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The Greek military junta of 1967-1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" (Template:Lang-gr), or in Greece "The Junta" (Template:Lang-gr) is a collective term used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.

The rule by the military started in the morning of April 21 1967 with a coup d'état led by a group of colonels of the military of Greece, and ended in July, 1974.

History of the Junta

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Background

The 1967 coup and the following seven years of military rule were the epitome of 30 years of national division between the forces of the Left and the Right that can be traced to the time of the resistance against Axis occupation of Greece during World War Two. After the liberation in 1944 Greece descended into civil war, fought between the forces of the Communist-led Greek resistance and the now returned government-in-exile.

American influence in Greece

In 1947, the United States formulated the Truman Doctrine, and began to actively support a series of authoritarian governments in Greece, Turkey and Iran, in order to ensure that these states did not fall under Soviet influence. With American and British aid, the civil war ended with the military defeat of the Left in 1949. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was outlawed and many Communists had to either flee the country or face persecution. The CIA and the Greek military began to work closely, especially after Greece joined NATO in 1952. Greece was a vital link in the NATO defense arc which extended from the eastern border of Iran to the northmost point in Norway. Greece in particular was seen as being in risk, having experienced a Communist insurgency. In particular, the newly-founded Hellenic National Intelligence Service (KYP) and the LOK Special Forces (later actively involved in the 1967 coup) maintained a very close liaison with their American counterparts. In addition to preparing for a Soviet invasion, they agreed to guard against a leftist coup. The LOK in particular were integrated into the Gladio European stay-behind network.

The Apostasia and Political Instability

After many years of conservative rule, and the election of centrist George Papandreou, Sr. as Prime Minister was a sign of change. In a bid to gain more control over the country's government than what his limited constitutional powers allowed, the young and inexperienced King Constantine II clashed with liberal reformers, dismissing Papandreou in 1965, causing a constitutional crisis known as the Apostasia of 1965.

After Constantine II made several attempts to form governments, relying on dissident Center Union and conservative MPs, appointed an interim government under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos, new elections were called for 28 May 1967. There were many indications that Papandreou's Center Union would emerge as the largest party, but would not be able to form a single-party government, and would be forced into an alliance with United Democratic Left, which was suspected by conservatives to be a proxy for the banned Communist Party of Greece. This possibility was used as a pretext for the coup.

A "Generals' Coup"

Greek historiography and the press have also hypothesized about a "Generals' Coup",, a coup that would have been deployed at the behest of the palace, under the pretext of combatting communist subversion.

A number of National Radical Union politicians feared that the policies of leftist members of the Center Union, such as Andreas Papandreou and Spyros Katsotas, would lead to a constitutional crisis. One such politician, George Rallis, has recounted he had proposed that, in case of such an "anomaly", the King should declare martial law, as the monarchist constitution permitted him. According to Rallis, Constantine was receptive to the idea..

In 1966 Constantine II of Greece sent his envoy Demetrios Bitsios to Paris on mission to convince Constantine Karamanlis to return to Greece and resume a role in Greek politics. According to uncorroborated claims made by the former monarch, in 2006 and after the deaths of the two men involved, Karamanlis replied to Bitsios that he would only return if the King imposed martial law, as was his constitutional prerogative.

US journalist Cyrus L. Sulzberger has separately claimed that Karamanlis flew to New York to lobby US support from Lauris Norstad for a coup d'état in Greece that would establish a strong conservative regime under himself; Sulzberger alleges that Norstad declined to involve himself in such affairs. Sulzberger's account, which unlike that of the former King was delivered during the lifetime of those implicated (Karamanlis and Norstad), rested solely on the authority of his and Norstad's word. When, in 1997, the former King reiterated Sulzberger's allegations, Karamanlis stated that he "will not deal with the former king's statements because both their content and attitude are unworthy of comment". The deposed King's adoption of Sulzberger's claims against Karamanlis was castigated by the left-leaning media, typically critical of Karamanlis, as "shameless" and "brazen". It bears noting that, at the time, the former King referred exclusively to Sulzberger's account, to support the theory of a planned coup by Karamanlis, and made no mention of the alleged 1966 meeting with Bitsios, which he would refer to only after both participants had died and could not respond.

As it turned out, the constitutional crisis did not originate either from the political parties, or from the Palace, but from middle-rank army putschists.

