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The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Επταετία, i Eptaetía, links=no, ). was a
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...
that ruled
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels overthrew the
caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary '' ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly s ...
a month before scheduled elections which
Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–1 ...
's
Centre Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politica ...
was favoured to win. The
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
was characterised by right-wing cultural policies,
anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, restrictions on
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
, and the imprisonment, torture, and
exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
of political opponents. It was ruled by
Georgios Papadopoulos Geórgios Papadopoulos (; el, Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greeks, Greek military officer and political leader who ruled Greece as a military dictator from 1967 to 1973. He joined the Hellenic ...
from 1967 to 1973, but an attempt to renew its support in a 1973 referendum on the monarchy and gradual democratisation was ended by another coup by the hardliner
Dimitrios Ioannidis Dimitrios Ioannidis ( el, Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης ; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010), also known as Dimitris Ioannidis and as The Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the junta that r ...
, who ruled it until it fell on 24 July 1974 under the pressure of the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-sp ...
, leading to the
Metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , "regime change") was a period in modern History of Greece, Greek history from the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, Ioaniddes military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period s ...
("regime change") to democracy and the establishment of the
Third Hellenic Republic The Third Hellenic Republic ( el, Γ΄ Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Triti Elliniki Dimokratia) is the period in modern Greek history that stretches from 1974, with the fall of the Greek military junta and the final abolition of the G ...
.


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 Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...
and the
right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...
, that can be traced to the time of the resistance against Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. After the liberation in 1944, Greece descended into a civil war, fought between the communist forces and those loyal to the newly returned
government-in-exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile u ...
.


American influence in Greece

In 1944 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill determined to halt the Soviet encroachment in the Balkans, and ordered British forces to intervene in the Greek Civil War (see
Dekemvriana The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the ...
) in the wake of the retreating German military. This was to be a lengthy and open ended commitment. The United States stepped in to help the Greek government against the communist forces in 1947. In 1947, the United States formulated the
Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It wa ...
, and began actively supporting a series of
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic vo ...
governments in Greece, Turkey, and Iran in order to ensure that these states did not fall under
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
influence. In 1945, officer veterans of the collaborationist
Security Battalions The Security Battalions ( el, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας, Tagmata Asfaleias, derisively known as ''Germanotsoliades'' (Γερμανοτσολιάδες) or ''Tagmatasfalites'' (Ταγματασφαλίτες)) were Greek collaborationist ...
had organized themselves into a secret society known as the IDEA (''Ieros Desmos Ellinon Axiomatikon''-Holy Bond of Greek Officers).Simpson, Christoper ''Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988 p.81 From 1947 onward, the Holy Bond was subsidized to the sum of $1 million annually by the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
(CIA) as one of Greece's main "democratic" (i.e. anti-communist) forces. Several of the future leaders of the junta, such as
Georgios Papadopoulos Geórgios Papadopoulos (; el, Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greeks, Greek military officer and political leader who ruled Greece as a military dictator from 1967 to 1973. He joined the Hellenic ...
, were members of IDEA. With American and
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
aid, the civil war ended with the military defeat of the communists in 1949. The
Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece. Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its curre ...
(KKE) and its ancillary organizations were outlawed ( Law 509/1947), and many Communists either fled the country or faced persecution. The CIA and the Greek military began to work together closely, especially after Greece joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
) in 1952. This included notable CIA officers
Gust Avrakotos Gustav Lascaris Avrakotos (January 14, 1938 – December 1, 2005) was an American case officer and the Afghan Task Force Chief for the Central Intelligence Agency. Avrakotos joined the CIA in August 1962 and was posted to Greece in 1963. Followi ...
and Clair George. Avrakotos maintained a close relationship with the colonels who would figure in the later coup.Charlie Wilson's War, George Crile, 2003, Grove/Atlantic. In 1952, IDEA issued a manifesto stating that a dictatorship was the only possible solution to Greece's problems, which the Greek scholar Christos Kassimeris called an "astonishing" statement since the communists had been defeated in 1949, Greece was enjoying relative prosperity after living standards had collapsed in the 1940s, and Greek politics were stable.Kassimeris, Christos ''Greece and the American Embrace: Greek Foreign Policy Towards Turkey, the US and the Western Alliance'', London: I.B.Tauris, 2009 p. 75 Kassimeris argued that since Papadopoulos played a large role in writing the 1952 manifesto, that it was his "personal ambition" rather than an objective fear of the Greek communists that was driving him forward because in no way could Greece be presented as being on the brink of a communist take-over in 1952. Greece was a vital link in the NATO defence arc which extended from the eastern border of Iran to the northernmost point in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...
. Greece in particular was seen as being at risk, having experienced a communist insurgency. In particular, the newly founded Hellenic National Intelligence Service (EYP) and the Mountain Raiding Companies (LOK) maintained a very close liaison with their American counterparts. In addition to preparing for a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
invasion, they agreed to guard against a left-wing coup. The LOK in particular were integrated into the European
stay-behind In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as sp ...
network. Although there have been persistent rumors about an active support of the coup by the U.S. government, there is no evidence to support such claims. The timing of the coup apparently caught the CIA by surprise. Nevertheless, the United States did support the military dictatorship."Clinton Says U.S. Regrets Aid to Junta in Cold War"
''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', 21 November 1999.


Apostasia and political instability

After many years of conservative rule, the election of the
Centre Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politica ...
's
Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–1 ...
as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
was a sign of change. In a bid to gain more control over the country's government than his limited constitutional powers allowed, the young and inexperienced King Constantine II clashed with liberal reformers. In July 1964, Papandreou announced his intention to fire those officers belonging to IDEA, whom the king did not want dismissed, claiming it was his royal prerogative to protect the IDEA officers, which in turn led to massive demonstrations in Athens, which had a republican flavour. The king dismissed Papandreou in 1965, causing a
constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this ...
known as the "Apostasia of 1965". After making several attempts to form governments, relying on dissident Centre 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 Centre 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 KKE. This possibility was used as a pretext for the coup.


A "Generals' Coup"

