thought by many outside observers that the King was behind the coup and many European newspapers carried headlines accusing Constantine of being the mastermind behind the events in Greece.
Before the elections that were scheduled for 28 May 1967, with expectations of a wide Centrist victory, a number of National Radical Union politicians feared that the policies of leftist members of the Center Union
, such as Andreas Papandreou
(the son of Georgios Papandreou, Sr.) and Spyros Katsotas, would lead to a constitutional crisis. One such politician, George Rallis
, has recounted he had proposed that, in case of such an "anomaly", the King should declare martial law
, as the monarchist constitution permitted him. According to Rallis, Constantine was receptive to the idea.
According to US diplomat John Day, the Americans also worried that due to the old age of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas Papandreou would have a very powerful role in the next government. According to Robert Keely and John Owens, American diplomats attached to the US Embassy in Greece at the time, Constantine asked US Ambassador Philip Talbot what would be the attitude of the US government to an extra-parliamentary solution to this problem. To this the embassy responded negatively in principle, adding however that "US reaction to such move cannot be determined in advance but would depend on circumstances at time". To this day, Constantine denies this.
According to then US Ambassador Philip Talbot, after this communication, Constantine met with the army generals, who promised him that they would not take any action before the coming elections. However the proclamations of Andreas Papandreou made them nervous, and they resolved to re-examine their decision after seeing the results of the elections.
In 1966 Constantine II of Greece
sent his envoy Demetrios Bitsios to Paris
on mission to convince Constantine Karamanlis
to return to Greece and resume a role in Greek politics. According to uncorroborated claims made by the former monarch, in 2006 and after the deaths of the two men involved, Karamanlis replied to Bitsios that he would only return if the King imposed martial law
, as was his constitutional prerogative.
US journalist Cyrus L. Sulzberger has separately claimed that Karamanlis flew to New York
to lobby US support from Lauris Norstad
for a coup d'état
in Greece that would establish a strong conservative regime under himself; Sulzberger alleges that Norstad declined to involve himself in such affairs. Sulzberger's account, which unlike that of the former King was delivered during the lifetime of those implicated (Karamanlis and Norstad), rested solely on the authority of his and Norstad's word. When, in 1997, the former King reiterated Sulzberger's allegations, Karamanlis stated that he "will not deal with the former king's statements because both their content and attitude are unworthy of comment". The deposed King's adoption of Sulzberger's claims against Karamanlis was castigated by the left-leaning media, typically critical of Karamanlis, as "shameless" and "brazen". It bears noting that, at the time, the former King referred exclusively to Sulzberger's account, to support the theory of a planned coup by Karamanlis, and made no mention of the alleged 1966 meeting with Bitsios, which he would refer to only after both participants had died and could not respond.
As it turned out, the constitutional crisis did not originate either from the political parties, or from the Palace, but from middle-rank army putschists.
and Colonels George Papadopoulos
and Nikolaos Makarezos
seized power in a coup d'etat
. The colonels were able to quickly seize power by using surprise and confusion. Pattakos was commander of the Armour Training Centre , based in Athens. The coup leaders placed tanks in strategic positions in Athens
, effectively gaining complete control of the city. At the same time, a large number of small mobile units were dispatched to arrest leading politicians and authority figures, as well as many ordinary citizens suspected of left-wing sympathies, according to lists prepared in advance. One of the first to be arrested was Lieutenant General Grigorios Spandidakis
, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army.
The conspirators were known to Spandidakis. Indeed, he was instrumental in bringing some of them to Athens, to use in a coup he and other leading Army generals had been planning, in an attempt to prevent George Papandreou's
victory in the upcoming election and the Communist takeover that would, supposedly, follow it. The colonels succeeded in persuading Spandidakis to join them and he issued orders activating an action plan (the "Prometheus" plan) that had been previously drafted as a response for a hypothetical Communist uprising (see Operation Gladio). Under the command of paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Kostas Aslanides, the LOK (see above) took control of the Greek Defence Ministry
while Brigadier General
Stylianos Pattakos
gained control over communication centers, the parliament, the royal palace, and according to detailed lists, arrested over 10,000 people.
By the early morning hours the whole of Greece was in the hands of the colonels. All leading politicians, including acting Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
, had been arrested and were held incommunicado by the conspirators. At 6 a.m. on the day of the coup Papadopoulos announced that eleven articles of the Greek constitution were suspended.
One of the consequences of Papadopoulos' annulment of the eleven key articles of the Greek Constitution was that anyone could be arrested without warrant at any time and brought before a miltary court to be tried. Yannis Ladas the then director of ESA in an interview referring to the coup said: "Within twenty minutes every politician, every man, every anarchist who was listed could be rounded up... It was a simple, diabolical plan".
Georgios Papandreou was arrested after a nightime raid at his villa in Kastri. Andreas Papandreou
was arrested at around the same time after seven soldiers with fixed bayonet
s and one with a machine gun
forcibly entered his home. Andreas Papandreou escaped to the roof of his house but surrendered after one of the soldiers held a gun to the head of his then 14-year old son George Papandreou
.
U.S. critics of the coup included then senator Lee Metcalf
who criticised the Johson administration for providing aid to a "military regime of collaborators and Nazi sympathisers". Phillips Talbot
, the US ambassador in Athens, disapproved of the military coup, complaining that it represented "A rape of democracy", to which Jack Maury, the CIA chief of station in Athens, answered, "How can you rape a whore?" The Papadopoulos' junta attempted to re-engineer
the Greek political landscape by coup.
The three plot leaders visited Constantine in his residence in Tatoi
, which they circled with tanks, effectively preventing any form of resistance. The King wrangled with the colonels and initially dismissed them, ordering them to return with Spandidakis. Later in the day he took it upon himself to go to the Ministry of National Defence, located north of Athens city centre, where all the coup leaders were gathered. The King had a discussion with Kanellopoulos, who was detained there, and with leading generals. This was a pointless exercise, since Kanellopoulos was a prisoner whilst the generals had no real power, as was evident from the shouting of lower and middle-ranking officers, refusing to obey orders and clamouring for a new government under Spandidakis.
The King finally relented and decided to co-operate, claiming to this day that he was isolated and did not know what else to do. He has since claimed that he was trying to gain time to organise a counter-coup and oust the Junta. He did organise such a counter-coup; however, the fact that the new government had a legal sanction, in that it had been appointed by the legitimate head of state, played an important role in the coup's success. The King was later to regret bitterly his decision. For many Greeks, it served to identify him indelibly with the coup and certainly played an important role in the final decision to abolish the monarchy, sanctioned by the 1974 referendum.
The only concession the King could achieve was to appoint a civilian as prime minister, rather than Spandidakis. Konstantinos Kollias
, a former Attorney General of the Areios Pagos
(supreme court), was chosen. He was a well-known royalist and had even been disciplined under the Papandreou government for meddling in the investigation on the murder of MP Gregoris Lambrakis
. Kollias was little more than a figurehead and real power rested with the army, and especially Papadopoulos, who emerged as the coup's strong man and became Minister to the Presidency of the Government. Other coup members occupied key posts.
Up until then constitutional legitimacy had been preserved, since under the then Greek Constitution the King could appoint whoever he wanted as prime minister, as long as Parliament endorsed the appointment with a vote of confidence or a general election was called. It was this government, sworn-in during the early evening hours of 21 April, that formalised the coup. It adopted a "Constituent Act", an amendment tantamount to a revolution, canceling the elections and effectively abolishing the constitution, which would be replaced later. In the meantime, the government was to rule by decree. Since traditionally such Constituent Acts did not need to be signed by the Crown, the King never signed it, permitting him to claim, years later, that he had never signed any document instituting the junta. Critics claim that Constantine II did nothing to prevent the government (and especially his chosen prime minister Kollias) from legally instituting the authoritarian government to come. This same government formally published and enforced a decree, already proclaimed on radio as the coup was in progress, instituting military law. Constantine claimed he never signed that decree either.
, fearful of domestic and international public opinion, President of the United States
Lyndon B. Johnson
told Constantine, in a visit to Washington, D.C.
in early autumn of 1967, that it would be best to replace that government with another one. Constantine took that as an encouragement to organize a counter-coup, although no direct help or involvement of the US was forthcoming.
The King finally decided to launch his counter-coup on 13 December 1967. Since Athens was effectively in the hands of the junta militarily, Constantine decided to fly to the small northern city of Kavala
. There he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him. The vague plan he and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would advance on and take Thessaloniki
. Constantine planned to install an alternative administration there. International recognition, which he believed to be forthcoming, as well as internal pressure from the fact that Greece would have been split in two governments would, the King hoped, force the junta to resign, leaving the field clear for him to return triumphant to Athens.
In the early morning hours of 13 December, the King boarded the royal plane, together with Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
, their two baby children Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
and Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
, his mother Frederika of Hanover
and his sister, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
. Constantine also took with him Prime Minister Kollias. At first, things seemed to be going according to plan. Constantine was well received in Kavala which, militarily, was under the command of a general loyal to him. The Air Force
and Navy
, both strongly royalist and not involved in the 1967 coup, immediately declared for him and mobilised. Another of Constantine's generals effectively cut all communication between Athens and northern Greece.
However, the King's plans were overly bureaucratic, naïvely supposing that orders from a commanding general would automatically be obeyed. Further, the King was obsessive about avoiding "bloodshed", even where the junta would be the attacker. Instead of attempting to drum up the widest popular support, hoping for spontaneous pro-democracy risings in most towns, the King preferred to let his generals put together the necessary force for advancing on Thessaloniki in strict compliance with military bureaucracy. The King made no attempt to contact politicians, even local ones, and even took care to include in his proclamation a paragraph condemning communism, lest anyone should get the wrong idea.
In the circumstances, rather than the King managing to put together a force and advancing on Thessaloniki, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested his royalist generals and took command of their units, which subsequently put together a force to advance on Kavala to arrest the King. The junta, not at all shaken by the loss of their figurehead premier, ridiculed the King by announcing that he was hiding "from village to village". Realising that the counter coup had failed, Constantine fled Greece on board the royal plane, taking his family and helpless Prime Minister with him. They landed in Rome
early in the morning of 14 December. Constantine remained in exile all through the rest of military rule (although nominally he continued as King until 1 June 1973) and was never to return to Greece as King.
, Papadopoulos
and Makarezos
, issued a notice in the Government Gazette appointing another member to the military administration, Major General Georgios Zoitakis
, as Regent. Zoitakis then appointed Papadopoulos Prime Minister. This became the only government of Greece after the failure of the King's attempted coup, as the King was unwilling to set up an alternative administration in exile. The Regent's position was later confirmed under the 1968 Constitution, although the exiled King never officially recognised, or acknowledged, the Regency.
In a legally controversial move, even under the junta's own Constitution, the Cabinet voted on 21 March 1972 to oust Zoitakis and replace him with Papadopoulos, thus combining the offices of Regent and Prime Minister. It was thought Zoitakis was problematic and interfered too much with the military. The King's portrait remained on coins, in public buildings, etc., but slowly, the military was chipping away at the institution of the monarchy: the royal family's tax immunity was abolished, the complex network of royally managed charities was brought under direct state control, the royal arms were removed from coins, the Navy and Air Force were no longer "Royal" and the newspapers were usually banned from publishing the King's photo or any interviews.
During this period, resistance against the colonels' rule became better organized among exiles in Europe and the United States. In addition to the expected opposition from the left, the colonels found themselves under attack by constituencies that had traditionally supported past right-wing regimes: pro-monarchists supporting Constantine; businessmen concerned over international isolation
; the middle class facing an economic downturn after 1971. There was also considerable political infighting within the junta. Still, up until 1973 the junta appeared in firm control of Greece, and not likely to be ousted by violent means.
to save the nation" ("Ethnosotirios Epanastasis"). Their official justification for the coup was that a "communist conspiracy" had infiltrated the bureaucracy
, academia
, the press
, and even the military
, to such an extent that drastic action was needed to protect the country from communist takeover. Thus, the defining characteristic of the Junta was its staunch anti-Communism
. They used the term anarcho-communist to describe all leftists. In a similar vein the junta attempted to steer Greek public opinion not only by propaganda but also by inventing new words
and slogans, such as old-partyism (palaiokommatismos) to discredit parliamentary democracy, or Greece for Christian Greeks
(Ellas Ellinon Christianon) to underscore its ideology.