The coup d'état of April 21

On April 21, 1967, (just weeks before the scheduled elections), a group of right-wing army officers led by Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos and Colonels George Papadopoulos and Nikolaos Makarezos seized power in a coup d'etat. The colonels were able to quickly seize power by using surprise and confusion. Pattakos was commander of the Armour Training Centre (Template:Lang-gr ΚΕΤΘ/Kentro Ekpaideusis Tethorakismenon KETTH), based in Athens. The coup leaders placed tanks in strategic positions in Athens, effectively gaining complete control of the city. At the same time, a large number of small mobile units were dispatched to arrest leading politicians and authority figures, as well as many ordinary citizens suspected of left-wing sympathies. One of the first to be arrested was Lieutenant General George Spantidakis, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army.

The conspirators were known to Spantidakis. Indeed, he was instrumental in bringing some of them to Athens, to use in a coup he and other leading Army generals had been planning, in an attempt to prevent George Papandreou's victory in the upcoming election and the Communist takeover that would, supposedly, follow it. The colonels succeeded in persuading Spantidakis to join them and he issued orders activating an action plan (the "Prometheus" plan) that had been previously drafted as a response for a hypothetical Communist uprising (see Operation Gladio). Under the command of paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Costas Aslanides, the LOK (see above) took control of the Greek Defence Ministry while Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos gained control over communication centers, the parliament, the royal palace, and according to detailed lists, arrested over 10,000 people. Since orders came from a legal source, commanders and units not involved in the conspiracy automatically obeyed them. Many of the arrested were held during the first days in the "Ippodromos" (a stadium for horse racing by the sea) and some of them (Panayotis Elis one of them) were executed in cold blood by young army officers.

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. Phillips Talbot, the US ambassador in Athens, disapproved of the military coup, complaining that it represented "A rape of democracy", to which Jack Maury, the CIA chief of station in Athens, answered, "How can you rape a whore?" The Papadopoulos' junta attempted to re-engineer the Greek political landscape by coup.

The role of the King

When the tanks rolled on to Athens streets on April 21, the legitimate National Radical Union government, of which Rallis was a member, asked King Constantine to immediately mobilise the state against the coup; he declined to do so, and swore in the dictators as the legitimate government of Greece, while asserting that he was "certain they had acted in order to save the country".

The three plot leaders visited King Constantine II in his residence in Tatoi, which they circled with tanks, effectively preventing any form of resistance. The King wrangled with the colonels and initially dismissed them, ordering them to return with Spantidakis. Later in the day he took it upon himself to go the Ministry of National Defence, located north of Athens city centre, where all the coup leaders were gathered. The King had a discussion with Kanellopoulos, who was detained there, and with leading generals. This was a pointless exercise, since Kanellopoulos was a prisoner whilst the generals had no real power, as was evident from the shouting of lower and middle-ranking officers, refusing to obey orders and clamouring for a new government under Spantidakis. The King finally relented and decided to co-operate, claiming to this day that he was isolated and did not know what else to do.

He has since claimed that he was trying to gain time to organise a counter-coup and oust the Junta. He did organise such a counter-coup; however, the fact that the new government had a legal origin, in that it had been appointed by the legitimate head of state, played an important role in the coup's success. The King was later to regret bitterly his decision. For many Greeks, it served to identify him indelibly with the coup and certainly played an important role in the final decision to abolish the monarchy, sanctioned by the 1974 referendum.

The only concession the King could achieve was to appoint a civilian as prime minister, rather than Spantidakis. Konstantinos Kollias, a former Attorney General of the Areios Pagos, was chosen. He was a well-known royalist and had even been disciplined under the Papandreou government for meddling in the investigation on the murder of MP Gregoris Lambrakis. Kollias was little more than a figurehead and real power rested with the army, and especially Papadopoulos, who emerged as the coup's strong man and became Minister of Defence and Minister of the Government's Presidency. Other coup members occupied key posts. Up until then constitutional legitimacy had been prevented, since under the then-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 in the early evening hours of April 21, 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 minster Kollias) from legally instituting the authoritarian government to come.

This same government formally published and enforced a decree, already proclaimed on radio as the coup was in progress, instituting military law. Constantine claimed he never signed that decree either.

The King's Counter-Coup

From the outset, the relationship between King Constantine II and the Colonels was an uneasy one. The colonels were not willing to share power with anyone, whereas the young King, like his father before him, was used to playing an active role in politics and would never consent to being a mere figurehead, especially in a military administration. Although the colonels' strong anti-communist, pro-NATO and pro-Western views appealed to the United States, fearful of domestic and international public opinion, President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson told Constantine, in a visit to Washington, D.C. in early autumn of 1967, that it would be best to replace that government with another one. Constantine took that as an encouragement to organise a counter-coup and it was probably meant as one, although no direct help or involvement of the US was forthcoming.