Greek historiography and journalists have hypothesized about a "Generals' Coup",Marios Ploritis
"Διογένης και άνακτες"
, To Vima, 10 December 2000, (in Greek).
a coup that would have been deployed at Constantine's behest under the pretext of combating communist subversion.Stilis Alatos
"Tα καμπούρικα"
Ta Nea, 15 February 2007, (in Greek).
C. L. Sulzberger, ''An Age of Mediocrity; Memoirs and Diaries, 1963–1972'', New York: Macmillan, 1973, p. 575. Before the elections that were scheduled for 28 May 1967, with expectations of a wide Center Union victory, a number of conservative
National Radical Union The National Radical Union ( el, Ἐθνικὴ Ῥιζοσπαστικὴ Ἕνωσις (ΕΡΕ), ''Ethnikī́ Rizospastikī́ Énōsis'' (ERE)) was a Greek political party formed in 1956 by Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ...
politicians feared that the policies of left-wing Centrists, including
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, w ...
(the son of Georgios Papandreou), would lead to a constitutional crisis. One such politician, George Rallis, proposed that, in case of such an "anomaly", the King should declare
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...
as the monarchist constitution permitted him. According to Rallis, Constantine was receptive to the idea.Alexis Papachelas, "Everything George Rallis recounted to me", ''To Vima'', 19 March 2006 According to U.S. diplomat John Day, Washington also worried that Andreas Papandreou would have a very powerful role in the next government, because of his father's old age. According to Robert Keely and John Owens, American diplomats present in Athens at the time, Constantine asked U.S. Ambassador William Phillips Talbot what the American attitude would be to an extra-parliamentary solution to the problem. To this the embassy responded negatively in principle – adding, however, that, "U.S. reaction to such a move cannot be determined in advance but would depend on circumstances at the time." Constantine denies this.TV documentary
ΤΑ ΔΙΚΑ ΜΑΣ 60's – Μέρος 3ο: ΧΑΜΕΝΗ ΑΝΟΙΞΗ
" by Stelios Kouloglu
According to Talbot, Constantine met 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 sent his envoy, Demetrios Bitsios, to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on a mission to persuade former prime minister Constantine Karamanlis to return to Greece and resume his prior role in politics. According to uncorroborated claims made by the former monarch, Karamanlis replied to Bitsios that he would return only if the King imposed martial law, as was his constitutional prerogative.Alexis Papachelas, "Constantine Speaks", ''To Vima'', 29 January 2006. According to Cyrus L. Sulzberger correspondent for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Karamanlis flew to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to meet with
USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signa ...
General
Lauris Norstad Lauris Norstad (March 24, 1907 – September 12, 1988) was an American general officer in the United States Army and United States Air Force. Early life and military career Lauris Norstad was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to a Norwegian immigra ...
to lobby for a conservative coup that would establish Karamanlis as Greece's leader; Sulzberger alleges that Norstad declined to involve himself in such affairs.C.L. Sulzberger, ''Postscript with a Chinese Accent'', Macmillan, 1974, p. 277. Sulzberger's account rests 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".Giannis Politis
"Συνεχίζει τις προκλήσεις Ο Κωνσταντίνος Γλύξμπουργκ"
Ta Nea, 10 May 1997.
The deposed King's adoption of Sulzberger's claims against Karamanlis was castigated by Greece's left-leaning media, which denounced Karamanlis as "shameless" and "brazen". At the time Constantine 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 referred 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.


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 Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
Stylianos Pattakos and Colonels
George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of ma ...
and Nikolaos Makarezos seized power in a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
. The colonels were able to seize power quickly by using elements of surprise and confusion. Pattakos was the commander of the Armour Training Centre (, ΚΕΤΘ), based in Athens. The coup leaders placed tanks in strategic positions in
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, effectively gaining complete control of the city. At the same time, a large number of small mobile units were dispatched to arrest leading politicians, authority figures, and 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 colonels persuaded Spandidakis to join them, having him activate a previously-drafted action plan to move the coup forward. Under the command of paratrooper Brigadier General Kostas Aslanides, the LOK took over the Greek Defence Ministry while Pattakos gained control of communication centres, the
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
, the
royal palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Mas ...
, and – according to detailed lists – arrested over 10,000 people.Ganser Daniele (2005). ''NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe''. pp. 220–223 , 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 6:00 a.m. EET, Papadopoulos announced that eleven articles of the
Greek constitution The Constitution of Greece ( el, Σύνταγμα της Ελλάδας, Syntagma tis Elladas) was created by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes in 1974, after the fall of the Greek military junta and the start of the Third Hell ...
were suspended. One of the consequences of these suspensions was that anyone could be arrested without warrant at any time and brought before a
military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
to be tried. Ioannis Ladas, then the director of ESA, recounted in a later interview that "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 nighttime raid at his villa in Kastri, Attica. Andreas was arrested at around the same time, after seven soldiers armed with fixed
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustra ...
s and a
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle ri ...
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-fourteen-year-old son
George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from ...
. Papadopoulos' junta attempted to re-engineer the Greek political landscape by coup. Papadopoulos as well as the other junta members are known in Greece by the term "Aprilianoi" (Aprilians), denoting the month of the coup. The term "Aprilianoi" has become synonymous with the term "dictators of 1974".


Role of the King

When the tanks came to the streets of Athens 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. The King, who had relented and decided to co-operate, claims 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 his decision bitterly. 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 Constantine Kollias ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Κόλλιας) (1901 – 13 July 1998) was a Greek Attorney General of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court who was proclaimed Prime Minister by the far right-wing military junta, which ruled ...
, 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 of 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 Greek Constitution the King could appoint whomever 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, cancelling 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 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.


King's counter-coup

From the outset, the relationship between Constantine and the colonels was an uneasy one. The colonels were not willing to share power, 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 States, President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
– in an attempt to avoid an international backlash – told Constantine that it would be best to replace the junta with a new government according to Paul Ioannidis in his book ''Destiny Prevails: My life with Aristóteles Onassis''. Constantine took that as an encouragement to organize a counter-coup, although no direct help or involvement of the U.S. (or Britain) was forthcoming. The King finally decided to launch his counter-coup on 13 December 1967. Since Athens was militarily in the hands of the colonels, Constantine decided to fly to the small northern city of
Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia and the capital of Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across ...
, where he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him. The vague plan that Constantine and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would invade and take control over
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
, where an alternative administration would be installed. Constantine hoped that international recognition and internal pressure between the two governments would 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, their two baby children Princess Alexia and Crown Prince Pavlos, his mother Frederika, and his sister, Princess Irene. 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 was under the command of a general loyal to him. The
Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...
and
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It i ...
, both strongly royalist and not involved in the junta, immediately declared for him and mobilised. Another of Constantine's generals effectively cut all communication between Athens and northern Greece. However, Constantine's plans were overly bureaucratic, naïvely supposing that orders from a commanding general would automatically be obeyed. In the circumstances, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested Constantine's royalist generals and took command of their units, and 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 Constantine 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 the helpless Kollias with him. They landed in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
early in the morning of 14 December. Constantine remained in exile during the remainder of military rule. Although he subsequently returned to Greece, the abolition of the monarchy in 1973 removed his status as King.


Regency

The flight of Constantine and Kollias left Greece with no legal government or head of state. This did not concern the military junta. Instead the Revolutionary Council, composed of Pattakos, Papadopoulos, and Makarezos, appointed another member to the military administration, Major General
Georgios Zoitakis Georgios Zoitakis ( el, Γεώργιος Ζωιτάκης; January 1910 – 21 October 1996) was a Hellenic 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 A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
. Zoitakis then appointed Papadopoulos as prime minister. This became the only government of Greece following the failure of the King's attempted counter-coup, as Constantine was unwilling to set up an alternative administration in exile. In hopes of giving legal sanction to the regime, the junta drafted a new constitution. It made the military the guardians of "social and political order", with wide autonomy from governmental and parliamentary oversight. It also heavily circumscribed the activities of political parties. The new constitution was approved in a 15 November referendum, with over 92 percent approval. However, the referendum was conducted in less-than-free circumstances; the regime deployed extensive propaganda in favour of the new document while muzzling any opposition. Under the new constitution, the regency would continue until elections were held, unless the junta called Constantine back sooner (though Constantine never acknowledged, let alone recognized, the regency). However, the junta announced that the "Revolution of April 21" (as the regime called itself) would need time to reform the "Greek mentality" before holding elections. It also suspended most of the constitution's guarantees of civil rights until the restoration of civilian rule. 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 chipped away at the institution of the monarchy: the royal family's tax immunity was abolished, the complex network of royal charities was brought under direct state control, the royal arms were removed from coins, the Navy and Air Force dropped their "Royal" names, and newspapers were prohibited 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. 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.