The junta's main ideological spokesmen included Georgios Georgalas and journalist Savvas Konstantopoulos, both former Marxists. Its propaganda often relied on fabricated evidence and fictional enemies of the state. Atheism
and pop culture, such as rock music
and the hippie
s, were also seen as parts of this conspiracy. Nationalism
and Christianity
were widely promoted.
and freedom of the press
was immediately suspended. Military courts were established, and political parties were dissolved. Legislation that took decades to fine tune and multiple parliaments to enact was thus erased in a matter of days. The rapid devolution of Greek democracy had begun.
In fact the junta crackdown was so fast that by September 1967, Denmark
, Norway
, Sweden
and the Netherlands
went before the European Commission of Human Rights
to accuse Greece of violating most of the Human Rights
protected by the European Convention on Human Rights
. Following the 21 April coup, 6,188 suspected communists and political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands.
Under the junta torture was a deliberate practice carried out both by the Security Police and the Greek Military Police
, as portrayed in the film Your Neighbor's Son
, with an estimated 3,500 people detained in torture centres run by ESA.
Examples of the types of torture commonly used include (amongst others):
According to a human rights report by Amnesty International
, in the first month of the 21 April coup an estimated 8,000 people were arrested. James Becket, an American attorney and author of Barbarism in Greece, was sent to Greece by Amnesty International and wrote in December 1969 that "a conservative estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of people tortured.
The citizens' right of assembly
was revoked and no political demonstrations were allowed. Surveillance on citizens was a fact of life, even during permitted social activities. That had a continuously chilling effect on the population who realised that, even though they were allowed certain social activities, they could not overstep the boundaries and delve into or discuss forbidden subjects. This realisation including the absence of any civil rights
as well as maltreatment during police arrest, ranging from threats to beatings or worse, made life under the junta a difficult proposition for many ordinary citizens.
Following the junta's logic, one was allowed to participate in a rock concert, as an example, but if any misbehaviour occurred during that activity that was not up to junta's standards, the resulting arrest, coupled with the complete absence of any civil rights, could easily lead to beatings and labelling of the individual as an anarchist
, communist
, a combination of these terms, or worse. The absence of a valid code of jurisprudence led to the unequal application of the law among the citizens and to rampant favouritism and nepotism
. Absence of elected representation meant that the citizens' stark and only choice was to submit to these arbitrary measures exactly as dictated by the junta. The country had become a true police state
.
Complete lack of press freedom
coupled with nonexistant civil rights meant that continuous cases of civil rights abuses could neither be reported nor investigated by an independent press or any other reputable authority. This led to a psychology
of fear
among the citizens during the Papadopoulos dictatorship, which became worse under Ioannides.
ally, due to its proximity to the Eastern European Soviet bloc, and the fact that the previous Truman administration had given the country millions of dollars in economic aid to discourage Communism
. US support for the junta, which was violently anti-communist, is claimed to be the cause of rising anti-Americanism
in Greece during and following the junta's undemocratic rule.
Greece's allies in Western Europe were split in their attitudes toward the Junta. The Scandinavian countries as well as the Netherlands took a very hostile stance towards the Junta and filed a complaint before the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe
in September 1967. Greece however opted for leaving the Council of Europe voluntarily in December 1969 before a verdict was handed down.
Countries such as the United Kingdom
and the Federal Republic of Germany on the other hand were voicing criticism about Greece's human rights record but supported the country's continued membership in the Council of Europe and NATO because of the country's strategic value for the western alliance.
. Papadopoulos allowed substantial social and cultural freedoms to all social class
es, but political oppression
and censorship
were at times heavy handed, especially in areas deemed sensitive by the junta, such as political activities, and politically related art, literature, film and music. Kostas Gavras's film Z
and Mikis Theodorakis
's music, among others, were never officially allowed even during the most relaxed times of the dictatorship, and an index of prohibited songs, literature and art was kept.
film Helga , a 1967 sex education
documentary
featuring a live birth scene, had no trouble making its debut in Greece just like in any other Western country. Moreover, the film was only restricted for those under 13 years of age. In 1971 Robert Hartford-Davis
was allowed by the junta to film the classic horror film Incense for the Damned
, starring Peter Cushing
and Patrick Macnee
and suitably featuring Chryseis (Χρυσηίς), a beguiling Greek siren
with vampire
tendencies, on the Greek island of Hydra
. In 1970 the film Woodstock
was shown all over Greece, with reports of arrests and disturbances especially in Athens as many youths flocked to see the film and filled theatres to capacity, while many others were left outside.
Meanwhile at Matala, Crete
, a hippie
colony which had been living in the caves since the 1960s, was never disturbed. Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell
was inspired to write the song "Carey
" after staying in the Matala caves with the hippie community in 1971. Hippie colonies also existed in other popular tourist spots such as "Paradise Beach" in Mykonos
.
, but this was eventually relaxed. In addition, pop
/rock music
programmes such as the one hosted by famous Greek music/radio/television personality and promoter
Nico Mastorakis
were very popular throughout the dictatorship years both on radio and television. Most Western record sales were similarly not restricted. In fact, even rock
concert
s and tours were allowed such as by the then popular rock groups
Socrates Drank the Conium
and Nostradamos. Another pop group "Poll" was a pioneer of Greek pop music in the late 1960s. Its lead singer and composer was Robert Williams, who was later joined, in 1971, by Kostas Tournas. Poll enjoyed a number of nationwide hits, such as "Anthrope Agapa (Humankind Love One Another)", an anti-war
song, composed by Tournas and "Ela Ilie Mou (Come, My Sun)", composed by Tournas, Williams), Tournas later pursued a solo career and in 1972 produced the progressive
psychedelic
hit solo album Aperanta Chorafia . He wrote and arranged the album using an orchestra
and a rock group ("Ruth") combination. In 1973 Kostas Tournas created the album Astroneira (Stardreams) influenced by David Bowie
's Ziggy Stardust
.
While the lyrics of "Poll" were composed exclusively in Greek, the band's name was an English word rendered in Greek characters, Πολλ. The dictionary
definition of poll, a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject or the voting at an election, apparently did not register with the Greek military junta censors
.
Songwriter and troubadour
Dionysis Savvopoulos
, who was initially imprisoned by the regime, nevertheless rose to great popularity and produced a number of influential and highly politically allegorical
, especially against the junta, albums during the period, including To Perivoli tou Trellou , Ballos and Vromiko Psomi .
was actively encouraged by Papadopoulos' government and, funding scandals notwithstanding, the tourist sector saw great development. With tourism came the nightlife. However, under Papadopoulos, in the absence of any civil rights these sociocultural freedoms existed in a legal vacuum that meant they were not guaranteed, but rather dispensed at the whim of the junta. In addition any transgressing into political matters during social or cultural activities usually meant arrest and punishment. Although disco
s and nightclub
s were, initially, subjected to a curfew
, partially due to an energy crisis
, this was eventually extended from 1.00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. as the energy crisis eased. These freedoms were later reversed by Dimitrios Ioannides
after his coup.
and patriotism
, he further appealed to the simpler ideals of rural Greece and strengthened his image as people's champion among farmers, who tended to ridicule the middle class. Furthermore, the regime promoted a policy of economic development in rural areas, which were mostly neglected by the previous governments, that had focused largely on urban industrial development.
and city
-oriented middle class
, since he was a military
man from a rural
background. In addition, he had promised from the beginning that the dictatorship would not be permanent, and that when political order was established democratic rule would return. On top of that, his promotion of tourism and other beneficial economic measures and the fact that, with the notable exceptions of political freedoms and press censorship, he did not otherwise substantially restrict the middle class, had the effect of assisting the junta in establishing its control over the country by gaining, at least initially, the reluctant acquiescence of some key segments of the population.
Corporation. Economic growth started losing steam by 1972. In addition, large scale construction of hydroelectric dam
projects, such as in Aliakmon
, Kastrakion, Polyphytos, the expansion of Thermoelectric generation units and other significant infrastructure development, took place. The junta used to proudly announce these projects with the slogan
: "Greece is a construction
zone" (Η Ελλάς είναι ένα εργοτάξιον). The always smiling Stylianos Pattakos
, also known as the first trowel of Greece, (Το πρώτο μυστρί της Ελλάδας), since he frequently appeared at project inaugurations with a trowel
in hand, starred in many of the Epikaira propaganda
documentaries that were screened before feature film presentation in Greek cinemas.
. During his administration, several low-interest loans, amortized over a twenty-year period, were issued for tourist development. This fostered the erection of a multitude of hotels, sometimes in non-tourist areas, and with no underlying business rationale. Several such hotels were abandoned unfinished as soon as the loans were secured, and their remains still dot the Greek countryside. These questionable loans are referred to as Thalassodaneia , or "loans of the sea", to indicate the loose terms under which they were granted.
Another contested policy of the regime was the writing-off of agricultural loans, up to a value of 100,000 drachmas, to farmers. This has been attributed to an attempt by Papadopoulos to gain public support for his regime.
on a Greek tour with the purpose of demonstrating to the Italians the methods of the junta. The Italians were sufficiently impressed that upon return to their country, the operatives of the Italian far right escalated the political violence in their country to a new level embarking on a terror campaign of bombings and other violence which killed and injured hundreds. Afterwards, the right-wing instigators of this violence blamed the communists. The Greek junta was so impressed with the manner their Italian counterparts were paving the way toward an Italian coup d'état that on 15 May 1969 Papadopoulos sent them a congratulatory message stating that "His Excellency the Prime Minister notes that the efforts that have been undertaken by the Greek National government in Italy for some time start to have some impact".
The democratic elements of the Greek society were opposed to the junta from the start. In 1968 many militant groups promoting democratic rule were formed, both in exile and in Greece. These included, among others, Panhellenic Liberation Movement
, Democratic Defense
, the Socialist Democratic Union
, as well as groups from the entire left wing of the Greek political spectrum, including the Communist Party of Greece
which had been outlawed even before the junta. The first armed action against the junta was the failed assassination attempt against George Papadopoulos
by Alexandros Panagoulis
, on 13 August 1968.
to Athens
, escorted by his personal security motorcycles and cars. Alexandros Panagoulis
ignited a bomb at a point of the coastal road where the limousine carrying Papadopoulos would have to slow down, but the bomb failed to harm Papadopoulos. Panagoulis was captured a few hours later in a nearby sea cave, as the boat that would let him escape the scene of the attack had not shown up.
Panagoulis was transferred to the Greek Military Police
(EAT-ESA) offices, where he was questioned, beaten and tortured (see the proceedings of Theofiloyiannakos's trial). On 17 November 1968 he was sentenced to death, and remained in prison for five years. After the restoration of democracy, Panagoulis was elected a Member of Parliament. Panagoulis is regarded as an emblematic figure for the struggle to restore democracy.
disobeyed the military's orders and followed the casket to the cemetery. The government reacted by arresting 41 people.
On 28 March 1969, after two years of widespread censorship, political detentions and torture, Giorgos Seferis
, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963, took a stand against the junta. He made a statement on the BBC World Service
, with copies simultaneously distributed to every newspaper in Athens. Attacking the colonels, he passionately demanded that "This anomaly must end". Seferis did not live to see the end of the junta. His funeral, though, on September 20, 1972, turned into a massive demonstration against the military government.
Also in 1969, Costa-Gavras
released the film Z
, based on a book by celebrated left-wing writer Vassilis Vassilikos
. The film, banned in Greece, presented a lightly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of United Democratic Left
MP Gregoris Lambrakis
in 1963. The film captured the sense of outrage about the junta. The soundtrack of the film was written by Mikis Theodorakis
, who was imprisoned by the junta and later went into exile, and the music was smuggled into the country to be added to the other inspirational, underground Theodorakis tracks.
A lesser known Danish
film, in Greek, Your Neighbor's Son
, detailed the subordination and training of simple youths to become torturers for the junta.
, Gyaros
, Gioura
, or inhabited islands such as Leros
, Agios Eustratios or Trikeri
.
