Greece: Quick History | Corinth: A Dream on Earth | Who Am I
"Greece" Microsoft (R) Encarta.
Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright (c) 1993 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
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Spread of Nationalism
A resurgence of Greek nationalism occurred in the latter part of the 18th century. The sentiment was considerably
aided by Russia, which incited the Greek Orthodox Christians, coreligionists of the Russians, to revolt. In 1770
the Russian count Aleksey Grigoryevich Orlov (1737-1809) landed a Russian fleet in the Peloponnesus and led an
unsuccessful revolt against the Turks. Later, the French Revolution influenced Greek patriots, who began to plan
for a major rebellion. A literary revival accompanied the spread of nationalism. A powerful secret society, the
Philik� Hetairia (Friendly Association), founded in 1814 to prepare for the coming revolution, collected funds and
arms through its centers in the Balkan and eastern Mediterranean regions. In 1821 Alexander Ypsilanti (1792-1828),
a former aide-de-camp of the Russian czar Alexander I and head of the Hetairia, entered Jassy, the capital of
Moldavia (then Turkish territory), with a small force and proclaimed the independence of Greece. The revolt ended
in disaster a few months later, because the czar refused to aid the revolutionary movement. During the abortive
attempt by Ypsilanti, a general uprising occurred in the Peloponnesus under the leadership of Germanos, archbishop
of Patros (1771-1826).
War of Independence
In the first phase (1821-24) of the war for Greek independence, the Greeks fought virtually alone, aided only by
money and volunteers from other European countries, where the Greek cause had aroused a great deal of sympathy.
Among the Greek leaders were Markos Bozzaris (1788?-1823), Theodoros Kolokotrones (1770-1843), Alexandros
Mavrokordatos (1798-1865), and Andreas Vokos Miaoules (1768?-1835). Mahmud II, sultan of Turkey, in 1824
asked aid of Muhammad Ali, viceroy of Egypt, who agreed to help in return for control of Crete and other
Turkish possessions if he quelled the rebellion. The Egyptian troops pushed their way up the Peloponnesus,
and by 1826 the entire southern peninsula was in their hands. The Greeks suffered from political as well as
military weakness because of factional strife among their leaders. A temporary conciliation between them was
effected in 1827, and a new republican constitution was approved in that year by a national assembly, which
elected the Russian-Greek statesman Count Io�nnis Ant�nios Kapod�strias the first president of the Greek republic.
Party quarrels began again almost immediately after this short-lived truce.
The Powers Intervene
Because of the strategic importance of Greece on the continent of Europe, the European powers agreed in 1827 to
intervene militarily on behalf of the Greeks. The powers were particularly fearful of Muhammad Ali's potential
menace to them, should he obtain further Mediterranean territory. France, Great Britain, and Russia first demanded
an armistice, which the Turkish government, commonly known as the Porte, refused. The European powers then
sent naval forces to Greece. The presence of the naval forces, and the efforts of Russia, in particular, forced
the Porte to accept a settlement. In 1829 the Treaty of Adrianople terminated the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29,
which had grown out of both the Greek revolution and Russia's own aspirations in southeastern Europe. The defeated
Porte consented to whatever arrangements the European powers might make for Greece. In 1830 France, Great Britain,
and Russia issued the London Protocol, which negated the Greek constitution and declared Greece an autonomous kingdom
under their united protection. The territory of the kingdom was considerably less than the Greeks had expected,
the northern frontier being set only slightly north of the Gulf of Corinth.
Modern Greece
A period of great civil unrest followed the War of Independence. Factional strife persisted and the Greeks, who had
envisioned their renascent country as commensurate with ancient Hellas, objected strenuously to the diminution of
their territory. While the powers were trying to find a king for Greece, the administration of the country was left
to Kapod�strias, who governed in a dictatorial fashion until he was assassinated in 1831. Civil war then broke out.
At length, in 1832, Otto of Bavaria accepted the throne offered him by the European powers and in the following year
was crowned Otto I, king of Greece.
The political reorganization of Greece was undertaken by a Bavarian regency, Otto being only 17 years of age at his
accession to the throne. The Bavarian regents denied the Greeks a constitution, burdened them with excessive taxation,
and tried to set up a centralized bureaucracy. Although they were dismissed in 1835, the situation did not much improve.