The King finally decided to launch his counter-coup on December 13 1967. Since Athens was effectively in the hands of the junta militarily, Constantine decided to fly to the small northern city of Kavala. There he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him. The vague plan he and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would advance on and take Thessaloniki. Constantine planned to install an alternative administration there. International recognition, which he believed to be forthcoming, as well as internal pressure from the fact that Greece would have been split in two governments would, the King hoped, force the junta to resign, leaving the field clear for him to return triumphant to Athens.

In the early morning hours of December 13, the King boarded the royal plane, together with Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, their two baby children Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark and Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, his mother Frederika of Hanover and his sister, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark. Constantine also took with him Prime Minister Kollias. At first, things seemed to be going according to plan. Constantine was well received in Kavala which, militarily, was under the command of a general loyal to him. The Air Force and Navy, both strongly royalist and not involved in the 1967 coup, immediately declared for him and mobilised. Another of Constantine's generals effectively cut all communication between Athens and northern Greece.

However, the King's plans were overly bureaucratic, naïvely supposing that orders from a commanding general would automatically be obeyed. Further, the King was obsessive about avoiding "bloodshed", even where the junta would be the attacker. Instead of attempting to drum up the widest popular support, hoping for spontaneous pro-democracy risings in most towns, the King preferred to let his generals put together the necessary force for advancing on Thessaloniki in strict compliance with military bureaucracy. The King made no attempt to contact politicians, even local ones, and even took care to include in his proclamation a paragraph condemning communism, lest anyone should get the wrong idea.

In the circumstances, rather than the King managing to put together a force and advancing on Thessaloniki, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested his royalist generals and took command of their units, which subsequently put together a force to advance on Kavala to arrest the King. The junta, not at all shaken by the loss of their figurehead premier, ridiculed the King by announcing the 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 hapless Prime Minister with him. They landed in Rome early in the morning of December 14. Constantine remained in exile all through the rest of military rule (although nominally he continued as King until June 1 1973), and was never to return to Greece as King.

The Regency

The flight of the King and Prime Minister to Italy left Greece with no legal government or head of state. This did not concern the military junta. Instead the Revolutionary Council, composed of Pattakos, Papadopoulos and Makarezos, issued a notice in the Government Gazette appointing another member to the military administration, Major General Georgios Zoitakis, as Regent. Zoitakis then appointed Papadopoulos Prime Minister. This became the only government of Greece after the failure of the King's attempted coup, as the King was unwilling to set up an alternative administration in exile. The Regent's position was later confirmed under the 1968 Constitution, although the exiled King never officially recognised, or acknowledged, the Regency.

In a legally controversial move, even under the junta's own Constitution, the Cabinet voted on March 21 1972 to oust Zoitakis and replace him with Papadopoulos, thus combining the offices of Regent and Prime Minister. It was thought Zoitakis was problematic and interfered too much with the military. The King's portrait remained on coins, in public buildings, etc., but slowly, the military was chipping away at the institution of the monarchy: the royal family's tax immunity was abolished, the complex network of royally managed charities was brought under direct state control, the royal arms were removed from coins, the Navy and Air Force were no longer "Royal" and the newspapers were usually banned from publishing the King's photo or any interviews.

During this period, resistance against the colonels' rule became better organized among exiles in Europe and the United States. In addition to the expected opposition from the left, the colonels found themselves under attack by constituencies that had traditionally supported past right-wing regimes: pro-monarchists supporting Constantine; businessmen concerned over international isolation; the middle class facing an economic downturn after 1971. There was also considerable political infighting within the junta. Still, up until 1973 the junta appeared in firm control of Greece, and not likely to be ousted by violent means.

Normalization and attempts at liberalization

Papadopoulos had indicated as early as 1968 that he was eager for a reform process and even tried to contact Markezinis at the time. He had declared at the time that he did not want the "Revolution", (junta speak for the "dictatorship"), to become a "regime". He then repeatedly attempted to initiate reforms in 1969 and 1970, only to be thwarted by the hardliners including Ioannides. In fact subsequent to his 1970 failed attempt at reform, he threatened to resign and was dissuaded only after the hardliners renewed their personal allegiance to him.