The most famous were in external exile, most of whom were substantially involved in the resistance, organising protests in European capital cities, or helping and hiding refugees from Greece. These included: Melina Mercouri
, actor, singer (and, after 1981 Minister for Culture
); Mikis Theodorakis
, composer of resistance songs; Costas Simitis
, (prime minister
from 1996 to 2004); Andreas Papandreou
, (prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996); and Lady Amalia Fleming
, (wife of Sir Alexander Fleming
, philanthropist, political activist). Some chose exile, unable to stand life under the junta. For example Melina Mercouri
was allowed to enter Greece, but stayed away on her own accord. Also in the early hours of 19 September 1970 in Matteotti square in Genoa
, Geology
student Kostas Georgakis
set himself ablaze in protest against the dictatorship of George Papadopoulos. The junta delayed the arrival of his remains to Corfu for four months, fearing public reaction and protests. At the time his death caused a sensation in Greece and abroad as it was the first tangible manifestation of the depth of resistance against the junta. He is the only known anti-junta resistance activist to have sacrificed himself and he is considered the precursor of later student protest, such as the Athens Polytechnic uprising
. The Municipality of Corfu
has dedicated a memorial in his honour near his home in Corfu city
.
The German writer, investigative reporter
and journalist Günter Wallraff
traveled to Greece in May 1974. While in Syntagma Square
, he protested against human right violations. He was arrested and tortured by the police, as he did not carry, on purpose, any papers on him that could identify him as a foreigner. After his identity was revealed, Wallraff was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in jail. He was released in August, after the end of the dictatorship.
In an anti-junta
protest, on 23 May 1973, HNS Velos, under the command of Commander Nicholaos Pappas, refused to return to Greece after participating in a NATO exercise and remained anchored at Fiumicino
, Italy
. During a patrol with other NATO vessels between continental Italy
and Sardinia
, the captain and the officers heard over the radio that a number of fellow naval officers had been arrested in Greece. Cdr Pappas was involved in a group of democratic officers, who remained loyal to their oath to obey the Constitution, which was planning to act against the junta. Evangelos Averoff
also participated in the Velos mutiny, for which he was later arrested as an "instigator".
Pappas believed that since his fellow anti-junta officers had been arrested, there was no more hope for a movement inside Greece. He therefore decided to act alone in order to motivate global public opinion. He mustered all the crew to the stern and announced his decision, which was received with enthusiasm by the crew. Pappas signalled his intentions to the squadron commander and NATO headquarters, quoting the preamble of the North Atlantic Treaty
, which declares that "all governments ... are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law", and, leaving formation, sailed for Rome. There, anchored about 3.5 nautical miles (6 km) away from the coast of Fiumicino, three ensigns sailed ashore with a whaleboat, went to Fiumicino Airport and telephoned the international press agencies, notifying them of the situation in Greece, the presence of the destroyer, and that the captain would hold a press conference the next day.
This action increased international interest in the situation in Greece. The captain, six officers, and twenty five petty officer
s requested and remained abroad as political refugees. Indeed, the whole crew wished to follow their captain but were advised by its officers to remain onboard and return to Greece to inform families and friends about what happened. Velos returned to Greece after a month with a replacement crew. After the fall of junta all officers and petty officers returned to the Navy.
against each other, thus destroying the seemingly monolithic cohesion of the dictatorship. This had the effect of seriously weakening the coherence of the political message and, consequently, the credibility of the regime, a fatal blow from which, as later events would show, it never recovered. At the same time, during Papadopoulos' attempt at liberalisation, some of the junta constraints were removed from the body politic
of Greece and that led to demands for more freedoms, and political unrest, in a society well used to democratic action prior to the dictatorship.
for the "dictatorship"), to become a "regime". He then repeatedly attempted to initiate reforms in 1969 and 1970, only to be thwarted by the hardliners including Ioannidis. In fact subsequent to his 1970 failed attempt at reform, he threatened to resign and was dissuaded only after the hardliners renewed their personal allegiance to him.
On 10 April 1970 Papadopoulos announced the formation of the Simvouleftiki Epitropi (Συμβουλευτική Επιτροπή) translated as the Advisory Council (Committee) otherwise known as Papadopoulos' (pseudo) Parliament. Composed of members elected through an electoral type process but limited to ethnikofrones only, it was bicameral, composed of the Central Advisory Council and the Provincial Advisory Council. The Central Council met in Athens in the Parliament Building. Both councils had the purpose to advise the dictator. At the time of the announcement of the formation of the council, Papadopoulos explained that he wanted to avoid using the term "Vouli" (Parliament) for the Committee because it sounded bad. The council was dissolved just prior to Papadopoulos' failed attempt to liberalise his regime with Markezinis.As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the Navy
in early 1973, Papadopoulos attempted to legitimize the regime by beginning a gradual "democratization" (See also the article on Metapolitefsi). On 1 June 1973, he abolished the monarchy and declared himself President of the Republic after a controversial referendum, the results of which were not recognised by the political parties. He furthermore sought the support of the old political establishment, but secured only the cooperation of Spiros Markezinis
, who became Prime Minister. Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted, and the army's role significantly reduced. Papadopoulos intended to establish a presidential republic, with extensive powers vested in the office of President, which he held. The decision to return to political rule and the restriction of their role was resented by many of the regime's supporters in the Army
, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.
whose primary exponents were the students. The students at the Law School in Athens, for example, demonstrated multiple times against the dictatorship prior to the events at the Polytechneion.
The tradition of student protest
was always strong in Greece, even before the dictatorship. Papadopoulos tried hard to suppress and discredit the student movement during his tenure at the helm of the junta. But the liberalisation process he undertook allowed the students to organise more freely and this gave the opportunity to the students at the Athens Polytechnic to organise a demonstration that grew increasingly larger and more effective. The political momentum was on the side of the students. Sensing this the Papadopoulos junta panicked and reacted violently.
On the early hours of Saturday, 17 November 1973 Papadopoulos
sent the army to suppress the student strike and sit-in of the "Free Besieged" (Ελεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι), as the students called themselves, at the National Technical University of Athens
which had commenced on November 14. Shortly after 03:00 am and under almost complete cover of darkness, an AMX 30
tank crashed through the rail gate of the Athens Polytechnic with subsequent loss of life. The army also occupied Syntagma Square and for at least that day. Even the sidewalk cafes were closed.
Ioannidis' involvement in inciting unit commanders of the security forces to commit criminal acts during the Athens Polytechnic uprising, so that he could facilitate his upcoming coup, was noted in the indictment
presented to the court by the prosecutor during the junta trials
and in his subsequent conviction in the Polytechneion trial where he was found to have been morally responsible for the events. English translation by Google
Taxiarkhos
Dimitrios Ioannidis, a disgruntled junta hardliner, used the uprising as a pretext to reestablish public order, and staged a counter-coup that overthrew Georgios Papadopoulos and Spiros Markezinis
on 25 November. Military law was reinstated, and the new Junta appointed General Phaedon Gizikis
as President and economist Adamantios Androutsopoulos
as Prime Minister, although Ioannides remained the behind-the-scenes strongman.
Ioannidis's heavy-handed and opportunistic intervention had the effect of destroying the myth that the junta was an idealistic
group of army officers with exactly the same ideals who came to save Greece by using their collective
wisdom
. The main tenet of the junta ideology
(and mythology
) was gone and so was the collective. By default, he remained the only man at the top after toppling the other three principals of the junta. Characteristically, he cited ideological reasons for ousting the Papadopoulos faction, accusing them with straying from the principles of the Revolution, especially of being corrupt and misusing their privileges as army officers for financial gains.
Papadopoulos and his junta always claimed that the 21 April 1967 "revolution" saved Greece from the old party system. Now Ioannidis was, in effect, claiming that his coup saved the revolution from the Papadopoulos faction. The dysfunction as well as the ideological fragmentation and fractionalisation of the junta was finally out in the open. Ioannidis, however, did not make these accusations personally as he always tried to avoid unnecessary publicity. The radio broadcasts, following the now familiar coup in progress scenario featuring martial music interspersed with military orders and curfew announcements, kept repeating that the army was taking back the reins of power in order to save the principles of the revolution and that the overthrow of the Papadopoulos-Markezinis government was supported by the army, navy and air force.
At the same time they announced that the new coup was a "continuation of the revolution of 1967" and accused Papadopoulos with "straying from the ideals of the 1967 revolution" and "pushing the country towards parliamentary rule too quickly".
Previous to seizing power, Ioannidis preferred to work in the background and he never held any formal office in the junta. Now he was the de facto
leader of a puppet regime
composed by members some of whom were rounded up by ESA soldiers
in roving jeep
s to serve and others that were simply chosen by mistake. The Ioannides method of forming a government dealt yet another blow to the rapidly diminishing credibility of the regime both at home and abroad.
The new junta, despite its rather inauspicious origins, pursued an aggressive internal crackdown and an expansionist foreign policy.
Sponsored by Ioannidis, on 15 July 1974 the EOKA-B organisation took power on the island of Cyprus
by a military coup, in which Archbishop Makarios III
, the Cypriot president, was overthrown. Turkey
replied to this intervention by invading Cyprus
and occupying, after heavy fighting with the Cypriot and Greek ELDYK
Forces , the northern part of the island. There was a well-founded fear that an all out war with Turkey was imminent.
. Junta-appointed President
Phaedon Gizikis
called a meeting of old guard politicians, including Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
, Spiros Markezinis
, Stephanos Stephanopoulos
, Evangelos Averoff
, and others.
The agenda was to appoint a national unity government that would lead the country to elections. Although former Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
was originally backed, on 23 July, Gizikis finally invited former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis
, who had resided in Paris since 1963, to assume the role. Karamanlis returned to Athens
on a French Presidency Lear Jet
made available to him by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
, a close personal friend, and was sworn-in as Prime Minister
under President
Phaedon Gizikis
. Karamanlis' new party, New Democracy
, won the November 1974 general election
, and he remained prime minister.
Parliamentary democracy was thus restored, and the Greek legislative elections of 1974
were the first free elections held in a decade.
While the physical collapse of the junta as a government was immediately caused by the Cyprus
debacle, its ideological collapse was triggered by the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising
. The uprising at the Polytechneion was the event that discredited the military government most and acted as a key catalyst for its eventual demise by exposing the internal contradictions and stresses of the regime thus destroying the myth of the political cohesion of the junta and, therefore, irreparably damaging the political credibility of the "Ethnosotirios Epanastasis
" and its message.
In January 1975 the junta members were formally arrested and in early August of the same year the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis brought charges of high treason
and insurrection against Georgios Papadopoulos and nineteen other co-conspirators of the military junta. The mass trial was staged at the Korydallos Prison
. The trial was described as "Greece's Nuremberg
". One thousand soldiers armed with submachine gun
s provided security. The roads leading to the jail were patrolled by tank
s. Papadopoulos, Pattakos, Makarezos and Ioannides were sentenced to death for high treason. These sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment
by the Karamanlis government. A plan to grant amnesty
to the junta principals by the Konstantinos Mitsotakis government in 1990 was cancelled after protests from conservatives, socialists and communists. Papadopoulos died in hospital in 1999 after being transferred from Korydallos while Ioannides remained incarcerated until his death in 2010. This trial was followed by a second trial which centered on the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising
and a third called "The trial of the torturers".
during the cold war
was a continuous source of embarrassment for the free world (considering Greece is seen as the inventor of democracy) and this and other reasons made Greece an international pariah abroad and interrupted her process of integration with the European Union
with incalculable opportunity cost
s.
The 21st of April regime remains highly controversial to this day, with most Greeks holding very strong and polarized views in regards to it. According to a survey by Kapa Research published in the center-left newspaper To Vima
in 2002, the majority of the electoral body (54.7%) consider the regime to have been bad or harmful for Greece while 20.7% consider it to have been good for Greece and 19.8% believe that it was neither good nor harmful.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton
apologised on the behalf of the US government for supporting the military junta in the name of Cold War tactics.
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
that ruled Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
from 1967 to 1974. Rule by the Greek military started in the morning of 21 April 1967, with a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
led by a group of colonels, and ended in July 1974.
Background
The 1967 coup and the following seven years of military rule were the culmination of 30 years of national division between the forces of the Left and the Right that can be traced to the time of the resistance against Axis occupationGreek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
of Greece during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the liberation in 1944, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
descended into a civil war
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
, fought between the communist forces and the now returned government-in-exile
Greek government in exile
The Greek government in exile was the official government of Greece, headed by King George II, which evacuated from Athens in April 1941, after the German invasion of the country, first to the island of Crete and then to Cairo in Egypt. Hence it is also referred to as the "Cairo Government"...
.
American influence in Greece
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by U.S. President Harry S Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere...
