The Nadir of Greek Democracy

Abstract

In April 1967 mid-ranking military officers seized power in Athens, and until shortly before their regime collapsed in 1974, they ruled Greece with relatively little trouble from abroad, including from the United States. During their tenure and since, observers have sought to explain the ease with which a military junta strangled democracy in Greece and many of them have placed most of the blame on the United States government. For some, including very many Greeks, the United States was covertly complicit in what became known as the colonels’ coup from the beginning. For others, the United States practiced only malign neglect; although not directly responsible for the coup, Washington showed no particular interest in the demise of Greek democracy. Not only did the United States government not try to bring down the junta, which was somewhat understandable if only because of the general difficulty of doing such things, but Washington behaved all too properly toward the colonels and in sundry ways supported their tenure.