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Greek military junta of 1967–1974

The Phoenix rising from its flames and the silhouette of the soldier bearing a rifle with fixed bayonet was the emblem of the Junta. On the header the word Greece (Ελλας) and on the footer 21 April 1967, the date of the coup d' état, can be seen in Greek.

The Phoenix and the silhouette of the soldier bearing a bayonetted rifle was the emblem of the Junta.

The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" (Greek: Το καθεστώς τωνΣυνταγματαρχών, To kathestos ton Syntagmatarhon), or in Greece "The Junta", (English pronunciation: /ˈdʒʌntə/ or /ˈhʊntə/, Greek Χούντα, [xuda]) and "The Seven Years" (Greek: Η Επταετία, I eptaetía) are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. Rule by the Greek military started in the morning of 21 April 1967, with a coup d' etat led by a group of colonels, and ended in July 1974.

Georgios Papadopoulos

President of the Hellenic Republic

Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos (Greek: Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος) (5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was the head of the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967 and leader of the military government that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Papadopoulos was a Colonel of Artillery. During World War II, he had initially fought against the Italian 1940 invasion and then he became a Nazi collaborator in the Security Battalions, and in the postwar years he received intelligence training in the USA and became a CIA agent. He held dictatorial power in Greece from 1967-1973, until he was himself overthrown by his co-conspirator Dimitrios Ioannidis. It has been claimed that Papadopoulos was the first CIA agent to govern a Western European country.

Early life and military career

Papadopoulos was born in Elaiohori, a small village in the Prefecture of Achaea in Peloponnese to local school teacher Christos Papadopoulos and his wife Chrysoula. He was the eldest son and had two brothers, Konstantinos and Haralambos. Upon finishing High School in 1937, he enrolled in the Scholi Evelpidon Officer Academy (Σχολή Ευελπίδων). He completed his three-year education in 1940.

Papadopoulos' biographical notes, that were published as a booklet by supporters in 1980, mention that he attended a Civil engineering course at the Polytechneion but did not graduate.