Characteristics of the Junta


Ideology

The colonels preferred to call the coup an (, 'revolution to save the nation'). Their official justification was that a "communist conspiracy" had infiltrated Greece's bureaucracy, academia, press, and 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 Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
. They used the term (, '
anarcho-communist Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...
') to describe leftists in general. In a similar vein, the junta attempted to steer Greek public opinion not only by
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
but also by inventing new words and slogans, such as (, ' old-partyism') to discredit
parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
, or (, ' Greece for Christian Greeks') to underscore its ideology. The junta's main ideological spokesmen included Georgios Georgalas and journalist Savvas Konstantopoulos, both former
Marxists Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...
. In 1970, Georgalas published a book ''The Decline of Consumer Society'', stating that consumerism had destroyed the Christian spiritual values of the West, leaving Greece as the last solitary outpost of Christian civilization.Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" pp. 36–58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 p. 43. In the same book, Georgalas stated the solution to social problems was not as many believed increased employment, but instead "lengthy psycho-therapeutic programmes" which would create "the free man in harmonious co-existence with himself and his fellow beings".Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" pp. 36–58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 pp. 43–44. The British historian
Richard Clogg Richard Clogg (born 1939 at Rochdale) is a British historian. Life Richard Clogg studied history at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated as Master in 1963. From 1969 on, he was teaching modern Greek history at King's College Londo ...
described the writings of Georgalas and Konstantopoluos as "pretentious verbiage", claiming that they tended to use elaborate and impressive-sounding language to mask the shallowness of their theories. In essence, intellectuals like Georgalas and Konstantopoulos argued that materialism and consumerism were corroding the spiritual strength of the Greek people, and the military regime would "cure" the Greeks by restoring the traditional values of Orthodoxy (Greek Christianity). One of Papadopoulos' first acts after the coup was to change the pension laws to allow the veterans of the Security Battalions to collect pensions. A central part of the regime's ideology was xenophobia, which presented Greeks as the creators of civilization with the rest of the world jealous of the debts they owed to Greece.Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" pp. 36–58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 p. 41. Colonel Ioannis Ladas, the Secretary-general of the Ministry of Public Order, came to international prominence in the summer of 1968 when he personally beat up Panayiotis Lambrias, the editor of magazine ''Eikones'' for running an article saying that homosexuality was accepted as normal in ancient Greece. When the BBC's Greek service reported the incident, Ladas gave a rant at a press conference, claiming that the BBC was run by homosexuals, making him into a sort of unofficial spokesman for the regime. At a subsequent speech before a visiting group of Greek-Americans on 6 August 1968, Ladas quoted Friderich Nietzsche's statement that the ancient Greeks invented everything and went on to say: "Foreigners confess and acknowledge Greek superiority. Human civilization was wholly fashioned by our race. Even the enemies of Greece recognize that civilization is an exclusively Greek creation". Ladas went on to denounce young men with long hair as "the degenerate phenomenon of hippy-ism", calling hippies "anti-social elements, drug addicts, sex maniacs, thieves, etc. It is only natural that they should be enemies of the army and the ideals which the military way of life serves".Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" pp. 36–58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 p. 42. Ladas ended his speech by arguing that Greeks for racial reasons were still the world's preeminent people, but had only declined of inadequate leadership, a problem which had been solved by the "revolution" of 21 April 1967. Ladas claimed that Greece under military leadership would be "cured" of its problems and resume its rightful place in the world. Clogg noted that before the coup, Ladas had been associated with the far-right 4th of August Party, and contributed many articles to that party's journal, which was a "racist and anti-Semitic" magazine which glorified not only 4 August Regime, but also the Third Reich. The Greek novelist
Yiorgos Theotokas Yiorgos Theotokas ( el, Γιώργος Θεοτοκάς), formally Georgios Theotokas (Γεώργιος Θεοτοκάς; 27 August 1905 – 30 October 1966), was a Greek novelist. Biography He was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) ...
once coined the term (, 'ancestoritis') to describe an obsession with the heritage of the past, which many felt that Papadopoulos and the rest of the junta suffered from.Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the 'revolution of 21 April 1967'" pp. 36–58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 p. 45. Papadopoulos often described the Greeks in his speeches as the "elect of God", claiming the regenerated ' ('Greece for Christian Greeks') would be the example to the rest of the world as maintained that people all over the world would regard his ideology of "Helleno-Christian civilization" alongside the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle as the summit of intellectual achievement. The Greek junta has been characterized as
neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sen ...
. The junta's
ultranationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its s ...
, militaristic, and deeply anti-communist character has been liked to that of the interwar dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas, leading to many scholars describing the regime as fascistic.


"Patient in a cast" and other metaphors

Throughout his tenure as the junta strongman, Papadopoulos often employed what have been described by the BBC as gory medical metaphors, where he or the junta assumed the role of the "
medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner ( Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
". The supposed " patient" was Greece. Typically Papadopoulos or the junta portrayed themselves as the "doctor" who operated on the "patient" by putting the patient's "foot" in an
orthopedic cast An orthopedic cast, or simply cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster or fiberglass, that encases a limb (or, in some cases, large portions of the body) to stabilize and hold anatomical structures—most often a broken bone (or bones), in ...
and applying restraints on the "patient", tying him on a surgical bed and putting him under
anesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...
to perform the "operation" so that the life of the "patient" would not be "endangered" during the operation. In one of his famous speeches Papadopoulos mentioned: In the same speech Papadopoulos continued: Other metaphors contained religious imagery related to the
resurrection of Christ The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...
at
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
: "" (" Christ has risen – Greece has risen"), alluding that the junta would save Greece and resurrect her into a greater, new Land. The theme of rebirth was used many times as a standard reply to avoid answering any questions as to how long the dictatorship would last: The religious themes and rebirth metaphors are also seen in the following:


Civil rights

As soon as the coup d'état was announced over Greek radio, martial music was continuously broadcast over the airwaves. This was interrupted from time to time with announcements of the junta issuing orders, which always started with the introduction, (, 'We decide and we order'). Long-standing political freedoms and
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
, that had been taken for granted and enjoyed by the Greek people for decades, were instantly suppressed. Article 14 of the
Greek Constitution The Constitution of Greece ( el, Σύνταγμα της Ελλάδας, Syntagma tis Elladas) was created by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes in 1974, after the fall of the Greek military junta and the start of the Third Hell ...
, which protected
freedom of thought Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by ...
and
freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerci ...
, was immediately and fraudulently 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 dismantling of Greek democracy had begun. In fact, the junta crackdown was so fast that by September 1967, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands went before the
European Commission of Human Rights The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe. From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Hu ...
to accuse Greece of violating most of the
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
protected by the
European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
. Following the coup, 6,188 suspected communists and political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands within the first week after the coup. Under the junta,
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts car ...
became a deliberate practice carried out both by the Security Police and the Greek Military Police (ESA), with an estimated 3,500 people detained in torture centres run by ESA. Commonly used methods of torture included, but were not limited to, beating the soles of detainees' feet, sexual torture, choking and ripping out body hair. The Special Interrogation Unit of the Greek Military Police (EAT/ESA) used a combination of techniques that included continuous standing in an empty room, sleep and food deprivation, beatings and loud sounds. According to recent research based on new interviews with survivors, in the period from May to November 1973 this combination of interrogation techniques also included the repetition of songs that were popular hits of the time. These were played loudly and repeatedly from loudspeakers. These methods attacked the senses without leaving any visible traces and have been classified since as torture by international organisations. According to a human rights report by
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and 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'',Marion Sarafis, Marion Saraphē, and Martin Eve
''Background to Contemporary Greece''
p. 143
was sent to Greece by Amnesty International. He wrote in December 1969 that "a conservative estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of people tortured.
William Blum William Henry Blum (; March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author, critic of United States foreign policy and socialist. He lived in Washington, DC. Early life Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical ...
(2003). ''Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II'', revised edition. Common Courage Press.
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 realized that, even though they were allowed certain social activities, they could not overstep the boundaries and delve into or discuss forbidden subjects. This realization, including the absence of any
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
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. Photography by ordinary citizens was banned in public locations. The junta allowed citizens to participate in ordinary societal events that reflected those of the United States and United Kingdom, such as rock concerts for example. However, citizens lived in extreme fear, as any behaviour that the junta disapproved of, coupled with the complete absence of any civil rights or freedoms, could easily result in torture, beatings, exile, imprisonment, or worse, and the labelling of the victims as
anarcho-communists Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains res ...
, 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 is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
. 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 A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the ...
. Thousands were jailed for political reasons by the dictatorship and thousands were forced into exile. More than 10,000 were estimated to have been arrested in the first few days after the coup. Complete lack of
press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerci ...
coupled with nonexistent 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 is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
of
fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
among the citizens during the Papadopoulos dictatorship, which became worse under Ioannidis.


External relations

The military government was given support by the United States as a
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
ally, due to its proximity to the
Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
Soviet bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
, and the fact that the previous
Truman administration Harry S. Truman's tenure as the 33rd president of the United States began on April 12, 1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953. He had been vice president for only days. A Democrat from Missouri, he ran ...
had given the country millions of dollars in economic aid to discourage
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
. U.S. support for the junta, which was staunchly anti-communist, is claimed to be the cause of rising
anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies C ...
in Greece during and following the junta's undemocratic rule. There was a mixed response to the junta from Western Europe. The Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands filed a complaint before the Human Rights Commission of the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
in September 1967. The Commission on Human Rights took the exceptional step of constituting a Sub-Commission to investigate the accusations of gross human rights abuses. The sub-commission reported its extensive on-site investigation and unearthed significant evidence of torture and human rights violations. Greece however opted to leave the Council of Europe in December 1969 before a full verdict of the commission could be handed down. Countries such as the United Kingdom and
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
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 Academy The Hellenic Army Academy ( el, Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in G ...
. Papadopoulos allowed substantial social and cultural freedoms to all
social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, inc ...
es, but political
oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...
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.
Costa-Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...
's film '' Z'' and
Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' ...
's music, among others, were never 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 German film '' Helga'', a 1967
sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...
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 Robert Hartford-Davis (born William Henry Davis, 23 July 1923 – 12 June 1977) 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 ...
was allowed by the junta to film the classic horror film '' Incense for the Damned'', starring
Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...
and
Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...
and suitably featuring (), a beguiling Greek siren with
vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
tendencies, on the Greek island of Hydra.Summarised by th
Horror Film Archive
thus: "A young man finds himself turning into a bloodsucking monster. Set on the Greek island of Hydra. A must for all Cushing fans"
''Incense for the Damned''
on IMDB, which summarises the film as "A group of friends search for a young English Oxford student who has disappeared whilst researching in Greece ..."

''The New York Times''
In 1970 the film ''
Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, 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."Woodstock"
, Greek blog site. Translation: "The beatings and arrests during the Woodstock showing in 1970 ..."
Matt Barrett

"In 1971 the movie Woodstock is shown in Athens, causing near riots. For young people it is one of the most exciting events of the period and when Jimi Hendrix appears on the screen the glow of a thousand bic-lighters and candles fills the theater." and "Savopoulos becomes a hero of the youth. His album ''Vromeko Psomi'' (''Dirty Bread'') is a classic, a thinly veiled attack on the dictatorship, that if they heard it, must have had the colonels wringing their hands wondering what to do with this guy."
Films such as '' Marijuana Stop!'' dealt with the
hippie culture A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
and its perception in Greek society as drug-using. Meanwhile, at Matala,
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
, a
hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
colony which had been living in the caves since the 1960s was never disturbed. Singer-songwriter
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...
was inspired to write the song "
Carey Carey may refer to: Names * Carey (given name), a given name * Carey (surname), a surname ** List of people with surname Carey Places Canada * Carey Group, British Columbia; in the Pacific * Carey Island (Nunavut) in James Bay United Kingd ...
" 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 (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to t ...
.Matt Barrett
"November 17th, Cyprus and the Fall of the Junta"
. "Because tourism is such an important part of the Greek economy, the bans on mini-skirts, long hair and other symbols of decadence are not enforced." and "Places like Paradise Beach in Mykonos and Matala, Crete become hippy colonies, made up mostly of foreigners and a handful of adventurous young Greeks."


Greek folk music

During its rule, the dictatorship heavily utilized
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
in mass media in order to help solidify the relationship between the junta and Greek national identity, in turn legitimizing its rule over the country. The regime sponsored song contests and concerts featuring folk musicians throughout its existence. The favoured types of music employed by the government were those which accompanied the Kalamatianos and
Tsamiko The Tsamikos ( el, Τσάμικος, ''Tsamikos'') or Kleftikos ( el, Κλέφτικος) is a popular traditional folk dance of Greece, done to music of 3/4 meter. The dance The dance follows a strict and slow tempo not emphasising on the st ...
folk dances. Additionally, the regime encouraged the production of new folk songs with lyrics praising the government and its leaders, like Georgios Papadopoulos. Because the
clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. ...
was so strongly featured in the music of the junta, it remains associated with the Colonels by many Greeks today. The ideology behind the promotion of folk music was twofold: to bridge the gap of continuity with Greece's past and present, and to limit foreign cultural influences such as
psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, ...
(which could hold political connotations contrary to those of the junta) by substituting them with traditionally Greek ones. Folk music was also used as an ideological weapon against dissidents, and it was played constantly in detention centres to help break prisoners.