, and began to actively support a series of authoritarian governments in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, in order to ensure that these states did not fall under Soviet influence. With American and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
aid, the civil war ended with the military defeat of the communists in 1949. The Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
(KKE) was outlawed and many Communists either fled the country or faced persecution. The CIA and the Greek military began to work closely, especially after Greece joined NATO in 1952. Greece was a vital link in the NATO defense arc which extended from the eastern border of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
to the northern most point in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Greece in particular was seen as being at risk, having experienced a Communist insurgency
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
. In particular, the newly-founded Hellenic National Intelligence Service
Hellenic National Intelligence Service
The National Intelligence Service is the national intelligence agency of Greece. Its headquarters are located in Athens.-Mission:...
(KYP) and the LOK Special Forces (later actively involved in the 1967 coup) maintained a very close liaison with their American counterparts. In addition to preparing for a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
invasion, they agreed to guard against a left wing coup. The LOK in particular were integrated into the Gladio
Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II. Its purpose was to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a shift to a Communist party led government...
European stay-behind
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
network. Although there have been persistent rumors about an active support of the perpetrators of the coup d'état by the US government there is no evidence to support such claims. It is however likely that the US military was informed of the coup a few days in advance by Greek liaison officers.
The Apostasia and political instability
After many years of conservative rule, the election of centristCenter Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
Georgios Papandreou, Sr.
George Papandreou (senior)
Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...
as Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
was a sign of change. In a bid to gain more control over the country's government than what his limited constitutional powers allowed, the young and inexperienced King Constantine II
Constantine II of Greece
|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....
clashed with liberal reformers, dismissing Papandreou in 1965, causing a constitutional crisis known as the Apostasia of 1965
Apostasia of 1965
The terms Apostasia or Iouliana or the Royal Coup are used to describe the political crisis in Greece that centred around the resignation, on 15 July 1965, of Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and the appointment, by King Constantine II, of successive Prime Ministers from Papandreou's own...
.
After making several attempts to form governments, relying on dissident Center Union and conservative MPs, Constantine II appointed an interim government under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos
Ioannis Paraskevopoulos
Ioannis Paraskevopoulos , was a Greek banker and politician who served twice as interim Prime Minister of Greece during the 1960s. He was born in Lavda, Olympia....
, and new elections were called for 28 May 1967. There were many indications that Papandreou's Center Union
Center Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
would emerge as the largest party, but would not be able to form a single-party government and would be forced into an alliance with the United Democratic Left, which was suspected by conservatives of being a proxy for the banned Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
. This possibility was used as a pretext for the coup.
A "Generals' Coup"
Before the elections that were scheduled for 28 May 1967, with expectations of a wide Centrist victory, a number of National Radical Union politicians feared that the policies of leftist members of the Center Union
Center Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
, such as Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
(the son of Georgios Papandreou, Sr.) and Spyros Katsotas, would lead to a constitutional crisis. One such politician, George Rallis
George Rallis
Georgios Ioannou Rallis , Greek politician, was Prime Minister of Greece from 1980 to 1981.- Ancestors in politics :Rallis was descended from an old political family. Before Greek independence, Alexander Rallis was a prominent Phanariote . In 1849 his son George Rallis became Chief Justice of the...
, has recounted he had proposed that, in case of such an "anomaly", the King should declare martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
, as the monarchist constitution permitted him. According to Rallis, Constantine was receptive to the idea.
According to US diplomat John Day, the Americans also worried that due to the old age of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas Papandreou would have a very powerful role in the next government. According to Robert Keely and John Owens, American diplomats attached to the US Embassy in Greece at the time, Constantine asked US Ambassador Philip Talbot what would be the attitude of the US government to an extra-parliamentary solution to this problem. To this the embassy responded negatively in principle, adding however that "US reaction to such move cannot be determined in advance but would depend on circumstances at time". To this day, Constantine denies this.
According to then US Ambassador Philip Talbot, after this communication, Constantine met with the army generals, who promised him that they would not take any action before the coming elections. However the proclamations of Andreas Papandreou made them nervous, and they resolved to re-examine their decision after seeing the results of the elections.
In 1966 Constantine II of Greece
Constantine II of Greece
|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....
sent his envoy Demetrios Bitsios to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on mission to convince Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
to return to Greece and resume a role in Greek politics. According to uncorroborated claims made by the former monarch, in 2006 and after the deaths of the two men involved, Karamanlis replied to Bitsios that he would only return if the King imposed martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
, as was his constitutional prerogative.
US journalist Cyrus L. Sulzberger has separately claimed that Karamanlis flew to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to lobby US support from Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad was an American General in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force.-Early life and military career:...
for a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in Greece that would establish a strong conservative regime under himself; Sulzberger alleges that Norstad declined to involve himself in such affairs. Sulzberger's account, which unlike that of the former King was delivered during the lifetime of those implicated (Karamanlis and Norstad), rested solely on the authority of his and Norstad's word. When, in 1997, the former King reiterated Sulzberger's allegations, Karamanlis stated that he "will not deal with the former king's statements because both their content and attitude are unworthy of comment". The deposed King's adoption of Sulzberger's claims against Karamanlis was castigated by the left-leaning media, typically critical of Karamanlis, as "shameless" and "brazen". It bears noting that, at the time, the former King referred exclusively to Sulzberger's account, to support the theory of a planned coup by Karamanlis, and made no mention of the alleged 1966 meeting with Bitsios, which he would refer to only after both participants had died and could not respond.
As it turned out, the constitutional crisis did not originate either from the political parties, or from the Palace, but from middle-rank army putschists.
The coup d'état of 21 April
On 21 April 1967, (just weeks before the scheduled elections), a group of right-wing army officers led by Brigadier Stylianos PattakosStylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos is a Greek military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on April 21, 1967....
and Colonels George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos
Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos was the head of the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967 and leader of the military government that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Papadopoulos was a Colonel of Artillery...
and Nikolaos Makarezos
Nikolaos Makarezos
Nikolaos Makarezos was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.- Early life and career :He was born in 1919 in the village of Gravia, in the prefecture of Phocis...
seized power in a coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. The colonels were able to quickly seize power by using surprise and confusion. Pattakos was commander of the Armour Training Centre , based in Athens. The coup leaders placed tanks in strategic positions in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, effectively gaining complete control of the city. At the same time, a large number of small mobile units were dispatched to arrest leading politicians and authority figures, as well as many ordinary citizens suspected of left-wing sympathies, according to lists prepared in advance. One of the first to be arrested was Lieutenant General Grigorios Spandidakis
Grigorios Spandidakis
Grigorios Spandidakis was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and the post of Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1965–1967. From this position, he was instrumental in the military preparations that resulted in the coup d'état of 21 April 1967 and the...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army.
The conspirators were known to Spandidakis. Indeed, he was instrumental in bringing some of them to Athens, to use in a coup he and other leading Army generals had been planning, in an attempt to prevent George Papandreou's
George Papandreou (senior)
Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...
victory in the upcoming election and the Communist takeover that would, supposedly, follow it. The colonels succeeded in persuading Spandidakis to join them and he issued orders activating an action plan (the "Prometheus" plan) that had been previously drafted as a response for a hypothetical Communist uprising (see Operation Gladio). Under the command of paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Kostas Aslanides, the LOK (see above) took control of the Greek Defence Ministry
Minister for National Defence (Greece)
The Minister for National Defence of Greece is a government minister responsible for the running of the Ministry of National Defence. The current minister is Dimitris Avramopoulos.-Recent Ministers for National Defence:-External links:*...
while Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Stylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos is a Greek military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on April 21, 1967....
gained control over communication centers, the parliament, the royal palace, and according to detailed lists, arrested over 10,000 people.
By the early morning hours the whole of Greece was in the hands of the colonels. All leading politicians, including acting Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974....
, had been arrested and were held incommunicado by the conspirators. At 6 a.m. on the day of the coup Papadopoulos announced that eleven articles of the Greek constitution were suspended.
One of the consequences of Papadopoulos' annulment of the eleven key articles of the Greek Constitution was that anyone could be arrested without warrant at any time and brought before a miltary court to be tried. Yannis Ladas the then director of ESA in an interview referring to the coup said: "Within twenty minutes every politician, every man, every anarchist who was listed could be rounded up... It was a simple, diabolical plan".
Georgios Papandreou was arrested after a nightime raid at his villa in Kastri. Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
was arrested at around the same time after seven soldiers with fixed bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
s and one with a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
forcibly entered his home. Andreas Papandreou escaped to the roof of his house but surrendered after one of the soldiers held a gun to the head of his then 14-year old son George Papandreou
George Papandreou
Georgios A. Papandreou , commonly anglicised to George and shortened to Γιώργος in Greek, is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece following his party's victory in the 2009 legislative election...
.
U.S. critics of the coup included then senator Lee Metcalf
Lee Metcalf
Lee Warren Metcalf was an American politician of the Democratic Party and was a United States Representative, and a United States Senator from Montana....
who criticised the Johson administration for providing aid to a "military regime of collaborators and Nazi sympathisers". Phillips Talbot
Phillips Talbot
William Phillips Talbot was a United States Ambassador to Greece and, at his death, member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Council of American Ambassadors and the Council on Foreign Relations....
, the US ambassador in Athens, disapproved of the military coup, complaining that it represented "A rape of democracy", to which Jack Maury, the CIA chief of station in Athens, answered, "How can you rape a whore?" The Papadopoulos' junta attempted to re-engineer
Political engineering
Political engineering is a concept in political science that deals with the designing of political institutions in a society and often involves the use of paper decrees, in the form of laws, referendums, ordinances, or otherwise, to try to achieve some desired effect within a society.The criteria...
the Greek political landscape by coup.
The role of the King
When the tanks rolled on to Athens streets on 21 April, the legitimate National Radical Union government, of which Rallis was a member, asked King Constantine to immediately mobilise the state against the coup; he declined to do so, and swore in the dictators as the legitimate government of Greece, while asserting that he was "certain they had acted in order to save the country".The three plot leaders visited Constantine in his residence in Tatoi
Tatoi
Tatoi, located 5 km north of Athens's suburbs, and 27 km from the Athenian Acropolis was the summer palace and 10,000 acre estate of the former Greek Royal Family, and the site of George II of the Hellenes's birth...
, which they circled with tanks, effectively preventing any form of resistance. The King wrangled with the colonels and initially dismissed them, ordering them to return with Spandidakis. Later in the day he took it upon himself to go to the Ministry of National Defence, located north of Athens city centre, where all the coup leaders were gathered. The King had a discussion with Kanellopoulos, who was detained there, and with leading generals. This was a pointless exercise, since Kanellopoulos was a prisoner whilst the generals had no real power, as was evident from the shouting of lower and middle-ranking officers, refusing to obey orders and clamouring for a new government under Spandidakis.
The King finally relented and decided to co-operate, claiming to this day that he was isolated and did not know what else to do. He has since claimed that he was trying to gain time to organise a counter-coup and oust the Junta. He did organise such a counter-coup; however, the fact that the new government had a legal sanction, in that it had been appointed by the legitimate head of state, played an important role in the coup's success. The King was later to regret bitterly his decision. For many Greeks, it served to identify him indelibly with the coup and certainly played an important role in the final decision to abolish the monarchy, sanctioned by the 1974 referendum.
The only concession the King could achieve was to appoint a civilian as prime minister, rather than Spandidakis. Konstantinos Kollias
Konstantinos Kollias
Konstantinos Kollias was a former Greek Attorney General who was proclaimed Prime Minister by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew Panagiotis Kanellopoulos' government on 21 April 1967....
, a former Attorney General of the Areios Pagos
Court of Cassation (Greece)
The Court of Cassation is the Supreme Court of Greece for civil and criminal law. The Court of Cassation's decisions are irrevocable. If the Court of Cassation concludes that a lower court violated the law or the principles of the procedure, then it can order the rehearing of the case by the lower...
(supreme court), was chosen. He was a well-known royalist and had even been disciplined under the Papandreou government for meddling in the investigation on the murder of MP Gregoris Lambrakis
Gregoris Lambrakis
Grigoris Lambrakis was a Greek politician, physician, track and field athlete, and member of the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens.-Early life:...
. Kollias was little more than a figurehead and real power rested with the army, and especially Papadopoulos, who emerged as the coup's strong man and became Minister to the Presidency of the Government. Other coup members occupied key posts.
