I. Confusion in Politics

1. George Papandreou (EK) and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos (ERE) were the main antagonists.

1. One of the main issues was the ASPIDA conspiracy and involvement of Andreas Papandreou--as a member of parliament he could not be prosecuted.
2. Continued questions about the monarchy.
3. Continued economic problems.

                B. A service (temporary) government named in June 1966 to arrange for elections in May 1967.

               C. The king agreed to the request of Kanellopoulos that parliament be dissolved without meeting.

1. Designed to prevent passage of a bill to extend the immunity of A. Papandreou.
2. This was a highly unusual move, which encouraged fear of royal meddling in politics.

II. April 21, 1967

1. Elections were set for May 28.
2. Rumors were circulated that there was to be a communist plot, to be set off by a rally in Thessaloniki April 23.
3. The constitution was suspended on April 21 and a new government was sworn in by the king.
4. This military coup was engineered by officers below the highest rank (mostly colonels) who probably believed the ideas they espoused: morality, Christianity Hellenism, nationalism, and anti-Communism.
5. The tanks rolled through the streets of Athens to prevent any opposition.

1. No single ruler emerged.
2. George Papadopoulos was the main leader, and he was aided by General Stylianos Pattakos, and Colonel Nikolaos Makarezos.

                F. Restrictive Measures

1. The junta fixed prices, increased pensions, carried out land reform, and attempted to remodel the bureaucracy.
2. Trade unions were forbidden and there were to be no gatherings of more than five persons.
3. Strict censorship of newspapers.
4. Condemnation of long hair and short skirts; the government encouraged church attendance.
5. Arrest of many politicians and the establishment of military courts.
6. Forbade Theodorakis and censored the theatre; Melina Merkouri was deprived of her citizenship.
7. The colonels were basically small-town conservatives who objected to the modern world and wished to return to a simpler time.
8. The junta disdained traditional politics and politicians; in turn they were laughed at by politicians, intellectuals, and the international press.

III. Revolt of the King

1. The king probably had not been party to the coup, but he had gone along with it.
2. In November (1967) there was a crisis in Cyprus leading to Turkish mobilization; foreign intervention prevented war. This was a fiasco and led to the removal of Greek troops from Cyprus.
3. The king organized a counter coup: 13 December 1967.

1. Constantine flew to the north to rally royalist support, but there was none.
2. Within 24 hours the king flew to Rome and life in exile.

               D. Papadopoulos was appointed as regent and had himself named as Prime Minister.

IV. New Constitution

1. A revised constitution ratified 15 November 1968--highly authoritarian.
2. The powers of the king were exercised by a regent (Zoitakis) but most power was in the hands of the Prime Minister.
3. The ESA (Secret Police) under the command of General Ioannidis, sought to prevent any opposition.
4. The regime was not actively opposed by most Greeks since they were generally tired of how poorly the politicians had led the country in the past 20 years.
5. Domestic poilitical opposition was led by Kanellopoulos and G. Papandreou, then (after 1 November 1968) by Papandreou's successor George Mavros.
6. A notable event was the attempt of Alexander Panagoulis to assassinate Papadopoulos in August 1968.

1. The attempt was bungled and Panagoulis was captured, imprisoned, and tortured.
2. His case became a rallying-place of sorts.

                G. Although there was considerable opposition to the junta in the international press, most governments did nothing.

1. The United States at first stopped arms shipments, but these soon began again.
2. Most European countries did nothing.
3. The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, however, refused to recognize the regime.
4. In 1969 Greece was forced to withdraw from the Council of Europe for human rights violations.
5. The role of the USA.

1. Many said that the Papadopoulos coup was sponsored by the CIA: he had been trained by them and there were NATO plans calling for such an action.
2. In June 1967 the Six Day War took place and the US felt the necessity to provide air support for Israel.
3. This was the time when the Soviet fleet first made its appearance in the Mediterranean and Soviet aid to Egypt began--there was fear that the Soviet Union might be able to out-flank NATO in the Mediterranean.
4. The pro-Western monarchy was overthrown in Lybia in 1971 and replaced by M. Qadafi.
5. The US formally recognized the junta in 1970 and an ambassador was sent to Athens.
6. The Greek-Americans were overwhelmingly supportive of the junta.