Greek rock

In the early days of the dictatorship, Western music broadcasts were limited from the airwaves in favour of
martial music Martial music or military music is a specific genre of music intended for use in military settings performed by professional soldiers called field musicians. Much of the military music has been composed to announce military events as with b ...
, but this was eventually relaxed. In addition, pop/
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and ...
programmes such as the one hosted by famous Greek music/radio/
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
personality and promoter
Nico Mastorakis Nico Mastorakis ( el, Νίκος Μαστοράκης; born 28 April 1941 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek filmmaker and radio producer. He is probably best known for his 1973 live interview of 17 arrested Greek students, which happened without their ...
were very popular throughout the dictatorship years both on radio and television."Nikos Mastorakis"
. Museum of Broadcast Communications. "Nikos Mastorakis was the TV personality
sine qua non ''Sine qua non'' (, ) or ''condicio sine qua non'' (plural: ''condiciones sine quibus non'') is an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. It was originally a Latin legal term for " conditionwithout which it could not be" ...
of the dictatorship years."
Most Western record sales were similarly not restricted. In fact, even rock concerts and tours were allowed such as by the then popular rock groups Socrates Drank the Conium and Nostradamos.''Athens Guide''
"Socrates"
"Socrates will probably never get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But while other groups were becoming well known in the free world, this Hendrix-style blues band was playing to standing-room-only crowds in a small club in Athens, during Greece's military dictatorship, a period when even Rolling Stone albums were hard to find, and for a time illegal."
Another pop group, Poll, was a pioneer of Greek pop music in the early 1970s. 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 " (Mankind Love One Another)", an
anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') 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 anti-war can also refer to pa ...
song composed by Tournas, and " (Come, My Sun)", composed by Tournas, Williams. Kostas Tournas article on Greek Wikipedia. "(The song) "Anthrope agapa" was motivated by an anti-war film" Tournas later pursued a solo career and in 1972 produced the
progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...
psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...
hit solo album (, 'Infinite Fields').Lost in Tyme
"After the split of 'Poll', Kostas Tournas went on to record a great progressive-psychedelic concept solo album."
He wrote and arranged the album using an orchestra and a rock group ("Ruth") combination, producing a
rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...
which is considered a landmark of Greek rock. In 1973 Kostas Tournas created the album (''Stardreams''), influenced by
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's '' Ziggy Stardust''. Songwriter
Dionysis Savvopoulos Dionysis Savvopoulos ( el, Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος) (born 2 December 1944) is a prominent Greek singer-songwriter. Career Savvopoulos was born in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece (December 1944) in a middle-class family. He pass ...
, who was initially imprisoned by the regime, nevertheless rose to great popularity and produced a number of influential and highly politically
allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
, especially against the junta, albums during the period, including (, 'The Madman's Orchard'), (, the name of Greek folk dance) and (, 'Dirty Bread').


Tourism

Concurrently,
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
was actively encouraged by Papadopoulos' government and, funding scandals notwithstanding, there was great development of the tourist sector. With tourism came 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. Tourism was furthered by the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens which showed political normality. Even the boycott of the West German team was not directed against the junta, but against its own team leadership. Although discos and nightclubs 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 Ioannidis Dimitrios Ioannidis ( el, Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης ; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010), also known as Dimitris Ioannidis and as The Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the junta that r ...
after his coup.


Agriculture

The farmers were Papadopoulos's natural constituency and were more likely to support him, seeing him as one of their own because of his rural roots. He cultivated this relationship by appealing to them, calling them (, ' the backbone of the people') and cancelling all agricultural loans.Michel Forsé
''Recent Social Trends in France, 1960–1990''
"In addition the writing-off of agricultural debts, the gradual abolition of hard monetary policy and the supply of loans for opportunist investments created a climate of economic euphoria (mainly in 1970–1973). Although the way in which loans were being provided and their uncontrollable use constituted the introduction to the process of de-industrialization which begins with the Ioannidis period. The collapse of the dictatorship, due to the nationalist fury of the last period, the Ioannidis period, led to the collapse of the compulsive interconnections of power that the civil war and its consequences had shaped." p. 12
By further insisting on promoting, but not really enforcing for fear of middle-class backlash, religion 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.


Urban classes

While never strongly supported by the urban middle class, they at first generally accepted Papadopoulos's rule (albeit reluctantly). Bourgeois Greeks acquiesced to the junta with the understanding that the dictatorship would be temporary and that the colonels would hold free elections upon the restoration of order. In addition, the Greek business community largely approved of the regime's economic policies, especially its promotion of tourism.


Economic policies

The 1967–1973 period was marked by high rates of economic growth coupled with low inflation and low unemployment. Economic growth was driven by investment in the
tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
, 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-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...
. Economic growth started losing steam by 1972. In addition, large scale construction of
hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
projects, such as in Aliakmon, Kastrakion, Polyphytos, the expansion of
thermoelectric The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when ...
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'). The always smiling Stylianos Pattakos, also known as (, 'the first trowel of Greece'), since he frequently appeared at project inaugurations with a
trowel A trowel is a small hand tool used for digging, applying, smoothing, or moving small amounts of viscous or particulate material. Common varieties include the masonry trowel, garden trowel, and float trowel. A power trowel is a much larger ga ...
in hand, starred in many of the propaganda documentaries that were screened before feature film presentation in Greek cinemas.Kathimerini
"Remember Pattakos, the striking baldie superstar of the junta, who never missed a chance to pose with a trowel at hand and never missed a documentary of Epikaira"
Economists have criticized the waste, fraud, and abuse derived from the junta's economic policies. One notable example is tourism minister Ioannis Ladas' practice of granting ill advised loans to would be hoteliers in order to promote the tourism industry. 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 (, '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.


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 members of the Italian far right on a Greek tour, to demonstrate the junta's methods. Invitees included
Stefano Delle Chiaie Stefano Delle Chiaie (13 September 1936, Caserta – 10 September 2019, Rome) was an Italian neo-fascist terrorist. He was the founder of ''Avanguardia Nazionale'', a member of '' Ordine Nuovo'', and founder of Lega nazionalpopolare. He went on ...
and members of Ordine Nuovo, Avanguardia Nazionale, Europa Civiltà, and FUAN-La Caravella. (cf Frattini, Entity, 2004, p. 304) The Italians were impressed. Upon returning to their country, they escalated their political violence, 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. After their visit to Greece, the Italian neo-fascists also engaged in
false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...
operations and embarked on a campaign of infiltration of leftist, anarchist, and Marxist–Leninist organisations. One of the neo-fascists conducted frequent provocations and infiltrations in the months leading to the
Piazza Fontana bombing The Piazza Fontana bombing ( it, Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontan ...
on 12 December 1969. The Greek junta was so impressed with the manner in which 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

The entire left wing of the Greek political spectrum, including the long outlawed Communist Party of Greece, opposed the junta from the start. Many new militant groups formed in 1968, both in exile and in Greece, to promote democratic rule. These included
Panhellenic Liberation Movement The Panhellenic Liberation Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Απελευθερωτικό Κίνημα), also known by its acronym PAK (ΠΑΚ), was one of the many anti-dictatorial movement organisations that campaigned against the 1967–197 ...
, Democratic Defense, and the Socialist Democratic Union. The first armed action against the junta was Alexandros Panagoulis's failed attempt to assassinate
George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of ma ...
, on 13 August 1968.