Up until then constitutional legitimacy had been preserved, since under the then Greek Constitution the King could appoint whoever he wanted as prime minister, as long as Parliament endorsed the appointment with a vote of confidence or a general election was called. It was this government, sworn-in during the early evening hours of 21 April, that formalised the coup. It adopted a "Constituent Act", an amendment tantamount to a revolution, canceling the elections and effectively abolishing the constitution, which would be replaced later. In the meantime, the government was to rule by decree. Since traditionally such Constituent Acts did not need to be signed by the Crown, the King never signed it, permitting him to claim, years later, that he had never signed any document instituting the junta. Critics claim that Constantine II did nothing to prevent the government (and especially his chosen prime minister Kollias) from legally instituting the authoritarian government to come. This same government formally published and enforced a decree, already proclaimed on radio as the coup was in progress, instituting military law. Constantine claimed he never signed that decree either.
The King's counter-coup
From the outset, the relationship between King Constantine II and the Colonels was an uneasy one. The colonels were not willing to share power with anyone, whereas the young King, like his father before him, was used to playing an active role in politics and would never consent to being a mere figurehead, especially in a military administration. Although the colonels' strong anti-communist, pro-NATO and pro-Western views appealed to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, fearful of domestic and international public opinion, President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
told Constantine, in a visit to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in early autumn of 1967, that it would be best to replace that government with another one. Constantine took that as an encouragement to organize a counter-coup, although no direct help or involvement of the US was forthcoming.
The King finally decided to launch his counter-coup on 13 December 1967. Since Athens was effectively in the hands of the junta militarily, Constantine decided to fly to the small northern city of Kavala
Kavala
Kavala , is the second largest city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala peripheral unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos...
. There he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him. The vague plan he and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would advance on and take Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. Constantine planned to install an alternative administration there. International recognition, which he believed to be forthcoming, as well as internal pressure from the fact that Greece would have been split in two governments would, the King hoped, force the junta to resign, leaving the field clear for him to return triumphant to Athens.
In the early morning hours of 13 December, the King boarded the royal plane, together with Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
Queen Anne-Marie of Greece is the wife of former King Constantine II of Greece, who was deposed in referendums in 1973 and in 1974. Her title "Queen of Greece" is not recognized under the terms of the republican Constitution of Greece...
, their two baby children Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark , born 10 July 1965, is the elder daughter and eldest child of former King Constantine II of Greece and former Queen Anna-Marie .-Early life:Princess Alexia was born at Mon Repos, Corfu, Ionian Islands,...
and Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, is the eldest son and heir apparent of Constantine II, who was King of Greece from 1964 to 1973....
, his mother Frederika of Hanover
Frederika of Hanover
Frederica of Hanover was Queen consort of the Hellenes as the wife of King Paul of Greece.-Early life:...
and his sister, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark is the youngest child of King Paul of Greece and his wife Frederika of Hanover. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of deposed King Constantine II of Greece...
. Constantine also took with him Prime Minister Kollias. At first, things seemed to be going according to plan. Constantine was well received in Kavala which, militarily, was under the command of a general loyal to him. The Air Force
Hellenic Air Force
The Hellenic Air Force, abbreviated to HAF is the air force of Greece. The mission of the Hellenic Air Force is to guard and protect Greek airspace, provide air assistance and support to the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid in Greece and around the...
and Navy
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
, both strongly royalist and not involved in the 1967 coup, immediately declared for him and mobilised. Another of Constantine's generals effectively cut all communication between Athens and northern Greece.
However, the King's plans were overly bureaucratic, naïvely supposing that orders from a commanding general would automatically be obeyed. Further, the King was obsessive about avoiding "bloodshed", even where the junta would be the attacker. Instead of attempting to drum up the widest popular support, hoping for spontaneous pro-democracy risings in most towns, the King preferred to let his generals put together the necessary force for advancing on Thessaloniki in strict compliance with military bureaucracy. The King made no attempt to contact politicians, even local ones, and even took care to include in his proclamation a paragraph condemning communism, lest anyone should get the wrong idea.
In the circumstances, rather than the King managing to put together a force and advancing on Thessaloniki, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested his royalist generals and took command of their units, which subsequently put together a force to advance on Kavala to arrest the King. The junta, not at all shaken by the loss of their figurehead premier, ridiculed the King by announcing that he was hiding "from village to village". Realising that the counter coup had failed, Constantine fled Greece on board the royal plane, taking his family and helpless Prime Minister with him. They landed in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
early in the morning of 14 December. Constantine remained in exile all through the rest of military rule (although nominally he continued as King until 1 June 1973) and was never to return to Greece as King.
The Regency
The flight of the King and Prime Minister to Italy left Greece with no legal government or head of state. This did not concern the military junta. Instead the Revolutionary Council, composed of PattakosStylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos is a Greek military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on April 21, 1967....
, Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos
Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos was the head of the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967 and leader of the military government that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Papadopoulos was a Colonel of Artillery...
and Makarezos
Nikolaos Makarezos
Nikolaos Makarezos was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.- Early life and career :He was born in 1919 in the village of Gravia, in the prefecture of Phocis...
, issued a notice in the Government Gazette appointing another member to the military administration, Major General Georgios Zoitakis
Georgios Zoitakis
Georgios Zoitakis was a Greek Army general and regent of Greece from 13 December 1967 to 21 March 1972, during the period of the military regime of the Colonels.- Life :...
, as Regent. Zoitakis then appointed Papadopoulos Prime Minister. This became the only government of Greece after the failure of the King's attempted coup, as the King was unwilling to set up an alternative administration in exile. The Regent's position was later confirmed under the 1968 Constitution, although the exiled King never officially recognised, or acknowledged, the Regency.
In a legally controversial move, even under the junta's own Constitution, the Cabinet voted on 21 March 1972 to oust Zoitakis and replace him with Papadopoulos, thus combining the offices of Regent and Prime Minister. It was thought Zoitakis was problematic and interfered too much with the military. The King's portrait remained on coins, in public buildings, etc., but slowly, the military was chipping away at the institution of the monarchy: the royal family's tax immunity was abolished, the complex network of royally managed charities was brought under direct state control, the royal arms were removed from coins, the Navy and Air Force were no longer "Royal" and the newspapers were usually banned from publishing the King's photo or any interviews.
During this period, resistance against the colonels' rule became better organized among exiles in Europe and the United States. In addition to the expected opposition from the left, the colonels found themselves under attack by constituencies that had traditionally supported past right-wing regimes: pro-monarchists supporting Constantine; businessmen concerned over international isolation
International isolation
International isolation is a penalty applied by the international community or a sizeable or powerful group of countries, like the United Nations, towards one nation, government or people group...
; the middle class facing an economic downturn after 1971. There was also considerable political infighting within the junta. Still, up until 1973 the junta appeared in firm control of Greece, and not likely to be ousted by violent means.
Ideology
The colonels preferred to call the coup d'état of 21 April a "revolutionRevolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
to save the nation" ("Ethnosotirios Epanastasis"). Their official justification for the coup was that a "communist conspiracy" had infiltrated the bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
, academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, the press
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, and even the military
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...
, to such an extent that drastic action was needed to protect the country from communist takeover. Thus, the defining characteristic of the Junta was its staunch anti-Communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
. They used the term anarcho-communist to describe all leftists. In a similar vein the junta attempted to steer Greek public opinion not only by propaganda but also by inventing new words
Glossary of the Greek military junta
The ideology of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was followed by the creation and/or use of special terms that were employed by the junta as propaganda tools and to transmit its message to the Greek people as well as influence their way of thinking and attack the anti-junta...
and slogans, such as old-partyism (palaiokommatismos) to discredit parliamentary democracy, or Greece for Christian Greeks
Glossary of the Greek military junta
The ideology of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was followed by the creation and/or use of special terms that were employed by the junta as propaganda tools and to transmit its message to the Greek people as well as influence their way of thinking and attack the anti-junta...
(Ellas Ellinon Christianon) to underscore its ideology.
The junta's main ideological spokesmen included Georgios Georgalas and journalist Savvas Konstantopoulos, both former Marxists. Its propaganda often relied on fabricated evidence and fictional enemies of the state. Atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and pop culture, such as rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s, were also seen as parts of this conspiracy. Nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
were widely promoted.
Civil rights
As soon as the coup d'état was announced over the radio on Friday, 21 April 1967, martial music was continuously broadcast over the airwaves. This was interrupted from time to time with announcements of the junta issuing orders that always started with the introduction "We decide and we order" . Long standing political freedoms and civil liberties, that had been taken for granted and enjoyed by the Greek people for decades, were instantly suppressed. Article 14 of the Greek Constitution which protected freedom of thoughtFreedom of thought
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
and freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
was immediately suspended. Military courts were established, and political parties were dissolved. Legislation that took decades to fine tune and multiple parliaments to enact was thus erased in a matter of days. The rapid devolution of Greek democracy had begun.
In fact the junta crackdown was so fast that by September 1967, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
went before the European Commission of Human Rights
European Commission of Human Rights
European Commission of Human Rights was a special tribunal.From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Human Rights; they had to apply to the Commission, which if it found the case to be...
to accuse Greece of violating most of the Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
protected by the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
. Following the 21 April coup, 6,188 suspected communists and political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands.
Under the junta torture was a deliberate practice carried out both by the Security Police and the Greek Military Police
Greek Military Police
The Greek Military Police , generally known in English by the acronym ESA was the military police branch of the Greek Army in the years 1951-1974.. It developed into a powerful paramilitary organization and a stronghold of right-wing, conservative Army officers....
, as portrayed in the film Your Neighbor's Son
Your Neighbor's Son
Your Neighbor's Son: The Making of a Torturer, , is a documentary or docudrama directed by Jørgen Flindt Pedersen and Erik Stephensen in two versions, 1976 and 1981. The film documents the conversion of young Greek Military Police recruits into torturers and touches on the subject of the power of...
, with an estimated 3,500 people detained in torture centres run by ESA.
Examples of the types of torture commonly used include (amongst others):
- Beating the soles of people's feet with sticks and pieces of metal pipe.
- Sexual torture such as shoving objects into people's vagina/anus and twisting them violently, or hoses shoved into the anus and forcing water in at high pressure.
- Choking people and shoving rags soaked in urine and excrement down their throats
- Ripping out hair from the head and pubic regions.
- Jumping on people's stomachs
- Pulling out toenails and fingernails
According to a human rights report by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, in the first month of the 21 April coup an estimated 8,000 people were arrested. James Becket, an American attorney and author of Barbarism in Greece, was sent to Greece by Amnesty International and wrote in December 1969 that "a conservative estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of people tortured.
The citizens' right of assembly
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
was revoked and no political demonstrations were allowed. Surveillance on citizens was a fact of life, even during permitted social activities. That had a continuously chilling effect on the population who realised that, even though they were allowed certain social activities, they could not overstep the boundaries and delve into or discuss forbidden subjects. This realisation including the absence of any civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
as well as maltreatment during police arrest, ranging from threats to beatings or worse, made life under the junta a difficult proposition for many ordinary citizens.
Following the junta's logic, one was allowed to participate in a rock concert, as an example, but if any misbehaviour occurred during that activity that was not up to junta's standards, the resulting arrest, coupled with the complete absence of any civil rights, could easily lead to beatings and labelling of the individual as an anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, a combination of these terms, or worse. The absence of a valid code of jurisprudence led to the unequal application of the law among the citizens and to rampant favouritism and nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
. Absence of elected representation meant that the citizens' stark and only choice was to submit to these arbitrary measures exactly as dictated by the junta. The country had become a true police state
Police state
A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population...
.
Complete lack of press freedom
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
coupled with nonexistant civil rights meant that continuous cases of civil rights abuses could neither be reported nor investigated by an independent press or any other reputable authority. This led to a psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
of fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
among the citizens during the Papadopoulos dictatorship, which became worse under Ioannides.
External relations
The military government was given support by the United States as a Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
ally, due to its proximity to the Eastern European Soviet bloc, and the fact that the previous Truman administration had given the country millions of dollars in economic aid to discourage Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. US support for the junta, which was violently anti-communist, is claimed to be the cause of rising anti-Americanism
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
in Greece during and following the junta's undemocratic rule.
Greece's allies in Western Europe were split in their attitudes toward the Junta. The Scandinavian countries as well as the Netherlands took a very hostile stance towards the Junta and filed a complaint before the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
in September 1967. Greece however opted for leaving the Council of Europe voluntarily in December 1969 before a verdict was handed down.
Countries such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Federal Republic of Germany on the other hand were voicing criticism about Greece's human rights record but supported the country's continued membership in the Council of Europe and NATO because of the country's strategic value for the western alliance.