Greek resentment culminated in a bloodless revolution in 1843, after which the king was compelled to grant the country a
constitution. Popular discontent with Otto increased in 1854, when the king, against the will of his people, acquiesced
in the British and French occupation of Pirai�vs to prevent a Greco-Russian alliance during the Crimean War of 1854-56.
In 1862 part of the Greek army revolted against Otto, and he was deposed in the same year by a national assembly with
the approval of the powers. A national plebiscite chose Prince Alfred (1844-1900), second son of Queen Victoria of
Great Britain, as king, but the British government rejected the offer and nominated Prince William George, second
son of King Christian IX of Denmark. The prince was acceptable to the Greeks, and he was crowned George I in 1863.
To demonstrate its approval, the British government ceded the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate since 1815, to
the reconstituted monarchy. In the following year, a new, more democratic constitution granted universal male suffrage
and a unicameral legislature.
Struggle for Territory
During the last decades of the 19th century, the major thrust of Greek foreign policy aimed at expanding the
territory of the kingdom. Following the defeat of Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the Congress of
Berlin recommended that Turkey readjust the northern frontier of Greece. Turkey refused, and Greece declared
war in 1878. The great powers, however, intervened before major hostilities began and recommended that Turkey
award Thessaly and part of Epirus to Greece. Turkey refused to give up all the stipulated territory. In 1885
Eastern Rumelia revolted against Turkish rule and was incorporated into Bulgaria. Greece at once took arms and
demanded that Turkey adhere to the territorial recommendations of 1878. Again the powers forced Greece to disarm,
this time by blockading the main Greek ports until Greece complied. The annexation of Macedonia and Crete then
became the object of Greek agitation for territorial expansion. A secret military society, the Ethnike Hetairia
(National Association), was founded in 1894 to foment insurrection in these Turkish provinces. When the Cretans
revolted against their rulers in 1896, Greece came to their aid. A request from the powers that Greek forces
withdraw from Crete was refused by the Greek government. Some months later members of the Ethnike Hetairia
attacked Turkish posts in Macedonia, inciting Turkey to declare war, a conflict for which Greece was not prepared.
Total disaster was prevented by action of the great powers, and Russia demanded that the Turks cease fighting.
Greece, following this episode, was required to pay Turkey a large indemnity, which exacerbated the precarious
state of Greek finances and gave the European powers added control because of the increase in the Greek foreign
debt. In 1898 Turkey was compelled by the powers to withdraw all its forces from Crete, and Prince George (1869-1957),
the second son of George I, was appointed high commissioner of Crete under the protection of the European powers.
For the next ten years, Crete was shaken by internal disputes, resulting primarily from the refusal of the powers
to permit union with Greece. Disagreements between Prince George and Eleutherios Venizelos, the pro-Greek political
leader of Crete, led the prince to resign in 1906. Two years later the Cretan assembly proclaimed the long-desired
union. The powers reluctantly withdrew their forces from the island and, in 1912, Cretan representatives sat for the
first time in the Greek legislature.
The Balkan Wars
Meanwhile, the question of Macedonia was becoming more complicated, for Greece was not the only Balkan country
desiring that region. Rising currents of nationalism in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania,
were considerably stimulated by the gradual disintegration of the Turkish Empire, which was in such a decadent and
weak state that it was called the �sick man of Europe.� During most of the 19th century, the emerging Balkan states
maintained peaceful relations with each other because of their mutual antagonism toward Turkey. They formed alliances,
and a confederation of the Balkan states was contemplated. The disposition of Macedonia, however, aroused bitter
disagreement. Conflicting political ambitions resulted in emphasizing the religious differences between Muslims
and Christians, and disputes erupted among the various Balkan peoples. In 1903 a Bulgarian insurrection broke out
in Macedonia, the rebels declaring their goal to be union with Bulgaria. Greece resolved to aid Turkey covertly and
encouraged Greek guerrillas to cross the border and attack Bulgarians and Vlachs in Macedonia. Determined to restore
order and assert its hegemony, Turkey in 1912 dispatched troops to quell all the fighting groups. At this move,
Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro laid aside their quarrels and, forming military alliances, declared war
on Turkey (see Balkan Wars). Turkey was completely defeated in the First Balkan War fought during 1912-13. By the
terms of the Treaty of London, it relinquished all claims to Crete and its European territories, except for a small
area including �stanbul. Dissension between the Balkan allies concerning the disposition of the former Turkish
territory, however, led to the Second Balkan War, in which Greece and Serbia fought Bulgaria. The latter was
defeated in a month. The Treaty of Bucharest in 1913 almost doubled the area and population of Greece, as Macedonia
and part of Thrace, including Salonika, were added to its territory.