Assassination attempt by Panagoulis

The assassination attempt took place on the morning of 13 August, when Papadopoulos went from his summer residence in Lagonisi to
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, 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 had 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. He remained in prison for five years. After democracy was restored, Panagoulis was elected into Parliament. He is regarded as emblematic of 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 Athenians disobeyed the military's orders, and followed the casket to the cemetery. The junta arrested 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 ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
in 1963, took a stand against the junta. He made a statement on the
BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...
, with copies simultaneously distributed to every newspaper in Athens. Attacking the colonels, he passionately demanded that "This anomaly must end". Seferis died before the junta ended. His funeral, on 20 September 1972, turned into a massive demonstration against the military government. Also in 1969,
Costa-Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...
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 Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' ...
, who was imprisoned by the junta and later went into exile, and the music was smuggled into the country and added to other inspirational, underground Theodorakis tracks. A lesser known
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
film, in Greek, '' Your Neighbor's Son'', 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
Makronisos Makronisos ( el, Μακρόνησος, lit. ''Long Island''), or Makronisi, is an island in the Aegean sea, in Greece, notorious as the site of a political prison from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is located close to the coast of Attica, facing th ...
, Gyaros, Gioura, or inhabited islands such as
Leros Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight fr ...
, Agios Eustratios or
Trikeri Trikeri ( el, Τρίκερι, ''Tríkeri'') 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 weste ...
. 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 Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri (, 18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a political family that was prominent over multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination a ...
, actor, singer (and, after 1981 Minister for Culture);
Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' ...
, composer of resistance songs;
Costas Simitis Konstantinos G. Simitis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης; born 23 June 1936), usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis (Κώστας Σημίτης), is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece a ...
(
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
from 1996 to 2004);
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, w ...
(prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996); and Lady Amalia Fleming (wife of Sir
Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of wh ...
, 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. In the early hours of 19 September 1970, in Matteotti square in
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of G ...
,
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
student
Kostas Georgakis Kostas Georgakis ( el, Κώστας Γεωργάκης) (23 August 194819 September 1970) was a Greeks, Greek student of geology, who in the early hours of 19 September 1970, Self-immolation, set himself ablaze in Giacomo Matteotti, Matteotti sq ...
set himself ablaze in protest against the dictatorship of George Papadopoulos. The junta delayed the arrival of his remains to
Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek islands, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of G ...
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. He is considered the precursor of later student protest, such as the Athens Polytechnic uprising. The Municipality of Corfu dedicated a memorial in his honour, near his home in
Corfu city Corfu (, also ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, ; grc, Κόρκυρα, Kórkyra, ; ; la, Corcyra; sq, Korfuzi) is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government refo ...
. In a speech before the U.S. Senate on 6 November 1971, Senator
Lee Metcalf Lee Warren Metcalf (January 28, 1911 – January 12, 1978) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1953–1961) and a U.S. Senator (1961–1978) from Montana. He was the ...
listed the members of the Greek junta who had served in the collaborationist
Security Battalions The Security Battalions ( el, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας, Tagmata Asfaleias, derisively known as ''Germanotsoliades'' (Γερμανοτσολιάδες) or ''Tagmatasfalites'' (Ταγματασφαλίτες)) were Greek collaborationist ...
and denounced the administration of
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
for supporting what he called a "junta of Nazi collaborators". The German writer,
investigative reporter Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
and journalist
Günter Wallraff Günter Wallraff (born 1 October 1942) is a 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 an ...
traveled to Greece in May 1974. While in
Syntagma Square Syntagma Square ( el, Πλατεία Συντάγματος, , "Constitution Square") is the central square of Athens. The square is named after the Constitution that Otto, the first King of Greece, was obliged to grant after a popular and militar ...
, 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.


''Velos'' mutiny

In an anti- junta protest, on 23 May 1973, HNS ''Velos'', under the command of Commander Nikolaos Pappas, refused to return to Greece after participating in a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
exercise and remained anchored at Fiumicino, Italy. During a patrol with other NATO vessels between continental Italy and
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian language, Italian, Corsican language, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese dialect, Algherese and Catalan languag ...
, the commander and the officers heard over the radio that a number of fellow naval officers had been arrested in Greece. Commander Pappas was involved in a group of democratic officers who remained loyal to their oath to obey the Constitution and planned 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 The North Atlantic Treaty, also referred to as the Washington Treaty, is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 ...
, 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 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 commander, six officers, and twenty five
petty officer A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be superio ...
s requested permission to remain abroad as political refugees. Indeed, the whole crew wished to follow their commander 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 the 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 factions 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 regime's credibility. Later events showed that this was a fatal blow, from which the junta never recovered. At the same time, during Papadopoulos' attempt at liberalisation, some of the junta constraints were removed from Greece's
body politic The body politic is a polity—such as a city, realm, or state—considered metaphorically as a physical body. Historically, the sovereign is typically portrayed as the body's head, and the analogy may also be extended to other anatomical parts, ...
. This 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. He had declared at the time that he did not want the "Revolution" ( junta speak for the "dictatorship") to become a "regime". He attempted to initiate reforms in 1969 and 1970 but was thwarted by the hardliners, including Ioannidis. Subsequent to his 1970 failed attempt at reform, he threatened to resign. He was dissuaded when the hardliners renewed their personal allegiance to him.Ioannis Tzortzis, Quote: "The Americans asked the Greek government to allow the use of their bases in Greek territory and air space to supply Israel; Markezinis, backed by Papadopoulos, denied on the grounds of maintaining good relations with the Arab countries. This denial is said to have turned the US against Papadopoulos and Markezinis." Quote: "Thus the students had been played straight into the hands of Ioannidis, who looked upon the coming elections with a jaundiced eye." Quote: "The latter .e. Markeziniswould insist until the end of his life that subversion on behalf… Markezinis was known for his independence to the US interests." Quote: "In that situation Ioannidis was emerging as a solution for the officers, in sharp contrast to Papadopoulos, whose accumulation 'of so many offices and titles (President of Republic, Prime Minister, minister of Defence) was harming the seriousness of the regime and giving it an unacceptable image, which was not left un-exploited by its opponents". Quote:"The first attempt of Papadopoulos to start a process of reform occurred in the spring of 1968. He was claiming that if the 'Revolution' stayed more than a certain time in power, it would lose its dynamics and transform into a 'regime', which was not in his intentions. He tried to implicate Markezinis in the attempt; however, he met the stiff resistance of the hard-liners. Another attempt was again frustrated in the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970; Papadopoulos was then disappointed and complaining 'I am being subverted by my fellow Evelpides cadets!’ As a result of this second failure, he considered resigning in the summer of 1970, complaining that he lacked any support from other leading figures, his own closest followers included. But the rest of the faction leaders renewed their trust to him." Quote: "The 1973 oil crisis finally dealt a real financial shock to the Greek economy, as it did to all non-oil producing countries, and marked the end of inflation-free growth in Greece for more than two decades." On 10 April 1970 Papadopoulos announced the formation of the (, "Advisory Council") otherwise known as "Papadopoulos' (pseudo) Parliament".Ο κ. πρόεδρος και η χούντα from isopress
"Mr President and the Junta" Ελευθεροτυπία, 30 September 2007 Eleftherotypia 30 September 2007 Quote: "Τη δημιουργία της «Επιτροπής» εξήγγειλε στις 10.4.70 ο δικτάτορας Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος σε συνέντευξη Τύπου, ως μέτρο φιλελευθεροποίησης του καθεστώτος. Οπως εξήγησε στους ξένους και Ελληνες δημοσιογράφους, ο Παπαδόπουλος χρησιμοποίησε τον όρο «Συμβουλευτική Επιτροπή», γιατί θεωρούσε τη λέξη Βουλή «ολίγον κακόηχον»."
Composed of members elected through an electoral type process but limited only to (, ' regime supporters'), 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 (, 'Parliament') for the Committee because it sounded bad. The council was dissolved just prior to Papadopoulos' failed attempt to liberalise his regime. As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It i ...
in early 1973, Papadopoulos attempted to legitimize the regime by beginning a gradual "democratization" (See also the article on
Metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , "regime change") was a period in modern History of Greece, Greek history from the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, Ioaniddes military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period s ...
). On 1 June 1973, he abolished the monarchy and declared Greece a republic with himself as president. He was confirmed in office 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 was appointed Prime Minister. Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted, and the army's role significantly reduced. Papadopoulos intended to establish a
presidential republic A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separatio ...
, with extensive–and within the context of the system, almost dictatorial–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 An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.


