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1897-1904

Venizelos was introduced as a leading political figure in Crete during the Revolution of 1897. Since the first days of the Cretan State he helped the development of its institutions and Constitution, as Minister of Justice, revolutionary and political leader and the most valid interlocutor with the Consuls of the Powers.

 

Human Rights

Human rights and civil liberties

Violations of fundamental human rights and civil liberties constituted a common practice of the regime of April 21st. Spying on citizens, arrests and tortures, trials before extraordinary court-martials and crippling prison sentences, as well as deportations in camps of political prisoners were used as restraints of counteractions.

The Regime

Propaganda was a key priority of the dictatorship, aiming at highlighting the “achievements” of the regime and slandering every type of anti-dictatorship action.

A systematic effort to impose on the Greek society the regime’s ideology, rooted in notions of nationalism and anti-communism, was attempted through events, lectures and fore mostly the power of the media.

7 Years of Darkness

The basic elements of Modernism, as had already been expressed by the 19th century, promoted the recognition of individual liberties and the organization of society within the framework of a representative democracy. Faith in the possibility of the continuous progress of society was shattered throughout the world by the horrors of two world wars and the ascendance of totalitarianism in the first half of the 20th century.

The diplomatic front: 1946-1947

Greek governments were forced to wage a difficult diplomatic struggle in order to ensure the permanent and official incorporation of the Dodecanese islands to the Greek State. The fate of the islands was formally linked to the broader scope of the peace negotiations between the victorious and defeated nations of World War II. However, politically, it depended upon the fragile balance of forces and the interests of the main protagonists of the Cold War era, which was just coming to the fore.

In the turmoil of war: 1939-1945

World War II served as the catalyst that would change the status quo in the Dodecanese, dragging plans, hopes and diplomatic interests in its maelstrom. When Italy declared war on Greece on October 28, 1940, many volunteers from the Dodecanese joined the “Dodecanese Regiment” or were already serving in other units of the Greek Army. Yet, even after the Greek capitulation, resistance against the Italians and the Germans would continue on the Dodecanese with raids, sabotage acts and espionage.

The Italian Occupation: 1912-1943

Italy occupied the Dodecanese Islands in May 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War. The fact that the islands were relieved from Ottoman Rule, combined with Italy’s declarations on the provisional nature of this occupation, fostered hope among the population of the Dodecanese that the much-desired union with Greece would finally come to fruition. Those hopes were expressed on 17 June 1912 in Patmos with the proclamation of the “Autonomous State of the Aegean”.

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