As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the Navy in early 1973, Papadopoulos attempted to legitimize the regime by beginning a gradual "democratization" (See also the article on Metapolitefsi). On June 1 1973, he abolished the monarchy and declared himself President of the Republic after a controversial referendum, the results of which were not recognised by the political parties. He furthermore sought the support of the old political establishment, but secured only the cooperation of Spiros Markezinis, who became Prime Minister. Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted, and the army's role significantly reduced. Papadopoulos intended to establish a presidential republic, with extensive powers vested in the office of President, which he held. The decision to return to political rule and the restriction of their role was resented by many of the regime's supporters in the Army, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.

The Ioannidis Regime

On November 25 1973, following the bloody suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising on November 17, General Dimitrios Ioannides ousted Papadopoulos and tried to continue to rule despite the popular unrest the uprising had triggered.

Sponsorted by Ioannides, on July 15, 1974 the EOKA-B organisation took power on the island of Cyprus by a military coup, in which Archbishop Makarios III, the Cypriot president, was overthrown. Turkey replied to this intervention five days later with its own, and invaded Cyprus, occupying part of the island. There was a well founded fear that an all out war with Turkey was imminent. This brought Greece to the brink of war with Turkey.

While the collapse of the junta was immediately triggered by the Cyprus debacle, some argue that the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising was the event that most discredited the military government most and acted as a key catalyst for its eventual collapse.

Restoration of Democracy

The Cyprus fiasco led to senior Greek military officers withdrawing their support for Junta strongman Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannides. Junta-appointed President Phaedon Gizikis called a meeting of old politicians, including Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Spiros Markezinis, Stephanos Stephanopoulos, Evangelos Averoff, and others. The agenda was to appoint a national unity government that would lead to country to elections. Although former Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos was originally backed, Gizikis finally invited former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, who had resided in Paris since 1963, to assume the role. Karamanlis returned to Athens on a French Presidency Lear Jet made available to him by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a close personal friend, and was sworn-in as Prime Minister under President Phaedon Gizikis. Karamanlis' new party, New Democracy, won the November 1974 general election, and he remained prime minister.

Characteristics of the Junta

Ideology

The colonels preferred to call the coup d'état of April 21 a "revolution to Save the Nation" ("Ethnosotirios Epanastasis"). Their official justification for the coup was that a "communist conspiracy" had infiltrated the bureaucracy, the academia, the press, and even the military, to such an extent that drastic action was needed to protect the country from a takeover. Thus, the defining characteristic of the Junta was its staunch anti-Communism. The term "αναρχοκομμουνιστές" transliterated as "anarchokommounistes" (anarcho-communists) was frequently used to describe all leftists. In a similar vein the junta attempted to steer Greek public opinion not only by propaganda but also by inventing new words and slogans such as: palaiokommatismos (translated as old-partyism), Ellas Ellinon Christianon translated as: Greece for Christian Greeks, etc.

The junta's main ideological spokesmen included Geogios Georgalas and journalist Savvas Konstantopoulos, both former marxists. Fabrication of evidence and fictional enemies of the state was a common practice . Atheism and pop culture (such as rock music and the hippies) were also seen as parts of this conspiracy. Nationalism and Christianity were widely promoted but never really enforced.

Sources of support and 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 family from a rural area, he was educated at the prestigious Scholi Evelpidon, the Hellenic military academy. He publicly stated contempt for the urban, western-educated "elite" in Athens. He, nevertheless, allowed wide social and cultural freedoms to all social classes but political oppression and censorship were at times heavy handed, especially in areas sensitive to the junta such as political activities, and politically related art, literature, films and music. Kostas Gavras' Z and Mikis Theodorakis' music, among others, were never officially allowed even during the most relaxed times of the dictatorship and a list of prohibited songs, literature and art was kept. Remarkably the junta censors allowed wide access to Western music and films, after some initial hesitation and as long as they were not deemed to be politically damaging to the junta. Even the racy, for the standards of the time, West German film Helga (Helga - Vom Werden des menschlichen Lebens (22 September 1967) (Helga: From conception to birth)) a documentary and a sex education film also 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 Peter Cushing and Patrick MacNee were allowed by the junta to film the classic horror film Blood Suckers (USA), also known as Incense for the Damned (UK), (suitably featuring a beguiling Greek siren), on the Greek island of Hydra. Meanwhile at Matala in Crete the hippie colony, living in the caves there in the 60s and 70s, was never disturbed. Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell was inspired to write the song Carey after staying in the Matala caves with the hippie community in 1971.