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 junta years when he would sometimes hold multiple high-echelon government portfolios. This especially antagonised the intelligentsia, 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 Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academ ...
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
National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; el, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institution ...
to organise a demonstration that grew progressively larger and more effective. The political momentum was on the side of the students. Sensing this, the junta panicked and reacted violently. In the early hours of Saturday, 17 November 1973, Papadopoulos sent the army to suppress the student strike and sit-in of the (, 'Free Besieged'), as the students called themselves, at the Athens Polytechnic which had commenced on 14 November. Shortly after 3:00 am. EET, under almost complete cover of darkness, an
AMX 30 The AMX-30 is a main battle tank designed by Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX, then GIAT) and first delivered to the French Army in August 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st ''Régiment de Chars de Combat'' ( ...
tank crashed through the rail gate of the Athens Polytechnic with subsequent loss of life. An estimated 24 people were killed. The army also occupied
Syntagma Square Syntagma Square ( el, Πλατεία Συντάγματος, , "Constitution Square") is the central square of Athens. The square is named after the Constitution that Otto, the first King of Greece, was obliged to grant after a popular and militar ...
for at least the following day. Even the sidewalk cafes were closed. Ioannidis' involvement in inciting unit commanders to commit criminal acts during the uprising, so that he could facilitate his own upcoming coup, was noted in the indictment presented to the court by the prosecutor during the Greek junta trials, and in his subsequent conviction in the Polytechneion trial where he was found to have been morally responsible for the events.Tsevas report
Quote: "Οι Ιωαννίδης και Ρουφογάλης, δια των εις αυτούς πιστών Αξιωματικών και πρακτόρων, επηρεάζουν σοβαρώς και σαφώς την όλην επιχείρησιν, εξαπολύοντες κύμα βιαιοτήτων και πυροβολισμών, επί τω τέλει της δημιουργίας ευνοϊκών δια την προαποφασισθείσαν κίνησιν συνθηκών ασφαλείας, αναταραχής και συγκρούσεων."
Eleftherotypia
Unrepentant for the Dictatorship. Retrieved 15 August 2008 (In Greek)
English translation by Google
/ref>


Ioannidis coup and regime

The uprising triggered a series of events that put an abrupt end to Papadopoulos' attempts at "liberalisation". Brigadier
Dimitrios Ioannidis Dimitrios Ioannidis ( el, Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης ; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010), also known as Dimitris Ioannidis and as The Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the junta that r ...
, a disgruntled junta hardliner and long-time protégé of Papadopoulos as head of the feared Military Police, used the uprising as a pretext to reestablish public order, and staged a counter-coup that overthrew Papadopoulos and
Spyros Markezinis Spyridon "Spyros" Markezinis (or Markesinis; ; 22 April 1909 – 4 January 2000) was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly the Prime Minister of Greece during the aborted attempt at metapolitefsi (democr ...
on 25 November. Military law was reinstated, and the new Junta appointed General
Phaedon Gizikis Phaedon Gizikis ( el, Φαίδων Γκιζίκης ; 16 June 1917 – 26 July 1999) was a Greek army general, and the second and last President of Greece under the Junta, from 1973 to 1974. Early life and military career Born in Volos, ...
as president and economist
Adamantios Androutsopoulos Adamantios Androutsopoulos ( el, Αδαμάντιος Ανδρουτσόπουλος; 20 August 1919 – 10 November 2000) was a lawyer and professor. He held various ministerial posts under the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 and was finally ...
as Prime Minister, although Ioannidis 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 In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
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.BBC: On this day
quote:A military communiqué announced the overthrow of the government was supported by the army, navy and air force and said it was a "continuation of the revolution of 1967", when the Greek colonels, headed by Mr Papadopoulos, seized control. The statement went on to accuse Mr Papadopoulos of "straying from the ideals of the 1967 revolution" and "pushing the country towards parliamentary rule too quickly".
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". Prior to seizing power, Ioannidis preferred to work in the background and he never held any formal office in the junta. He was now the ''de facto'' leader of a
puppet regime A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sovere ...
composed by members some of whom were rounded up by Greek Military Police (ESA) soldiers in roving jeeps to serve and others that were simply chosen by mistake."Greece marks '73 student uprising"
, and: "the notorious Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis now serving a life sentence for his part in the 1967 seizure of power – immediately scrapped a programme of liberalisation introduced earlier" and: "His was but to do the bidding of a junta strongman who had never made a secret of his belief that Greeks were not ready for democracy." ''Athens News'', 17 November 1999
Mario Modiano ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
''
"A long, happy summer night 30 years ago"
, ''Athens News'', 23 July 2004 quote1: "My friend had been sworn in as a minister by mistake. After his coup, Ioannidis dispatched military policemen in jeeps to round up the people he needed to man a puppet government. When they turned up at my friend's home and ordered him to follow them, he was convinced that the soldiers intended to shoot him." quote 2: "The meeting lasted five hours. Then there was a break, and by the time the meeting resumed, Evangelos Averoff, the former foreign minister, who was there, had already telephoned Constantine Karamanlis in Paris to urge him to return immediately and assume the reins of power."
The Ioannidis 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.