World War I
Greece proclaimed its neutrality when World War I began. Strict neutrality, however, was impossible. Constantine I,
who had succeeded his father, George I, as king in 1913, favored Germany. The leader of the pro-Allied faction was
Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos, the Cretan leader who, after the union with Greece, had become head of the
Liberal party and one of the foremost political figures in Greece. Twice in 1915 the Venizelos government sought
to aid the Allies, but each time the king vetoed his move. During successive ministries, Constantine maintained
relations with both the Allies and the Central Powers, refusing to commit himself openly. In 1916 Venizelos went
to Salonika, where he established a Greek government in opposition to Constantine. The government was recognized
by Great Britain and France. In 1917 the Allies forced the king to abdicate in favor of his second son, Alexander
(1893-1920), Venizelos returned in triumph, and Greece entered the war on the Allied side.
In the postwar territorial settlements, Greece received western Thrace from Bulgaria, eastern Thrace from Turkey,
and many of the Aegean Islands. Greece also claimed Smyrna (now �zmir, Turkey). Greek troops landed there in 1919
and engaged in violent clashes with the Turkish population and, later, with Turkish troops.
King Alexander died in 1920. His younger brother, Paul, refused the throne, and a plebiscite returned King
Constantine, despite the disapproval of the Allies. Because of the consequent loss of Allied support, the
Smyrna expedition ended in a complete Greek rout in 1922. The Greek government ordered demobilization, but the
army revolted and set up a military dictatorship under General Nicholas Plastiras (1883-1953). Constantine was
forced to abdicate. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George II, who was virtually a puppet of the army. In
1923, by the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, Smyrna reverted to Turkey, and more than 1 million Greek residents
of Asia Minor were repatriated, as were the Turks resident in Greece.
Republican Interim
Strongly antiroyalist, the Greek refugees and the powerful military faction agitated ceaselessly against the
king, who left Greece under pressure in 1923. After a plebiscite favoring a republican form of government, the
parliament proclaimed Greece a republic in 1924. A long period of political instability followed. In 1925 General
Theodoros Pangalos (1878-1952) seized control of the government. A year later, as the sole candidate, he was
elected president and became dictator of the country. In August 1926 Pangalos was overthrown in a coup d'�tat
engineered by General Georgios Kondylis (1879-1936), who acted briefly as military dictator. In elections held
a few months later, the republican majority was so small that a coalition government including the royalist
Populist party had to be formed. The coalition government finished drafting and, in 1927, promulgated a republican
constitution, work on which had been begun in 1925. But the government passed through successive crises and was
beginning to lose its control when, in 1928, Venizelos returned to Greek politics. After being appointed prime
minister by the president, Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis (1855-1935), Venizelos and his Liberal party won an
overwhelming victory in the 1928 general elections.
Restoration of the Monarchy
For the next four years, the prime minister worked to stabilize Greece, both internally and in its foreign
relations. In 1928 Greece signed a friendship pact with Italy and, a year later, a pact with Yugoslavia. A
treaty with Turkey was signed in 1930. Domestically, however, Venizelos met with less success. Although he
was a convinced supporter of constitutional monarchy, his patriotism compelled him to support the national
republic. Thus, both the royalists and the more radical republicans resented him. A grave financial crisis
was precipitated in 1932 by falling demand for Greek exports caused by the world depression of that time.
The desperate financial situation was reflected in the diminished prestige of the Venizelos government and
its defeat in the 1932 elections. For the next three years the increasingly strong royalist faction, led by
Panyiotis Tsaldaris (1868-1936), and the Venizelists struggled for control of the government. A large part
of the army, strongly republican, revolted in 1935 against the rising current of royalism. The rebellion was
quelled by Kondylis, the leader of the rival military faction. Royalist military leaders forced the resignation
of Prime Minister Tsaldaris who, although a royalist, had promised to defend the republic. Kondylis then assumed
dictatorial powers for the second time and influenced the parliament to vote for a restoration of the monarchy.
A plebiscite, organized and directed by the Kondylis government, sustained the vote. The republican constitution
of 1927 was set aside, and a revised version of the monarchical constitution framed in 1911 was declared in force.