Western music broadcasts were, for a period, limited from the airwaves in favour of martial music, an indispensable part of any developing coup, but later allowed fully. Also pop/rock music programmes such as the one hosted by famous Greek music/radio/television personality and promoter Nico Mastorakis were very popular throughout the dictatorship years both on radio and tv. 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. Another pop group Poll was a pioneer of Greek pop music in the late 60s. Poll, a highly popular group with many panhellenic hits, such as Anthrope agapa (Humankind love each other, an anti-war song (composed by Tournas)) and Ilie mou (My sun) (Tournas, Williams), specialised in Greek pop with lead singer and composer Robert Williams with the later addition, in 1971, of Kostas Tournas. Tournas later pursued a solo career and in 1972 created the progressive psychedelic hit solo album Aperanta Chorafia (Greek: Απέραντα Χωράφια translated as Infinite Fields). He wrote and arranged the album using an orchestra and a rock group (Ruth) combination.

Poll, (Πολλ) a group that composed exclusively Greek pop songs with Greek lyrics had an english name (rendered in Greek characters). The dictionary definition of that name in English is: a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject or: the voting at an election. This, apparently, did not register with the Greek military junta censors.

Concurrently tourism was actively encouraged by Papadopoulos' government and, funding scandals notwithstanding, the tourist sector saw great development. With tourism came the nightlife and although discos and nightclubs had, initially, a curfew, partially due to an energy crisis, of around 1:00 a.m., this was eventually pushed to 3:00 a.m. and later, as the energy crisis eased. By comparison, at the time and well into the 80s and beyond, pubs inEngland closed at 11 p.m. These freedoms were later reversed by Ioannides after his coup. However, even under Papadopoulos, in the absence of any civil rights these sociocultural freedoms existed in a legal vacuum that meant they were not guaranteed but dispensed at the whim of the junta. In addition any transgressing into political matters during social or cultural activities usually meant arrest and punishment.

The farmers were Papadopoulos' natural constituency and were more likely to support him, seeing him, because of his rural roots, as one of their own; and he strengthened this relationship by catering to them, calling them the backbone of the people (η ραχοκοκαλιά του λαού) and forgiving all agricultural loans. 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 champion of the people image among farmers that tended to ridicule middle class bourgeoisie. Further, 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.

Papadopoulos was less likely to appeal to the largely civilian and city oriented middle class, since he was a military man from a rural background, but the political crisis of 1965-1967 let some citizens to entertain the notion that any stable government, even a military one, was better than the preceding chaos. In addition he had promised from the beginning that the dictatorship was not permanent and that when political order was established the democratic rule would return, a pledge, as History would later show, not shared by the hardliners and especially Ioannides. On top of that his promotion of tourism and other beneficial economic measures and the fact that with the notable exceptions of political freedoms and press censorship he did not otherwise substantially restrict the middle class, had the effect of assisting the junta in establishing its control over the land by gaining, at least initially, the reluctant acquiescence of some key segments of the population.

The military government was given at least tacit support by the United States as a Cold War ally, due to its proximity to the Eastern European Soviet bloc, and the fact that the previous Truman administration had given the country millions of dollars in economic aid to discourage Communism. U.S. support for the junta is claimed to be the cause of rising anti-Americanism in Greece during and following the junta's undemocratic rule.

Economic Policies

The 1967 - 1973 period was marked by high rates of economic growth coupled with low inflation and low unemployment. GDP growth was driven by investment in the tourism industry, 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 Corporation. Economic growth started losing steam by 1972. As well large scale construction of hydroelectric dam projects such as in Aliakmon, Kastrakion, Polyphytos, expansion of Thermoelectric generation units and other significant infrastructure development took place. The always smiling Stylianos Pattakos, also known as the first trowel of Greece, since he mostly appeared in these occasions with a trowel at hand inaugurating the project, starred in many propaganda documentaries known as Epikaira that were screened before the feature film presentation in Greek cinemas.

Financial scandals

Cases of non-transparent public deals and corruption allegedly occurred at the time, given the lack of democratic checks and balances and the absence of a free press. One such event is associated with the regime's tourism minister, Ioannis Ladas (Ιωάννης Λαδάς). During his administration, several low-interest loans, amortized over a twenty year period, were issued for tourist development. This fostered the erection of a multitude of hotels, sometimes in non-tourist areas, and with no underlying business rationale. Several such hotels were abandoned unfinished as soon as the loans were secured, and their remains still dot the Greek countryside. These questionable loans are referred to as Thalassodaneia (θαλασσοδάνεια), i.e., "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 to farmers up to 100,000 drachmas, a large sum for that era. This has been attributed to an attempt by Papadopoulos to gain public support for his regime.

