Georgios Papadopoulos

In memoriam

Greek Military, Political Leader. Papadopoulos was the head of the military junta that ruled Greece after a coup brought down the government in 1967. He graduated from the Officers’ Academy in 1940 and rose through the ranks of the army. Papadopoulos was a fierce anti-communist who tried to gain more political power for the military. He, along with other military officers, was opposed to the reforms that Prime Minister George Papandreou tried to bring about in the mid 1960s. It was a fear that Papandreou would be reelected in 1967 which lead to the military coup that brought down Papandreou and installed Papadopoulos as the leader of Greece. His regime was very brutal and very unpopular with the Greek people. Papadopoulos installed himself as president and deposed King Constantine after a failed coup by royalists in 1973. He was ousted the same year by other army officers after failing to squash a student uprising in Athens. Papadopoulos was later arrested and sentenced to death for "high treason and insurrection", but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He would remain in prison until his passing.

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