Modern Greek Culture And Civilization

ESSAY ON MODERN GREECE IN HISTORICAL CONCEPT : THE POST WORLD WAR II PERIOD

Modern Greece in historical concept is considered as the post-world war II period

The economic distress of the 1930s provoked social unrest and this was exploited by the small Communist Party of Greece , which held the balance of power in parliament as a result of a deadlock between Venizelists and royalists in elections in 1936 . Exaggerated fears of a possible Communist seizure of power enabled General Loannis Metaxas , the leader of a small right-wing party who was supported

by the now royalist army to establish a dictatorship in 1936 . Metaxas abolished political parties , established rigid press censorship , and persecuted his opponents , Communists in particular . Metaxas also suspended the Parliament , which did not meet again for 10years . Despite domestic repression , that resembled that found under the dictatorships in German and Italy , Metaxas maintained a foreign policy oriented towards Britain

On October 28 , 1940 , Italian dictator , Benito Mussolini presented Greece with a humiliating ultimatum . He demanded that Greece allow Italian troops to occupy strategic points within the country . Metaxas expressing the feelings of the overwhelming majority of the Greek population , unhesitatingly rejected Mussolini 's demand . Against the odds , the Greek army not only repulsed the Italian invaders but also captured a large area of southern Albania , which had a significant ethnic Greek population . Greece declared war against Albania , which was then ruled by an Italian puppet government and served as Mussolini 's stage of operations . In April 1941 , German troops invaded Greece . The Germans rapidly overran the Greek armies and the British forces that had been sent to their aid . A collaborationist government controlled by Germany was established in Athens , Greece was divided up among the Italians , Germans , and Bulgarians , with the latter permitted to occupy a part of northern Greece

The harshness of the occupation regime led to terrible famine and spiraling inflation . More than 100 ,000 Greeks died as a result of the famine . Despite the hardships of the occupation , the Greek people maintained the will to resist , and a number of resistance groups formed By far the largest of these was the National Liberation Front (known by its Greek acronym , EAM . Along with its military arm , the National People 's Liberation Army (ELAS , the EAM was under Communist control although its membership was far from being exclusively Communist . Of the smaller organizations , the most significant was the National Republican Greek League (EDES , which held to a more conservative political program than the EAM . Virtually all resistance groups opposed the return of George II , whom most Greeks identified with the repression of the Metaxas dictatorship . In 1942 the British began parachuting in arms and personnel to aid the Greek resistance

In September 1943 , the Italians surrendered following the Allied invasion of Italy . The prospect of the liberation of Greece led to rivalry and jockeying for power between the EAM /ELAS and the EDES . The ELAS attacked the EDES in October 1943 , and the two resistance groups...