Civil Rights

As soon as the coup d'état of the 21st of April 1967 was announced over the radio, martial music was continuously broadcast over the airwaves. This was interrupted from time to time with announcements of the junta issuing orders that always started with the introduction We decide and we order. Normally this kind of introduction is applied inside army barracks when the commander issues the orders of the day that the soldiers are expected to follow. Taking the application of this system into the civilian domain was the junta's method of replacing Parliamentary legislation with a series of military orders broadcast over the airwaves and in the process signal to the Greek people what the new legislative method was. Long standing political freedoms and civil liberties that were taken for granted by the Greek people for decades were instantly suppressed, special military courts were established, and political parties were dissolved, all with simple, uniform, military order type announcements over the radio. Legislation that took decades to fine tune and multiple Parliaments and elections to enact was thus erased in a matter of days. The rapid devolution of Greek Democracy had begun. Several thousand suspected communists and political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands. Amnesty International sent observers to Greece at the time and reported that under Papadopoulos' regime torture was a deliberate practice carried out by both Security Police and the Military Police.

The citizens' right to assemble 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 that realised that even though they were allowed certain social activities they could not overstep the boundaries and delve into or discuss forbidden subjects. This realisation including the absence of any civil rights as well as maltreatment during one's arrest by police that ranged from threats to beatings and could escalate further, made life under the junta a difficult proposition for many ordinary citizens.

Following the junta's logic, one was allowed to participate in a rock concert, as an example, but if any misbehaviour occured during that activity that was not up to junta's standards the resulting arrest coupled with the complete absence of any civil rights could easily lead to beatings and labelling of the individual as an anarchist, communist, a combination of these terms, or worse. The absence of a valid code of jurisprudence led to the unequal application of the law among the citizens and to rampant favouritism and nepotism. Absence of elected representation meant that the citizens' stark and only choice was to submit to these arbitrary measures exactly as dictated by the junta.

Complete lack of freedom of the press coupled with non existing 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 and that led to a psychology of fear among the citizens that spanned the Papadopoulos dictatorship only to become worse under Ioannides.

James Becket, an American attorney sent to Greece by Amnesty International, wrote In December 1969 that "a conservative estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of people tortured.

Anti-Junta Movement

The democratic elements of the Greek society organized their activity early on. As early as 1968 many militant groups promoting democratic rule were formed, both in exile and in Greece. These included, among others, PAK, Democratic Defense, the Socialist Democratic Union, as well as groups from the entire left wing of the Greek political spectrum, large parts of which (such as the KKE) had been outlawed even before the junta. The first hands-on action against the junta was the failed assassination attempt against Papadopoulos by Alexandros Panagoulis, on August 13, 1968.

Assassination Attempt By Panagoulis

The events took place in the morning of August 13, when Papadopoulos went from his summer residence in Lagonisi to Athens, escorted by his personal security motorcycles and cars. Alexandros Panagoulis (Αλέξανδρος Παναγούλης) ignited a bomb at a point of the coastal road where the limousine carrying Papadopoulos would have to slow down but the bomb failed to harm Papadopoulos. Panagoulis was captured a few hours later in a nearby sea cave as the boat that would let him escape the scene of the attack had not shown up.

Panagoulis was arrested, and transferred to the Greek Military Police (EAT-ESA) offices were he was questioned, beaten and tortured (see the proceedings of Theofiloyiannakos's trial). On November 17, 1968 he was sentenced to death, and remained for five years in prison. After the restoration of Democracy, Panagoulis was elected a member of Parliament. Panagoulis was regarded as an emblematic figure for the struggle to restore Democracy. He has often been paralleled to Harmodius and Aristogeiton (Αρμόδιος και Αριστογείτων), two ancient Athenians, known for the tyrannicide of the Athenian tyrant Hipparchus (Ιππαρχος).

Broadening Of The Movement

The funeral of George Papandreou, Sr. on November 3, 1968 was 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 government reacted by arresting 41 people.

On March 28, 1969, after two years marked by widespread censorship, political detentions and torture, Giorgos Seferis (who had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963) took a stand against the junta. He made a statement on the BBC World Service, with copies simultaneously distributed to every newspaper in Athens. In a speech against the colonels he passionately stated that "This anomaly must end". Seferis did not live to see the end of the junta. His funeral, though, in September 20, 1972, was turned into a massive demonstration against the military government.

