Georgios Papadopoulos (1919–1999)
Born 1919 CE, died 1999 CE.
Georgios Papadopoulos (Greek: Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος, pronounced [ʝeˈorʝi.os papaˈðopulos]; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Hellenic Army officer and military dictator who ruled Greece from 1967 to 1973. He led the military junta that overthrew Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in 1967 and established his dictatorship. He was proclaimed Prime Minister of Greece from 1967 and served until 1973. He was elected President of Greece under the junta in June 1973, following a referendum. However, after causing a massacre by deploying military riflemen and a tank brigade to attack non-violent protestors to suppress the Athens Polytechnic uprising, he was overthrown by hardliner Dimitrios Ioannidis, in a string of events that would culminate in the fall of regime in 1974. His and dictatorship's legacy, as well as its methods he constructed and effects on Greek economy and society as a whole, are still fiercely debated. He joined the Hellenic Army during the Second World War and initially helped resist the Italian invasion of Greece in the Greco-Italian War. He is widely believed to have later collaborated as a member of the Axis-aligned Security Battalions.
Text from the Wikipedia article Georgios_Papadopoulos, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.