Sociocultural policies
To gain support for his rule, Papadopoulos projected an image that appealed to some key segments of Greek society. The son of a poor but educated rural family, he was educated at the prestigious Hellenic Military AcademyHellenic Military Academy
The Evelpidon Military Academy is the oldest tertiary level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the modern Greek State....
. Papadopoulos allowed substantial social and cultural freedoms to all social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
es, but political oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
and censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
were at times heavy handed, especially in areas deemed sensitive by the junta, such as political activities, and politically related art, literature, film and music. Kostas Gavras's film Z
Z (film)
Z is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
and Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
's music, among others, were never officially allowed even during the most relaxed times of the dictatorship, and an index of prohibited songs, literature and art was kept.
Western music and film
Remarkably, after some initial hesitation and as long as they were not deemed to be politically damaging to the junta, junta censors allowed wide access to Western music and films. Even the then racy, West GermanWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
film Helga , a 1967 sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
featuring a live birth scene, had no trouble making its debut in Greece just like in any other Western country. Moreover, the film was only restricted for those under 13 years of age. In 1971 Robert Hartford-Davis
Robert Hartford-Davis
Robert Hartford-Davis was a British born producer, director and writer, who worked on film and television in both in the United Kingdom and United States. He is also sometimes credited as Michael Burrowes or Robert Hartford....
was allowed by the junta to film the classic horror film Incense for the Damned
Incense for the Damned
----Incense for the Damned is a 1970 British horror film starring Patrick Macnee and Peter Cushing.-Plot:The film centers on a young student who has disappeared in Greece. When his friends search for him they notice that wherever he has been a number of murders have taken place...
, starring Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
and Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers.-Early life:...
and suitably featuring Chryseis (Χρυσηίς), a beguiling Greek siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
with vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
tendencies, on the Greek island of Hydra
Hydra, Saronic Islands
Hydra is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece, located in the Aegean Sea between the Saronic Gulf and the Argolic Gulf. It is separated from the Peloponnese by narrow strip of water...
. In 1970 the film Woodstock
Woodstock (film)
Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the benchmark of concert movies and one of the most entertaining documentaries ever made...
was shown all over Greece, with reports of arrests and disturbances especially in Athens as many youths flocked to see the film and filled theatres to capacity, while many others were left outside.
Meanwhile at Matala, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
colony which had been living in the caves since the 1960s, was never disturbed. Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
was inspired to write the song "Carey
Carey (song)
"Carey" is a song from the 1971 Joni Mitchell album Blue. It was inspired by her time with a cave-dwelling hippie community in the village of Matala, on the Greek island of Crete.-Autobiographical elements:...
" after staying in the Matala caves with the hippie community in 1971. Hippie colonies also existed in other popular tourist spots such as "Paradise Beach" in Mykonos
Mykonos
Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 9,320 inhabitants most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also...
.
Greek rock
Western music broadcasts were limited from the airwaves in favour of martial musicMartial music
Martial industrial, also known as martial music, is a music genre originating in late 20th century Europe. It often borrows musically from classical music, neofolk, neoclassical, traditional European marches and from elements of industrial and dark ambient.-Origins:The genre name military pop was...
, but this was eventually relaxed. In addition, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
programmes such as the one hosted by famous Greek music/radio/television personality and promoter
Promoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
Nico Mastorakis
Nico Mastorakis
Nico Mastorakis is a Greek Z movie filmmaker, director and radio producer.-Early career:At the age of 18 Mastorakis as a young reporter with the Greek newspaper "Ethnikos Kirikas" scored his first international scoop, an exclusive interview with the exiled Princess Soraya...
were very popular throughout the dictatorship years both on radio and television. Most Western record sales were similarly not restricted. In fact, even rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s and tours were allowed such as by the then popular rock groups
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Socrates Drank the Conium
Socrates Drank the Conium
Socrates Drank the Conium is a Greek progressive/blues rock band that formed in 1969 and was active in the early 1970s. Their sound was reminiscent of other such bands of the approximate period like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jeff Beck and some of the more progressive,...
and Nostradamos. Another pop group "Poll" was a pioneer of Greek pop music in the late 1960s. Its lead singer and composer was Robert Williams, who was later joined, in 1971, by Kostas Tournas. Poll enjoyed a number of nationwide hits, such as "Anthrope Agapa (Humankind Love One Another)", an anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
song, composed by Tournas and "Ela Ilie Mou (Come, My Sun)", composed by Tournas, Williams), Tournas later pursued a solo career and in 1972 produced the progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
hit solo album Aperanta Chorafia . He wrote and arranged the album using an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
and a rock group ("Ruth") combination. In 1973 Kostas Tournas created the album Astroneira (Stardreams) influenced by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's Ziggy Stardust
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English musician David Bowie, which is loosely based on a story of a rock star named Ziggy Stardust. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music...
.
While the lyrics of "Poll" were composed exclusively in Greek, the band's name was an English word rendered in Greek characters, Πολλ. The dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
definition of poll, a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject or the voting at an election, apparently did not register with the Greek military junta censors
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
.
Songwriter and troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
Dionysis Savvopoulos
Dionysis Savvopoulos
Dionysis Savvopoulos is a Greek music composer, lyricist and singer.He was born in Thessaloniki. In 1963 he moved to Athens, terminating his law studies in favour of his career in music...
, who was initially imprisoned by the regime, nevertheless rose to great popularity and produced a number of influential and highly politically allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
, especially against the junta, albums during the period, including To Perivoli tou Trellou , Ballos and Vromiko Psomi .
Tourism
Concurrently, tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
was actively encouraged by Papadopoulos' government and, funding scandals notwithstanding, the tourist sector saw great development. With tourism came the nightlife. However, under Papadopoulos, in the absence of any civil rights these sociocultural freedoms existed in a legal vacuum that meant they were not guaranteed, but rather dispensed at the whim of the junta. In addition any transgressing into political matters during social or cultural activities usually meant arrest and punishment. Although disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
s and nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s were, initially, subjected to a curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
, partially due to an energy crisis
Energy crisis
An energy crisis is any great bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular literature though, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, particularly those that supply national electricity grids or serve as fuel for vehicles...
, this was eventually extended from 1.00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. as the energy crisis eased. These freedoms were later reversed by Dimitrios Ioannides
Dimitrios Ioannides
Dimitrios Ioannidis , also known as Dimitris Ioannidis, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.He was born in Athens to a wealthy, upper middle-class business family with roots in Epirus....
after his coup.
Agriculture
The farmers were Papadopoulos' natural constituency and were more likely to support him, seeing him, because of his rural roots, as one of their own. He cultivated this relationship by appealing to them, calling them the backbone of the people and cancelling all agricultural loans. also Recent Social Trends in Greece, 1960–2000 By Dimitris Charalambis, Laura Maratou-Alipranti, Andromachi Hadjiyanni Translated by Dimitris Charalambis, Laura Maratou-Alipranti, Andromachi Hadjiyanni Contributor Dimitris Charalambis, Laura Maratou-Alipranti, Andromachi Hadjiyanni Published by McGill-Queen's Press — MQUP, 2004 ISBN 0-7735-2202-6, ISBN 978-0-7735-2202-2 701 pages Retrieved 15 August 2008 By further insisting on promoting, but not really enforcing for fear of middle-class backlash, religionReligion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, he further appealed to the simpler ideals of rural Greece and strengthened his image as people's champion among farmers, who tended to ridicule the middle class. Furthermore, the regime promoted a policy of economic development in rural areas, which were mostly neglected by the previous governments, that had focused largely on urban industrial development.
Urban classes
Papadopoulos was less likely to appeal to the largely civilianCivilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
and city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
-oriented middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
, since he was a military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
man from a rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
background. In addition, he had promised from the beginning that the dictatorship would not be permanent, and that when political order was established democratic rule would return. On top of that, his promotion of tourism and other beneficial economic measures and the fact that, with the notable exceptions of political freedoms and press censorship, he did not otherwise substantially restrict the middle class, had the effect of assisting the junta in establishing its control over the country by gaining, at least initially, the reluctant acquiescence of some key segments of the population.
Economic policies
The 1967–1973 period was marked by high rates of economic growth coupled with low inflation and low unemployment. GDP growth was driven by investment in the tourism industry, loose emigration policies, public spending, and pro-business incentives that fostered both domestic and foreign capital spending. Several international companies invested in Greece at the time, including the Coca-ColaCoca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
Corporation. Economic growth started losing steam by 1972. In addition, large scale construction of hydroelectric dam
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
projects, such as in Aliakmon
Haliacmon
The Haliacmon is the longest river in Greece, with a total length of . Haliacmon is the traditional English name for the river, but many sources cite the formerly official Katharevousa version of the name, Aliákmon...
, Kastrakion, Polyphytos, the expansion of Thermoelectric generation units and other significant infrastructure development, took place. The junta used to proudly announce these projects with the slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
: "Greece is a construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
zone" (Η Ελλάς είναι ένα εργοτάξιον). The always smiling Stylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos is a Greek military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on April 21, 1967....
, also known as the first trowel of Greece, (Το πρώτο μυστρί της Ελλάδας), since he frequently appeared at project inaugurations with a trowel
Trowel
A trowel is one of several similar hand tools used for digging, smoothing, or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material.-Hand tools:...
in hand, starred in many of the Epikaira propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
documentaries that were screened before feature film presentation in Greek cinemas.
Financial scandals
Cases of non-transparent public deals and corruption allegedly occurred at the time, given the lack of democratic checks and balances and the absence of a free press. One such event is associated with the regime's tourism minister, Ioannis LadasIoannis Ladas
Ioannis Ladas was a member of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.He was born and raised in the village of Dirahi, Arcadia....
. During his administration, several low-interest loans, amortized over a twenty-year period, were issued for tourist development. This fostered the erection of a multitude of hotels, sometimes in non-tourist areas, and with no underlying business rationale. Several such hotels were abandoned unfinished as soon as the loans were secured, and their remains still dot the Greek countryside. These questionable loans are referred to as Thalassodaneia , or "loans of the sea", to indicate the loose terms under which they were granted.
Another contested policy of the regime was the writing-off of agricultural loans, up to a value of 100,000 drachmas, to farmers. This has been attributed to an attempt by Papadopoulos to gain public support for his regime.
The Italian connection
At the time, the Italian far right was very impressed with the methods of Papadopoulos and his junta. In April 1968 Papadopoulos invited fifty Italian members of the far right including Stefano Delle ChiaieStefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie is a neofascist Italian activist . He went on to become a wanted man worldwide, suspect to be involved in Italy's strategy of tension, but was acquitted. He was a friend of Licio Gelli, grandmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
on a Greek tour with the purpose of demonstrating to the Italians the methods of the junta. The Italians were sufficiently impressed that upon return to their country, the operatives of the Italian far right escalated the political violence in their country to a new level embarking on a terror campaign of bombings and other violence which killed and injured hundreds. Afterwards, the right-wing instigators of this violence blamed the communists. The Greek junta was so impressed with the manner their Italian counterparts were paving the way toward an Italian coup d'état that on 15 May 1969 Papadopoulos sent them a congratulatory message stating that "His Excellency the Prime Minister notes that the efforts that have been undertaken by the Greek National government in Italy for some time start to have some impact".
Anti-Junta movement
Panhellenic Liberation Movement
The Panhellenic Liberation Movement , also known by its acronym PAK, was one of the many anti-dictatorial movement organisations that campaigned against the 1967-1974 military regime of Greece...
, Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense was one of the many anti-dictatorial struggle groups that fought against the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. It evolved from the "Alexandros Papanastasiou" political research group in 1967, as a response to the regime....
, the Socialist Democratic Union
Socialist Democratic Union
Socialist Democratic Union was one of the many anti-dictatorial struggle groups that fought against the Greek military junta of 1967-1974...
, as well as groups from the entire left wing of the Greek political spectrum, including the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
which had been outlawed even before the junta. The first armed action against the junta was the failed assassination attempt against George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos
Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos was the head of the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967 and leader of the military government that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Papadopoulos was a Colonel of Artillery...
by Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture that he was subjected to during his...
, on 13 August 1968.
Assassination attempt by Panagoulis
The assassination attempt took place in the morning of 13 August, when Papadopoulos went from his summer residence in LagonisiLagonisi
Lagonissi is a settlement in the southern part of Kalyvia Thorikou by the Saronic Gulf in the Greek prefecture of Attica. Lagonissi is linked with a 4-lane highway Lagonissi (Greek: Λαγονήσι meaning "rabbit island") is a settlement in the southern part of Kalyvia Thorikou by the Saronic Gulf in...
to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, escorted by his personal security motorcycles and cars. Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture that he was subjected to during his...
ignited a bomb at a point of the coastal road where the limousine carrying Papadopoulos would have to slow down, but the bomb failed to harm Papadopoulos. Panagoulis was captured a few hours later in a nearby sea cave, as the boat that would let him escape the scene of the attack had not shown up.