Also in 1969, Costa-Gavras released the film Z, based on a book by celebrated left-wing writer Vassilis Vassilikos. The banned film presented a (barely) fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of EDA politician Gregoris Lambrakis in 1963. The film was made to capture a sense of outrage about the junta. The soundtrack of the film was made by the junta-imprisoned Mikis Theodorakis and was smuggled into the country to be added to the other inspirational, underground Theodorakis tracks.

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 like Makronisos, Gyaros, Gioura or inhabited islands like Leros, Agios Eustratios or Trikeri.

The most famous were in external exile, most of whom had substantial involvement in resistance, organising protests in European capital cities, or helping and hiding refugees from Greece. Melina Merkouri, actor, singer, and, after 1981 minister of culture; Mikis Theodorakis, composer of resistance songs; Costas Simitis, prime minister from 1996 to 2004; and Andreas Papandreou, prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996, were among these Greeks in external exile. Some chose exile, unable to stand life under the junta. For example Melina Merkouri was allowed to enter Greece, but stayed away on her own accord. Also in the early hours of September 19, 1970 in Matteotti square in Genoa, Italy Geology student Kostas Georgakis set himself ablaze in protest against the dictatorship Government of George Papadopoulos. The junta delayed the arrival of his remains to Corfu for four months fearing public reaction and protests. At the time his death caused a sensation in Greece and abroad as it was the first tangible manifestation of the depth of resistance against the junta. He is the only known anti-junta resistance hero to have protested by ending his life and he is considered the precursor of later student protest such as the Polytechnic uprising. The Municipality of Corfu has dedicated a memorial in his honour near his home in Corfu city.

The Velos Mutiny

On May 23, 1973, HNS Velos, under the command of Commander Nicholaos Pappas, while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the junta, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, refusing to return to Greece. When in patrol with other NATO vessels between Italy and Sardinia the captain and the officers heard from a radio station that naval officers had been arrested in Greece. Cdr Pappas was involved in a group of democratic officers, loyal to their oath to obey the Constitution, and planning to act against the junta.

Pappas believed that since his fellow anti-junta officers had been arrested, there was no more hope for a movement inside Greece. He 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 signaled the commander of the squadron and NATO Headquarters of his intentions, quoting the preamble of the North Atlantic Treaty (founding treaty for NATO) 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 when anchored about 3.5 nautical miles away from the coast of Fiumicino three ensigns went ashore with a whaleboat and went to the Fiumicino Airport and telephoned to 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 caused international interest in the situation in Greece. The captain, six officers, and twenty five petty officers requested and remained abroad as political refugees. Indeed, the whole crew wished to follow their captain but was advised by its officers to remain onboard and return to Greece to inform families and friends about what happened. Velos returned to Greece after a month with a replacement crew. After the fall of junta all officers and petty officers returned to the Navy.

Evangelos Averoff also participated in the Velos mutiny, for which he was arrested as an "instigator".

The uprising at the Polytechnic

On November 14, 1973 students at the National Technical University of Athens (also known as "Athens Polytechnic" or Polytechnion) went on strike and started protesting against the junta. There was no response by the military government, so the students barricaded themselves in and built a radio station (using materials from the laboratories) that broadcast across Athens. Soon thousands of workers and youngsters joined them protesting inside and outside of the "Athens Polytechnic".

On first hours of November 17, 1973 Papadopoulos sent the army to suppress the uprising. An AMX 30 Tank crashed through the rail gate of the Athens Polytechnic after 03:00 am and under almost complete darkness caused by the forced shutdown of the city lights (by that time only the lights in the National Technical University yard were turned on, powered by the electricity generators of the laboratories of the electrical engineers). Evidence of the events taken place have been captured by a hidden Dutch journalist in a film footage. The film is quite dark but clear enough to show that the tank forced open the main steel entrance of the "Athens Polytechnic" to which people were clinging.

According to a contested official investigation undertaken after the fall of the junta, no students of the Athens Polytechnic were killed during the incident. However a few of them have been left severely injured by the tank for the rest of their lives. Total recorded casualties amount to 24 civilians killed outside Athens Polytechnic campus. These include 19-year old Michael Mirogiannis, reportedly shot in cold blood by officer G. Dertilis, high-school student Diomedes Komnenos, and a five-year old boy caught in the crossfire in the suburb of Zografou. The records of the trials held following the collapse of the junta document the circumstances of the deaths of many civilians during the uprising, and the official numbers are disputed. The matter however is highly politicized, so there is no real agreement on it to this date.