Cypriot coup d'état, Turkish invasion and fall of the Junta

Sponsored by Ioannidis, on 15 July 1974 a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
on the island of
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
overthrew Archbishop
Makarios III Makarios III ( el, Μακάριος Γ΄; born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos) (Greek: Μιχαήλ Χριστοδούλου Μούσκος) (13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Cypriot politician, archbishop and primate who served as ...
, the Cypriot President. Turkey replied to this by invading Cyprus and occupying the northern part of the island, after heavy fighting with the Cypriot and Greek
ELDYK ) , patron= , motto= (The same ancestry and common language and common religion and common traditions) , colors= Greek Lizard , colors_label= Uniform Camouflage , march= , mascot= , equipment= G3 , equipment_label= Service Rifle , battles= Tur ...
Forces (, "Greek Force for Cyprus"). During a military council, Ioannidis is reported to have said angrily to the American minister Joseph J. Sisco (who was present) "You betrayed us! You had assured us that you would prevent any Turkish landing". There was a well-founded fear that an all-out war with Turkey was imminent. The Cyprus fiasco led to senior Greek military officers withdrawing their support for Junta strongman Brigadier
Dimitrios Ioannidis Dimitrios Ioannidis ( el, Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης ; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010), also known as Dimitris Ioannidis and as The Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the junta that r ...
. Junta-appointed President
Phaedon Gizikis Phaedon Gizikis ( el, Φαίδων Γκιζίκης ; 16 June 1917 – 26 July 1999) was a Greek army general, and the second and last President of Greece under the Junta, from 1973 to 1974. Early life and military career Born in Volos, ...
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
Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and twice as the president o ...
, who had resided in Paris since 1963, to assume the role. Karamanlis returned to
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
on a French Presidency Learjet made available to him by President
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...
, a close personal friend, and was sworn in as Prime Minister under President
Phaedon Gizikis Phaedon Gizikis ( el, Φαίδων Γκιζίκης ; 16 June 1917 – 26 July 1999) was a Greek army general, and the second and last President of Greece under the Junta, from 1973 to 1974. Early life and military career Born in Volos, ...
. Karamanlis' new party,
New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...
, won the November 1974 general election, and he became prime minister. Parliamentary democracy was thus restored and the Greek legislative elections of 1974 were the first free elections held in a decade. A referendum held 8 December 1974 rejected re-establishment of the monarchy by a 2-to-1 margin, and Greece became a republic. While the physical collapse of the junta as a government was immediately caused by the
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
debacle, its ideological collapse was already 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 and its message.


Trials of the junta (1975)

In January 1975 the junta members were arrested and in early August of the same year the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis brought charges of
high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and
insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
against Georgios Papadopoulos and nineteen other co-conspirators of the military junta."The Colonels on Trial"
''Time''. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
The mass trial was staged at the Korydallos Prison. The trial was described as "Greece's
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
". One thousand soldiers armed with
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automa ...
s provided security. The roads leading to the jail were patrolled by tanks. Papadopoulos, Pattakos, Makarezos and Ioannidis were sentenced to death for high treason. These sentences were later commuted to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
by the Karamanlis government for humanitarian reasons. A plan to grant amnesty to the junta principals by the
Konstantinos Mitsotakis Konstantinos Mitsotakis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was 7th Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. His ...
government in 1990 was cancelled after protests from conservatives, socialists and communists. Papadopoulos died in the hospital in 1999 after being transferred from Korydallos while Ioannidis remained incarcerated until his death in 2010. This trial was followed by a second trial which centred on the events and the murders during the Athens Polytechnic uprising 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 Ioannidis, it was Papadopoulos who started the cycle of coups. Externally, the absence of human rights in a country belonging to the
Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...
during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
was a continuous source of embarrassment for the free world (considering Greece is seen as the country which introduced democracy to the rest of the world), and this and other reasons made Greece an international pariah abroad and interrupted its process of integration with the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
with incalculable
opportunity cost In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a particular activity is the value or benefit given up by engaging in that activity, relative to engaging in an alternative activity. More effective it means if you chose one activity (for example ...
s.I Am with You, Democracy Is with You
''Time''. 5 August 1974. Quote: "Denied Benefits. When the Council of Europe tried to investigate charges that the regime was torturing prisoners, Athens quit the respected if powerless body rather than risk the inquiry. The Common Market was so repelled by the actions of the junta that it expelled Greece from associate membership in the EEC, thus denying the Greek economy some $300 million annually in agricultural benefits." and "Caramanlis called the crisis 'a national tragedy' and appealed to Greece's armed forces to bring about a 'political change' in a liberal and democratic direction." Retrieved 6 July 2008
The 21 April regime remains highly controversial to this day, with most Greeks holding very strong and polarised views in regards to it. According to a survey by Kapa Research published in the centre-left newspaper ''
To Vima ''To Vima'' ( el, Το Βήμα, lit=The Tribune) is a Greek weekly newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis, as ''Elefthero Vima'' (Free Tribune). It was owned by Lambrakis Press Group (DOL), a ...
'' 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 April 2013, the Metron Analysis Poll, found that 30% of Greeks yearned for the "better" days of the Junta. The experiences in Greece were formative for several CIA officers, including Clair George and
Gust Avrakotos Gustav Lascaris Avrakotos (January 14, 1938 – December 1, 2005) was an American case officer and the Afghan Task Force Chief for the Central Intelligence Agency. Avrakotos joined the CIA in August 1962 and was posted to Greece in 1963. Followi ...
. Avrakotos, for example, dealt with the aftermath when
Revolutionary Organization 17 November Revolutionary Organization 17 November ( el, Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη, ''Epanastatiki Organosi dekaefta Noemvri''), also known as 17N or the 17 November Group, was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban ...
murdered his superior, CIA station chief Richard Welch, in 1975. Many of his junta-connected associates were also assassinated in this time period. Avrakotos himself had his cover blown by the media and his life became endangered. In 1999, U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
apologised on the behalf of the U.S. government for supporting the military junta in the name of Cold War tactics. There has been speculation that lingering social effects of the junta played a role in the rise of Golden Dawn, an
extreme right-wing Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
party which gained eighteen seats in parliament in two successive
elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
in 2012, in the midst of Greece's ongoing
debt crisis Debt crisis is a situation in which a government (nation, state/province, county, or city etc.) loses the ability of paying back its governmental debt. When the expenditures of a government are more than its tax revenues for a prolonged period, ...
. Golden Dawn's leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, met the leaders of the junta while in prison and was inspired to lay the foundations for the party. Some have linked alleged support of Golden Dawn by
Hellenic Police The Hellenic Police ( el, Ελληνική Αστυνομία, ''Ellinikí Astynomía'', abbreviated ) is the national police service and one of the three security forces of the Hellenic Republic. It is a large agency with responsibilities rang ...
officers to the party's statements sympathising with the junta, which commentators note would appeal to policemen whose livelihoods are threatened by harsh
austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
measures.Are Greek Policemen Really Voting in Droves for Greece's Neo-Nazi Party?
''The Atlantic'', 22 June 2012


See also

*
History of modern Greece The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine Empire ha ...
* '' A Man'' * " Imaste dio", a song by Mikis Theodorakis * '' Your Neighbor's Son'', about the making of the junta torturers * '' Loafing and Camouflage'' *
Timeline of modern Greek history This is a timeline of modern Greek history. Greek War of Independence (1821–1828) *1821, 21 February: Revolt of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire declared by Alexandros Ypsilantis in Wallachia (Iaşi). *1821, 25 March: Accordi ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links

* Matt Barrett
"The Rise of the Junta in Greece"
* Matt Barrett

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greek junta 1960s in Greek politics 1970s in Greek politics
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
Military dictatorships Fascism in Greece Fascist states Neo-fascism 1967 in Greece Conflicts in 1967 States and territories established in 1967 States and territories disestablished in 1974 * 1974 disestablishments in Greece 1960s coups d'état and coup attempts