Panagoulis was transferred to the Greek Military Police
Greek Military Police
The Greek Military Police , generally known in English by the acronym ESA was the military police branch of the Greek Army in the years 1951-1974.. It developed into a powerful paramilitary organization and a stronghold of right-wing, conservative Army officers....
(EAT-ESA) offices, where he was questioned, beaten and tortured (see the proceedings of Theofiloyiannakos's trial). On 17 November 1968 he was sentenced to death, and remained in prison for five years. After the restoration of democracy, Panagoulis was elected a Member of Parliament. Panagoulis is regarded as an emblematic figure for the struggle to restore democracy.
Broadening of the movement
The funeral of George Papandreou, Sr. on 3 November 1968 spontaneously turned into a massive demonstration against the junta. Thousands of AtheniansAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
disobeyed the military's orders and followed the casket to the cemetery. The government reacted by arresting 41 people.
On 28 March 1969, after two years of widespread censorship, political detentions and torture, Giorgos Seferis
Giorgos Seferis
Giorgos or George Seferis was the pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs . He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate...
, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963, took a stand against the junta. He made a statement on the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, with copies simultaneously distributed to every newspaper in Athens. Attacking the colonels, he passionately demanded that "This anomaly must end". Seferis did not live to see the end of the junta. His funeral, though, on September 20, 1972, turned into a massive demonstration against the military government.
Also in 1969, Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras, is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z...
released the film Z
Z (film)
Z is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
, based on a book by celebrated left-wing writer Vassilis Vassilikos
Vassilis Vassilikos
-Biography:A native of the northern Greek island of Thasos, Vassilikos grew up in Thessaloniki, graduating from law school there before moving to Athens to work as a journalist....
. The film, banned in Greece, presented a lightly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of United Democratic Left
United Democratic Left
The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
MP Gregoris Lambrakis
Gregoris Lambrakis
Grigoris Lambrakis was a Greek politician, physician, track and field athlete, and member of the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens.-Early life:...
in 1963. The film captured the sense of outrage about the junta. The soundtrack of the film was written by Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
, who was imprisoned by the junta and later went into exile, and the music was smuggled into the country to be added to the other inspirational, underground Theodorakis tracks.
A lesser known Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
film, in Greek, Your Neighbor's Son
Your Neighbor's Son
Your Neighbor's Son: The Making of a Torturer, , is a documentary or docudrama directed by Jørgen Flindt Pedersen and Erik Stephensen in two versions, 1976 and 1981. The film documents the conversion of young Greek Military Police recruits into torturers and touches on the subject of the power of...
, detailed the subordination and training of simple youths to become torturers for the junta.
International protest
The junta exiled thousands on the grounds that they were communists and/or "enemies of the country". Most of them were subjected to internal exile on Greek deserted islands, such as MakronisosMakronisos
Makronisos is an island in the Aegean sea, in Greece and is located close to the coast of Attica, facing the port of Lavrio. It has an elongated shape and its terrain is arid and rocky. In ancient times the island was called Helena. It is part of the prefecture of the Cyclades but it is not part...
, Gyaros
Gyaros
Gyaros is an arid and unpopulated Greek island of the northern Cyclades near in the islands Andros and Tinos, with an area of 23 square kilometres. It is a part of the municipality of Ano Syros, which lies primarily on the island of Syros. This and other small islands of the Aegean Sea served as...
, Gioura
Gioura
Gioura is a Greek island and an abandoned settlement in the eastern part of the Sporades. It is administratively part of the municipality of Alonnisos. The island name dates back to the ancient times as Gerontia. The name was later altered to Gioura. The island also features a Neolithic settlement...
, or inhabited islands such as Leros
Leros
Leros is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies 317 km from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 11-hour ferry ride . Leros is part of the Kalymnos peripheral unit...
, Agios Eustratios or Trikeri
Trikeri
Trikeri is a town and a former community in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality South Pelion, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies at the westernmost point of the hook-like Pelion Peninsula on the Pagasetic Gulf. It also includes...
.
The most famous were in external exile, most of whom were substantially involved in the resistance, organising protests in European capital cities, or helping and hiding refugees from Greece. These included: Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
, actor, singer (and, after 1981 Minister for Culture
Minister for Culture (Greece)
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is a government department of Greece entrusted with the preservation of the country's cultural heritage, the arts, as well as sports, through the subordinate General Secretariat for Sport...
); Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
, composer of resistance songs; Costas Simitis
Costas Simitis
Konstantinos Simitis , usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis, was Prime Minister of Greece and leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement from 1996 to 2004.- Biography :...
, (prime minister
Prime Minister of Greece
The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...
from 1996 to 2004); Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
, (prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996); and Lady Amalia Fleming
Amalia Fleming
Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, Lady Fleming was a Greek doctor, activist and politician.Fleming was born in Constantinople in 1909. She moved to Greece and, during the Axis occupation, took part in the National Resistance, for which she was jailed by the Italians.In 1946, she received a scholarship...
, (wife of Sir Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
, philanthropist, political activist). Some chose exile, unable to stand life under the junta. For example Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
was allowed to enter Greece, but stayed away on her own accord. Also in the early hours of 19 September 1970 in Matteotti square in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
student Kostas Georgakis
Kostas Georgakis
Kostas Georgakis , was a Greek student of geology, who, in the early hours of 19 September 1970, set himself ablaze in Matteotti square in Genoa as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.- Early life :Georgakis grew up in Corfu in a family of five...
set himself ablaze in protest against the dictatorship of George Papadopoulos. The junta delayed the arrival of his remains to Corfu for four months, fearing public reaction and protests. At the time his death caused a sensation in Greece and abroad as it was the first tangible manifestation of the depth of resistance against the junta. He is the only known anti-junta resistance activist to have sacrificed himself and he is considered the precursor of later student protest, such as the Athens Polytechnic uprising
Athens Polytechnic uprising
The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-US and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November...
. The Municipality of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
has dedicated a memorial in his honour near his home in Corfu city
Corfu (city)
Corfu is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Corfu, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island and of the Corfu regional unit. The city also serves as a capital...
.
The German writer, investigative reporter
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
and journalist Günter Wallraff
Günter Wallraff
Günter Wallraff is a famous German writer and undercover journalist.-Research methods:Wallraff came to prominence thanks to his striking journalistic research methods and several major books on lower class working conditions and tabloid journalism...
traveled to Greece in May 1974. While in Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square , is located in central Athens, Greece. The Square is named after the Constitution that King Otto was forced to grant the people after a popular and military uprising, on September 3, 1843....
, he protested against human right violations. He was arrested and tortured by the police, as he did not carry, on purpose, any papers on him that could identify him as a foreigner. After his identity was revealed, Wallraff was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in jail. He was released in August, after the end of the dictatorship.
The Velos mutiny
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
protest, on 23 May 1973, HNS Velos, under the command of Commander Nicholaos Pappas, refused to return to Greece after participating in a NATO exercise and remained anchored at Fiumicino
Fiumicino, Italy
Fiumicino is a town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is famous for the presence of the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the fifth busiest in Europe.-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. During a patrol with other NATO vessels between continental Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, the captain and the officers heard over the radio that a number of fellow naval officers had been arrested in Greece. Cdr Pappas was involved in a group of democratic officers, who remained loyal to their oath to obey the Constitution, which was planning to act against the junta. Evangelos Averoff
Evangelos Averoff
Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas was a distinguished right-wing Greek politician of Aromanian origin and author of several books on political and historical topics....
also participated in the Velos mutiny, for which he was later arrested as an "instigator".
Pappas believed that since his fellow anti-junta officers had been arrested, there was no more hope for a movement inside Greece. He therefore decided to act alone in order to motivate global public opinion. He mustered all the crew to the stern and announced his decision, which was received with enthusiasm by the crew. Pappas signalled his intentions to the squadron commander and NATO headquarters, quoting the preamble of the North Atlantic Treaty
North Atlantic Treaty
The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that brought NATO into existence, signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. The original twelve nations that signed it and thus became the founding members of NATO were:...
, which declares that "all governments ... are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law", and, leaving formation, sailed for Rome. There, anchored about 3.5 nautical miles (6 km) away from the coast of Fiumicino, three ensigns sailed ashore with a whaleboat, went to Fiumicino Airport and telephoned the international press agencies, notifying them of the situation in Greece, the presence of the destroyer, and that the captain would hold a press conference the next day.
This action increased international interest in the situation in Greece. The captain, six officers, and twenty five petty officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
s requested and remained abroad as political refugees. Indeed, the whole crew wished to follow their captain but were advised by its officers to remain onboard and return to Greece to inform families and friends about what happened. Velos returned to Greece after a month with a replacement crew. After the fall of junta all officers and petty officers returned to the Navy.
Collapse
The collapse of the junta both ideologically and politically was triggered by a series of events which unfolded soon after Papadopoulos' attempt at liberalisation, with ideological collapse preceding its eventual political collapse. During and following this ill-fated process the internal political strains of the junta came to the fore and pitted the junta factionsPolitical faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
against each other, thus destroying the seemingly monolithic cohesion of the dictatorship. This had the effect of seriously weakening the coherence of the political message and, consequently, the credibility of the regime, a fatal blow from which, as later events would show, it never recovered. At the same time, during Papadopoulos' attempt at liberalisation, some of the junta constraints were removed from the body politic
Body politic
A polity is a state or one of its subordinate civil authorities, such as a province, prefecture, county, municipality, city, or district. It is generally understood to mean a geographic area with a corresponding government. Thomas Hobbes considered bodies politic in this sense in Leviathan...
of Greece and that led to demands for more freedoms, and political unrest, in a society well used to democratic action prior to the dictatorship.
Normalization and attempts at liberalization
Papadopoulos had indicated as early as 1968 that he was eager for a reform process and even tried to contact Markezinis at the time. He had declared at the time that he did not want the "Revolution", (junta speakGlossary of the Greek military junta
The ideology of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was followed by the creation and/or use of special terms that were employed by the junta as propaganda tools and to transmit its message to the Greek people as well as influence their way of thinking and attack the anti-junta...
for the "dictatorship"), to become a "regime". He then repeatedly attempted to initiate reforms in 1969 and 1970, only to be thwarted by the hardliners including Ioannidis. In fact subsequent to his 1970 failed attempt at reform, he threatened to resign and was dissuaded only after the hardliners renewed their personal allegiance to him.
On 10 April 1970 Papadopoulos announced the formation of the Simvouleftiki Epitropi (Συμβουλευτική Επιτροπή) translated as the Advisory Council (Committee) otherwise known as Papadopoulos' (pseudo) Parliament. Composed of members elected through an electoral type process but limited to ethnikofrones only, it was bicameral, composed of the Central Advisory Council and the Provincial Advisory Council. The Central Council met in Athens in the Parliament Building. Both councils had the purpose to advise the dictator. At the time of the announcement of the formation of the council, Papadopoulos explained that he wanted to avoid using the term "Vouli" (Parliament) for the Committee because it sounded bad. The council was dissolved just prior to Papadopoulos' failed attempt to liberalise his regime with Markezinis.As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the Navy
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
in early 1973, Papadopoulos attempted to legitimize the regime by beginning a gradual "democratization" (See also the article on Metapolitefsi). On 1 June 1973, he abolished the monarchy and declared himself President of the Republic after a controversial referendum, the results of which were not recognised by the political parties. He furthermore sought the support of the old political establishment, but secured only the cooperation of Spiros Markezinis
Spiros Markezinis
Spyridon Markezinis or Markesinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly Prime Minister during the aborted attempt at democratization of the Greek military regime in 1973.-Early political life:Spyros Markezinis was a scion of an old wealthy family of...
, who became Prime Minister. Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted, and the army's role significantly reduced. Papadopoulos intended to establish a presidential republic, with extensive powers vested in the office of President, which he held. The decision to return to political rule and the restriction of their role was resented by many of the regime's supporters in the Army
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...
, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.
