Editing Greece (section)

==== Dictatorship, World War II, and reconstruction ====
{{See also|4th of August Regime|Balkans campaign (World War II){{!}}Balkans campaign|Axis occupation of Greece|Hellenic State (1941–1944){{!}}Hellenic State|Greek Civil War}}

An agreement between Prime Minister [[Ioannis Metaxas]] and George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as head of a dictatorship known as the [[4th of August Regime]], inaugurating [[authoritarianism|authoritarian rule]] that would last until 1974.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hagen |first=Fleischer|title=Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century|chapter=Authoritarian Rule in Greece (1936–1974) and Its Heritage|year=2006|location=New York/Oxford|publisher=Berghahn|page=237}}</ref> Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with the [[Axis powers|Axis]].

[[File:Αθηναίοι γιορτάζουν την απελευθέρωση της πόλης τους, Οκτώβριος 1944.jpg|thumb|right|People in [[Athens]] celebrate the liberation from the Axis powers, October 1944. Postwar Greece would soon experience a [[Greek civil war|civil war]] and political polarisation]]

In October 1940, [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] demanded the surrender of Greece, but it [[Ohi Day|refused]], and, in the [[Greco-Italian War]], Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania.{{sfn|Fafalios|Hadjipateras|1995|p=157}} French general [[Charles de Gaulle]] praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance, but the country fell to urgently dispatched [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces during the [[Battle of Greece]]. The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions were given to Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–42, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#Greece|collaborators]], the economy was ruined, and most [[History of the Jews in Greece|Greek Jews]] (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Greek history since World War I |date=14 June 2023 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26430/Greek-history-since-World-War-IGreece |access-date=21 June 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610021739/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=criteoPrebidAdapter&topUrl=www.britannica.com&us_privacy=1YNY&gpp=}}</ref>{{sfn|Mazower|2001|p=155}} The [[Greek Resistance]], one of the most effective resistance movements, fought against the Nazis. The German occupiers committed [[German war crimes#Greece|atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages]] in reprisals. Hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.{{sfn|Mazower|2001|p=155}} The Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians 40,000, and the Italians 9,000.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Die Wehrmacht eine Bilanz |date=2009 |author1=Guido Knopp |author2=Mario Sporn |isbn=978-3-442-15561-3 |edition=1st |publisher=Goldmann |location=München |oclc=423851310}}</ref><!-- Does this include the 60,000-70,000 Jews mentioned at [[History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#World_War_II,_Resistance_and_the_Holocaust]] ?-->

Following liberation, Greece annexed the [[Dodecanese Islands]] from Italy and regained [[Western Thrace]] from Bulgaria. The country descended into a [[Greek Civil War|civil war]] between [[Communism|communist]] forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949, with the latter's victory. The conflict, one of the earliest struggles of the [[Cold War]],<ref name= Noam&Chomsky>{{cite book|last= Chomsky|first= Noam|title= ''World Orders, Old And New''|publisher= Pluto Press London|year= 1994}}</ref> resulted in further economic devastation, population displacement and political polarisation for the next thirty years.{{sfn|Mazower|2016|p={{page needed|date=September 2024}}}}

Although post-war was characterised by social strife and marginalisation of the left, Greece experienced [[Greek economic miracle|rapid economic growth]] and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S. [[Marshall Plan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Baten|first=Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present |date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0|page=51, Figure 2.3 "Numeracy in selected Balkan and Caucasus countries", based on data from Crayen and Baten (2010)}}</ref> In 1952, Greece joined [[NATO]], reinforcing its membership in the [[Western Bloc]] of the Cold War.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chourchoulis |first1=Dionysios |last2=Kourkouvelas |first2=Lykourgos |title=Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War |journal=Southeast European and Black Sea Studies |publisher=Informa UK Limited |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–514 |date=26 November 2012 |issn=1468-3857 |doi=10.1080/14683857.2012.741848 |s2cid=153476225}}</ref>

[[Constantine II of Greece|King Constantine II]]'s [[Iouliana|dismissal]] of [[George Papandreou (senior)|George Papandreou]]'s centrist government in 1965 prompted political turbulence, which culminated in a coup in 1967 by the [[Greek junta]], led by [[Georgios Papadopoulos]]. Civil rights were suspended, political repression intensified, and human rights abuses, including torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of the [[Athens Polytechnic uprising]] in 1973 set in motion the fall of the regime, resulting in a counter-coup that established brigadier [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]] as the new junta strongman. On 20 July 1974, [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus]] in response to a Greek-backed Cypriot coup, triggering a crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and restoration of democracy through [[Metapolitefsi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=34. Cyprus (1960–present) |url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/cyprus-1960-present/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |website=uca.edu |language=en-US |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602195040/https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/cyprus-1960-present/ |url-status=live }}</ref>