Notes

1. ETH Zurich chronology
2. full text by newspaper TA NEA (in Greek)

References

• Woodhouse, C.M. (1998). Modern Greece a Short History. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-19794-9.

Citations and notes

1. Greek historiography
2. Greek press article
3. ^ C.L. Sulzberger, "An Age of Mediocrity", 1973, p. 575. Cite error: The named reference "C. L. Sulzberger" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
4. Alexis Papachelas, "Everything George Rallis recounted to me", To Vima, March 19 2006
5. Alexis Papachelas, "Constantine Speaks", To Vima, January 29 2006.
6. ^ Karamanlis' retort
7. ^ Ioannis Tzortzis, "The Metapolitefsi that never was" 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 would 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 reforma 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."
8. Helga on IMDB
9. Horror film archive. quote: A young man finds himself turning into a bloodsucking monster. Set on the Greek island of Hydra. A must for all Cushing fans
10. Incense for the Damned on IMDB quote: A group of friends search for a young English Oxford student who has disappeared whilst researching in Greece...
11. New York Times review for Incense for the Damned
12. ^ Radioparadise.com quote: "Carey" is a song from the 1971 Joni Mitchell album Blue. It was inspired by her time with a cave-dwelling hippie community in the village of Matala, on the Greek island of Crete.
13. Nikos Mastorakis Museum of Broadcast communications: Nikos Mastorakis was the TV personality sine qua non of the dictatorship years
14. Athens Guide on Socrates rock group:Quote: 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
15. Millennium Top-1000: NOSTRADAMOS TA PARAMYTHIA THS GIAGIAS and DWS'MOY TO XERI SOY
16. Greek wikipedia, quote: Για το "Άνθρωπε αγάπα" αιτία ήταν η αντιπολεμική ταινία ματωμένες φράουλες. Translation: For (the song) Anthrope agapa the reason was an anti-war film....
17. Greek forum for Kostas Tounas fans, quote:Ο Ρόμπερτ Ουίλιαμς, μέλος του θρυλικού συγκροτήματος ΠΟΛΛ (Translation: Robert Williams, member of the legendary group Poll)
18. Kostas Tournas official website
19. ^ Lost in tyme: quote:After the split of "Poll", Kostas Tournas went on to record a great progressive-psychedelic concept solo album
20. Greek Misplaced Pages article on Απέραντα Χωράφια
21. KATHIMERINI commentary: quote: Θυμάστε τον Παττακό, τον γραφικό φαλακρό «superstar» της χούντας, που ποζάριζε σε κάθε ευκαιρία μ’ ένα μυστρί στο χέρι και δεν έλειπε από τα «Επίκαιρα»... Translation: 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...

See also

• Timeline of Greek history
• Timeline of modern Greek history
• Greek Resistance
• History of Modern Greece
• Apostasia of 1965
• Metapolitefsi
• Greek Misplaced Pages article on Kostas Tournas
• Greek Misplaced Pages article on Απέραντα Χωράφια

External links

• Fairly well-balanced and illustrated account of the junta years up to Athens Polytechnic uprising.
• Article in the same site about the Polytechnic uprising, the Cyprus troubles, and the fall of the junta.

The junta lexicon

Junta's ideology was followed by the creation and/or use of special terms that were employed by the junta as propaganda tools and to control its message to the Greek people as well as influence their way of thinking and attack the anti-junta movement. The terms of the lexicon include unique expressions and institutions that provide a glimpse into junta's mindset and government structure. Some examples of these terms as well as their contextual meaning follow.

Sometimes the terms were combined for stronger effect. As an example O Skotadismos kai i Synodiporia meaning Western and Greek leftist sympathisers, in other words internal and external opposition to the junta.

It is also worth noting that the junta always communicated in katharevousa Greek with only one exception: Rahokokalia tou laou which was specially coined for farmer consumption and it is the only phrase, in the junta vocabulary, to be in demotic Greek.

1. KATHIMERINI commentary: quote: Remember Pattakos the striking baldie of the junta who posed with a trowel at hand and never missed a documentary...(In Greek)

• Anti-communism
• Cold War
• Gladio
• Coups
• Greek military junta of 1967-1974
• Military dictatorship
• Political engineering by coup