George II was restored to the throne in late 1935. The political scene was complicated by the deaths of Kondylis,
Venizelos, and Tsaldaris during the ensuing six months and the period was also marked by increasing social unrest
and a growing Communist labor movement. In 1936 General Io�nnes Metaxas, who led the Free Opinion party and had
the support of the army, took the situation in hand. By a coup d'�tat in August, he made himself dictator and
proclaimed a state of martial law. The Metaxas dictatorship imposed rigid press censorship, abolished political
parties, cracked down on the labor movement, and countenanced no opposition.
World War II
Because of the threat posed by the Italian occupation of Albania in 1939, the safety of Greece against
Italian aggression was guaranteed by France and Great Britain. Despite these assurances, Greece was attacked
in October 1940 by Italian troops from Albania. The Greek army, however, was unexpectedly successful. By
December it had driven the invaders from the country and was in possession of a fourth of Albania. A complete
Italian rout was averted by the arrival, in April 1941, of German troops, which overcame Greek resistance.
Greece was forced to sign an armistice on April 23, and the Germans entered Athens four days later. The Greek
government was in a state of collapse; Metaxas had died in January, and his successor committed suicide in a
state of depression over the German occupation. A National Socialist government was then established at Athens.
King George fled to Crete and, after the German occupation of that island, established a government-in-exile,
first in Cairo and later in London.
Greece suffered enormously from the German occupation. Famine and severe inflation developed by late 1943.
Intense guerrilla warfare was waged by many organized resistance groups throughout the country. Of these groups,
the largest, estimated as having the support of from 60 to 90 percent of the population, was the leftist EAM
(Ethnikon Apeleftherotikon Metopon, National Liberation Front), a combination of many political and other
organizations, notably trade unions. The EAM had its own army, the ELAS (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos
Stratos, National Popular Liberation Army). Less effective was the EDES (Ethnikos Demokratikos Ellenikos
Syndesmos, National Democratic Greek Union), a resistance organization with a more conservative political
program. In late 1943, following the Allied invasion of Italy and the prospect of the liberation of Greece,
the EAM and EDES began to fight each other for the eventual control of the country. The British first gave
their support to the dominant EAM, but later, fearful of the Communist domination of that organization,
strongly supported the EDES. The strife was only partially lessened when a coalition government for Greece
was agreed upon in May 1944.
Civil War
In October 1944 the German army withdrew from Greece, and the new government entered Athens on October 18.
Georgios Papandreou (1888-1968), the prime minister, ordered the ELAS to disband and disarm, but its leaders
refused to do so. Tension increased, and the British brought in reinforcements for their own troops in Athens.
Civil War between the ELAS and the government forces began in Athens in December, following an ELAS demonstration
in which the Athenian police fired on the demonstrators. The ELAS controlled all of Greece except for a
British-patrolled sector of Athens. The British aided the government forces, which gained military superiority,
and in December 1944 Archbishop Damaskinos (1890-1949) was installed as regent of Greece pending a plebiscite
to determine the state of the monarchy.
In February 1945 the ELAS finally agreed to a truce. In return for the dissolution of its army, the EAM was
promised freedom to engage in political activity, and a nonpolitical Greek army was guaranteed. In October 1945
Greece became a charter member of the United Nations.
The first Greek postwar general elections were held in March 1946. The result of the elections, a victory for the
royalist Populist party, was bitterly contested by the EAM, which claimed that the election proceedings had been
irregular. The plebiscite, held on September 1, 1946, again returned George II to the throne. A few months later
George died and was succeeded by his brother, Paul I.
The increasing strength of the insurgent Communist forces in northern Greece became a source of concern to the
Greek government, which claimed that the guerrillas were receiving aid from Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia,
three countries within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. The disputes between these three countries
and Greece were aggravated by their respective claims to territory lying along their common borders. By the terms
of the peace treaties drafted at the Paris Peace Conference of 1946, Greece received the Dodecanese Islands from
Italy and reparations of $45 million from Bulgaria.
In February 1947, Great Britain, unable because of economic difficulties to extend further aid to Greece, asked
the United States to assume British obligations to the beleaguered Greek regime, and the U.S. subsequently sent
military supplies and advisers to support Greek government forces and also contributed relief supplies for civilians.
