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Thanos Veremis, The Military in Greek Politics: From Independence to Democracy. Montreal, Canada: Black Rose Books, 1997. Pp. 227. $53.99, hardcover; $24.99, softcover.
This book operates at two levels. The first is a concise history of the Greek military; the second is an appraisal of the conditions that facilitate or hinder the intrusion of armed forces into civil government. On both levels, the book is insightful and fascinating.
Taking the historical narrative first, Veremis makes the somewhat surprising assertion that armed intervention in Greek politics was relatively rare until the junta of 1967-74. It was not that such interventions were absent, but more that their purpose was to restore an equilibrium and quickly move out of direct control. This general abstinence from praetorianism was true in the nineteenth century, through the Balkan Wars in the second decade of this century, World War I, the catastrophic defeat of Greek forces in Asia Minor during the 1920s, the great national "schism" between royalists and supporters of the political liberal Elefetherios Enizelos, and World War II and the Greek Civil War that followed.
It was the Greek junta of 1967-1974 that changed this pattern, when the colonels sought to play more of what Veremis terms a "guardian" role. The coup d'etat of 1967 led to a military regime that did not see itself as an intervention leading to a quick return to civilian rule. Rather, the junta tried to institutionalize itself into a permanent entity in Greek society. It not only failed in this endeavor, but brought about its own downfall...