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Do not fill this in! ==== Dictatorship, World War II, and reconstruction ==== {{See also|4th of August Regime|Balkans campaign (World War II){{!}}Balkans campaign|Axis occupation of Greece|Hellenic State (1941–1944){{!}}Hellenic State|Greek Civil War}} An agreement between Prime Minister [[Ioannis Metaxas]] and the head of state [[George II of Greece|George II]] followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as the head of a dictatorial regime known as the [[4th of August Regime]], that would last, with short breaks, until 1974.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hagen|first=Fleischer|title=Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century|chapter=Authoritarian Rule in Greece (1936–1974) and Its Heritage|year=2006|location=New York/Oxford|publisher=Berghahn|page=237}}</ref> Although a dictatorship, Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with the [[Axis powers|Axis]]. [[File:Triple Occupation of Greece.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Axis occupation of Greece]].<br/>{{legend-inline|#d09313|[[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]]}} {{legend-inline|#e4001f|[[Nazi Germany|German]]}} {{legend-inline|#32c714|[[History of Independent Bulgaria|Bulgarian]]}}<br />{{legend-inline|#8a500f|Dodecanese, [[Italian Islands of the Aegean|Italian possession]] since 1912}}]] On 28 October 1940, [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] demanded the surrender of Greece, but it [[Ohi Day|refused]], and, in the [[Greco-Italian War]], Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] their first victory over Axis forces on land. The Greek victory against the Italians received exuberant praise.<ref name="Fafalios and Hadjipateras, p. 157">Fafalios and Hadjipateras, p. 157</ref>{{cnf}} French general [[Charles de Gaulle]] praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance. In an official notice released to coincide with the Greek national celebration of the Day of Independence, De Gaulle expressed his admiration:<blockquote>In the name of the captured yet still alive French people, France wants to send her greetings to the Greek people who are fighting for their freedom. The 25 March 1941 finds Greece in the peak of their heroic struggle and in the top of their glory. Since the Battle of Salamis, Greece had not achieved the greatness and the glory which today holds.<ref name="Fafalios and Hadjipateras, p. 157" /></blockquote> The country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces during the [[Battle of Greece]]. [[File:Αθηναίοι γιορτάζουν την απελευθέρωση της πόλης τους, Οκτώβριος 1944.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|People in [[Athens]] celebrate the liberation from the Axis powers, October 1944. Postwar Greece would soon experience a [[Greek civil war|civil war]] and political polarization.]] The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions of the country were given to Nazi Germany's partners, Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. The occupation brought terrible hardships for the civilian population. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–42, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#Greece|collaborators]], the economy was ruined, and most [[History of the Jews in Greece|Greek Jews]] (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26430/Greek-history-since-World-War-IGreece | title = Greek history since World War I | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]| date = 14 June 2023 }}</ref><ref name="Mazower 2001, p. 155">Mazower (2001), p. 155</ref> The [[Greek Resistance]], one of the most effective resistance movements, fought vehemently against the Nazis and their collaborators. The German occupiers committed [[German war crimes#Greece|atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages]] in reprisals. Hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.<ref name="Mazower 2001, p. 155" /> The Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians executed 40,000, and the Italians executed 9,000.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423851310 |title=Die Wehrmacht eine Bilanz |date=2009 |others=Guido Knopp, Mario Sporn |isbn=978-3-442-15561-3 |edition=Taschenbuchausg., 1. Aufl |location=München |oclc=423851310}}</ref><!-- Does this include the 60,000-70,000 Jews mentioned at [[History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#World_War_II,_Resistance_and_the_Holocaust]] ?--> Following liberation, Greece annexed the [[Dodecanese Islands]] from Italy and regained [[Western Thrace]] from Bulgaria. The country almost immediately descended into [[Greek Civil War|a bloody civil war]] between [[Communism|communist]] forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949, with the latter's victory. The conflict, one of the earliest struggles of the [[Cold War]],<ref name= Noam&Chomsky>{{cite book|last= Chomsky|first= Noam|title= ''World Orders, Old And New''|publisher= Pluto Press London|year= 1994}}</ref> resulted in further economic devastation, mass population displacement and political polarisation for the next thirty years.<ref>[[Mark Mazower|Mazower, Mark]]. ''After the War was Over''.</ref> Although the post-war decades were characterised by social strife and widespread marginalisation of the left in political and social spheres, Greece nonetheless experienced [[Greek economic miracle|rapid economic growth]] and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S.-administered [[Marshall Plan]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0|page=51, Figure 2.3 "Numeracy in selected Balkan and Caucasus countries", based on data from Crayen and Baten (2010)|author=Baten, Jörg}}</ref> In 1952, Greece joined [[NATO]], reinforcing its membership in the [[Western Bloc]] of the Cold War.<ref name="Chourchoulis Kourkouvelas 2012 pp. 497–514">{{cite journal | last1=Chourchoulis | first1=Dionysios | last2=Kourkouvelas | first2=Lykourgos | title=Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War | journal=Southeast European and Black Sea Studies | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=12 | issue=4 | date=26 November 2012 | issn=1468-3857 | doi=10.1080/14683857.2012.741848 | pages=497–514| s2cid=153476225 }}</ref> [[Constantine II of Greece|King Constantine II]]'s [[Apostasia of 1965|dismissal]] of [[George Papandreou (senior)|George Papandreou]]'s centrist government in July 1965 prompted political turbulence, which culminated in a coup in April 1967 by the [[Greek military junta of 1967–1974|Regime of the Colonels]]. Under the junta, civil rights were suspended, political repression was intensified, and human rights abuses, including state-sanctioned torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of the [[Athens Polytechnic uprising]] in November 1973 set in motion the fall of the Papadopoulos regime, resulting in a counter-coup which overthrew [[Georgios Papadopoulos]] and established brigadier [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]] as the new junta strongman. On 20 July 1974, [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus]] in response to a Greek-backed Cypriot coup, triggering a political crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and the restoration of democracy through [[Metapolitefsi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=34. Cyprus (1960–present) |url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/cyprus-1960-present/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |website=uca.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page