The uprising at the Polytechnic
Papadopoulos' heavy handed attempt at liberalisation did not find favour among many in Greece. The stilted democratisation process he proposed was constrained by multiple factors. His inexperience at carrying out an unprecedented political experiment of democratisation was burdened by his tendency to concentrate as much power in his hands as possible, a weakness he exhibited during the dictatorship years when he would sometimes hold multiple high echelon government portfolios. This antagonised many but especially the intelligentsiaIntelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
whose primary exponents were the students. The students at the Law School in Athens, for example, demonstrated multiple times against the dictatorship prior to the events at the Polytechneion.
The tradition of student protest
Student protest
Student protest encompasses a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academic issue and mobilization to communicate this dissatisfaction to the authorities and society in general and hopefully remedy the problem...
was always strong in Greece, even before the dictatorship. Papadopoulos tried hard to suppress and discredit the student movement during his tenure at the helm of the junta. But the liberalisation process he undertook allowed the students to organise more freely and this gave the opportunity to the students at the Athens Polytechnic to organise a demonstration that grew increasingly larger and more effective. The political momentum was on the side of the students. Sensing this the Papadopoulos junta panicked and reacted violently.
On the early hours of Saturday, 17 November 1973 Papadopoulos
Papadopoulos
Papadopoulos , sometimes transliterated as Papadopulos, is the most common Greek surname. It is used both in Greece, Cyprus and countries of the Greek diaspora as well, such as the USA, United Kingdom , Australia and Germany. It means "son of a priest"...
sent the army to suppress the student strike and sit-in of the "Free Besieged" (Ελεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι), as the students called themselves, at the National Technical University of Athens
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
which had commenced on November 14. Shortly after 03:00 am and under almost complete cover of darkness, an AMX 30
AMX 30
The AMX-30 is a main battle tank designed by GIAT, first delivered to the French Army in 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st Régiment de Chars de Combat in August of that year. The production version of the AMX-30 weighed , and sacrificed protection for increased mobility...
tank crashed through the rail gate of the Athens Polytechnic with subsequent loss of life. The army also occupied Syntagma Square and for at least that day. Even the sidewalk cafes were closed.
Ioannidis' involvement in inciting unit commanders of the security forces to commit criminal acts during the Athens Polytechnic uprising, so that he could facilitate his upcoming coup, was noted in the indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
presented to the court by the prosecutor during the junta trials
Greek Junta Trials
The Greek Junta Trials were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the instigators of the coup as well as other junta members of various ranks who took part in the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and...
and in his subsequent conviction in the Polytechneion trial where he was found to have been morally responsible for the events. English translation by Google
The Ioannidis Regime
The uprising triggered a series of events that put an abrupt end to Papadopoulos' attempts at "liberalisation".Taxiarkhos
Taxiarkhos
Taxiarch, the anglicized form of taxiarchos or taxiarchēs is used in the Greek language to mean "brigadier". The term derives from táxis, "order", in military context "an ordered formation". In turn, the rank has given rise to the Greek term for brigade, taxiarchia...
Dimitrios Ioannidis, a disgruntled junta hardliner, used the uprising as a pretext to reestablish public order, and staged a counter-coup that overthrew Georgios Papadopoulos and Spiros Markezinis
Spiros Markezinis
Spyridon Markezinis or Markesinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly Prime Minister during the aborted attempt at democratization of the Greek military regime in 1973.-Early political life:Spyros Markezinis was a scion of an old wealthy family of...
on 25 November. Military law was reinstated, and the new Junta appointed General Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek Army officer and President of Greece from 1973 to 1974.Born on 16 June 1917, in Volos, Greece, Phaedon Gizikis was a career Greek army officer...
as President and economist Adamantios Androutsopoulos
Adamantios Androutsopoulos
Adamantios Androutsopoulos was a lawyer, professor, and the Prime Minister of Greece from 1973 to 1974 appointed by junta strongman Dimitrios Ioannides....
as Prime Minister, although Ioannides remained the behind-the-scenes strongman.
Ioannidis's heavy-handed and opportunistic intervention had the effect of destroying the myth that the junta was an idealistic
Ideal (ethics)
An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. Ideals are particularly important in ethics, as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere. It is the application, in ethics, of a universal...
group of army officers with exactly the same ideals who came to save Greece by using their collective
Collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...
wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
. The main tenet of the junta ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
(and mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
) was gone and so was the collective. By default, he remained the only man at the top after toppling the other three principals of the junta. Characteristically, he cited ideological reasons for ousting the Papadopoulos faction, accusing them with straying from the principles of the Revolution, especially of being corrupt and misusing their privileges as army officers for financial gains.
Papadopoulos and his junta always claimed that the 21 April 1967 "revolution" saved Greece from the old party system. Now Ioannidis was, in effect, claiming that his coup saved the revolution from the Papadopoulos faction. The dysfunction as well as the ideological fragmentation and fractionalisation of the junta was finally out in the open. Ioannidis, however, did not make these accusations personally as he always tried to avoid unnecessary publicity. The radio broadcasts, following the now familiar coup in progress scenario featuring martial music interspersed with military orders and curfew announcements, kept repeating that the army was taking back the reins of power in order to save the principles of the revolution and that the overthrow of the Papadopoulos-Markezinis government was supported by the army, navy and air force.
At the same time they announced that the new coup was a "continuation of the revolution of 1967" and accused Papadopoulos with "straying from the ideals of the 1967 revolution" and "pushing the country towards parliamentary rule too quickly".
Previous to seizing power, Ioannidis preferred to work in the background and he never held any formal office in the junta. Now he was the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
leader of a puppet regime
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
composed by members some of whom were rounded up by ESA soldiers
Greek Military Police
The Greek Military Police , generally known in English by the acronym ESA was the military police branch of the Greek Army in the years 1951-1974.. It developed into a powerful paramilitary organization and a stronghold of right-wing, conservative Army officers....
in roving jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
s to serve and others that were simply chosen by mistake. The Ioannides method of forming a government dealt yet another blow to the rapidly diminishing credibility of the regime both at home and abroad.
The new junta, despite its rather inauspicious origins, pursued an aggressive internal crackdown and an expansionist foreign policy.
Sponsored by Ioannidis, on 15 July 1974 the EOKA-B organisation took power on the island of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
by a military coup, in which Archbishop Makarios III
Makarios III
Makarios III , born Andreas Christodolou Mouskos , was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus ....
, the Cypriot president, was overthrown. Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
replied to this intervention by invading Cyprus
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...
and occupying, after heavy fighting with the Cypriot and Greek ELDYK
ELDYK
The Hellenic Force in Cyprus , commonly known in its abbreviated form as ELDYK , is the permanent Greek military force stationed in Cyprus. ELDYK was formed on November 20, 1959 at Agios Stefanos, Athens, soon after the Zürich and London Agreements established the independence of Cyprus...
Forces , the northern part of the island. There was a well-founded fear that an all out war with Turkey was imminent.
The fall of the Junta and the restoration of democracy
The Cyprus fiasco led to senior Greek military officers withdrawing their support for Junta strongman Brigadier Dimitrios IoannidesDimitrios Ioannides
Dimitrios Ioannidis , also known as Dimitris Ioannidis, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.He was born in Athens to a wealthy, upper middle-class business family with roots in Epirus....
. Junta-appointed President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek Army officer and President of Greece from 1973 to 1974.Born on 16 June 1917, in Volos, Greece, Phaedon Gizikis was a career Greek army officer...
called a meeting of old guard politicians, including Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974....
, Spiros Markezinis
Spiros Markezinis
Spyridon Markezinis or Markesinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly Prime Minister during the aborted attempt at democratization of the Greek military regime in 1973.-Early political life:Spyros Markezinis was a scion of an old wealthy family of...
, Stephanos Stephanopoulos
Stephanos Stephanopoulos
Stefanos Stefanopoulos was a Greek politician. He was a moderate conservative, and served as a cabinet member during Alexandros Papagos' government...
, Evangelos Averoff
Evangelos Averoff
Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas was a distinguished right-wing Greek politician of Aromanian origin and author of several books on political and historical topics....
, and others.
The agenda was to appoint a national unity government that would lead the country to elections. Although former Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974....
was originally backed, on 23 July, Gizikis finally invited former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
, who had resided in Paris since 1963, to assume the role. Karamanlis returned to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
on a French Presidency Lear Jet
Lear Jet
Learjet is a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation. Learjet is now a subsidiary of Bombardier and marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family".-History:The Learjet started life as an...
made available to him by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
, a close personal friend, and was sworn-in as Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
under President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis
Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek Army officer and President of Greece from 1973 to 1974.Born on 16 June 1917, in Volos, Greece, Phaedon Gizikis was a career Greek army officer...
. Karamanlis' new party, New Democracy
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
, won the November 1974 general election
Greek legislative election, 1974
The first free elections since 1964 and after the end of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 took place in Greece on November 17, 1974 during the metapolitefsi....
, and he remained prime minister.
Parliamentary democracy was thus restored, and the Greek legislative elections of 1974
Greek legislative election, 1974
The first free elections since 1964 and after the end of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 took place in Greece on November 17, 1974 during the metapolitefsi....
were the first free elections held in a decade.
While the physical collapse of the junta as a government was immediately caused by the Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
debacle, its ideological collapse was triggered by the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising
Athens Polytechnic uprising
The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-US and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November...
. The uprising at the Polytechneion was the event that discredited the military government most and acted as a key catalyst for its eventual demise by exposing the internal contradictions and stresses of the regime thus destroying the myth of the political cohesion of the junta and, therefore, irreparably damaging the political credibility of the "Ethnosotirios Epanastasis
Glossary of the Greek military junta
The ideology of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was followed by the creation and/or use of special terms that were employed by the junta as propaganda tools and to transmit its message to the Greek people as well as influence their way of thinking and attack the anti-junta...
" and its message.
The trials of the junta
thumbIn January 1975 the junta members were formally arrested and in early August of the same year the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis brought charges of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and insurrection against Georgios Papadopoulos and nineteen other co-conspirators of the military junta. The mass trial was staged at the Korydallos Prison
Korydallos Prison
Korydallos Prison Complex is the main prison of Greece, housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos, Piraeus. Its most famous detainees are the November 17 terrorist members and Colonel Nikolaos Dertilis, the last surviving member of the military junta. Korydallos...
. The trial was described as "Greece's Nuremberg
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
". One thousand soldiers armed with submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
s provided security. The roads leading to the jail were patrolled by tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s. Papadopoulos, Pattakos, Makarezos and Ioannides were sentenced to death for high treason. These sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
by the Karamanlis government. A plan to grant amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
to the junta principals by the Konstantinos Mitsotakis government in 1990 was cancelled after protests from conservatives, socialists and communists. Papadopoulos died in hospital in 1999 after being transferred from Korydallos while Ioannides remained incarcerated until his death in 2010. This trial was followed by a second trial which centered on the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising
Athens Polytechnic uprising
The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-US and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November...
and a third called "The trial of the torturers".
Legacy and Greek public opinion
The historical repercussions of the junta were profound and are still felt to this day in Greece. Internally the absence of civil rights and the oppression that followed created a sense of fear and persecution among many in the population creating trauma and division that persisted long after the fall of the junta. The Cyprus debacle created a tragedy that is still unfolding. While the Cyprus fiasco was due to the actions of Ioannides, it was Papadopoulos who started the cycle of coups. Externally the absence of human rights in a country belonging to the Western BlocWestern Bloc
The Western Bloc or Capitalist Bloc during the Cold War refers to the powers allied with the United States and NATO against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact...
during the cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was a continuous source of embarrassment for the free world (considering Greece is seen as the inventor of democracy) and this and other reasons made Greece an international pariah abroad and interrupted her process of integration with the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
with incalculable opportunity cost
Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the best alternative that is not chosen . It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone, or group, who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. The opportunity cost is also the...
s.
The 21st of April regime remains highly controversial to this day, with most Greeks holding very strong and polarized views in regards to it. According to a survey by Kapa Research published in the center-left newspaper To Vima
To Vima
To Vima is a Greek daily newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis. It is owned by Lambrakis Press Group, a group which also publishes the newspaper Ta Nea, amongst others in its fold of publications...
in 2002, the majority of the electoral body (54.7%) consider the regime to have been bad or harmful for Greece while 20.7% consider it to have been good for Greece and 19.8% believe that it was neither good nor harmful.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
apologised on the behalf of the US government for supporting the military junta in the name of Cold War tactics.
External links
- Matt Barrett, The Rise of the Junta in Greece
- Matt Barrett, November 17, Cyprus and the Fall of the Junta