The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY OF ATHENS
Succeeding
Governments
1950-1970
After the civil war, Greece sought to join the Western democracies
and became a member of NATO in 1952. From 1952 to late 1963, Greece
was governed by conservative parties: the Greek Rally of Marshal
Alexander Papagos who, with the help of a change in the electoral
system, gained 240 out of 300 seats in the Greek Parliament, and
its successor, the National Radical Union (ERE) of Constantine
Karamanlis.
By
the early 1960s, the government was still at the hands of conservatives
but there were signs of liberalization. In 1963, the assassination
of EDA deputy Gregoris Lambrakis, the resignation of Constantine
Karamanlis and the election of centrist George Papandreou, Sr.
as Prime Minister were signs of rapid change. In a bid to gain
more control over the country's government than what his limited
constitutional powers allowed, the young and inexperienced King
Constantine II clashed with liberal reformers, dismissing Papandreou
in 1965, causing a constitutional crisis.
Furthermore,
the austerity policy pursued by ERE, even though it ensured stability
and development (low inflation etc.), affected the low income
groups. All this advanced the defeat of ERE in the elections of
1963. However, the Centre Union was to obtain an absolute majority
in new elections in 1964.
The
term July apostates refers to the group of George Papandreou's
dissidents, led by the politician Konstantinos Mitsotakis, then
also member of the Center Union, who brought about the fall of
his legally elected government in favor of the formerly King.
It was followed by a succession of unstable coalition governments
formed by the King.
Constantine
II induced some of Papandreou's dissidents, led by Stephanos Stephanopoulos,
to form a government of "King's men," which lasted until
22 December 1966, amid mounting strikes and protests by Papandreou's
supporters, the Greek democrats and the left-wing. When Stephanopoulos
resigned in frustration, Constantine appointed an interim government
under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos, which called elections for May
1967. This government did not even last until the scheduled elections.
On 3 April 1967 it was replaced by another interim government
under Panagiotis Kanellopoulos who was the leader of the National
Radical Union and still supposed to organize a fair election in
May.
New
elections were scheduled for 28 May 1967 and there were many indications
that Papandreou's Center Union Party (EK) would not be able to
form a working government by itself. When tanks rolled into Athens,
in 21 April the legitimate ERE government asked king Constantine
to immediately mobilize the state against the coup. He declined
to do so and swore in the Dictators as legitimate government of
Greece, while asserting that he was "certain they had acted
in order to save the country".
Eight
months later, Constantine took part in a failed counter-coup
and fled the country to Italy. He never attempted to set-up
a political government-in-exile of any sort while residing
in Rome, thus leaving the Dictatorship as the sole rulers
of Greece.
Growing
Athens Population
Greece
developed rapidly between 1950 and 1960, initially with the help
of the U.S. Marshall Plans' grants and loans and later through
growth in the tourism sector. The sharp increase in the construction
of new buildings was fuelled by a huge wave of immigrants into
Athens at a time when large numbers were emigrating abroad to
Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Masses
of people from the countryside arrived in Athens which made the
city’s population increase from 1.124.000 people in 1940
to 2.540.000 in 1971 and to 3.016.000 in 1981. Large numbers of
these new residents settled in areas outside the city centre.
In 1940, 42% of the population still lived within the boundaries
of the Municipality of Athens. By 1971, this percentage had been
reduced to 34% and it was further reduced in the following years.
In 1940, the population of Athens was 15% of the population of
Greece as a whole while by 1971, it had doubled to 30% of the
total population.
Unfortunately,
the settlement of immigrants and the expansion of the city took
place without any form of government planning, which resulted
in uncontrolled and unauthorized building activity. Particularly
important in the construction process was the so called “antiparochi”
system. Many old detached houses were demolished and gave way
to apartment blocks through an agreement between the former house
owners, the builders and the buyers of the apartments. The owner
offered his building plot in exchange for some apartments in the
new block and the buyers gave the builders the
capital necessary for construction.
Athens
developed at an extremely fast pace, sometimes faster than the
city’s infrastructure could cope with. An example is the
transport problem. In a period when very few Athenians owned a
car, the 1960’s roads in Athens did not guarantee a regular
flow of traffic.