Geórgios Papadopoulos was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a coup d'etat in Greece in 1967 and became the country's Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. He also was the President of Greece under the junta in 1973, following a referendum. However, after the effective suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising, he was, in turn, overthrown by hardliner Dimitrios Ioannidis, in a string of events that would culminate to the fall of the regime in 1974. His and the dictatorship's legacy, as well as its methods he constructed and effects on Greek economy and society as a whole, are still fiercely debated.
The president of Greece, officially the President of the Hellenic Republic, commonly referred to in Greek as the President of the Republic, is the head of state of Greece. The president is elected by the Hellenic Parliament; the role has been mainly ceremonial since the 1986 constitutional reform. The office was formally established by the Constitution of Greece in 1975, but has antecedents in the Second Hellenic Republic of 1924–1935 and the Greek junta in 1973–1974 which predated the transition to the current Third Hellenic Republic. The incumbent, since 13 March 2020, is Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Odysseus Aggelis was a Greek nationalist military officer of the Artillery [Reg. Number 19386]. He reached the rank of four star General and served as Chief of the Greek Armed Forces and Vice President of the Hellenic Republic. He supported the military regime that was established on April 21, 1967.
Georgios Zoitakis was a Hellenic Army General and regent of Greece from 13 December 1967 to 21 March 1972, during the military regime of the Colonels.
Spyridon "Spyros" Markezinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly the Prime Minister of Greece during the aborted attempt at metapolitefsi (democratization) of the Greek military regime in 1973.
The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a right-wing military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels overthrew the caretaker government a month before scheduled elections which Georgios Papandreou's Centre Union was favoured to win.
Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek army general who was the last President of Greece under the junta from 1973 to 1974.
Dimitrios Ioannidis, 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 ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Ioannidis was considered a "purist and a moralist, a type of Greek Gaddafi".
Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels (1967–1974) in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture to which he was subjected during his detention. After the restoration of democracy, he was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the Centre Union (E.K.).
The Metapolitefsi was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioannides military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections.
In the modern history of Greece, starting from the Greek War of Independence, the Constitution of 1975/1986/2001 is the last in a series of democratically adopted Constitutions.
The history of the Hellenic Republic constitutes three republican periods in the modern history of Greece: from 1822 until 1832; from 1924 until 1935; and from 1974 through to the present. See also the constitutional history of Greece.
Stylianos Pattakos was a Greek military officer. Pattakos was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on 21 April 1967.
A constitutional referendum was held in Greece on 29 July 1973. The amendments would confirm the abolition of the monarchy by the military junta and establish a republic. The proposal was approved by 78.6% of voters with a turnout of 75%.
A constitutional referendum was held in Greece on 15 November 1968. Voters were asked whether they wished to ratify a new constitution prepared by the dictatorial regime. It was approved by 92.1% of voters, with a voter turnout of 77.7%.
The Greek junta trials were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the instigators of the coup as well as other junta members of various ranks who took part in the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and in the torture of citizens.
Grigorios Spandidakis was a Hellenic Army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and the post of Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1965–1967. From this position, he was instrumental in the military preparations that resulted in the coup d'état of 21 April 1967 and the establishment of the Regime of the Colonels. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Defence in the first government of the new regime, but was dismissed after supporting the failed counter-coup attempt launched by King Constantine II on 13 December 1967. After the fall of the regime, he was tried and convicted to life imprisonment for his role in it. He secured an early release on health grounds and died in 1996.
The Greek Constitution of 1968 was a largely unimplemented constitution of Greece promulgated in May 1968 by the military regime which had been ruling Greece since the coup on 21 April 1967. It was confirmed by a plebiscite in September 1968 following an intensive three-month propaganda campaign by the regime.
The Greek Constitution of 1973 was an amended version of the Greek Constitution of 1968 by Greek dictator Georgios Papadopoulos, with the aim of abolishing the Greek monarchy. Papadopoulos's rewrite of the 1968 constitution replaced the terms "parliamentary monarchy" and "king" with "republican democracy" and "president of Greece". The constitution was enacted as part of Papadopoulos's failed attempt at liberalisation of his regime, but, like its 1968 predecessor, never fully implemented.
