The History of the Revolutionary Organziation 17 November
Formation
Greece is a country more thought of for its rich ancient history, not major political violence. Unfortunately, the more recent history of this country has been marred with just that, violent protests and terrorist attacks. There are even those who say that Greece has the largest terrorism problem in all of Europe. Greek terrorism stems from a civil war that occurred in the country in the late 1940s. This civil war was over communism, and the loss of life and property was extensive. The government created after this civil war, a more conservative regime, lasted until the 1970s, when conflict arose between the conservatives and the liberals. During this conflict, Greek citizens were subjected to little freedoms and were under constant scrutiny and surveillance by the police, as Greek police were found to have files on almost every citizen in the country (Kassimeris, 2013).
Greece found itself under rule by a military regime, headed by Georgios Papadopoulos, which was clashing with the royal leadership Constantine II. It was Papadopoulos’s regime that attempted to withstand communist rule in the country, but Constantine II was not satisfied with the military rule. When Constantine II attempted to disband the military rule, Papadopoulos banished Constantine II from the country and took a dictatorial role as the leader of Greece (Marcovitz, 2011). It was from this clash and subsequent military takeover that spawned an uprising on November 17th, 1973. When Papadopoulos began attempting to liberalize Greece, students ironically used their new freedoms to stage a revolt at Athens Polytechnic University, which saw a violent clash between students and the Gr...
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...om a government terrorism analyst. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 15(1), 13-23.
Smith, H. (2003, December 08). Greek trial ends november 17's reign of terror. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/09/helenasmith
The Economist. (1983). Political europe. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Uladh, D. (2014, January 21). Jailed november 17 leader says ministers to blame for xiros' escape. ENet.gr. Retrieved from http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1720
United States Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism. (2012). Foreign terrorist organizations. Retrieved from website: http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm
Xenakis, S. (2012). A new dawn? change and continuity in political violence in greece. Terrorism and Political Violence, 24(3), 437-464. doi: 10.1080/09546553.2011.633133
The Corcyran democrats responded in envy and greed and hate when they had finally won out over those who had oppressed them for so long. They simply allowed their animal passions to rule their minds. Much like the Bacchae in the famous tragedy they released reason to follow their base emotions. They struck back without thinking, beyond reason. Just as Thucydides tells us they forgot the laws of humanity that exist “to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress, instead of leaving those laws in existence, remembering that there may come a time when they, too, will be in danger and will need their protection (III.84).” Sadly this soon became a common state of affairs throughout the whole of Greece. Perhaps the war would have ended sooner and with much less loss of life if only we as men were not so weak.
Of all the history of the Ancient Greece, there were two events that showed really well how disunity among the Greeks highly contributed to its downfall, which were the Peloponnesian War and Successors’ War. Interestingly, both wars occurred after a unity and followed by a unity that was carried out by “outsiders”. This may have actually shown that the Greeks had never learned from their past
Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great
Greene, David and Richmond Lattimore, Eds. Greek Tragedies. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.
U.S. Department of State. (n.d.). Bureau of Counterterrorism. Retrieved 05 01, 2014, from U.S. Department of State: Diplomacy in Action: http://www.state.gov/j/ct/
During The Peloponnesian War, Sparta was able to dominate Athens and win the war. At the war’s conclusion, Athens was left in complete chaos, and Sparta was also weakened. Athens was politically, economically, and militarily affected, while Sparta was only slightly affected politically and militarily. However, with Sparta’s ignorance towards foreign people, the results of the war were worse than the war itself.
During the political upheaval in the Revolutionary era, writers would write mostly about the politics of the war. Although in past times people would mostly write about the troubles they faced during the time, the Revolutionary changed the way writers would persuade others. In the past most times, the authors would strictly use facts or strictly write to the select few but everything changed when the colonist faced a Revolutionary War.
In fact they choose to isolate themselves completely from the rest of Greece in fear that dangerous ideas would come i...
The march towards developing a democratic society is often obstructed with societal unrest due to the influence of the status quo on the instruments of power. Before the rule of Solon, Athens underwent this same rule, as there was much discontent among the social classes in Athens. The society suffered financial disparity that often was the trigger for the war among the rich and poor in the society. This was a major factor that forced Solon into power to institute policies that would see a reformed Athens. By so doing, the society was looking for an avenue that would guarantee democracy and a society that is fair for everyone. The city-state of Athens was the epicenter of the revolution for the Athenian democracy during the fifth century BC. In the Athenian democracy, the electorate voted for the legislation of bills instead of a direct democracy where the electorates are tasked with electing representatives who later developed the bill. Among the first people who made significant contributions to the development of the Athenian democracy were Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508/7 BC), Pericles (495 – 429 BC) and Ephialtes (462 BC). Pericles was the longest serving democratic leader who contributed much development in democracy in the city. This paper will give an account of the age of the Pericles.
Grene, David., and Richmond Alexander Lattimore. Greek Tragedies. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
“On March 11, the Petrograd army’s troops were called out to try and stop the uprising protesters.”3 Some of the situations, soldiers started to pen fire, killing many demonstrators, but however it did not stop the strikers from leaving ...
many countries who suffer from a lack of true freedom. The transition that Greece went
The American Revolution began in seventeen seventy-five and featured the colonists rebelling against England for their freedom and independence. The revolutionary war was not one without reason; for, there were multiple accounts that led up to the gruesome years that followed the beginning of the American Revolution.
"There is a serious struggle in Greece for three years. We have the largest number of national strikes in Europe. There are strikes at individual plants, factories, private and public sectors. " - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece Aleka Papariga, January 30, 2012
Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Classical Greece. While Athens embraced democracy, Sparta was a dictatorial fierce warrior state. Sparta was a militaristic community, Athens was a freethinking, and commerce minded city-state. Modern societies have modeled their government organizational structure and military discipline practices from lessons learned of these ancient city-states. There is much is to be praised regarding Classical Greece for their courage, their progressive thinking and the birth of democracy. However, I think it is important to remember that in both cases, Athens and Sparta were able to sustain their lifestyle on the backs of countless slaves, non-citizens and women and that there is a darker and less romantic side to the past.