Greece

The Age of Rebellion The Beginning

Following World War Two, The British and the Greeks tried to push the Nazi influence out of Greece. The political instability in Greece allows General Ioannis Metaxas to take over and run Greece in a fascist- dictatorship way. When Ioannis dies in 1941, a communist party is formed which is called the [|National Liberation Front (EAM).]A nationalist party called the [|National Republican Greek League (EDES)] was formed to oppose them. In the winter of 1943-1944, the two political parties, EDES and EAM, fought each other.
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The British The British found themselves worried that the communists were going to take over and win this conflict, so they decided to aid the EDES. On December 2, 1944, the British and the EAS began battling a brutal civil war. With great surprise, the British and the EDES overthrew the EAS. The communists accepted their loss and allowed the EDES to take over at a conference in February of 1945. After a new ruler was founded for the EDES nationalists, a group of underground communists attacked again and forced the British to give up, giving the United States the opportunity to take over.
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The United States In 1944, the United States wanted to gain power in Greece after the British gave up, so, Winston Churchill met with Josef Stalin to negotiate. The proposition called the [|Truman Doctrine], included the Russians gaining territory in Romania, for the United States control in Greece. This settlement allowed the United States a right to power in Greece. The Greek needed the help from the United States in military aid and economic because of the communist rule by the end of 1947. This conflict lasted until 1949 when the help of the United States allowed the EDES to finally take back what they wanted. On October 16th, 1949, the end of the Greek communists had finally come. Most of the remaining in Greece fled to nearby countries like Albania. After this civil war, it was estimated that there were 50,000 soldiers that had died and 500,000 families that had been kicked out of their own homes during this time of immense struggle.
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KKE After the Greek Civil War, a group went north into a Communist bloc. This group committed horrifying actions to hurt the people of Greece as a response to the EDES takeover. Some of these crimes involved a kidnapping of 30,000 children which is known as Paidomazoma. This Communist party, known as the [|KKE], tries to cover up the accusations of their crimes and made excuses, including bringing these children to safety in previous Communist bloc territories.
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In the 50’s Greece was advancing tremendously with the help of the United States. In 1951 Greece joined NATO, yet still struggled with their government. In November of 1952, Papagos, the Greek leader at the time, gained 239 out of 300 seats in parliament and created a government similar to the United States. He worked mostly with advancing the economy of Greece until he died in 1955. Karamanlis brought Greece to join the European Community in 1962. In April of 1963, a rally formed by the pacifists which ended in Grigoris Lambrakis dying from being attacked by a delivery truck which was driven by a rightist. He ended up dying several days later and Prime Minister Karamanlis was exiled in Paris. In November of 1963, Papandreou's Center Party won and Papandreaou became the prime minister. In 1967, rock and roll and long hair was just beginning  in Greece’s culture. On April 17 in 1967 [|the Rolling Stones] played  in Greece in the Panathinaikos Stadium in Athens. The crowd was powerful but  controlled by police in the arena to keep them from doing anything to ruin the image of   Greece. The Rolling Stones said they hated the crowd and were happy to leave Greece.
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With the new taste of opposition and rebellion, the Greek youth started to bring long hair into style and new music which encouraged them. The youth of Greece started to protest and follow the United States with their choice in music and other types of changes. Things started to get wild and King Constantine banned the new actions such as, long hair and the western music. He refused to aid the military and eventually was exiled. A man by the name of Colonel George Papadopoulos appointed himself prime minister and tried to change Greece’s youth back to the way it was. Papadopoulos was known as “stable” because of his anti-Communism, his hate for “hippies”, and his way of presenting information. Papadopoulos “described his moves as saving Greece from a "Communist takeover."” (macrohistory) The youth began to rebel to the new leader and 34 were killed in doing so as well as many others who were wounded. On November 25, the army, navy, and air force overthrew Papadopoulos. Democracy was brought back in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis.
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. On April 11th in 1990, Constantine Mitsotakis is the new Prime Minister with his new party called [|the New Democracy].

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