April 21, 1967: Military Junta Places Greece in Shackles

The Greek Junta took powerfulness successful the state connected April 21, 1967, starring to 7 years of brutal dictatorship. Public Domain

On April 21, 1967, Greece woke up to a subject junta taking implicit power. The colonels astatine the caput of this brutal authorities ended up putting the state successful shackles for 7 years.

For Greeks, it is simply a day they would similar to erase from their history. For the radical who were jailed and tortured, it is simply a day that brings backmost unpleasant memories and nightmares adjacent fractional a period later.

This is adjacent much truthful for families of radical whose lives were mislaid during the Greek junta regime; these are families who tin neither hide nor forgive the perpetrators.

For the service colonels who overthrew the authorities and established a seven-year-long dictatorship, April 21, 1967 was the time of the Revolution and the rebirth of the Greek nation.

“The Revolution of April 21st” was the slogan of the Greek junta dictators, utilizing arsenic a awesome the phoenix rising from the flames and a worker lasting earlier it.

The governmental turmoil that led to the coup

Many politicians, arsenic good arsenic King Constantine II of Greece, feared that the service would astir apt intervene to get the state retired of the governmental turmoil of the mid-1960s.

The governmental situation led Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou to resign connected July 15, 1965. However, young King Constantine appointed successive premier ministers from Papandreou’s ain party, which lone led to much unrest.

There were signs that determination was upheaval wrong the service astatine the time. It was expected that generals would apt intervene to curb the convulsive demonstrations of that month.

However, it was astir 2 years aboriginal that 3 lower-ranking officers took everyone by astonishment when, successful the abstraction of 1 day, they took implicit powerfulness successful Greece.

It was Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos, and Colonel Nikolaos Makarezos who ordered the tanks to rotation into Athens connected that fateful day.

Georgios Papadopoulos, the person of the subject dictatorship. Pubic Domain

April 21, 1967

On the greeting of April 21, 1967, Greeks awoke to a nightmare. The ominous rumble of tanks, occasional firearm shots, and subject songs playing connected the vigor signified 1 thing: from that constituent on, beingness would not beryllium the same.

Then came the sinister announcement connected the radio: “The Hellenic Armed Forces [have] undertake[n] the governance of the country.”

Greek soldiers took implicit the astir important strategical areas of Athens and past arrested each cardinal politicians and Lieutenant General Grigorios Spandidakis, the Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army.

After the politicians and Spandidakis were arrested, galore individuals, comprising some salient figures and mean citizens who belonged to Greece’s near wing, were likewise methodically arrested. A database of 10,000 names had antecedently been compiled by the military.

Those rounded up included salient personalities, specified arsenic composer Mikis Theodorakis and different little well-known artists and academics.

The excuse of “the colonels,” arsenic the junta was described by many, was that Greece was successful sedate information of falling into the hands of communists. The black-listed 10,000 individuals were sent to situation oregon to the Yaros Island attraction camp.

The slightest fortunate of the governmental prisoners suffered brutal torturing, leaving them scarred for life.

The Greek junta suspended 11 articles of the Constitution to found their regime. Freedom of code ceased to exist, and on came strict censorship rules instituted for radio, newspapers and, aboriginal on, television.

At the aforesaid time, galore Greeks became informants to the police, spying connected their neighbors. Anyone could beryllium arrested if constabulary were informed that the “culprit” had spoken harshly of the colonels and the regime.

The Greek junta successful power

As a smokescreen to fell each their shameful acts against their ain people—what then-U.S. Ambassador Phillips Talbot had called “a rape of democracy”—the dictators started a run to summation their popularity among the population.

A immense fig of nationalist projects were begun, utilizing service troops to physique caller schools, hospitals, factories, stadiums, and roads. This had the effect of expanding their popularity with immoderate Greeks, but it was not capable to marque up for the events passim the country.

Realizing that they were isolated from the remainder of Europe, and condemned by astir Greeks—especially those who were successful self-imposed exile—the Greek junta made further efforts to beryllium much democratic, humane, and appealing.

They held immense nationalist celebrations connected the April 21st day and different nationalist holidays specified arsenic March 25th and October 28th. These large commemorations were wide attended by the public, arsenic good arsenic highly publicized.

Resistance successful Greece and abroad

The absorption against the colonels wrong Greece and overseas continued passim the 7 agelong years of their rule, however.

Politicians, intellectuals, artists, and academics who lived overseas raised their voices successful unison successful telling the satellite astir the quality rights violations by the colonels and however they were holding Greeks captive, truthful to speak, done their ruthless regime’s policies.

The near helping and antiauthoritarian elements of Greek nine were people opposed to the junta close from the start. Militant groups formed successful 1968 some successful exile and successful Greece to beforehand antiauthoritarian rule.

These included the Panhellenic Liberation Movement, Democratic Defense, and the Socialist Democratic Union. The archetypal equipped enactment against the junta was Alexandros Panagoulis’ failed effort to assassinate Georgios Papadopoulos connected August 13, 1968.

The assassination effort occurred during Papadopoulos’ commute to Athens from his Lagonis summertime residence, during which helium was escorted by idiosyncratic security.

Panagoulis acceptable disconnected a weaponry astatine a strategical constituent connected the coastal roadworthy astatine which Papadopoulos’ conveyance would beryllium forced to dilatory down. However, the weaponry failed to injure Papadopoulos.

Panagoulis was captured a fewer hours aboriginal successful a adjacent oversea cave aft his flight vessel had not shown up.

The perpetrator was transported to the Greek Military Police (EAT-ESA) office wherever helium was questioned, beaten, and tortured. He was sentenced to decease 3 months later, but served for 5 years and was shown mercy due to the fact that the junta fell earlier his execution.

The junta fades

When the junta yet succumbed to the choler of the repressed Greek radical and the outcry from astir the globe, they decided to telephone elections successful 1973.

First, Colonel Papadopoulos appointed Spyridon Markezinis arsenic Prime Minister of Greece and past appointed himself President of the Republic.

Various radical hoped that these elections would beryllium democratic, dissimilar the rigged 1968 referendum, which had taken spot to alteration the Constitution. No 1 volition ever cognize what could person happened if it hadn’t been for the Polytechnic uprising.

In November of 1973, a fewer 100 students and different Greek citizens, fed up with the repression of the regime, occupied the gathering of the National Technical University of Athens and called for the colonels to measurement down from power.

The events of November 17th, erstwhile the premises of the assemblage were brutally cleared retired by the subject with the usage of a tank, near respective dead.

The turmoil provided an accidental for hardliner Colonel Dimitrios Ioannidis to topple Papadopoulos connected November 25th with yet different coup.

His ambitious program to overthrow the President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios, truthful that Greece and Cyprus could unite, fundamentally made imaginable the Turkish penetration of the land connected July 20, 1974.

Only 3 days later, Ioannidis resigned, yet opening the mode for Constantine Karamanlis to instrumentality to Greece and found a antiauthoritarian government.

All Greek junta members were arrested and brought to trial; it was a wide trial. Papadopoulos, Pattakos, Makarezos, and Ioannidis were sentenced to decease for precocious treason, but their sentences were aboriginal commuted to beingness imprisonment.