V. Successes of the Junta

1. The early successes of the junta were probably the result of two phenomena:

1. Generally, Greeks were disoriented and disillusioned with modernization and urbanization.

1. Greek was in many ways a very traditional society, and many people agreed with the patriotic and moralistic ideas of the junta.
2. The colonels had, after all, come from the mainstream of Greek society.

                                    2. The junta did witness significant improvement in the Greek economy.

1. This was caused largely by large-scale spending in the public sector: roads, airports, etc.
2. One has to wonder where the funds to do this came from.
3. This, however, led to wide-spread corruption and incompetence--many projects were poorly conceived and many were never finished.
4. Very high inflation (ca. 30% PA) undermined the economic gains.

                B. The junta had considerable initial success in foreign affairs.

1. They maintained diplomatic relations with all the major powers.
2. Ironically, they improved relations with countries of the Eastern Block.

1. Full relations with Albania were established in 1971.
2. With China in 1972.

                C. Cyprus

1. There were conflicts with Makarios in 1972 when he imported Czech arms without seeking the approval of Athens.
2. General Givas returned to Cyprus to harass Makarios (probably at the instigation of the junta), and relations between Cyprus and Greece were strained.

VI. Overthrow of Papadopoulos

1. In 1971-72 Papadopoulos' power seemed to be growing.

1. He reshuffled the government in his favor, concentrating more power in his own hands.
2. In 1972 he dismissed the regent, General Zoitakis, and assumed the office himself.
3. He held, at various times, the ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Education.

                B. Nonetheless, Papadopoulos' policies vacillated

1. He released some political prisoners but others were arrested.
2. He treated student unrest particularly harshly.
3. In March 1973 he proposed to end student deferment of military service and the police broke up a sit-in at the Law School of the University of Athens.

                C. Naval Revolt

1. In May of 1973 there was a revolt led by many naval officers and apparently involving some politicians.
2. This was swiftly put down.
3. Papadopoulos abolished the monarchy, and this was ratified by a referendum of 29 July 1973.
4. Papadopoulos became President of the Hellenic Republic.

                D. The Polytechneio

1. A sit-in was organized at the Polytechnic University (Polytechneio) in Athens, November 1973.
2. On the night of November 16/17 armed police with tanks broke into the Polytechneio, causing many casualties, including about 20 dead (the actual count is still not known).
3. Most senior officers decided that Papadopoulos was incompetent and that he should be blamed for the Polytechneio and removed from power.

                E. Demetrios Ioannidis

1. Papadopoulos was arrested for deviating from the principles of the Revolution of April 21--on 25 November 1973.
2. General Phaidon Gizikis became President and Adamantios Androutsopoulos was Prime Minister.
3. The real power was Demetrios Ioannidis, head of the secret police (ESA).
4. Ioannidis re-instituted martial law and resisted any opposition.

VII. The Cyprus Fiasco

1. Heated claims between Greece and Turkey over the Aegean seabed arose, stirred up by the discovery of oil in the vicinity (nothing has ever come of that discovery).
2. There also had been war again in the Middle East in October 1973.
3. Ioannidis decided on a bold stroke in Cyprus, either to bolster his own shaky situation or because he believed in the principle of enosis.

1. His agents were to murder President Makarios, who had become too independent, and a new Cypriot president would proclaim enosis.
2. The leader of the coup was Nikos Sampson.

1. Sampson was a journalist and member of EOKA condemned for murder.
2. A new guerilla band--EOKA-B--was formed to lead the conspiracy, backed by Greek officers of the Cypriot National Guard.

                                    3. By July 6, 1974, Makarios knew of the conspiracy.

                                    4. On July 15 there was an attack on the Presidential palace and the announcement was made that Makarios was dead, but in fact he                                           survived and went into hiding.

                                    5. Sampson was installed as President.

               D. This was just the situation the Turks had been waiting for, since it looked as though enosis was going to be declared as a fait accompli.

               E. The Turkish invasion.

1. On July 20 Turkish troops landed in the Kyrenia region of Cyprus and quickly began to sweep over the entire island.
2. For a time it looked as though there might be outright war between Greece and Turkey.
3. As the situation deteriorated, the junta completely collapsed.
4. President Gizikis summoned a meeting of military and civilian leaders on July 23, and they summoned Constantine Karamanlis, then in exile in Paris, to return to Greece to restore civilian rule.
5. Karamanlis arrived in Greece on July 24 and seven years of military dictatorship had come to an end.

Return to History 517 List of Lectures