Despite a strong government offensive in the spring and summer of 1948, the rebels succeeded in retaining their
principal strongholds, especially those in the mountainous area along the northern frontier. Several of the major
defense bastions of the rebels in the Grammos Mountains were captured by government troops in the summer of 1949;
on October 16, the rebel leadership proclaimed that military operations against the government had been halted
to avoid the total destruction of Greece.
The Unstable 1950s
Rehabilitation of the Greek economy progressed steadily following the civil war. By the end of 1950 the rate
of industrial production was nearly 90 percent of the 1939 rate. The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) voted in 1951 to allow Greece and Turkey to join the organization.
Governmental instability, resulting largely from the multiplicity of political parties, dominated the Greek
domestic scene until late in 1952. In elections at that time the Greek Rally party, a right-wing group headed
by Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos (1883-1955), won a parliamentary majority (239 out of 300 seats). A new
cabinet, with Papagos as premier, assumed office on November 19. Papagos died in October 1955 and was succeeded
by Constantine Karamanlis. On January 4, 1956, Karamanlis announced the formation of the new right-wing National
Radical Union party to replace the Greek Rally party, which had disintegrated after the death of Papagos. In
parliamentary elections in February the National Radical Union gained 165 of the 300 seats, although the Democratic
Union, a coalition of opposition parties, received a majority of the popular vote.
During the 1950s Greece ardently backed the enosis (union with Greece) movement on the island of Cyprus,
which had been a British possession since 1878. A request made by the Papagos government that a plebiscite
be held on the question of union was opposed by Great Britain, and Turkey insisted that if the British withdrew
from Cyprus the island should be given to Turkey. In 1955, however, Greece, Great Britain, and Turkey opened
talks on the Cyprus issue. In 1959 the three governments finally reached an agreement, under which Cyprus was
granted its independence on August 16, 1960.
Continued Ferment
Late in 1961 a new party, the Center Union, consisting of a coalition of center parties, was formed under the
leadership of Georgios Papandreou. When Karamanlis won a legislative majority in the general elections held on
October 29, the party refused to recognize his new government, charging coercion of voters. Opposition was
continued until, in mid-April 1962 supporters of the Center Union clashed with Athens police during a rally.
Karamanlis warned that further attempts to arouse disorder would be repressed. A year later Queen Frederika
(1917-81) and her daughter, Princess Irene (1942- ), were heckled while on a visit to London by demonstrators
demanding the release of pro-Communists and antimonarchists jailed in Greece during the civil war. To avoid a
repetition of the incident, Premier Karamanlis opposed a projected summer visit of the royal family to England.
Because his advice was not heeded, he resigned. When elections were held November 3 the Center Union won by a
narrow margin, and Georgios Papandreou was named premier. Declining to rely on Communist support to keep his
government in power, he resigned the next month, but new parliamentary elections held in February 1964 gave
the Center Union a working majority, and he again became premier.
Constantine II
After the death of Paul I on March 6, 1964, his son ascended the throne as Constantine II, and by 1965 the new
monarch was embroiled in a mounting political crisis. Papandreou was subjected to a campaign of attacks by the
right-wing opposition, which accused the government of taking �soft� stands on the activities of pro-Communist
groups within Greece and on the repatriation of Greek nationals taken to the USSR and its satellites during the
civil war. In addition, right-wing newspapers revealed the existence of an army group called Aspida (shield) that
had been formed by officers with allegedly leftist tendencies. The government announced that it would purge the
army of all political influence, and a decree was sent to Constantine enabling the prime minister to take over
the ministry of defense. The king, fearing that a change in the army command might deprive him of support from
high-ranking officers, refused to sign the decree. On July 15, 1965, Papandreou threatened to resign. Even before
he did so, however, the king appointed a new prime minister, who failed to win parliamentary support. Other attempts
to form a government also failed, until finally, on September 25, Deputy Premier Stephanos Stephanopoulos (1898-1982)
succeeded in winning parliamentary approval. After serving for a little more than a year Stephanopoulos lost the
support of the National Radical Union and on December 21, 1966, resigned. He was replaced by Io�nnis Paraskevopoulos
(1900- ). Meanwhile, 28 army officers accused of being members of Aspida and of plotting to seize control of the
government were court-martialed. Also implicated in the alleged plot was Andreas Papandreou (1919- ), son of the
former prime minister, but because of his parliamentary immunity he could not be tried. After the trial of the
army officers, 15 of whom were convicted and sentenced to prison, the Center Union attempted to protect Andreas
Papandreou by introducing a bill extending parliamentary immunity to the period between the dissolution of
parliament and the holding of new elections. The National Radical Union opposed the bill, and as a result of
the dispute withdrew its support from the government. Paraskevopoulos was replaced as prime minister on April 3,
1967, by Panayiotis Kanellopoulos (1902-86), leader of the Radical Union. Faced with domestic turbulence,
Kanellopoulos dissolved parliament on April 14 and ordered new elections for May.
