Greek junta

File:21april.jpg

The phoenix was the emblem of the Junta.

The Greek military junta of 1967-1974 or alternatively called "The Regime of the Colonels" or in Greece "The Junta" is a collective term to refer to a series of military regimes that ruled modern Greece during 1967-1974.

This series of military regimes started in the morning of April 21, 1974 with a coup d'etat lead by a group of colonels of the military of Greece and ended in August, 1974.

Before the Junta

After the Nazi occupation (1941-1945) Greece got entangled in a full scale civil war. The results of the civil war were, among others, the allegiance of Greece to the western powers, the outlawing of the Communist Party of Greece, and the creation of an unstable constitutional monarchy. At the beginning of the sixties public support for the lawful "United Democratic Left" party, EDA (ΕΔΑ) begun to create in right wing circles the feeling that a "Communist threat" was growing. This eventualy lead to the assasination of EDA's member of parliament, Gregoris Lambrakis.

This sense of a "Communist threat" along with a traditionalist right wing nationalistic ideology in the military of Greece, eventualy led to the coup d'etat of April 21.

The coup d'etat of April 21

The rulers from left to right: Ioannides, Papadopoulos and Makarezos.

On April 21, 1967, (just before scheduled elections in which polls showed EDA was likely to collect enough support to become a key player in a coalition government), a group of right-wing colonels led by Colonel George Papadopoulos seized power in a coup d'état. Civil liberties were suppressed, special military courts were established, and political parties were dissolved. Several thousand suspected communists and political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands. "The junta" 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 Papadopoulos is claimed to be the cause of rising anti-Americanism in Greece during and following the junta's harsh rule.

Ideology and popular image

To gain support for his regime, Papadopoulos was able to project an image that appealed to some segments of Greek society. The son of a poor family from a rural area, he had no education other than that of the military academy. He publically stated contempt for the urban, western-educated "elite" in Athens. Modern western music was banned from the airwaves, and folk music and arts were promoted. The poor, conservative, religious farmers widely supported him, seeing in his rough mannerisms, simplistic speaches, even in his name ("Georgios Papadopoulos" is perhaps the most common name in Greece) a "friend of the common man".

Papadopoulos mannerisms were less likely to appeal to the middle class, but the political crisis of 1965-1968 let many ordinary citizens to believe that any stable government, even a military one, was better than the preceding chaos. Overall, the regime had little trouble establishing its control over the land.

The King's Counter-Coup

From the outset, the relationship between king Constantine II of Greece and the Colonels was an unhappy one. The colonels wanted no oversight from the palace; the young, western-educated, playboy king was the total antithesis to Papadopoulos' old country ways. On December 13, 1968 the king attempted a counter coup. The action ended in a fiasco. The Navy and some Air Force units did support the king, but the Army stayed firm in its support for the Colonels. Orders given by Army generals loyal to the king were simply ignored by lower ranking officers down the line. Constantine hastily boarded a plane and fled to Rome, Italy; he was never to return to Greece as a king again.

The Regency

From December 1968 on, Greece was in a constitutional limbo. The official head of state was in exile, even as coins with his portrait continued to be minted. Regents took over his role, but their authority was in question, especially overseas. During this period, resistance against the regime also 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 regime.

The "Republic"

To resolve the constitutional issue and cement his hold on power over his opponents (both inside and outside the regime), Papadopoulos introduced a new constitution which abolished the monarchy and made Greece a republic. The referendum for the new regime was held in early 1973 and was approved by an "almost unanimous" vote, thanks to widespread election fraud. After the election, Papadopoulos became President of the Republic on June 1, 1973.

Downfall of the Junta

File:Tank during 17 November 1973.jpg

Military tank invading the Polytechnic campus

On November 25, 1973, following the bloody suppresion of Athens Polytechnic uprising on the 17th of November, General Dimitrios Ioannides replaced Papadopoulos and tried to continue the dictatorship despite the popular unrest the uprising had triggered. Ioannides' attempt in July 1974 to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, brought Greece to the brink of war with Turkey, which invaded Cyprus and occupied part of the island. Senior Greek military officers then withdrew their support from the junta, which toppled.

Restoration of democracy

Leading citizens persuaded Karamanlis to return from exile in France to establish a government of national unity until elections could be held. Karamanlis' newly organized party, New Democracy (ND), won elections held in November 1974, and he became prime minister. The cause of the downfall of the dictatorship formally was the invasion by Turkey of Cyprus, which was seen as a military and political failure of the junta; however, since then, historians and other people have regarded the uprising at the Polytechnic University (Greek: Η εξέγερση του Πολυτεχνείου) as the event that most discredited the military government.

Characteristics of the Junta

The dictators never refered to them as such. They preferred to call the coup d'etat of April 21 a "revolution".The ideology of the Junta was a mixture of Nationalism, Militarism, and Fundamentalism.

See Also

• Timeline of Greek history
• Greek Resistance
• History of Modern Greece