The Colonels' Coup
On April 21, however, a group of army officers overthrew the government and seized power. Several thousand
political figures, specifically leftists and Communists, were arrested. Constantine Kollias (1901- ), chief
prosecutor of the supreme court, was appointed prime minister. The military junta issued a series of decrees
suspending most civil liberties, imposing censorship on news media, suspending political parties, and outlawing
a host of organizations. After an abortive attempt in December to overthrow the junta, King Constantine went into
exile in Italy. The junta then installed a new cabinet headed by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos (1919- ). General
Georgios Zoitakis (1910- ) was named viceroy and regent. On March 15, 1968, Papadopoulos presented the draft of a
new constitution, which was later revised and ratified by popular referendum.
The regime thereafter continued its authoritarian course, and hundreds of opponents were arrested. After
investigating complaints of the use of torture on political prisoners, the Human Rights Commission of the
Council of Europe concluded that it was a �current administrative practice� of the government. Greece then
withdrew from the council rather than face expulsion. The government succeeded, however, in establishing
closer relations with Communist nations including the People's Republic of China in 1970. The U.S. resisted
pressures to deny weapons to the Papadopoulos regime.
In the early 1970s the government restored some civil rights that had been suspended after the junta took
power. On June 1, 1973, it abolished the monarchy, proclaimed Greece a republic, and named Papadopoulos to
the presidency, to serve until 1981. After his inauguration in August, he proclaimed a broad amnesty for
political offenses and promised new elections in 1974. A civilian cabinet took office in October.
Fall of the Junta
Student antigovernment riots in the fall of 1973 led to the reimposition of martial law. Then, on November 25,
1973, a military group removed Papadopoulos for failure to maintain order. Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis
(1917- ) was named president by the military. Encouragement of a coup that only temporarily removed Archbishop
Makarios from the presidency of Cyprus, followed by the Turkish invasion of the island, led the junta to step
down in July 1974. Gizikis recalled Karamanlis from exile to form the first civilian government since 1967. After
an election in November, Karamanlis, heading the New Democracy party, formed a new government; Gizikis resigned
in December. A referendum on the restoration of the monarchy was defeated in December, and a new republican
constitution was approved in June 1975.
Renewed Links with Europe
In November 1977 the government called a general election in which the main issues were Greece's future entry
into the European Economic Community (Common Market) and its strained relations with Turkey over Cyprus and
offshore oil rights. The New Democracy party won, but had a smaller majority in parliament. The Panhellenic
Socialist Movement (Pasok), under Andreas Papandreou, was the second largest party.
After the 1974 Cyprus crisis, Greece withdrew its troops from NATO. Terms for the continued presence of U.S.
military bases in Greece, however, were renegotiated in 1975 and 1976, and in 1980 the country rejoined NATO's
military wing.
The main problems facing the government in the 1980s continued to be inflation and the dispute with Turkey,
but the early solution of either appeared unlikely. Karamanlis relinquished his post in May 1980, when he
was elected to the presidency. He was succeeded by Foreign Minister Georgios Rallis (1918- ), also of the
New Democracy party, who in January 1981 presided over Greece's entry into the European Community. In parliamentary
elections the following October, Pasok won a decisive victory, and Papandreou became the country's first Socialist
prime minister. In March 1985, Christos Sartzetakis (1929- ), a supreme court justice who ran with Socialist backing,
was elected to succeed Karamanlis as president.
Beset by allegations of corruption and impropriety, Papandreou lost his parliamentary majority in the elections of
June 1989. Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927- ) of the New Democracy party then became prime minister, in coalition with the
Communists. After a period of parliamentary deadlock, elections in April 1990 produced a narrow conservative
majority, with New Democracy party leader Constantine Mitsotakis (1918- ) heading the government.
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"Greece," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993 Funk &
Wagnall's Corporation.